Lessons from my Fathers Life-Part 1

As I reflect back on my Fathers short life, I marvel at how amazing he lived His life. Dad lived a simple life, yet a life that was full of purpose, meaning, intent and significance. I want to share some of the things that I have learnt from my Fathers life. I hope you are encourage, inspired and challenged to live a life that counts. A life that really makes a difference.

You cannot produce success without time and being planted

Dad making his yummy Orange Juice

My Dad loved his garden…maybe it was the Greek in him. I rarely remember a afternoon where I didn’t see my Dad pottering around the backyard, pruning and watering his orange tree, checking to see how his mangoes were growing and caring for his vegie patch. I am amazed at how incredible the fruit and vegies were that Dad grew. Dad would always be so proud of his “fruit of his labour” and it was always so delicious. There was nothing better than fresh veggies for dinner, freshly squeeze orange juice every afternoon straight from the tree.

…So whats this got to do with life you are saying? Well a lot actually! If we are to “produce” quality lives we must commit to two things

Be planted ( decide what you want and commit to it)

If we don’t plant ourselves in something we can never grow. You cannot be a brilliant athlete if you are planted on the couch rather than the gym. You cannot be a brilliant musician if you are not planted in music class. What you aspire to be brilliant at, you must plant yourself in a environment where you can flourish.

It was not possible for us to have fresh vegetables and amazing mango and oranges each season without Dad ensuring the plants stayed where they were planted. When Dad planted those trees and after a year of not seeing any fruit, did Dad uproot them and thing “If I move them to another spot maybe they will grow”,No. Dad knew that the trees had to be planted before they produced. Its the same with us. If we are to get good at something we must commit to being planted and stick at it before we will succeed.

Be immovable ( no matter how long )

If you are going to succeed you have to make a decision to be immovable. No matter what the season is in your life. When the hard times come, challenging moment, disappointments and failures come…stay where you are. I remember when Dad first planted his Mango tree. Many people said to Dad there was no way he would get fruit on the tree. We do not live in tropical Queensland Australia,where Mangos are abundant. But we would watch Dad, year after year, prune his tree, water his tree and leave the tree where it was…seven years later we saw a tiny mango appear. If that Mango tree got jack of not producing in its sixth year and decided to uproot itself it would never have seen its fruit.

What are you waiting for in your life? Don’t miss out on your fruit but getting impatient. Wait, resolve to be immovable

Capsicum from Dad's Garden

What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for? What will it take for you to “JUST DO IT” ( as Nike would say).

Life is too short to sit around and not fulfill our potential. Life is too short to think “what if; Oh I cant; But what if it doesn’t work.

If you are waiting for a sign ….Here it is!

When it rain…it pours!

 

Does it seem that everything is going wrong right now? Each day you look forward to a new start, a new beginning but before the day ends something else has happened. You hear of another tragedy, another loss, another disappointment.

It may be you didn’t get the job you applied for, your bank balance is in the red and your relationship is not going as you planned. Perhaps someone died, your friend has cancer or your partner has left you…no matter how big or small your crisis is it is still overwhelming and creates the desire in you to run away and hid somewhere.

Can you relate? Perhaps your life right now is going great, but sometime down the track life gets too much and you are screaming “TIME OUT!!!!”.

I have felt like this lately. A combination of moving to a new city and trying to make new friends, getting a call in the middle of the night to say my Father has died unexpectantly, hearing the news that a friend has cancer…again. Hearing a friend is going through a major crisis and hearing a friend is getting a divorce. Then its trying to deal with the reality of missing my Dad, trying to find somewhere to live and wondering if I will ever meet a guy to do life with…and it continues.

Life is overwhelming at times, its enough to want to scream, cry and yell “ ITS NOT FAIR”

BUT…you know what I have learnt? There is a reason to be grateful, there is a reason to be thankful and there is a reason to smile. Actually there is more than just ‘a’ reason..there are many.

This is what I know to be true. All of my life, In every season there is a reason to sing there is a reason to smile.

It is a choice to do this, especially where you have justifiable reasons to not. My being grateful and thankful does not mean the bad things are not going on, but it’s acknowledging  that despite them I make the choice to smile toward the future anyway.

There are plenty of great things to be thankful for amongst my crappy moment . I have started a my dream. I am meeting new people everyday as I being a life in a new city.I am watching as my friends get married and have babies. I see people loving and caring for my family as we navigate our loss, the sun rose this morning and I have a heart beat….there are endless things to be thankful for.

So whatever crisis you find yourself it and when it all just seems like the shit has hit the fan ( because sometimes that is the only way to explain it). Stop, Pause, Breath, and Think about something you can be grateful for.

Your future is too important for you to get stuck in this crappy moment. I believe you can walk through this season with your head high and with a resilience to face whatever comes your way and still be able to stand, smile and look forward to the future.

 

Persistance

The Persistent Spider…

“Incy wincey spider climbed up the water spout,

Down came the rain and washed poor wincey out.

Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain.

 So Insy wincey spider climbed up the spout again.”

I was reminded of this nursery rhyme recently. You see I have a spider who has decided to take up residency on my car mirror. Every morning when I get in my car a big Webb has formed across the mirror. Every morning I pull it down, but the next morning the Webb returns.

I have tried everything to persuade this spider to move on and find a home elsewhere, despite pulling the Webb down each morning  the spider has yet to get my hint!..This little spider is adamant this is where he wants his home, and nothing I do will stop him from staying there (much to my frustration!) Each day I find another Webb and each day it is bigger, stronger than the one before. The more I try to tear down its Webb the stronger he seems to build.

I can’t help but learn a great lesson from this persistent spider.

So often we start of in our dreams so full of confidence, self belief and passion. Along the way we somehow get disheartened. People’s words, actions tear away at us. The unexpected or unplanned happens and rather than taking ten steps forward we find ourselves going backwards.

Take heart my friend, this little spider who is determined to live in my car mirror will not allow my “tearing down” of his home, to stop him build what he wants. We need to be the same. Resolve today that no matter how many setbacks, disappointments or “failures” you face. That you keep on building. Continue to build the dream in your heart. Continue to build so that when the rain comes, the storm and hard times you will be strong, full of courage to continue to build the dream you have started no matter what challenge or obstacle you face.