Category Archives: Family

Which seeds are you watering in your life?

Career, Family, Life

Buckle up, this could be a little long.

It would take 20 books to really explain this deep spiritual fact, but I will try to do it in one blog post.

Spiritually, the words, thoughts, and expectations in your life are like seeds planted in a farmer’s field. The seed that the farmer spends the most time with and waters the most will become his best and strongest crop. Agree??

Think of your life like that of the farmer’s (there are actually many scriptures that speak of this very comparison). Just picture with me the farmer standing on his back porch looking out over the field he has planted. This is important!! The farmer is not surprised by the crop that comes up because it was what he had planted. Never does the farmer look out over the field and say “dadgummit” that is corn, and I wanted beans! No, the farmer knows exactly want he planted and knows what the harvest will look like. Again, because he planted it.

Think spiritually with me here: what crop have you planted, and what harvest are you expecting in your life? The Bible clearly says that whatever you sow, you will reap.

So, when people told you that you were not smart enough, polished enough, educated enough, tall enough, good looking enough, your skin color was different, etc. You get the picture. If this is the seed you are watering by thinking about it, spending time with it, and expecting it to show up, this is what I am talking about.

For many, it is time to forget what other people may have said to you and focus on what God said to you. God said there is no one else like you in all the world and throughout the ages there has never been another you. Think about that for a second. There are billions of people who have lived before us and with us and not another one exactly like  you. You are his children and his heir created in the image of God.

For mothers of young children, are you letting opinions of what someone else said about you determine your expectation. Is your self-image what others think or what you think? For fathers, are you letting the negative seeds sown in your life determine the crop you are expecting in your life?

If so, pray something like this to God almighty: “Lord, forgive for letting what other people say about me determine what I expect in life. I ask you to give me a new direction and a new vision for my life. Starting today, I will speak positive words of affirmation about myself and will no longer let the crop of expected failure control my life. I am your child and I know you love me and want the very best for me and my family. I place my future in you. I will no longer dwell on the seeds of failure in my life and will start to sow seeds of blessing and success in my life.”

Like the farmer on his back porch, he didn’t plant his crop in the morning and expect harvest in the afternoon. Like the farmer’s field, there is a seed and harvest time. It takes time for a crop to grow to the point of harvest. It takes some caring over the crop and weeding out the bad and watering. But as surely as the sun will come up, you will reap what you have sown. When the crop of joy, success, peace, prosperity begin to grow in your field, look out over the crop and say “that is exactly what I expected to grow in my field because this is what I planted.”

So, go get you a John Deer hat to wear around your house while you are digging up bad words that have been spoken into your life and planting new, uplifting words into your life. Then, stand in full expectation of the seed crop becoming what you expected. KT

My wife

Family

My wife is Elaine Thompson, and she and I met in high school and have been married for 36 years. She is my love.

I want to tell you about her. Elaine is a classy lady who I love with all my heart; she  is also the kindest woman I have ever known. I have never questioned her love and support for me. She is the rock I lean on when things are not going the way they should.

Elaine gave me the greatest gift any wife can give her husband and that was her faith in me to make a living for our family and to do it in a way that brings honor to our life together. When you start out in life without education like I did,  to have someone who always believed in you is the greatest gift a man could ever want. It was her belief in me that made me who I am. I always knew that if I missed a sale, had a bad year, or made a bad investment that she would always tell me it would be ok and that God had his hand on us. After a while of a husband hearing these confirmations, it begins to make the husband believe he can do anything.

I have never known of her to purposely hurt someone else, to repeat gossip that would hurt, or tear down another person. I have seen her on more occasions than I can count seeing someone that needed a lift, buying their meals, helping with money issues, or lifting them up. We have been in restaurants where she would see a mother or a family that just needed a little help, and she would say, “let’s buy them dinner.”

She is a faithful friend to many and the most amazing mother to our girls than I could have ever expected. There were many nights that I traveled when our girls were little, and she never flinched when I told her I needed to go out of town. She just took care of our girls and made a home for our family where our children never questioned their mother’s love and commitment. In fact, the reason our daughters are such fine women today is because of the example she always set.

