Achieving those Goals

What happens when I don't make my year-end goal?

Once again, I'm fighting perfectionism. With 2017 quickly approaching, it looks like I'm going to be just shy of my 2016 SMART goal to write twenty-four blog posts in a year. The hardest part is that I'm trying to decide what to do about it. Am I going to try to sneak in four more posts? Or am I going to blow it off and beat myself up for not making my goal?

As a perfectionist, I'm battling the fight of perfect. I can't help, but to fight emotions and feelings of the desire for accomplishment and the success of "checking that off my list". Yet as a girl leading a busy life, my perspective is slightly and slowly changing and instead of the "what I didn't do" I want to take a moment to look at what I did do.

I did manage to write eighteen blog posts this year since February 2016. I also committed to paying for my own website and domain. I wrote my first-ever eulogy, thousands of emails, a five-day prayer devotion booklet for my girlfriends, countless carefully crafted Instagram posts, many thank you cards, three presentations, prepared one breakout session, eleven meeting agendas, weeks and weeks of Bible study introductions, and four Evite invitations. (Maybe that last one was a stretch, but I've been writing!) I'm not going to meet my SMART goal for writing, but I do have a lot to look at when I take a step back from staring that goal in the face. It's all about perspective, right?

What about you? What's got you hung up? Do you need a little room for perspective?

I don't want to make excuses for not setting and meeting goals; I want to make excuses for all of us fighting (and losing to!) perfectionism. We ain't perfect here and we wasn't ever gonna be.

 But, what if we were a little nicer to ourselves in celebrating even our smallest victories?

It's the motive and heart behind the goal. Why am I setting this goal? What am I trying to achieve? What can be learned? How can this better benefit those around me? Is this going to make a positive difference?

Those are the real questions that make our goals worth achieving. As I continue to write, I'll keep setting goals, work next year to make my twenty-four and keep working towards that big goal of writing a book one day! The reason why I write in the first place is to encourage and inspire others with God's love. Am I doing that? I sure hope so. 

Let's cheer on on each other as we set goals and work to accomplish them. Let's be there to rally and encourage when they don't match up. Help me to commit to persevere and cheer on the journey, not just the destination and the goals, but the people too!

Cheers y'all!

xoxo

Jes

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:14-16  ‭

Birthday Wishes & Thank Yous!

Yesterday I got to celebrate my birthday all day long! It sure was special. The day wasn't much different than any other, but the outpouring of love and birthday wishes filled my heart full.

I waited forever to celebrate thirty and did that all stinkin' month last year. (It was literally a piano-burning good time!) This year, thirty-one came way to fast! 

As time marches on and my Grampy (93) reminds me often that "today" is the youngest you'll ever be in your lifetime. I can't help but to ponder the awe of birthdays and celebration. Some could take it or leave it, but I love them! I love getting to have my own birthday and love getting to celebrate other's too. Why is that? Why are birthdays such a big deal? 

I think it's because of three things:

1) Birthdays remind us that life is a gift. It's important. It has meaning and purpose! You have meaning and purpose! You are a magnificent and uniquely created YOU and I am me. Life is valuable as we're not guaranteed tomorrow. We have this one life here on earth and it's up to us on what we're going to do with it. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God and each person is unique, valuable and loved and that's worth celebrating!

2) Birthdays allow us to take a moment to be thankful. As we close our eyes to blow out the candles, we need to look around and see the gifts that God has given us - even if our circumstances aren't ideal, there's always something to be thankful for. Let's commit to counting our blessings and remembering what we have.

3) Birthdays give us the opportunity to champion and cheer for those around us. Biggest cheers and best wishes for the birthday kid! We gather, we sing, we party, and we make wishes to celebrate those close to us and relish in the value (and gift!) of life.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, the birthday happies and adventures! I loved hearing you sing, reading your texts, and seeing your FB and IG comments. Thank you for making me feel so special and loved. I love y'all so much. 

Cheers to thirty-one! 
xoxo
Jes  

"Then God said,  “Let us make man in our image,  after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!" Genesis 1:26-27,31

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

Thirty-One.

deLinde Kids birthday dinner with Cali friends.

Birthday lunch at George's on the Cove in La Jolla.

Cake for breakfast with the Black Knights!

Mini birthday surprise with my Thursday night girls!

Be-YOU-tiful

Girl, you're beautiful. Yes, you. 

And you know what's even prettier? When you are your authentic, awesome self. 

Why? Because God made you His masterpiece. He didn't mess up, make a mistake or get things wrong. He made you - you and that's beautiful. 

And it's time that we embrace the truth.  

The truth is this: You are talented, divinely unique, you are loved, chosen, cherished, worth the wait, intelligent, fun, creative, capable, trustworthy, stronger than you think and known. 

