This is a rewind post from last fall that had a lot of response and is a great reminder for young ladies. You may also, dig: Dang, It’s Valentine’s Day Weekend! What Every Single Person Should Know.

Young lady friends, many of you are back at school or work for two main reasons: 1. You have to be. 2. Guys.   With all the new digs and such and all the pressure to be like everyone else, you may be tempted to sell out and blend in.  Let me share with you what it was that first made me attracted to my wife back in the day.  Maybe this will be helpful for you.  Yes, she was extremely good looking and is more so every day.  Yes, she is way out of my league.  Still, that’s really not what made me fall for her for good.   Soon I’ll write about why I still love her today.  Here is a list of seven things that made me fall for her back then:

1. She feared God, not people. By this, I don’t mean that she looked for dark alleys to walk down (she’s tough and all, but she still avoids the dark alleys…)  What I do mean is that her standards were not determined by others.  Others change, just like trends, seasons and pop culture.  God doesn’t.  So, I knew her standards wouldn’t change when it was no longer convenient for her.  Her respect of God gave me the ultimate respect of well, her.  How about you?  So who do you fear the most?
2. Ultimately, her faith was not in me.  Wow, did this take the pressure off!  As much as I had things going for me in college (joke…cough….joke), I was bound to mess up and disappoint her. Actually, within a few weeks of dating, I seemed to accomplish this.  I totally disappointed her.  But she trusted God through it!  If our relationship was built off of faith in me and my abilities, what would happen when I have an off day?  The results would not be pretty.  Don’t put your faith in guys; we will totally let you down!
3. She was hard working and didn’t sit around dragging through each day, every day.  She had ambition for family, success in life and relationships.  If I wasn’t around for a few days, she was cool.  Her identity wasn’t built around me.  Great, this took the pressure off!  Check.  Work hard, but don’t try too hard.  Big difference.
4. She was respectful and modest.  She left things a mystery, if that makes sense…  This was way more attractive to a young dude than someone who had zero modesty, which is something guys really don’t respect all that much.  Give respect, get respect.
5. She loved her dad. I noticed the way she reacted and loved her father.  If she would treat me with half that much respect some day, I was in!  Love your dad, and if he wasn’t that great of a dad, try to forgive him.
6. Her inner beauty made her more beautiful all together. She was certainly beautiful on the outside, but it was her compassion, her gentleness and her love for other people that made her truly beautiful.  She showed her faith by her actions and I liked that a lot! Be beautiful on the inside, this is what matters most.
7. Her friends were uplifting to her and other people. Her friends were fun to be around and still are to this day.  Birds of a feather flock together, right?  So, if your friends bring you down and no one else wants to hang out with them, you may consider the value of their friendships. Ditch the crows yo, you are created to be unique!

Can any one relate?  What makes it so hard for young ladies to be themselves? Please share. My little girl is only two, but I’m taking notes now!

ref·use/ˈrefˌyo͞os/ Noun: Matter thrown away or rejected as worthless; trash.

You are nothing. You will never amount to anything. You are insignificant and you don’t matter.

Ever heard these words? Maybe when you were young? Perhaps from someone in authority over your life?

The truth is, many of us believe lies about who we are and who we will be. Culture calls it negative self-talk; I’ll call it what it is: a lie.

You are not a stat.  Not a number.  You are not a mistake.  You’re not refuse.

You are something. You will amount to something.   You are significant.  You do matter.  Not because you are perfect.   Not because you’ve got all the answers.  Not because you try hard enough.  Truly, not even because of you.  Only for one reason.

What do you think that reason is? Love to hear a quick thought in the comments… Who knows, you make help someone see themselves for who they truly are made to be.

This was one of my first blog posts ever:

Here are a few things I am hearing these days, maybe you can relate….

Use your gifts

Change the world with them

Change families

Change and encourage an existing revolution

Inspire and give hope

Lift up spirits

Help people see with a new perspective

Encourage the hopeless

Feed the poor

Help the sick

Cloth those without clothes

Connect the passionate

Empower the bold

Pull people together

Help them see the big picture

Be my voice to the world

Tell a story that is magical

Empower young spirits

Is this what you would have me do God?

