Success = ABC

Our family had a great discussion based on the article in our church magazine titled, Living The Abundant Life (click on title for link). The essence of the article is using an ABC reminder to help us attain "a life filled with an abundance of success, goodness and blessings." My oldest was giving a presentation at her Young Women's meeting about setting and achieving goals in education, both school and music, last night, and we talked about how these ABC's apply to anything we are working on. The following are my thoughts after reading the article and discussing it with my family.

A = Attitude

This needs very little general explanation. For Heather, because she "hates school", she is only able to have a good attitude by focusing on the friends she goes to school with and a few of her fun teachers rather than focusing on the fact that school is pretty difficult for her and something she feels forced to do. If she has to go to school, she might as well enjoy her friends and the good fortune to get some great teachers now and then. Her personality allows her to be receptive to "looking on the bright side." Jenna is getting there.

B = Believe

In yourself, your goals and in being able to seek and find help whether secular or divine. Most of us are fortunate enough to have a great support system--family, friends, colleagues, etc.--and we can also pray for strength and help when needed. Heather knows from our reminders, and I often have to remind myself, not to listen to the voices that would tell us we are less than beautiful, intelligent, talented and worthy. We have to believe that and move forward.

C = Courage

We agreed that most goals that are worthwhile are hard. In fact, I'm still working on some that have seemed impossible. It takes courage to keep trying. If we don't have the courage to try, we might as well sit around and do nothing. My sweet girls each have their own issues with school right now, and we have a tenor of anxiety with school pretty much all the time. Sometimes there are tears, and sometimes I can read the stress through less visible manifestations. It breaks my heart because school can't be a walk in the park for them, but I am encouraged to use language that reminds my girls how strong they are as they work to overcome their challenges.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

~ Winston Churchill

We are loving the ABC reminder, and it pops into my head now with ease. It's good to remember what we're doing here as we navigate the day-to-day storms. Hope this is helpful to you too.