I ACCEPTED THE OFFER
Last week I was asked to be one of 5  live speakers for our company. My speaking topic to cover was “growth”. I was comfortable doing that until I learned that I’d be speaking in front of a very large number of people within the US and overseas. To make matters worse, the other speakers included the CEO and other higher-up executives within the company who speak for a living. Nonetheless, I accepted the offer, embraced my love for public speaking,  practiced like there was no tomorrow, and delivered. After the 1 hour live event, I didn’t feel so far down on the totem pole (although they all hold much higher positions than me). I felt like the mental distance my over-thinking placed between us had been eliminated and the 5 of us completed the mission as a team. As a family.

GROW, BUT GROW IN LOVE
During my research on GROWTH, I thought about OUR family a lot. More specifically how growth has brought us together in some ways and separated us in other ways. There’s no doubt in my mind that growth is an amazing thing. It takes us from one level in life to the next. It increases our understanding. It makes us bigger and better human beings.  It makes us better prepared for the unknown in this thing called life. Even the scriptures state that Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature” which was necessary.  But that’s only one side of growth that most people look at.

On the other side, you’ll find that growth can many times separate us. Especially in a relationship where one person is growing and the other one isn’t. In families, where one or two flourish, new opportunities sometimes lead them to other states or other countries. In an immature person, growth creates a prideful mind. Other times it can create a careless mind that leads to other bad habits and behaviors. We could go on and on about the good and dark sides of growth, but the point I’m trying to make here is this; no matter how much you grow as an individual, keep growing in LOVE. No matter how much we grow as a family. We HAVE to keep growing in LOVE. It’s THE ONLY thing that can shorten the distance between us. Mentally and Physically.

–Deek