Yep, Feed the hungry

Bless those who will never bless you back

Love those who don’t love you yet

Speak to those who speak different languages, they’ll get it anyway

Father the fatherless

Give hope to the hopeless

Feed the hungry

Bless the poor in spirit

Write

Encourage

Be bold

Dream for others who don’t yet have their own dreams

What are you hearing?? Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…

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This showed up on our front porch the other day!

Thoughts? Love to hear them in the comments?

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

Everything has a price. If you don’t believe me, read the newspaper or talk to the CEO that loses his 35 year marriage, but wins the stockholders for six weeks.

How much of your family are you willing to give up for success?  How much of your faith are you willing to put on the back-burner for your next promotion?  How many friendships are you willing to let go to hold onto that addiction?  How many years of joy will you let pass by to cling tightly to unforgiveness?  How much freedom are you giving up to sign that new note?  Seriously, how much?

I (for one) have made a lot of dumb decisions in life.  Forgiveness is but a breath away, but in my experience there is always a price to pay…  Do you believe everything has a price?  Why or why not?  LOVE to hear your thoughts in the comments…

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

I’ve had a lot of cool people message me over the last several weeks asking why I haven’t been blogging lately. I’ve had a lot of people that probably never noticed too!   One friend said she was working on her marriage with her husband as a result of this post and would love to see some fresh content.   Tons of others have sent notes that have meant a lot!  In case, you are just dying to know, here are a few reasons I’ve been on a break…

Change is good. Man, you’ve got to mix it up in life. You’ve got to break things up a bit and keep life fresh. This doesn’t mean you ditch your responsibilities, but it does mean you use good judgement.  If you are in a rut, do something different!

New babies are important. They are not babies very long.  In the last 10 weeks, I’ve seen our new baby go from 6 pounds dripping wet to a chunky little monkey!  She’s just learned to laugh this week and thinks it is really funny when I walk in at 5am to say hi.  AHHH!  Her name is Molly and she is cool. Her 3 yo sister thinks so as well.

I am a spiritual person. My faith is pretty important to me.  When things get busy, you can’t let your faith get put on the back-burner.  You have to say no to the right things at the right time, so you can say yes to the right things.

My marriage is growing. I’m the most imperfect husband in the world.  Seriously, if you were a fly on the wall in the Missildine house you would realize what a jake-leg I can be (some of you already know…).  If you marriage is like mine, imperfect, then you should celebrate.  You have room to grow.  You too have room to grow. You may need to put something that is #1 or #2 priority as a #3 or #4 for awhile.  Do it before life does it for you.

The Yankees were up to bat. I’m a Ranger playoff fan like everyone else, hah.  I wrote this post during game 4 of the ALCS.  Boo Stankees!

My church is growing and I’m committed to it. Lots of people, lots of change, lots of needs.  All the time.  Thee is nothing I would rather be doing with my life right now.  No cause, no line of work.  I’ve seen hundreds of people’s lives changed, marriages restored, sicknesses healed, stomaches filled, addictions broken.  Oh, I could go on!

I’m fragile like you. A lot of people look to leaders and think they are invisible or incapable of short-comings.  As Bart Simpson would say, “Ah contraire mon frare,” meaning “to the contrary.” We all put our pant legs on one at a time.

I’m doing some different kind of writing. Working on a writing project right now.  Blogging takes a ton of mental energy and sometimes you just get worn out.  Writing almost daily for 9 months will take a toll over time.

So why do you blog or not blog??  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…

So if you dropped by for the first time, thanks for dropping by.  If you are a subscriber, I hope you’ve enjoyed the break from your RSS feed or email updates!  Whoever you are, maybe the next time you hit up TheWayItCouldBe.com I’ll have some fresh, live content kicking again! Or maybe not….ha. – Chad

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.