{"id":6231,"date":"2016-05-19T06:30:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T10:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6231"},"modified":"2016-05-19T06:30:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T10:30:35","slug":"celebrating-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6231","title":{"rendered":"celebrating greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1462536943532-57a629f6cc60\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true; when I love a good book, I love that good book; and I tend to read or reference it repeatedly. It\u2019s why you may ever so often hear me mention \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird,\u201d \u201cA Thousand Splendid Suns,\u201d the Bible, \u201cSneetches,\u201d or \u201cWhen Character Was King.\u201d<\/p>\n

One book that has been clearly instrumental in my thinking is \u201cRaising Kids for True Greatness\u201d by Dr. Tim Kimmel. It\u2019s about redefining what success looks like\u2026 for our kids\u2026 for us. When first read as a far more inexperienced parent (even though I daily find myself having so much more to learn!),<\/em> I found Kimmel\u2019s truths to be eye-opening\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 What are we raising our kids for? \u2026 to be rich? \u2026 wealthy? \u2026 marry well or get the best job? \u2026 how about getting the most \u201cre-tweets\u201d or \u201clikes\u201d in social media?<\/em><\/p>\n

All are understandable ambitions, but let me be honest; I want something more for my kids. I want them to be great.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not just successful, but great.<\/em><\/p>\n

What we witnessed in Mother Teresa was greatness \u2014 same as in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Frank, and Billy Graham. It\u2019s what stood out about teacher-turned-astronaut Christa McAuliffe and cancer-stricken, college basketball player Lauren Hill. It\u2019s not about being famous; it\u2019s about maximizing our gifts and utilizing our God-given potential with whom and how we spend our lives. That, my friends, is far more than success; that is greatness.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the concepts, no less, that stands out in how we instill in our kids the idea of pursuing actual greatness is how we view opportunity. Do I look at opportunity as finite and limited? \u2026 and there are only so many job opportunities and so many roster spots and so many scholarships available? And that means that if your kid wins any of the above, I can\u2019t be genuinely happy for you. Why? Because there\u2019s now one less for me.<\/p>\n

Or\u2026 do I look at opportunity as divinely provided and thus infinite or limitless? In other words, each of us is wired completely differently. None of us have identical DNA. We have different gifts.<\/p>\n

Think I\u2019m wrong?<\/p>\n

Spend an afternoon with my youngest son, Josh, a thriving teen born with Down syndrome. Josh scores a little lower than most on those old IQ tests. But test his emotional intelligence. You will quickly see that while I like to believe I\u2019m a fairly empathetic individual, Josh\u2019s empathy for the well-being of other people far surpasses mine. That\u2019s not a criticism or any selling of self short; that\u2019s an acknowledgement of the nothing less than unique, amazing, divine gifting of my youngest son.<\/p>\n

The reason I raise this issue this day, is because all around us, there seems a flurry of activity. It\u2019s the month of May! That means graduations, proms, and parties\u2026 sectionals, playoffs, and district finals\u2026 scholarships, awards, and all sorts of public acknowledgements surround us. There are a plethora of \u2014 shall we say \u2014 selfie kind of moments.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could each celebrate them all? The ones we\u2019re involved in and the ones we\u2019re not?<\/p>\n

\u2026 as opposed to\u2026 sitting back, allowing any ounce of comparison to permeate our thinking, comparing one kid\u2019s plight to another\u2026 as opposed to ever thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s one less opportunity for me or my kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beauty in the recognition that opportunity is infinite is that it frees us up to genuinely celebrate and support one another. Perhaps my kid didn\u2019t win that scholarship, but that means there\u2019s a better fit for him elsewhere \u2014 a fit more in line with his unique, amazing gifting. My desire is to never look at the accomplishment of another and think of myself at the same time.<\/p>\n

Ok, off \u2019til the weekend, friends. First, though, I plan on hanging out on social media for a bit. Some awesome kids are experiencing all sorts of monumental moments; they have multiple individual honors coming their way. I\u2019m so excited for them.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t wait to celebrate\u2026 each and every one.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s true; when I love a good book, I love that good book; and I tend to read or reference it repeatedly. It\u2019s why you may ever so often hear me mention \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird,\u201d \u201cA Thousand Splendid Suns,\u201d the Bible, \u201cSneetches,\u201d or \u201cWhen Character Was King.\u201d One book that has been clearly instrumental … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “celebrating greatness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-issue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6233,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6231\/revisions\/6233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}