Week 3 – You Matter More Than You Think

Ladies, if you haven’t picked up the book yet, please please please do…it is just really spot on with what so many of us women struggle with on a daily basis!!!

Let’s not waste any more time and get right on in to some really awesome “highlighter” moments.

Squashed Cabbage Leaves (Chapter 5)

I loved this quote at the beginning of Chapter 5, it says,

Page 59-60 – “Knowing and being known opens up a universe of self-understanding. For those who care to learn, relationships – especially mentoring relationships – teach us how we appear to others, what others perceive as unique or most valuable about us. In mentoring relationships, we discover ability and beauty in our lives. Why? Because it is often through the eyes of another that good qualities become most visible.”

I want to stop on this point for ONE minute (promise)…it is our responsibility as Sisters-in-Christ to hold each other accountable, to teach, train, love on, and mentor others. I truly believe we are called to BE mentored to and also to BE A mentor to someone else. I am currently mentoring three college aged girls, all of them are stinkin’ awesome chicks, but each is at a different stage in their life where they need someone to sit with, talk to, be held accountable to, and to be encouraged by. I am also in a mentoring relationship with someone in business, I am mentoring her in spirituality and she is mentoring me in business. It is absolutely awesome to be able to help others and be helped by others, strategically, and for His glory.

Page 61 – “Do you have a person who helps you see potential in you that you don’t always see in yourself? If so, you know the catalytic power this person has to help you see how much your life matters. And if you don’t, I urge you to be on the lookout for such a mentor. How do you do this? Let’s get practical. I suggest you make a list of people in your social sphere that you look up to and respect. List people who have traveled further down a particular road than you have – a road you’re eager to travel yourself. Next, order the names starting with the person you’d most like to have as a mentor. Then consider what you would like most in a relationship with this person. Be specific. Finally, and this is the tough part, ask this person to be your mentor.”

“The people who influence you are the people who believe in you.” ~ Henry Drummond

Page 65 – “Relationships, especially the mentoring type, help us discover how we are designed to make a difference, to reveal the love we were put on this planet to give.”

Ponder…
1) If you were going to choose a friend for a lifetime, what qualities would you look for? What friend is like a “sister” to you? Why?
2) What people in your life have seen and respected you as a “lady”, instead of a “flower girl”?

Dream Venti (Chapter 6)

Holy Moly Ladies…this is SO RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!! I love talking about passionately pursuing your dreams and this chapter had me cheering, applauding, and celebrating the entire time I read through it. Check out some of the good stuff I found in this chapter…

Page 69 – “Let’s talk about your dreams. If you could do what your heart wants to do what would it be?”

It is never too late to start dreaming!

Page 72 – “Now, I understand that almost all of us have regrets in the second half of life. We have opportunities we may have passed up, doors we closed too soon, poor choices that curtailed our options, or circumstances that were out of our control.
That’s life.
But does this mean we are forever walled off from dreaming big dreams?
I’m here to tell you that the eventual pain that results from not dreaming – for fear of being disappointed by an unrealized dream – will always (did you catch that ladies?) eclipse the pain of a dream that never comes true.”

Page 74 – “For, you see, it is in pursuing our dreams that we move from becoming a half – a person who is ‘waiting in the wings’ for something – to a whole. We become the person we were meant to be. We become confident about the future…and the power of our dreams. Why? Because a big dream almost always leads us to something good we would have never experienced without our dream.”

Page 75 – “What do you aspire to? What yearning and passion has God placed in your heart? What do you dream about?”

Ponder…
1) Where have I been?
2) Where am I now?
3) Where do I want to go?

Next week we will be meeting for Week #4 in which we will be discussing “Interlude, Sea Glass, and Band of Sisters”…can’t wait to see you back here next week, Wednesday 5/21/08.

Keep Reading and Dreaming Venti,