Monday, November 9, 2009

A Tale of Two Women

Have you watched the film "Julie & Julia"? I had the opportunity to watch it recently. I laughed and learnt a lot too - here are a few of the life lessons I gleaned.

Julie Powell finally had to Courage to Live and pursued her passions - after being encouraged by her husband to follow her dreams...and then she became so self-absorbed and obsessed. It ended up being a counter-productive venture...that's not the idea of being confident and courageous enough to dream, decide & do

Irrespective of whatever your dreams are, you must always have your priorities right...your first priority is your husband not your family... yes, husband before children - if you disagree, we'd love to hear your reasons.

The minute Julie Powell got her priorities right everything else fell in place...

So what should you do when you are blessed with my type of husband who is a total encourager? You need to reach within yourself and get on with doing... now that's tough - let me give you a current example. When I brought up our (Beryl & I) idea for this blog to my husband, he encouraged me to saying, "I want you to take this seriously...it's a ministry". Now that felt exciting up until I read up a bit more about what blogging entails... for starters, having regular updates so guests like you have fresh and high quality "seeds" that are both relevant and have a ripple effect as you pass on the TEA to those in your sphere of influence.

Ok exactly how are we (Beryl & I) supposed to manage and maintain that with the current demands of our respective families, ministry and career - not to mention our level of travel? I don't have an answer to this - so we're just taking one day at a time - that’s the best way to live too.

What if your husband is not the encouraging type and you have "larger than life" dreams? Pray about them to confirm that they are part of God's purpose for your life, once you're on the right footing with God, I can assure you that He will make all the other pieces of the puzzle (including your husband) fall in place and you are sure to accomplish great things.

Julie & Julia was based on 2 true stories of women who never met and one made the other her mentor and accomplished great things. That’s a testament to the fact that you can become whoever you believe you can be - once you put your head and heart into it. It all starts with believing in yourself (Secret #1 - Self-confidence) and bravely stepping out (Secret #2 - Courage) on to these stumbling blocks in your path (i.e. walking on water). Julie and Julia converted their stumbling blocks into stepping-stones by refusing to neither give up nor give in.

Another takeaway for me was the part Julie’s blog played – she kept at it even when she wasn’t sure she had guests – I guess that speaks directly to the fact that Beryl & I need to keep at this. God does have His way of speaking to me…this was another confirmation that this blog is all His idea…yes, God still speaks...we need to tune to His frequency and be still enough to hear Him.

The third takeaway, which was confirmed by the book I’m currently reading, is that "every woman needs a mentor". Julie chose Julia as her mentor and she accomplished her heart desire.

Likewise, to attain the purposes of God in our lives - family, ministry and careers, going alone makes it more difficult. Gail advises that you look out for someone who "inspires" you - like Julia inspired Julie. Now, you may or not physically meet with your mentor...it could just be a "connection" that gets you into action.

Gail also concludes that your best mentor is YOU- and it takes self-confidence to know what's best for you and courage to do what you need to to achieve your passions and purpose in life. Julie evidently coached herself to take the actions she needed to in order to achieve what she wanted...and even more.

I'd like to end this piece with some quotes:

"Not only must you know what you want, but you must really want what you want, if you are to get what you want." (Anonymous) Dale Carnegie adds on to that: "Believe that you will succeed. Believe it firmly, and you will then do what is necessary to bring success about."

Ralph Waldo Emerson encourages us to: "Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true."

Finally, a word of wisdom from a woman: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

You can start living out your own story...

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