God has given us the skills and desires to be ambitious and to achieve. He gave Adam a job even before he gave him a mate. (Genesis 2:15)  Jesus celebrated the servants who invested and multiplied their bags of gold. (Matthew 25:14-30) All through the bible, God uses those who are good workers. Healthy ambition allows us to improve and achieve for ourselves, our families, our church and our communities.  In contrast, lack of ambition/laziness does not honor God, fulfill our familial obligations or help advance our communities.

Any talk of achievement begs the question: Where does healthy ambition end and unhealthy ambition/selfishness begin? Ecclesiastes chapter 7 warns against extremes. Jamie Allen, senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, IL gives two “guardrails” against uncontrolled ambition.

• Ambition must be controlled by love for your family. This guardrail has to do with time. Family must always take priority over money, career, status and material things. Most of us who work outside the home spend more waking hours at work than at home most days. If you can’t have quantity, make sure you have quality. Maximize the time you have with your family. Make sure the people at home know they are more important than the people at work. If your family relationships are suffering because of your goals you are probably slipping into unhealthy ambition.
• Ambition must be controlled by your love for God. This guardrail has to do with integrity. A Christian’s ambition has to be controlled by integrity. Others aren’t always aware of your motives but your motives will be brought out into the light eventually. Nothing is important enough to violate what God commands. If you find yourself willing to tell “a little white lie,” change the date on that document or take advantage of someone (even if it’s legal) to achieve your goals you are traveling down the road of selfish ambition.

Don’t be afraid to be ambitious, set some goals and work to achieve them. There is honor in that success. You can bless others with that kind of success. Just make sure you don’t let selfishness overtake healthy ambition.

**I highly recommend watching the lesson that inspired this post. Go to http://www.thenewcentral.com/ondemand and choose “First-2.”

Fortunately, my smile doesn’t have to look good in pictures to make a difference in someone’s life. A smile is the same in any language, country or culture. While on a mission trip in the Brazilian Amazon, a Brazilian pastor shared (through a translator) that he had been praying for me and God gave him a message for me. He said my smile had great healing powers. God was using it and wanted to encourage me to keep using it because it was “very, very powerful.” What an incredible and humbling experience! It’s not often one gets a message like that, yet I still sit here able to tell you exactly what I DON’T like about this smile that God gave me to use.

Your smile is your welcome to everyone you meet. It can put people at ease, make communication easier, break down emotional barriers and say things when words aren’t even possible. Your smile can also change how you feel. It’s hard to have a smile on your face and be grouchy. I am a big believer in “fake it ’til you make it” when it’s appropriate. Sometimes you have to smile first and feel smiley second. It might be a forced smile at first, it might not feel natural, you might even be grumbling under your breath, but I’d be willing to bet that the longer you keep that smile on your face the more relaxed and real it will become.

Mother Teresa said “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Who can you heal with a smile this week? Maybe YOU are the one who will benefit most. I dare you to smile every single morning and every single afternoon. Smile when you talk on the phone. Smile at your kid or your spouse that you’re frustrated with. Smile at someone who obviously needs it. Smile at your boss. Smile at your server or the person behind you in the grocery store line. Make it a point to smile a little more and let me know how it impacts your week!

This morning, when I was awake at 4:00 am. for absolutely no reason, it just hit me. If I wait for it to be perfect it will never happen. I have so many things I want to share. I can’t let the facts that I’m not sure I have a real “home page” and I can’t figure out how to put my picture where I want it keep me from sharing ideas that could help other people. So…here I go. Posting on a blog site that is not yet perfect. Realizing that it is, like life in general, a work in progress. Realizing that insecurity can paralyze me or I can choose to be empowered in spite of it.  If I wait for perfection it will never happen. And that’s ok. In fact…I think it’s more than ok.