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What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve
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The importance of self motivation and inspiration

What do dirty underwear and inspiration have in common?

This weekend we worked on re-doing our laundry room.  It's not really a room. It's more like a tiny passageway between the house and the garage where the appliances sit. But I was intent on changing it. Before yesterday it was a few feet of space big enough to hold a washer, dryer and ironing board and had eggshell colored walls that had plenty of smudges on them. 

The walls and baseboards are freshly painted, in brand new colors. I don't know what my laundry walls are going to say, but it will be something that moves me and my family toward the new season that God has for us.

I am firmly against painting it and putting up a little sign from a craft store or Cracker Barrel that says something like "Soap 5 Cents" or "The maid is off today...do your own laundry."  No offense to all those of you who have something like that in your laundry room but it doesn't speak anything to me. Frivolity is not my strong suit.

I crave the motivational. 

I know it's a place to take dirty underwear. And socks. And various other dirty things. But just because we wash clothes there does it have to be meaningless?

I want to be inspired even when I do the many loads of laundry that I do each week. 

The great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."

I want every space in my surroundings to speak something to me when I'm in it. In our master bathroom we have wood carved cut out words that sit high up on the plant shelves. I chose them because they speak something to me as soak there every day as I start my day or end it. 

One day Savanna was taking a bath in there and called out to me:
 Mom, why is there a sign in here telling me to "escape"?  
 It's okay dear, it's just encouraging you to let your mind escape from the cares of the day.  I don't want you to run away or anything.

Thanks for clearing that up, Mom...
 
Getting a Pinterest account really motivated me to start doing more projects at home. I haven't seen anything like the project I'm working on now as far as a motivational laundry room but all of the creative genius on Pinterest just got my mind flowing in this direction. It's one of the best if not the best "idea" site I've ever seen. 

Most if not all of the laundry rooms I've seen in Pinterest are structured for optimal function and organization and I do understand that, but motivation and inspiration are really important to me too.

Life is a precious gift, but it's also really hard at times. I'm convinced that in order to move forward, human beings have to motivate themselves daily. It's not just a matter of having others motivate you for you will never have enough of that to thrive. No one will ever give you enough of what you truly need. No one but God, that is.

The Bible tells us in II Samuel 30:6 that "...David encouraged himself in the LORD his God."

There are times you have to lay hands on your own head.
Times you have to anoint yourself.
Times you have to pray through on your own.
Times you have to provide your own motivation.

 I find that even when others encourage me it always helps to have the extra doses of such from myself.  Nobody ever has too much of this.

Even as we wash our dirty clothes, we will be inspired.

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Grace said…
Love Pintrest, too, Deanna! Hope you post some pics when your project is finished.
9:36 AM
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