Who You Want To Be

Today I'm grateful for these wildly-gorgeous Texas wildflowers.

We took a Sunday drive and found this State Park ...

blanketed by these breathtaking beauties.

They certainly are showing off their splendor this spring,

which is amazing because with the freeze earlier and

with how dry it has been, it hasn't been easy for them.

On the heels of the college BB Championships, I'm also thinking about March Madness, and Coach K from Duke at his retirement, and how much my brother loved this time of year and all things basketball.

You may remember that it was this time last year when Mipps reached out for help with a presentation he was giving at work; he wanted to scramble his slides in such a way that his work family would have to unscramble them to come up with his surprise word: GUMPTION.

It was creative and clever, and I loved helping him put it together.

Here's his slide and notes for the N.

In Mark's words:

For those who don’t know who this is and have never seen Jim Valvano’s ESPY acceptance speech in 1993, please spend 11 minutes watching it sometime this week. {He actually says: Don’t give up, don’t ever give up, but there’s not a D in my surprise word so deal with it.} Anyway, during his speech he talks and rambles about many things including these three that should be part of your daily routine:

Laugh, Think and Let your emotions move you to tears.

Do you do that? Watching this clip may be one way to start the waterworks, by the way. He also says: Have an enthusiasm for life. Think about where you came from, where you are and where you want to be. What will it take for you to get where you want to be?

One of my favorite Switchfoot songs says: This is your life. Are you who you wanna be? Answer that one yourself then strive to make the changes needed to answer Yes. I know I am.

Let those words soak in: I know I am.

At 53, he was who he wanted to be.

Grit and gumption had helped him get there.

He had fallen down, but he didn't stay there.

Which brings me back to Coach Krzyzewski. During his 47-year career, he had 1202 wins. That's a LOT of wins. But had also had almost 400 losses. 368 to be exact. And when his team fell, they got back up. And they started over. Now that's GUMPTION for the W, each and every time.

If you're looking a strong resource on getting back up, Thrivers by Dr. Michele Borba is an excellent read; check out a webinar guide from her {here}. Need a video clip to go along with it? I'm a big fan of this one from Facing The Giants.