Loyalty is the ability to put others before ourselves and stick with them in good times and bad.

Building it:

Whether it be work, business, family, friendship, or a relationship, loyalty builds from specific characteristics. Just because someone is a friend, neighbor, or family member, does not mean they will be loyal. We show our loyalty by being honest, trustworthy, supportive, and generous. Being loyal means not becoming so familiar with someone or something that you begin to take them for granted or cross certain boundaries.

Maintaining it:

The quality of loyalness has been almost lost in our culture. We live in a very materialistic society, where being successful, having lots of money, has overpowered our feelings. For so many, loyalty has become nonexistent. So many today are not loyal to anyone, not even to themselves. To be a loyal person means first being loyal to ourselves. We need to be loyal to our beliefs, morals, needs, and responsibilities; we need to be loyal to God. When we are, we won’t give up these things for anything — ever!

Increasing it:

When we are loyal, it means we are respectful, we love and care for someone or something, we can be trusted. Are we loyal to God? Do we truly respect Him — reverence Him? Reverencing God means having an awesome dread of displeasing Him. We need firstly to be loyal to God, then to ourselves. Then we will be loyal to others.

Make the quality of loyalness something we strive to reflect each and every day.

Just a thought,

PSS

You Have a ‘Tude!

In a world where many things are seemingly out of our control, it is important to remember that there is one thing we are always in control of — our words. The words that create our thoughts, the words that tell our story, the stories we tell ourselves dictate the way we feel. The way we feel equals our attitude, and that is all under our control.

We control it:

There is not much we can control in our lives. We can’t control what anyone else does; we cannot control what someone else says, or thinks. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can control what we think, what we say, the things we do. We can control our attitude. Our attitude will determine our altitude. How much we accomplish, the opportunities that come our way are a result of our attitude.

Someone fixes it:

No one likes a bad attitude. In fact, when our kids were small, my wife and I would say to them at times, “You correct your attitude or we will, but somebody is going to correct it.”

We own it:

Our attitude is just that — ours. It’s all ours. If we have a good attitude or a bad one, our choice. So, if we are not happy, we have the ability to change that by changing our attitude. So, through each and every circumstance, we have a choice of what our attitude will be. We have the ability to change our attitude today. Right now.

It’s about how we see things. Our choice!

Just a thought,

PSS

Sometimes in life, when life happens and things aren’t going well, the only thing we have left to do is persevere. Webster’s Dictionary defines persevere as: to continue in some effort, course of action, or pursuit in spite of difficulty or opposition. The story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 is a remarkable account of his perseverance and faithfulness to God, and of God’s faithfulness to him.

Weather the storm:

Whether it’s a business, marriage, or a workplace situation, we need to keep going forward and to hang in there. So many people have a habit of quitting and giving up as soon as they encounter an obstacle. They see obstacles as a “no” or too hard to overcome. We have to learn to weather the storm and never quit. Quitters never win or succeed. Those who persevere and keep going and keep pushing look for ways to make it work and obtain the prize.

Practice perseverance:

This is how we should adjust our attitude: by attaining perseverance instead of quitting. Some quit way too soon, and this is a reason why, for some of us, nothing seems to work out for us. It’s not that things couldn’t work out — it’s that sometimes people quit on a dream, a job, or a marriage way too soon.

Let’s purpose to develop habits that will help us, not defeat us. Then God will take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good to accomplish His will (Genesis 50:20).

Just a thought,

PSS

One of the things that is hard to find these days is loyalty. To be loyal means to give or show firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution. It can be said loyalty is very important to the success and stability of any lasting relationship, whether in business or marriage, being faithful to one’s oath, engagements, or obligations.

Development:

Loyalty is a quality that should always be at the top of our priority list. We need to learn about and also develop this characteristic, loyalty. It shouldn’t be a luxury — it should be the norm to be loyal and expect loyalty from others. Too many serve materalism and only what we want: we can become loyal to our own desires and the things we want in life. We become self-serving.

Trust:

What we should be is a loyal friend, business partner, spouse; when we are, it will bring a sense of trust and security to others and cause us to become more successful in life. There is nothing without trust, and trust equals loyalty.

Security:

Loyalty also creates security. I ask the people who work with me, work for the church, to be loyal — support what we support, stand with us once a decision is made. At times I have found I was much more loyal to them than they were to the kingdom of God. If we are not loyal to God, we will not be that loyal to anyone else.

Let’s look at growing in this area of loyalty. It could be the difference between success and failure. God is loyal to us. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Let’s be loyal to Him and the things of God.

Just a thought,

PSS

We all need to cut out the distractions in our lives in order to be more focused on the task at hand.

Recognize:

A distraction is something that takes our attention away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We all will deal with it. So much time is wasted due to being distracted — hundreds of hours over the course of a year — by texts, emails, someone coming into our office or interrupting us at home. But I believe recognizing the distractions will help us eliminate them so we can remain focused and accomplish so much more with our time. Some are easily distracted, and for some working on a project or some task, when distracted it can take up to 25 minutes to refocus. I know for me it does. When I’m working on something, studying, when I’m interrupted it takes me a while to refocus my thoughts.

Prioritize:

So, how do we begin to eliminate distractions? One way is to prioritize our day, our tasks: begin to do the hard things first and work our way to the easier tasks or the ones we enjoy the most. Purpose during these times not to answer our phones, texts, not to answer any emails — until we are done; or schedule those throughout the day. So many things are vying for our attention, and if we don’t learn to prioritize, we will find ourselves feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

We must train ourselves to focus. When we do, we will find that our work is better and we really have more time in the day.

Just a thought,

PSS