The Christmas season fast approaches and many of us have begun our yearly ritual of shopping, decorating and generally being very, very busy! Our businesses drive to the end of the year, we contemplate the ending of one year and the beginning of another, we find ourselves – for better or worse – with family. My Christmas wish this year is for all of us to slow down a bit. Instead of stepping in the raging current called the holiday season and being swept along, my hope is that we’ll all slow down and pause over this incredible season rich with meaning. Let’s think about what the season truly means to us and how we want to choose to celebrate that meaning.

During the Christmas season, we are all very busy! But are we focusing on what really matters? Does the season boil down to getting the prized gaming console, having the perfectly decorated Christmas tree, getting those Christmas cards out the door before Valentine’s Day, throwing a great party, having the best light display?

Probably not!

So what does this season mean for us? I’m thinking back to a favorite Christmas show, “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” for some guidance. Let’s see what wisdom Linus, the blanky carrying philosopher has to tell us about the meaning of Christmas.

I imagine if Linus was standing beside me right now (wait, is that a kid with a blanket over there?) he’d have at least three things he’d want us to know about the holiday season.

First, several religious celebrations occur in December and even if you don’t follow a particular religion, it’s pretty difficult to not get caught up in the holiday season to some extent. This year I’m going to slow down and think about the true meaning of the religious holiday I celebrate, Christmas. For me, it is about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! And I encourage you to do the same. Take time to find your center, that rock you stand upon to be the courageous, empowered, giving, loving person you are in the world. By nurturing our core we strengthen ourselves for all of the challenges, disappointments and successes to come.

Second, you might also recall that right after Linus shares his understanding of the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown takes his little tree out to a field and with the help of his friends, they decorate the tree, hold hands and sing. The holiday season is a time to be in community. For some of us that means the family we were lucky enough to be born into. For others community can mean the family we were lucky enough to create for ourselves. Find your community, create it if you need to, but do have a community of people you care about and who care about you to remember the season together.

Finally, Charlie didn’t buy the biggest, most audacious tree in the lot. Instead, he leaned down to pick up a throw away, a tree that no one wanted. While it may seem that the season is all about getting (and I love a good Christmas present as much as anyone else), we all know that the season has much more to do with giving. Not the stuff we have loads of fun exchanging with each other, but giving our care, our love, and our helping hands.
Even if you love to stack the presents high around the tree, let’s all challenge ourselves to find someone who can use our help, our care. Reach out to someone this Christmas who won’t be able to give back anything but thanks. There are plenty of places to give, but here is a short list of my favorites:

American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, anything that will support our troops, American Heart Association, Mission India and many others.

So this holiday season may we all make time to pause, remember the reason for the season, enjoy our unique version of family and celebrate the season by giving.

From my family to yours, Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing you God’s blessings in abundance,

Sharon

I’m not here today to make a call for your involvement. I know I am preaching to the choir on this subject! I think we can safely say that’s a given. We are all involved in life – through family, work and community.  Today I want to think with you about how we as individuals, no matter how involved we are, can increase both the intensity of our involvement and our ability to make a difference in this country. When I think of involvement I think of four key elements:  Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit.  Let’s look at each of those.

Heart.

To truly make a difference we have to be fully engaged with our hearts.  We have to care.  To care deeply.  Which often leads us to be emotionally engaged and passionate about our causes.  That passion, however, needs to be balanced with an open heart.  My passion drives me forward and my open heart allows me to continue to listen with compassion and see opportunities for connections and for making a difference.

Driving passion without an open heart is a bull in a china shop.  Driving passion with an open heart transforms the world.  Never pass up an opportunity to touch a heart!

Mind,

Whenever we hope to make a difference I think you will agree with me that we have to be fully engaged with our minds.  Without Heart, however, our intellectual engagement can turn into endless debate.  Have you ever noticed how a debate never really changes things?  Both sides argue with passion and entrench even deeper into their opinion and nothing changes.  A critical component to effective change, to really making a difference, is a lesson I learned quickly in business — change requires dialogue.  I can’t go to a customer and simply debate with them about the engineering parameters of a project.  We have to sit down together in a dialogue to understand each other and be willing to make shifts that will keep the project moving forward while enhancing both the quality of the work and the level of safety on the job.

To make a difference we have to engage the mind and the heart together.

Body

As I said at the beginning, I’m preaching to the choir here — right?  And we all know the toll it can take to be passionate, open hearted, intellectually curious, to be fully engaged and making a difference in the world.  It takes energy to sustain that kind of engagement!   Let’s face it.  Staying on our “A” game day in and day out, making a difference in all that we do, takes its toll on us, our health and even our families.

So how can we keep our energy up when we’re pulled this way and that, day in and day out by the causes that fuel our passion?

To stay involved over the long haul means we have to take care of ourselves.  How many here believe that how we take care of ourselves, how much sleep we get, what foods we put into our bodies, how often we exercise, impacts our ability to be involved and make a difference?

Okay, truth time.  How many of us are satisfied with how we’re taking care of ourselves, sleeping to feel rested, eating to feel energized and exercising to feel fit?

It’s a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it.  The more involved we become the more difficult it is to take care of ourselves.  And yet, it’s part of the job.

If you want to be engaged and make a difference — and live to tell about it! — You have to take time for yourself.

