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Yesterday marked our 7 year wedding anniversary!

We went to the Melting Pot for dinner and enjoyed a couple hours together celebrating, laughing, and enjoying each other’s presence.

Kathryn knows that I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to gifts, that is to say, “keep it simple.”  Don’t get me wrong, I like nice things and a surprising gift here or there is okay…but all-in-all I enjoy “meaningful” gifts…I REALLY like cards!

My wife made me a card from scratch, which was nicely done, and she received an A+ for creativity and surprise!

One of the things she had in the card was, “14 Reasons Why I Love You.” (2 reasons for every year we have been married…for those of you math challenged, that is 7 x 2 =14.)

Very creative!

I thought I would post my “14 Reasons Why I Love You” so every can see for themselves:

1.)  Your selfless acts of kindness to others

2.) The little things that you remember about others that make them feel special

3.)  The confidence you exude in a myriad of circumstances

4.) Your love for good food and creative passion to cook tantalizing dishes!

5.) Your love for God (BTW: if some of you get all tangled up in God being number 5…they aren’t ranked, so get over it :-))

6.) The time, love, and focus on being the BEST mom in the world

7.) Being an inspiration to me and a role model for other wives

8.) Your desire and effort to help grow in our relationship

9.) Patience

10.) Not only a mom, but a women who is a measuring stick for our son to identify a great wife and loving mom

11.) Your drive to “get things done” and not make excuses

12.) Your humor…even if it does take someone to get hurt in the process to get you to laugh (btw: inside joke)

13.) You have such an indescribable beauty that words can’t fully express

14.) Fourteen reasons aren’t enough…volumes of novels that would fill time and space could not be etched to depict how much I love you!

Hope is an exhilarating word.

A word that brings…

comfort…

a promising future…

repose to the hopeless…

and assurance to the fearful.

Are you a leader?  Maybe you lead a team, organization, church community, or maybe you “lead w/o title.”  In either case, hope isn’t something you can delegate.  Hope must be a part of your make-up.  A part of your leadership tool chest.

Napoleon Bonaparte said that “a leader is a dealer in hope.”

Isn’t it amazing how a simple quote like this can reveal the greatest realities?

Napoleon, for instance, inspired hope by rallying the French troops after his escape from Elba.

Martin Luther King Jr. procured hope through his life and the “I have a dream” speech.  Luther suggested that it was possible for a desired future where blacks, whites and others could coexist together harmoniously as equals.

Winston Churchill gave hope to England when hope seemed inconceivable.  While leaders and diplomats of his country were trying to figuring out how to “survive” Churchill took a different path, he was inspiring hope by helping the country see that they could “prevail!”

May I suggest that in the face of the “doom and gloomers”, “fear mongers” and “tireless hope killers”…

Be a “dealer” in hope!