TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED

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I have been in the landscape industry for 20 years. Like most careers, you have generally good days and some bad days. The majority of bad days consist of the feeling like the world won’t keep spinning unless you send your report out. On top of that, we start feeling underappreciated and deserving of more.

I had one of those days 15 years ago. I remember having a feeling of defeat and despair as I began to realize I had more to get done than was possible. As I walked onto the job site to complete item 1 of 150,000 I was notably stressed out. I began to survey the landscape crew when I noticed the writing on a gentlemen’s hat. The script clearly read, “Too blessed to be stressed”. It hit me, my stress was really based on me trying to manage all the good things that had been given to me.

It’s important we acknowledge that the good things in our life have been given to us and not earned. Sure, we work hard and pay our dues, but we are not now and never have been deserving of the blessings in our life.

As your Chief Encouragement Officer, I want to remind you that you’re incredibly blessed. More than 750 million people alive today cannot read because they were not given the opportunity to learn. You on the other hand can read this on a variety of digital platforms and internet-ready devices. If we start by acknowledging that we deserve nothing we begin to recognize that every day is a gift.

Let it flow,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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RIGHT AS RAIN

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Being right and being right as rain are two opposite destinations. The reason we get upset, offended, irritated, dismayed, sullen, and withdrawn is rooted in our desire to be right. The phrase, right as rain speaks of health and being made whole.

Poor health is not always how your body is performing. A person in poor health can also be when an individual allows the dust and quagmire of the day to negatively affect the next.

Life tells us that every living thing has an ending point. A point at which there is no future. A point where what has been done in our time on earth is set in stone. There is no opportunity to correct, laugh or apologize anymore. The knowledge of this fact should be invigorating, encouraging, enlightening, and motivating.

Plato wrote that Courage is knowing what not to fear. Fear divides us. Fear multiplies upon itself and acts as a chain around our hearts and heads. As your Chief Encouragement Officer, I want to invite you to drive out fear and invite hope in. In order to be right as rain, we must take the infirmities that have long plagued us and cut the chain they are tied to. Look up and allow the clouds of humility and reconciliation to open and make us right as rain.

Let it go,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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YOU ARE HERE

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We have all done it. You park the car and confidently open the oversize doors of your local mall. You pay attention to where you are parked but not as much to which side of the mall you should have parked on. You are focused on finding Wetzel Pretzel or some other thing you don’t really need, and then in a moment, you realize that you are lost.

Suddenly you see that odd structure proudly presenting the map of the mall. As you make your way over to the board you see a few other folks who are just as lost as you are. This informational display has now become a water cooler for people who don’t have all the answers but know where to go if they need them. Behold, there it is, the red dot proclaiming YOU ARE HERE.

That red dot is quite profound. Just when you think you and those around you are lost that little red ray of hope appears. The truth is most of us are lost because we parked ourselves on the wrong side of reality. Being lost assumes that you’re in the wrong place. I disagree, being lost while earnestly seeking being found is a magical place. It’s a place that leads to a deep and triumphant revelation about who you are and where you are supposed to be.

It would be fantastic if these maps were in plain site throughout every stage of our life. The reality is the maps are there they are just not utilized enough. The maps for your life come in the shape of real friends, real community, and real relationships. These real signs tell us the truth when we think we are lost. These living breathing signs affirm that you are here, and you matter.

Make it a great week,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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