Daily Memo: A Thirty One Day Guide of Reflections for Personal Growth

By David Briggs

Opportunities often come disguised as obstacles. You can climb over them or be crushed beneath them. What do you see? What is your choice? Choose well, for your future may rest on a choice you make today. There is no more time to blame others for how they did not support you or believe in you, or even abandoned you in the pursuit of your dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jun 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885905619

Book preview

DAY 1

Just for Today

Today I will make at least one person smile. I will comfort someone who is struggling. I will be the voice of encouragement to one who is discouraged. I will wipe away tears of frustration and pain. I will adjust my life for the betterment of someone else. I will get out of my comfort zone and do what it takes to help others to reach their goals. And when they do, I will take no credit or glory for what I have done. For I have merely used what I have been given from God above to bless others. This is but a function of the stewardship God has kindly given me.

When others reach their goals, I silently reach mine. Their joy becomes my joy. Then, without pause for personal celebration, I begin afresh with new goals and a better perspective of the true journey that lies before all of us. This is my passion, my love, my reason for living.

Today is a precious gift entrusted to me by my Creator. I am not to be selfish with the blessings that have been lovingly bestowed upon me. Rather, I am to find opportunities to use these blessings to be a blessing to others. My time, my talent, and my treasures are to be fully engaged in the pursuit of His glory. For the psalmist was right when he declared, Not unto us O Lord, not unto us. But unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake (Psalm 115:1).

There is no area of my life so insignificant that He is of no account. The darkest recesses of my life must be lit up by the blinding brightness of His light and love. Only then can I fully embrace Him and His demands on my life. In doing so, I seek not to advance my kingdom but His. I make my name small and of no account so that He is magnified. It all begins with today.

DAY 2

Sacrifice, Service, Love

The ultimate test of man’s conscience may

be his willingness to sacrifice something

today for future generations whose

words of thanks will not be heard.

—Gaylord Nelson

Sacrifice. Service. Love. These are three simple yet maddeningly complex words to personally embrace in our lives.

Sacrifice. This is often erroneously defined as to give up. To lose something—something that will never be reclaimed or recovered. Such a definition inevitably sounds negative. Choose rather to see it as a channeled release of potential to acknowledge, aid, and assist others and help them to fulfill their destiny. Whether your sacrifice is the release of time, treasure, thought, or talent, it has a definite purpose that you seek no reward from. No payment. No payback. None. It costs you, but it blesses someone else even more.

Service. To do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It comprises tangible actions and deeds of kindness devoid of manipulative motives. In some ways, no matter our chosen career path, we are, in reality, employed in the eternal service industry. Because what we say and do has eternal implications. The joy and pleasure of serving with a right spirit are greater than those that come from being served. How may I serve you? must become your daily heart and soul mission.

Love. What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the care of the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like (Saint Augustine).

The more you embrace these core principles and engage yourself to live them out daily, the more glorious a life you will live: a life free from the constraints of mediocrity and misgivings. Your life will no longer be about what you can get but what you can give. It will not be about how you can shine but how you can serve. To live any less is to live a life devoid of positive impact on a world that desperately needs it.

DAY 3

Live Simply So Others

Can Simply Live

In character, in manner, in style, in all

things the supreme excellence is simplicity.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Buy! Buy! Buy! Get! Get! Get! If you don’t buy it now, someone else will. You must buy this product or this object to be the person you want to be, to have others look up to and admire you, and to be considered a success.

We are constantly bombarded with messages telling us about the ever-changing things we must have in our immediate possession. We are sending ourselves to early graves just to have material things.

Acquiring things just to say we have them and acquiring material possessions as status symbols to try to keep up with the proverbial Joneses has bankrupted not just this country but the spirits and souls of its citizens. The body of Christ is not immune to this virus, claiming such possessions are blessings from above and material proof of divine favor from the Lord. To not have, wear, and drive the best is seen as living beneath the privileges of being a kingdom citizen because of a lack of faith. Some