November 19, 2013

No Mo Status Quo, Post #3

Do you know who Sir Roger Bannister is?  Or what his claim to fame is? Don’t worry. I only learned of him recently when I realized he made the impossible possible.

Sir Roger Bannister was the first man in the history of the world (or record keeping) to have run a four-minute mile. It was said it couldn’t be done. On May 6, 1954, at Iffley Road Track in Oxford, Bannister broke the four-minute mile with a time of three minutes, 59.4 seconds. Bannister was 25 years old, and at the time was practicing as a junior doctor.

After accomplishing this impossible feat, Bannister’s record only lasted 46 days. Not even two months. Bannister went onto become a notable neurologist. Watch the incredible footage for yourself below in the video link in “Resources.”

What a man. What a dream. What a goal—a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG), as Jim Collins and Jerry Porras call it in their 1994 book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

I would rather call it a Big, Holy, Audacious Goal (BHAG). So, dear friend, What is your BHAG, your biggest dream?  What are your passions? What is hindering you from achieving your biggest dream or dreams? I wrestle with these questions.

A few years ago I started my life goal list, some would say a “Bucket List.” Included on my list is to write and publish a book.

Most of my life I have enjoyed writing. For years, I have dreamt of writing and publishing a non-fiction book. Twelve years ago, I had an epiphany to write a book about “waiting,” since we all wait but don’t seem to like it. So what did I do about it?

Not much. I started a folder and would occasionally add handwritten sticky notes with a chapter outline, idea, or quote. The BHAG of writing a book and even thinking of getting it published became overwhelming. “Perhaps when I retire,” I pondered.

In December 2012, my heart was shattered and blindsided from a relationship breakup. In the healing process, I cried out to God and asked what life lessons I could learn from this experience.  The divine answer I received was:

“Write. Write your heart.”

One day in January,  Proverbs 31 ministries President Lysa TerKeurst wrote in a daily devotional that a typical non-fiction book contains about 60,000 words. She usually makes a 12-chapter outline, and tries to write 5000 words per chapter. Suddenly after reading that practical devotional, the impossibility of my BHAG became possible.

Divinely led, I began writing in the evenings after work and on the weekend. I finished the very rough draft manuscript at the end of June, six months later, with 61,329 words. The book, with the working title of Wait.For.It., still is a work in progress.

This adventure led me this past summer to the dynamic Proverbs 31 Ministries “She Speaks” Conference in Charlotte, where I met with three publishers. I also learned how useful literary agents are for many authors, so I attended The Fedd Agency’s “Re:Write Conference” in Austin in October. It is such a delight to meet so many incredible writers and speakers and learn from them.

Through their influence, I, the least “techy” person I know, also took a leap of faith to start this “Pure Inspiration” blog. We’ll see what God does with it all. I am enjoying each moment of the adventure.

If I can do it, surely you, the much more equipped of the two of us, can do it. Please start today.

Reflect:

  • What is/are your Big, Holy Audacious Goal(s)?
  • What keeps you from dreaming big?

Renew:

  • “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” –Matthew 17:20 (NIV 1984)
  • “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” –Luke 1:45 (NIV 1984)

Recharge:

  • Add a deadline and a timeline to accomplishing your BHAG.
  • List the first steps to accomplish your BHAG. Do your first step this week. You can do it!
  • Please let me know what you decide to do.

Resources:

November 12, 2013

Ladders and Adders, Post #2

This world is full of choices. I read that the average person makes 1200  choices per day.

Push snooze once more? What to wear? Which shoes? To which radio station do I listen?

Go through the yellow light? Drink just one more glass of wine? Take this leap of faith?

Our attitude is a huge daily choice we make.

Some people may call me a Polyanna, a glass-half-full optimist. I sure strive to be. It comes naturally because my precious mom is a beautiful combination of June Cleaver and Jesus rolled up into one genteel, joyful, encouraging, Southern lady.

My mom once told me that we can choose either to be a ladder or an adder. A ladder is someone who lifts people up, encourages them, and even draws them closer to God. An adder, though, is someone with a biting personality, who, like the serpent by the same name, can drain the life out of you. Which are you?

Charlie Cole is a distinguished, brilliant, handsome man. He retired about five years ago as a dynamic banking executive leader, whose territory covered all of South Carolina. Charlie and his bride of 40+ years, Joanne, go to my church.

In June 2008, Charlie and Joanne returned from a wedding and went upstairs to their bedroom to sleep. In the middle of the night Charlie went to the bathroom and fell down the steps. His fall resulted in paralysis as a quadriplegic, confining him to a wheelchair.

Charlie was immediately airlifted to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where he and Joanne stayed for three months. They returned to Charleston to their new life in their old world. They came home to their beautiful Sullivan’s Island home, already equipped with an elevator. For more than two years Joanne and Charlie tried to navigate fragmented healthcare resources for spinal cord injury patients. Imagine needing a specialized urologist or OB/GYN because you are paralyzed. Imagine needing a Physical and Occupational Therapist to relearn leg and arm muscles to one day, perhaps, walk and even feed yourself again.

Charlie had served since 2002 on the board of our Roper St. Francis Foundation,  Charleston’s great not-for-profit healthcare system. At the time, Roper St. Francis offered no specialized rehabilitation for spinal cord injury patients nor did the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Charlie and Joanne brought awareness to the fact that more than 10,000 spinal cord injury patients live in South Carolina and need better specialized healthcare resources for those who are paralyzed.

Working tirelessly with both Roper St. Francis and MUSC physicians and staff, the Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Roper Hospital was established in June 2011, just three years after Charlie’s injury. As of this writing, close to 200 spinal cord injury patients have been served from all of over the state, since the Center for Spinal Cord Injury is the only collaborative resource of its kind in South Carolina.

I have the pleasure of spending time with Charlie and Joanne weekly as we work together to raise at least $1.5M to endow and sustain the Center for Spinal Cord Injury. Charlie inspires me and everyone he meets. Charlie lives his life intentionally as a tall, tall ladder, not an adder, lifting everyone’s spirits. He turned his “test” into a “testimony” and is truly impacting numerous lives because of it. He brightens every room and heart into which he and his wheelchair roll.

Yes, we have a choice–

To be a victim or a victor of our circumstances.

To be bitter or better because of our circumstances.

To be a Polyanna or a Debby Downer.

To be a ladder or an adder.

The choice is yours.

Reflect:

  • Do you consider yourself to be a ladder or adder? Victim or victor? Bitter or better?
  • What language do you use to speak to yourself or others? Does it build up or tear down?

Renew:

  • “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” –1 Thessalonians 5:11
  •  “But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” –Psalm 59:16

Recharge:

  •  Name one different choice you plan to make this week toward being a ladder. How will you accomplish it?
  • Please let me know what you decide to do.

Resource:

November 5, 2013

Loving Your Neighbor, Post #1

Bob turned 95 years old in August. His bright, blue eyes sparkled behind his thick, smudged glasses. His black cardigan sweater was his uniform, soiled with food and drinks missed by his mouth and napkin. His mind was sharp and his sense of humor lightened every setting. His Canon camera hung round his neck always ready to capture each moment.

Bob served as the patriarch of our neighborhood cul-de-sac. Retiring from Chicago as a graphic artist, Bob and his wife Lee paid $50,000 cash in 1986 for his Charleston home to be built. His firm was instrumental in creating the Coca-Cola Santa Claus. More importantly, he created a customized watercolor card for each of us for our birthdays and designed a beautiful pen and ink Charleston scene as his Christmas card each year. He was a legend.  Bob’s wife passed away in 1993 and he never remarried. He lived alone. We as neighbors adopted him.

Both my grandfathers passed away before I was born, so Bob became my surrogate grandfather.   He has four children, three who live in Illinois and one in California. As neighbors we worked together daily to take him meals, remind him to take his medications, drive him to Wal-mart, and take him to the barber shop. My special job was to accompany him with his walker on a stroll several times a week around the cul-de-sac for some sunshine and exercise.

Recently, both Bob and the neighbors realized he was getting too frail and medically dependent to live alone. He and his children decided he would move to Illinois to live with one of the daughters. Bob took the news pretty well and just kept talking about the cold. He slowly began to gather boxes and we helped him pack his most prized possessions, like his photographic scrapbooks, chronicling almost each moment.

On August 2, the neighbors and I threw a 95th birthday and farewell party for Bob at his church along with his children and Optimist Club friends.  In all about 100 people attended. His pastor said it was the first party of its kind he had seen with the person still in the room, still there to hear the sweet accolades instead of waiting until the honored guest had passed away. Bob had no doubt he was loved. He flew to Illinois the same day the moving truck came for his belongings. He didn’t have to see the For Sale sign being put in the front yard.  Bob passed away on September 26th of pneumonia, less than two months after he moved.

My life is so much better for having loved, learned from and laughed with Bob.

Reflect:

  • Who is your Bob (neighbor)?
  • Who can you love on a little more?

Renew:

  • “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” –Mark 12:30, 31.

Recharge:

  • Name one neighbor or person you will intentionally reach out to as we approach this season of Thanksgiving. Perhaps it’s calling and taking a picnic basket to your older neighbor or a loved one in an assisted living facility. Perhaps it’s riding bicycles with some neighbors and their children. It takes just a few moments.
  • Please let me know what you decide to do.

Resource:

  • Robert “Bob” Anderson’s art legacy lives on. Please consider purchasing one of his beautiful “Charleston Orphan House” prints as a gift at the Shops of Historic Charleston Foundation, 108 Meeting Street in Charleston. (843) 724-8484.
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