I'll bet you thought this post was going to be about Jimmer

Well, the whole nation seems to be consumed with Jimmer-mania. And admittedly, we've been a little obsessed at our home too.

But truthfully, my thoughts this morning have been completely consumed by one thing. And it's not basketball or how incredibly well my Cougars have been playing. Nope, not Jimmer. Just one thing. It's kind of a big thing. An important thing.

But here's the deal. I don't know what the thing is.

I'm obsessed with it. Ponder about it. Spend mornings and late into the night thinking about it. But I still don't know what it is.

In two weeks, it will be Ward Conference. I have to speak. And I have no idea what I'm going to talk about.

There. Now you know.

I guess it's not really fair to say, I have no idea. That's not really the trouble. It's that I have a multitude of ideas. Really good ideas. Unfortunately, these really good ideas have yet to come together in any kind of cohesive plan. Just scattered principles as if tossed about on the wind.

Guess I could give twelve two-minute talks. Yeah, that would be great.

Maybe I should just tell stories about Jimmer. :-)

Spending Time with My Own Thoughts

So a couple of months ago, I bought a used car. The stereo had been stolen out of it. The guy who sold it to me had purchased a replacement stereo but had not installed it yet. Of course, the wiring job required to install it turned out to be more complicated than expected. As a result, I've been driving my car for a couple of months with no stereo.

My commute is about 20 minutes or so. At first, it seemed sooo boring. I experimented with listening to my iPod, but something seems unsafe about having headphones in while driving. And I think it might be illegal.

Anyway, my point is, I've been spending more time in quiet solitude. And it's kind of nice. Just me and my thoughts. We have conversations. Sometimes those conversations turn into prayers. Sometimes they turn into plans. Sometimes they turn into creativity and sometimes we just quietly coexist not really needing to say anything at all.

It turns out, I would highly recommend it. Give it a try the next time you're heading somewhere in the car alone. Turn everything off. And spend some time with your own thoughts. You might like it too. :-)

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"We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship." –C.S. Lewis

Small Victories in Perspective

So, at the beginning of 2007, I was inspired by a phrase sent to me in an email from my mother. It was, "To succeed at what is easy is a small victory."

That inspiring phrase drove me to consider a return to college at 39 years old. I earned my MBA in two years while hardly pausing to take a breath. It was a difficult, exciting, time-consuming, enlightening, frustrating, friendship-building, confidence-testing, and at-times-tedious experience. When I walked across that stage and was handed my diploma, I felt that I had indeed won a meaningful victory.

It is now 4 years later. Life is as busy as ever. My kids are growing up so fast. My schedule is loaded.

As I reflect on that phrase that inspired me to take on as something as daunting as a graduate degree, I find a completely different motivation in my life.

I find that today, I'm longing for small victories. I recognize now more than ever before that the small daily battles are the pivot points around which our entire lives revolve. Small victories. Everyday victories. The little choices that make the big differences. The moments in which we define ourselves ... and our lives.

May you have a year of small victories.