She is my closest friend, companion, counselor and love of my life. KT

Today’s moment

Family, Life

Today’s moment for me was this morning with my 4-year-old granddaughter. Rowan spent last night with us and before she when to bed last night, she got up in my lap, let me hug her and kiss her, and tell her that I loved her. Before she went to sleep last night, she asked me if I would make her pancakes tomorrow morning. My answer was, of course, “I sure will, sweetie.”

This morning, I got up and made pancakes for her. When she woke up, she came and got back in my lap and let me love on her for a good 2 minutes. That was my moment today.

Why am I telling you this? When I was holding her this morning, I realized that I would never have that moment again. Once it was over, it was over. I hope to have many similar moments, but I can never have that exact moment again.

Be careful to savor the moments in your life because they are the memories you will carry with you for the rest of your life. You won’t remember the report you did at work or the sale you made or the x, y, z, but you will remember your moments just like I will remember today. KT

Vogel State Park

Family

If you have ever had a physical place that triggers great memories, you will know what I am talking about.

Vogel State Park in Blairsville, GA, is that place for Elaine and I and our two daughters. It is one of the top 50 state parks in the US and is located between Cleveland, GA, and Blairsville, GA, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Appalachian Trail runs directly through the Park.

Elaine and her family grew up going camping at Vogel, and she took me up there for a day trip when we were still in high school. I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. We spent several days on our honeymoon at Vogel State Park, and we have been camping or staying in cabins for 35+ years.

One of the greatest on-going memory at Vogel is the week of July 4th. There are probably 25-35 families that all go the same week to Vogel, and all our children grew up together. Going to Vogel for the week of July 4th triggers great memories with longtime friends and vivid images of my two daughters when they were young girls growing up through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college.

This place has deep meaning for my family and me.

As we all know, certain things bring back memories like smells, places, voices, etc. There are also things and places that bring back bad memories. The Bible says to think about the good memories and focus on those. I have found that over time the bad memories become less and less of a factor, but good memories somehow remain stronger as the years pass by.

I hope that the 4th of July holds some good memories for you and your family. If not, start building good, long-lasting memories for you and your children. KT

Stepping into history

Family, Life

On Father’s Day, Elaine gave me, among other things, two sports movies. Like all guys, I like to watch sports, movies about sports, and muscle car auctions. Ha.

The movies were called “The Express,” which is about a college football player named Ernie Davis, and “42,” which is about Jackie Robinson. There was a term associated with these two movies that got me thinking. “Stepping into history.”

Jackie Robinson was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and was the first black baseball player to play in professional baseball. Ernie Davis was given a scholarship to play for Syracuse University in 1958, and led Syracuse to the national championship in 1960. Ernie Davis was also the first black athlete to win the Heisman Trophy. Both of these young men stepped into history in their own way and in their own sport. History is full of people of all races that decided to do something that has never been done and to step into history.

I got to thinking about this term, stepping into history, and what it actually means. I have come away with several thoughts on the subject.

To your children at home, you are the hero and the history maker. They will remember how you loved them and went to the ballet recitals, dance classes, baseball games, and football games. They will remember the support you gave them growing up. Very few people will ever be a Jackie Robinson or Ernie Davis, but in our world we are leading our families into history, and we all want that history to be fondly remembered.

I was watching the US Open yesterday that was being played in Pinehurst, NC, and the guy that came in second was Eric Compton. Eric is a 34-year-old man who has had two heart transplants. Can you imagine? Well, yesterday he stepped into history. When I think of Pinehurst #2, I think of Payne Stewart, who won the US Open on Father’s Day 1999 and then in October of that same year, kissed his wife and kids goodbye and got on a plane that never got to where it was going. Payne Stewart stepped into history when he won the US Open, but he also stepped into history that October.

My point is that you don’t have to do great things and things that change the world, rather you just have to change your own world and be the example for your family to follow. Always, always hug and kiss your children, regardless of how old they are because you are making history and memories that will last a lifetime. You will never know what unconditional love will do for a child. It will help them and their children step into history and have that history be full of great memories. Every day you live and breathe, you are making a memory that will stand the test of time. Why not choose to be the best history teacher you can possibly be. KT