TGIF

July 26, 2019

TGIF is a weekly practice where I ask myself four questions and invite you to do the same. Here are four questions that accompany TGIF:

T: What am I trusting?

G: For whom or what am I grateful?

I: Whom or what is inspiring me?

F: How am I practicing faith?

Wholehearted

At the center of wholehearted leadrship is integration. These four simple questions give me a reason to pause, celebrate, and give thanks. Additionally, as I reflect on my week, I also find a leadership lesson in the midst of every day, ordinary life.

Trust

Who or what am I trusting?

I’m trusting a project I’ve been working on to help communicate CliftonStrengths in a visual way will one day get finished. I’m definitely in the home stretch with 21 images digitized. But, sheesh, it takes time! You can see a few of the images on this post about the Achiever talent theme. You’ll also find a couple of other talents on the post.

Gratitude

For whom or what am I grateful?

I mentioned Sarah Cray and Nicole Miyuki of Let’s Make Art in this post.  Part of what I adore about Let’s Make Art is the way they give back to the community. They’re what I’d call a purpose-driven business.

Every month they select two people that the LMA community sends a piece of art on a postcard. This month, I sent a postcard to Cheree and Rick. Their son, James, a veteran, committed suicide after battling from PTSD. In his honor, they’ve established a foundation to help raise awareness about PTSD.

I am grateful for Sarah and Nicole for “making are matter.” I am even more grateful for Cheree and Rick who have turned a tragedy into an opportunity to help others. Thank you!

BTW – LMA inspired us to do something similar through Transforming Mission. Find out more about “Share God’s Love with….” 

Inspiration

Who or what is inspiring me?

Can you see that tiny little van Gogh painting in the image below? No? That’s ok. Tim Bias shared a story on the Transforming Mission site about van Gogh this week that sent me on a journey of looking for van Gogh paintings. No, not the real ones. just a picture of a van Gogh painting.

When I searched in my favorite tool, Canva, for van Gogh, guess what came up? A bunch of vans…on the go.

You didn’t think it was possible to have a groaner for inspiration. Guess what? It is.

Because here’s the thing, it was only when I typed Vincent Van Gogh that his paintings came up. Identity is important. Van Gogh had trouble not only understanding who he was, but whose he was. That was inspiration enough for me to keep on going as a coach!

Faith

How am I practicing faith?

The week started off kind of crazy and a bit sideways for several of my closest friends. In the midst of attempting to find levity through cracking jokes about the full moon, one of them offered a much better perspective: The Psalms. She reminded me of the power of the Psalms. I’ve been praying the verses from Psalm 121:1-2 over my friends and the pastors in our district all week.

Sometimes on this crazy journey called life and leadership, all it takes is two verses of Scripture to remind you you’re not alone.

How about you? What’s your TGIF? Want a little extra help? Grab the TGIF Worksheets.