You should have been there with me, sitting in the office of yet another temp agency with my tired corporate suit and upswept hair. Trying to look the part, because I needed the part. I needed this job. There was no reason why they shouldn’t choose me. I am experienced. I am professional. I am smart. And did I mention, I need the job? Ms. Collier calls my name. She’s ready for me. I clutch my faux leather attaché and walk into another rejection. Why? Because I was desperate. I had made the cardinal mistake for anybody wanting anything, I fixated on a channel and considered it to be my source.

You’re in your car and the gas gage has been flashing E for about 10 miles. There’s a nervousness in the air. “Why didn’t I stop at the last station?” you wonder as you look ahead hoping that you make it. To the right, an empty Chevron. You pull right in and go to the first available pump. You pay and start pumping your gas. But nothing comes out. You pause for a second. There must be something wrong. You check, everything looks in order. You press the nozzle again. No gas. You check again. No gas. What do you do?

God is the source of all supply. People, paychecks and promises are channels of supply. They’re like delivery services. They bring to you the supply you believe you have claimed. But they are not to be confused with the source. Obviously, something is wrong with the gas pump. There’s a block in that pipe, the machine is faulty-something is blocking the channel of supply. Do you just stay there and pout and complain? “I’m out of gas and all the gas is gone! I’ll never be able to leave.” Or maybe you think, “Perfect. Gas never flows for me. When I have gas, no problem. But when I’m almost out, something always happens.” If this is your reaction, you have confused the source with a channel, just like I did at the temp agency.

Or do you drive or push your car to another pump, and another, and another, and maybe another station, until gas finally flows? Are you filled with faith that you will get where you’re going somehow and being open, expectant and prepared for the way?

When a channel of supply dries up, do not despair! Turn your attention to the possibility that your good has other avenues to find you. Ask, “Where is my good? Where do I need to go? What do I need to do?” And then move in that direction.

Do not worry. Worry blocks the channels of supply. Worry is like screaming into the nozzle of the dry gas pump, “Please, give me gas!” It’s futile. It doesn’t unclog the channel. In fact, your worry increases the resistance to the flow of your good. And because you have all your attention on the dried up channel, free-flowing channels of good are ignored.

The primary cause of suffering is forgetfulness. Don’t forget that God is the source of your supply. And bless the channels that bring it to you, but don’t worship them.

Your thoughts and feelings of lack are attracting experiences in your life that affirm that there is not enough. But you are the thinker, my love. You control the thoughts and feelings and words and actions and reactions. And you have all the power, all the wisdom, all the God in you that you need to think and feel and experience an abundant life. I’ll stop with an excerpt from H. Emile Cady’s Lessons In Truth. She writes,

“Hitherto we have believed that we were helped and comforted by others, that we received joy from outside circumstances and surroundings; but it is not so. All joy and strength and good spring up from a fountain within one’s own being; and if we only knew this truth we should know that, because God in us is the fountain out of which springs all our good, nothing that anyone does or says, or fails to do or say, can take away our joy and good.”

Be of good courage,

Coach Sheree

I’m a member of Toastmasters Inc. It’s an organization that helps you build leadership and public speaking skills. I’ve been a member for over a year and I honestly don’t know why it took this long for someone to drag me into this organization. It’s all about talking! And I love to talk. In my club, I’m a bit of a celebrity…if 20 people adoring you qualifies as celeb-status. They think I’m funny. They think I deliver great speeches. They think I have a special quality. Want to know what I think? I think that I need to prepare more. I think that I speak too fast. I think that I still haven’t delivered a good, well-rehearsed speech. So I feel like I’m cheating at something when they pour on the praise.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that I have the gift of gab. And thankfully, I’m intelligent and intuitive and am put on this Earth to help other people see and realize their greatness. So with that mission, can you see how it doesn’t work for me to feel like a fraud in the one place that’s all about growing as a speaker?

Have you ever realized that you’re better at something than you thought?

I spent the better part of Saturday with Toastmasters in my region. I heard some great speakers. But mostly what happened is that I felt affirmed. I’m good enough where I am to speak before crowds. That was until the Toastmaster 1999 International World Speaking Champion, Craig Valentine, delivered a workshop called, ‘How to Keep Your Audience on the Edge of their Seat.’ The workshop was amazing! He was funny, engaging, commanding, organized and every other good thing you want to hear when trapped at a conference. At the end, I rushed to the back to buy his kit.

But as I listened to my bootleg copy of the workshop (sorry Craig, but I did buy the kit). I felt daunted by the task ahead. I have so much work to do to grow into the speaker I want to be. So I took a breath and played the audio recording of my last workshop. And I must tell you, I’m better than I thought. That’s not to say that there’s no room for improvement. There’s tons of room for improvement. But I feel encouraged.

So what’s in this for you?

1. Do you have a natural ability to do something? A talent that you see in yourself and/or that other people see in you? It may be a talent that you’ve never marketed or considered as valuable. Perhaps playing an instrument came naturally. Or you’ve always had a good eye for decorating. Maybe you’ve always been super-organized?
2. How can you raise that ability? Is it something that you need to practice? Is there a class that you can take? Can you teach it to someone else?
3. And lastly, since we’re all parents here, how can you share that ability with your children?

I have a friend who is an actress. She’s never staged a scene with her kids. I tell her to do it. Make up a scene about being a good listener or about putting away your toys. My son LOVES to talk. A lot. More than your children, I think. And I can’t fault him for it because he got it honestly. But I finally decided to teach him a little bit about story structure. Simple cues, like, what happened first? Who was there? And then what happened? How did it end? I’m teaching him to tell a more cohesive story.

So my friend, share your talents with your children. Not only to enrich their life experience, but also to remind you that you’re better than you thought.