Spirit

I’ve left the most important element for last.  We can be fully engaged Heart, Mind and Body and yet, if we lose sight of the spiritual, that which centers us, if we lose sight of God, then all is for naught.  If you’ve ever skied or played golf or tennis or practiced yoga, you know the physical sensation of being centered and how all of your power comes from that centered place in your body.  In the same way, to be centered spiritually and then engage the world from that centered place gives you tremendous power to make a difference.  And when I say tremendous, I’m talking about multiplying your capability many, many times over.

Whatever your religious beliefs or spiritual practices, by finding that grounded center you will multiply your effectiveness as an agent of change many times over.

So, I want to leave you with this challenge.  Step back and reflect on your engagement.  Think about how you engage, Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit  and then commit to yourself to make one meaningful change that will make you an even stronger, more powerful, fully engaged person who makes a difference.

Go Forth Great Servant and make an impact!

Until next time!

God’s blessings,

Sharon

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….

…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

Two hundred thirty four years ago a band of brothers came together in the muggy summer heat of Philadelphia to stand up for the rights of a group of colonies in the face of the most powerful force in the world at the time — the British government.  Their courage to be willing to sacrifice their wealth, their liberty and their lives set our nation on a path to independence from England, but also planted the seeds in the American psyche that our cause, our purpose as a nation is for the establishment and protection of freedom in the world.  Courageous men and women have been standing up for independence and freedom from the hills of Concorde and Lexington, where the first shots of the  Revolutionary War were fired, all the way to the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq today.  As we all know, our freedom does not come without sacrifice. 

This month as we join together, a diverse, but united American people, let’s remember the young men and women sacrificing everything for us and the many professionals who put their lives on the line every day to make our communities safe.  Take a moment to thank someone in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, National Reserve, Firefighters, Police Officers, and Emergency Personnel.  And while you’re at it, thank yourself for all the times you have participated in democratic process that gives voice to our freedom.  Together we make this nation great.

And while we embrace that sacrifice, we also celebrate our liberty — a truly unique and glorious expression of human equality and unalienable rights of a free people.  Independence Day is a time of celebration — barbecue, parades, picnics, fairs, speeches, concerts, baseball and fireworks.  So let’s get out there and party!

Have a Happy and Safe Independence Day!

Sharon

As we move into May I want to take a moment to honor a group of dedicated, loving, giving, nurturing people — Moms.  None of us would be here without them! When we think of motherhood we often think of child birth.  However, as all you Moms out there already know, the work of a mother only begins with the birth of a child.  All across this planet mothers maintain homes (even when a structure called a “house” doesn’t exist), kiss hurts, listen to fears, thoughts and dreams, hold us in their arms even if we’re thousands of miles away, keep us in their prayers and raise us up with their love.

Of course, Mom’s are human.  Like anyone else they struggle and sometimes falter under whatever burden life may hold.  However, I think we can all learn from motherhood at its best.   A mother’s love:

Knows no bounds. Mom’s love us even when we’ve made mistakes or fail.  That primal connection of love between a mother and a child cannot be easily broken.

Is fierce. You can see the ferocity of motherhood in the natural world as a mother bird will fight to the death for her chicks.  Likewise human mothers have a ferocity of heart deep within that perseveres in the face of great hardship and protects to the very end.

Always hopes for the best. While we might not always agree with Mom’s desires, her intentions always lean to the good.  Imagine a world where each of us sincerely had only the best intentions in our relationships and interactions with others.

Listens to our hearts. Some people say Moms have eyes in the back of their heads!  Why?  Because that love comes from a deep, primal connection with her children.  She can hear not only the words in the present, but the context of those words in that child’s entire life.

Is Patient. Nine months is a long time to await a glorious coming out party!  Mother’s learn patience from the beginning with pregnancy and then as they experience the challenges as their child develops.

The Apostle Paul, in describing love, offered what I think is one of the best descriptions of the ideal of a Mother’s love.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 (New International Version)

Whether you are a woman or a man, a mother or not, let’s take the month of May to do two important things.

1. Consider how each of us can bring the attributes of love into our daily living.  How will you be a more loving, caring person going forward?
2. Let’s give thanks for these wonderful, awesome ladies who have given us so much.

Have a great May filled with love,

Sharon McGee

Rejoice ~He is Risen!

Embrace Life & Celebrate Change

Jesus is risen from the grave!  The disciples of Jesus, from the moment they realized He was alive, entered a new season of life with opportunities and new challenges.

Like the early Christians, we sometimes find ourselves thrust by circumstances into a new season.  And also like the disciples, we may find it a frightening experience.  But changes are necessary to make way for new opportunities.

If Jesus did not die, we could not be forgiven.  If He did not rise again, we could not have new life.  If He did not ascend into Heaven, the Holy Spirit could not come.

This change brought new opportunities. In our lives, changes can be gradual or happen instantly. This season we celebrate the Risen Savior and how His resurrection changed the world forever.

Celebrate change!  As you face the twists and turns in life, stop resisting them.  In fact, embrace life through all its changes and embrace the new opportunities that follow.

May your heart be touched and your life be changed.

Jesus is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!

Wishing you a very Happy and Joyous Easter Season,

Sharon