My New Website!

I finally did it…got my own personal website   So, for the last time, I’ll be moving on over to www.lesliebrooke.com!  I’ll see you over there.  There’s a new blog waiting.

Starbucks “The Way I See It” Series – #3

This is such a great quote from Corinne Bailey Rae that I’m going to break it down step by step to make sure I get in all my thoughts on this one! Here goes…

“Patience is a virtue, life is a waiting game”
I’ve never heard anything more true. If you know me, or have perused my blog/myspace at all, you know that for the entire length of our 7 year marriage (and counting), we’ve been waiting to start our family. At this point all we can do is wait, save, and pray that when the time comes that things will go smoothly. It’s impossible not to learn patience when there is absolutely nothing that you can do to speed things along. Some days I think I’m going to go absolutely nuts, and some days I feel like the waiting isn’t so terrible. Still, everyday I pray for patience (even though I’ve heard that “warned” against) because if I didn’t, I know I’d be certifiably insane, deep in debt, and deeply unhappy. So we continue to wait, because life is a waiting game and the patience we are learning is definitely a virtue.

“Peace must be nurtured”
I’m not sure where to start with this one, but I’ll try to explain how I’m thinking. I don’t think that peace comes easily. There is definitely a cost to be paid for peace. I’m not going to touch the situation our country is in, because it is way above my pay grade, but I think the same concept applies in our personal, everyday lives. Sometimes I think it’s easier to ignore, or avoid situations where we would have to nurture peace. A strained relationship, or a tough situation is hard to deal with so many times we walk away. How much would it cost us to work it out? Tears? Tough conversation? Compromise? I’m sure a bit of all of those and more. I hope I don’t walk away easily. I want to nurture peace in my life, and in the lives of those around me. Just like we nurture babies to grow into healthy kids & adults, if we nurture peace in our lives we will continue to grow into healthy, whole people.

“All the money in the world can buy you nothing”
Boy have I learned this lesson a million times (or more!) but for me I think there’s two sides to this thought.
Number 1: If you’re trying to fill your life with material wealth and “stuff” to make you happy it will never work. Thus, making the above quote true (I’m sure this is what Corinne meant when she said it). You can spend all the money in the world on stuff and still not be satisfied. I think that most people can identify with this side of the story, but there’s more.
Number 2: For me, this next thought will sort of void the quote. I wholeheartedly believe that if we put our money in the right places we can help buy something that will mean everything to somebody. I don’t necessarily think that giving to every charity that advertises for starving children is a wise way to donate. Obviously we have to be cautious about the charities we donate to, because not everyone has pure motives. However, I do think that investing in other’s lives, be it by donating to an international charity or donating to someone locally, can make all the difference to someone. A great quote that really hits home for me came from Gandhi, he said “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, there is not enough for everyone’s greed.” Well said.

Since I mentioned it, there are a few charities/non-profits that I would love to promote while I have your ear…locally, I would recommend CareNet. I volunteered there for many years and it’s a wonderful ministry that puts it’s funds to good use. Internationally, my favorite cause is the International Justice Mission. If you have any interest at all, read “Terrify No More” by IJM founder Gary Haugen.

So, it was a mouthful (handful?!). How do you see it?