Highly Rated Books-

My favorite type of book is one that inspires me to reach the top. One that will teach me the ins and outs of success and the strength to never give up on my dreams. My dad was the one who actually got me into reading these, and I’m really glad he did. I hope that all of you students at MPTC and anyone else reading these blogs will find time for some inspirational reading. Fearless, Designed for Success, and Thank You Power are just a few of my favorites that I know you’ll enjoy as well!

  Courtesy of Google Images

Max Lucado

Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, where you could trust more and fear less.

Can you imagine your life without fear?

FEARLESS

Courtesy of Google Images

Fear of Not Mattering         

Perhaps you don’t know,                       
then, maybe you do,
about Stiltsville, the village,
(so strange but so true)

where people like we,
some tiny, some tall,
with jobs and kids
and clocks on the wall

keep an eye on the time.
For each evening at six,
they meet in the square
for the purpose of sticks,
tall stilts upon which
Stiltsvillians can strut
and be lifted above
those down in the rut:

the less and the least,
the Tribe of Too Smalls,
the not cools and have-nots
who want to be tall

but can't, because
in the giving of sticks,
theirs name was not called.
They didn't get picked.

Yet still they come
when villagers gather;
they press to the front
to see if they matter

to the clique of the cool,
the court of high clout,
that decides who is special
and declares with a shout,

"You're classy!" "You're pretty!"
"You're clever" or "Funny!"
And bequeath a prize,
not of medals or money,
not a freshly baked pie
or a house someone built,
but the oddest of gifts -
a gift of some stilts.

Moving up in their mission,
going higher their aim.
"Elevate your position"
is the name of their game.

The higher-ups of Stiltsville
(you know if you've been there)
make the biggest to-do
of the sweetness of thin air.

They relish the chance
on their high apparatus
to strut on their stilts,
the ultimate status.

For isn't life best
when viewed from the top?
Unless you stumble
and suddenly are not

so sure of your footing,
You tilt and then sway.
"Look out bel-o-o-o-w!"
and you fall straightaway
into the Too Smalls,
hoi polloi of the earth.
You land on your pride-
oh boy, how it hurts

when the chic police,
in the jilt of all jilts,
don't offer to help
but instead take your stilts.

"Who made you king?"
you start to complain
but then notice the hour
and forget your refrain.

It's almost six!
No time for chatter.
It's back to the crowd
to see if you matter.

-Unknown (From the book Fearless, by Max Lucado)

Above is one of my favorite poems. I struggled with fitting in my whole life. I had a lot of friends, but never a true friend that always stuck around and was there whenever I needed them. I always wanted “stilts” to be above the rest, to always get the best of everything, and to be part of the crowd. Times have changed, that’s for sure. I’m one that experienced first hand that life does get better and that nobody should give up the fight to be comfortable with themselves.

I’ve come a long way in life and am very proud of who I have become. I have some of the most amazing friends that love me for me. I accomplished many great things, because of the person I am today.

I know I matter. I’m real. I matter without the stilts.

“People who mind don’t matter; People who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss