I have been blessed with four sisters. I have one sister who is a year older than me. She has beautiful curly hair, and is one of the kindest and most compassionate people anyone could ever meet. She loves with her whole heart and she is a great mom and wife. She was also my protector growing up. I cannot begin to tell you about the love she showed me. We may have fought with each other, but no one was going to pick on me when she was around. I am so incredibly thankful for her. Then I have my youngest sister, who I didn’t get to grow up with, but I have been able to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady. She is smart, kind, talented, and I am so proud of who she is becoming. My other sisters are the two I spent most of my formative years with. We played together, fought with each other and had a lot of fun together. Of the three of us I am the oldest, so I know I did my fair share of bossing them around and treating them like little kids, inferior to their big sister. Looking back on those memories shows me how much we have grown. I try to use those moments in teaching my own children how to be better to each other than I was to my own sisters. I’ve grown a lot, learned a lot and have experienced much life since then. I am changed for the better I think, but I digress. My sisters are beautiful smart women. They are talented beyond measure and I am so completely in awe when they do what they do best. One is a hair stylist and she is amazing. She listens to her customer’s stories, she has great conversations and she does amazing things with hair. She may not see this as art, but I do. She is beautiful and I am often in awe of how well she pulls off colored hair and her ability to actually apply makeup. I am a mascara and chapstick kind of girl, but I know a lady who can make me fancy if I need it and that is all that matters. In addition, she is also a boy mom and we share many similar experiences, and sometimes reach out to each other for advice. I am thankful for our differences because it allows us to look at things from different perspectives. On top of all that she also loves with her whole heart. She leaves no one behind and she loves so much she feels what other people are going through. I had a conversation with her recently and reminded her to take it to Jesus, because His capacity to carry the hurt is much larger than hers. I think we all need to be reminded of that from time to time. This leads me to my other sister, my baby sister. There are ten years between us and I have always been so proud of being her big sister. She has grown into a beautiful woman, and she is so amazingly talented. She can make jewelry, art and she has an eye for seeing what something can be, instead of what it is. She is smart and funny, and she is a musician. In my mind there is nothing she cannot do. I’m sure she would disagree. I think many of us have that problem, others can see our talent and abilities, but we often cannot. She blows me away and I am so filled with joy when I see something she has done. Oh! She also takes amazing pictures. Not only is she beautiful, she has an eye for nature and beauty. She also has a big heart and believes everyone should be kind, and treat people with dignity and love. I am so proud of all of my sisters. They are amazing women. I often wish I had been a better, more inspiring big sister, and maybe by sharing these life lessons I can still inspire them and others to see themselves as the beautiful, remarkable, and talented women they are, who inspire me to be better today than I was yesterday.

Life Lessons:

1. All people are broken.

We live in a world full of broken people. We cannot fix other people, and other people cannot fix the brokenness in us. We can love each other and encourage each other, but we each have to choose a better way. I just listened to an audio book about loving difficult people. It reminded me to love difficult people because I am one of those difficult people. Our brokenness is often evident in the way we react to others or treat others.

2. You need Jesus

He is our only hope. He came to this world as a baby. As a man He spoke words of love and life to all who would listen. He met people where they were, in their brokenness, in their sin, in their selfishness, and He showed them a better way. He taught how to truly love. He showed us how serving others was more important than being served. He went to the cross and died for our sins. He took our sin upon Himself and crucified it on the cross. When you choose Him, you choose this truth. You die to the old life of living in sin and shame, and are brought into a new life of learning to love others as He loves you. He was resurrected on the third day. His resurrection is the truth of new life, and we each have a new life in Him. It is ours to choose, but it is not a choice to be taken lightly. It is serious and it means to deny yourself and what you want and choose to serve others, overlooking the brokenness and just showing them love.

3. Happiness is not what you need.

We live in a world where everyone is seeking to be happy. They buy things and surround themselves with people to make them happy. What you truly need is joy, not happiness. Joy is only found when you can be thankful in the middle of your biggest mess or heart break. I do not believe joy is even possible without Jesus (re read number two, it will change your life). Happiness is based on haves and have nots. Joy is a change of perspective, a change in your heart, where gratitude is possible regardless of the external factors in your life.

4. Comparison is futile.

Do not spend time comparing yourself to others. There will always be someone who has it better than you and someone who has it worse. DO NOT COMPARE. You are unique, there is no one like you so comparison is impossible. Instead of getting wrapped up in the lie of comparison, be happy for the people who have it better, and do something nice for those who have it worse.  It is hard to be envious or jealous when you become someone’s cheerleader. And it is hard to look down on others when you do something to help them up.  Also, remember how I talked about our brokenness. If social media looks a little too perfect, it is likely a big ole broken mess underneath it all, pray for that person, don’t make useless derogatory comments. Show some love. Sometimes people put it all out there because they desperately need that ‘like’ or comment to make them feel special or loved or important. Be the one who helps make them feel loved.

5. Avoid negative people.

This is not always possible, but if you cannot be the positive influence around the negative person, avoid them like the plague. They will only cause you to be negative. If people in your social media feed are negative, mean, derogatory or make you feel the need to be those things, UNFOLLOW THEM. Find you someone inspiring, who maybe doesn’t always have sunshine and rainbows, but they speak truth and love. The ones who tell you life isn’t always grand, but it is still beautiful and full of hope. Follow those people. If your circle of friends is negative, find a new circle, or have an intervention. Maybe they don’t realize their negativity and its ramification. If you are the negative one, you need to change. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

6. Love without limits.

Just love people. Our world is saturated with hate and self-love, but there is so little loving-others love. Be the person who loves others, not the person who needs to feel loved to express love, but the one who loves even when they feel no love. This is truly an art. You will be amazed at how much joy can be found in loving others without any expectations. Don’t put conditions or limits on your love. Love is the most important and most needed expression in our world.

7. Be inspired.

Read books and watch movies with inspirational content. Earlier I talked about not comparing, I truly meant it. Find people who inspire you instead. Don’t compare yourself to them, allow yourself to be inspired by them. Seek to inspire others. Start a movement of helping people feel inspired and passionate about life and all the possibilities. Outside of the Bible, which has amazing inspirational accounts of how God used ordinary everyday people in spite of their lack of qualifications or bad choices to do great and wonderful things, there are a couple of books I’ve read recently oozing with inspiration. Bob Goff has written two books, “Love Does” and “Everybody Always”, both inspirational and full of practical wisdom. There is also Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts”, which reminds us of all the little things to be thankful for and inspires you to make your own list of a thousand gifts. Laura Hillenbrand wrote a book called “Unbroken” based on the true life story of Louie Zamperini. He lived a life of adventure and overcame some really difficult circumstances. You will not be disappointed with any of these options. Live your life full of passion and love and inspiration. You will not regret it.

I leave you with these words from 1 Corinthians 13:

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.