It’s Monday, which means most people feel unmotivated – but not I. I love a good Monday. It’s a cliché, but it’s really a fresh start. It’s also the day after my rest day, which means I usually feel full and content and happy. Sundays are family days for us. It’s the day we attempt to plan nothing but church, the day we conquer as a family, and it’s a sweet, slow, special day.
I need more Sundays in my life.
But Monday isn’t so bad. It’s true that when you love what you do, you never have a problem with Monday. I love that quote, which brings me to the point of today’s post: Motivation and Inspiration. I’m a big fan of both.
I need a pick-me-up sometimes, and I find that a good bible verse or quote is often all I need to motivate me to work harder and smarter or inspire me to try something new. I have a new favorite quote or saying almost every day depending on my mood, and I thought I’d share some hashtag motivational Monday with you all today to get you through the rest of your days and into the week.
Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication
- Leonardo da Vinci
Whether it’s at home, in life, in my career, with my kids, with my marriage; I like simplicity. I love this quote because it’s a wonderful reminder that too much is, well, too much – and that making life more complicated is pointless. I like simplicity.
The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still
- Exodus 14:14
Sometimes when life is overwhelming for me, I call upon this verse to remind me that I need rest. I allow myself to always overdo it, to stress myself out. I overbook, I over plan, and I over commit myself so often that it’s not uncommon for me to cry in frustration to my husband about why I never have time, why I’m always so stressed, and why I’m never rested. He reminds me of this verse, and it’s been the catalyst that’s changed my life in 2017.
At the beginning of the year I said I’d take this to heart: I need only be still. This, to me, says I need to rest so God can work for me. He can restore my soul, my heart, and my faith if I only rest. This was the verse that led me to make the decision that I’d go into this year not making plans every single weekend, not committing myself to things all the time, and that I’d take time to do what is well within my own soul. It’s been so nice to be less busy, to be less overbooked, and to have more freedom to make decisions that apply to what we need in the moment rather than what we planned months ago. I’m learning how to balance it all, but it’s rest I’ve so desperately needed – and this verse served as my reminder.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway
- Eleanor Roosevelt
So many of us worry so much about the opinion of others, we forget to be ourselves. You know what I’ve learned in almost 9 years and tens of thousands of published articles for my clients and on my newly created blog? I’ve learned that I can be perfect, polite, mean, horrible, judgmental, kind, honest, or straight up and I will never please everyone. It’s just easier to be myself in all aspects of life than it is to worry about what everyone else thinks since someone is always going to dislike me for whatever reason. The good news is that I no longer care, and that’s made being myself so much sweeter.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
- Eleanor Roosevelt
When I first began writing and the emails began to roll in, I had no idea just how mean people are. I’ve been called every name in the book, threatened, spoken down to, and so many hurtful things have been said to me by people I’ve never even met. There was a time I’d read each and every email that came through, and I’d feel horrible. That’s when I remembered people can think what they’d like, but it’s me who gives them permission to make me feel poorly about myself. When I take the time to remind myself I’m successful, driven, and passionate about my life, no one can make me feel inferior.
Faith: It does not make things easy, it makes them possible
- Luke 1:37
Ah, my favorite verse. Faith is a beautiful thing, and it’s been there for me when times were very, very tough. When my husband and I were trying to have our second baby and ended up having two miscarriages instead – one on Mother’s Day – this was the verse I read over and over and over again for mothers.
I was terrified my faith was wavering with the loss of those babies, and the hits just kept coming with the second miscarriage followed by an immediate pregnancy we didn’t want at that point because it was too soon and we were too terrified it would end badly. I bled. A lot. I spent a lot of time in the hospital being tested as I bled through that pregnancy following those miscarriages. We were told our sweet baby girl had a echogenic intracardiac focus and we should prepare ourselves to make a tough choice if further testing proved this spot of calcium in her heart was Downs Syndrome.
It was the most trying, most devastating time, and it tested every ounce of my faith. This verse – it’s everything. Hold on to this one. Because it’s true – faith doesn’t make life easy, but it does make everything in life possible.
What are your favorite quotes or verses? I’d love to hear a few!
Tiffany Raiford 