We must recognize that the messy hair, sweaty girl from the gym is just as pretty as the done-up supermodel in the magazine. Or the lady with the hairnet behind the lunch counter is valued as much as the woman in the power suit and heels behind the desk. The woman on the curb with only a bag and blanket has just as much worth as the mama with the Range Rover in the carpool lane with three kids.  The grandmother with laugh lines and wrinkles is just as pretty as much as the twentysomething with new sun-kissed tan lines. The Monet-like artist who paints on canvas is just as creative as the women who colorfully aligns tomato plants and peppers in her garden.  

Whether you believe it or not, you are worth it. You were designed to be creative, witty and loved, and to use your talents - uniquely to you - to serve and bless others. You being you, in your fullest and unhindered self, is a gift to others. 

Let's throw off the insecurity, the loneliness, worthless mentality and put on God's love and truth. Because, girl - it looks good on you.  

xoxo
Jes

#beautifulisyou

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body  and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!   Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it." Psalm 139: 13-14

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Be Present: Right here, Right now.

"Did you see that?” I asked the girl sitting next to me. We were in the stands of one of Major League Baseball’s biggest games of the year and she was missing it!

This game featured the best of the best - players who had set records, beat records and made modern-day history. They hit homers out of the park and threw fastballs over ninety-eight miles an hour, yet all around me, sat fans who were missing the moment. They there for the game, but weren't present for the moment.

Modern-day technology and social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and now share information, but it's also caused a slow, lingering second effect where we are sometimes more caught up in capturing the moment instead of being in the moment and it’s causing us to miss what’s happening right in front of us. 

God never intended for us to miss out on this life. He created us with five senses, emotional intelligence and the ability to experience life firsthand through the lens of our eyes and our hearts. The Bible reminds us in Psalm 90:1 "Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts." We gain wisdom by remembering our life on this earth has purpose, but is short and temporary. Jesus came so that we may have life and experience it to the fullest through his free gift of grace and salvation.

I’m not asking to you to stop snapping pictures or taking videos from now on. Our technology tools are valuable in helping us tell our story and mark moments of history. However, I am asking for you to give a second thought to pulling out your technology device to capture everything - because when the lens of our camera captures everything, the lens of heart sometimes miss things.

We only get to live life once. We. get. this. moment. once. We don't get to rewind or redo the stories of our lives, so I encourage you to take time to set down your phone to watch your little one take those next couple of steps or turn off the TV and sit around the dinner table with your people, watch the ball game without the camera live or enjoy a good cup of coffee with a friend without first “checking in” and simply be in the moment.

May we be people who are wise in our hearts and live life in the present.

xoxo

Jes

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are short." Ephesians‬ ‭5:15-16

My guy and I excited for the MLB All-Star Game

Are We the Change?

Reading headline after headline in today's newspaper, my heart begins to ache. Do we ever report good news? There's so much going on in the world today. Chaos, destruction, fear, prejudice, and division is splattered all over the media - from reading about the slain officers in Dallas, to the tragic destruction in France and Orlando, my heart easily becomes overwhelmed. If the world is like this now - what is it going to be like when my kids grow up? (We still have some time, but you see what I mean?!) 

So what can we do? It's a big world and sometimes it doesn't feel as if I can really make a difference. This is large scale stuff. And I'm only one person. Only one person without a tv show, big platform or powerful campaign. One person with a blog at best - maybe -reaches a hundred people on a really good week.

With that small sphere of influence, what can I do, what can you do to make a difference in a big world?
Be the change that we want to see.  

We can be kind. We can be generous. We can treat others with respect. We can choose kindness over harsh, critical words. We can chose to see the best in someone. We can have compassion. We can forgive. We can serve. We can volunteer. We can love. We can pray. We can choose hope and faith over despair and discouragement. 

"Let us not become weary in doing what is good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people. Galatians 6:9

We get to choose and help write the headlines of our lives. Maybe we can't create world peace overnight, but we can choose to serve and love our neighbors. We can make a choice to do the next right thing. And little by little, we create change. 

Officer Hopps from Walt Disney's new movie Zootopia said it best in her final graduation speech, "When I was a kid I thought Zooptopia was this perfect place. Where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out real life is a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what type of animal you are. From the biggest elephant to our first fox - I implore you, try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside of yourself and recognize that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us."

Yes, it starts with us. In Ghandi's famous pinned words, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." There's no accident that you and I are here in this time in history.  Let's do our part. 

xoxo
Jes

P.S. So your neighbor is a jerk? Be kind today. Yes, it may hurt, but try. Cookies, flowers, something to begin a change of kindness. Look around your world. What can you do today to make a difference?

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22: 36-39

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. All over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." Colossians 3:12-15a