When I purchased my house a few rooms had built in shelves. The room that I decided to inhabit had one shelf that spans about half the length of the room. I ended up using that shelf to throw up things that I would want to occasionally look at from time to time. As I began doing different physical events, all of the medals I got after crossing that finish line would end up hanging from that shelf. Through the 6 years that I've lived there, this shelf has become pretty full. I looked at it the other day and realized that it has basically become my trophy shelf. There are medals hanging down from it that remind me of different events that I've done how I had accomplished something difficult physically. Though these "trophies" are from me crossing the finish line, they are not the most valuable trophies on my shelf. A majority of this shelf is filled with cards and letters from people who have been in my life. Most of them are testimonies of what kind of impact I have been in their lives or encouragements to me to continue pursuing greatness.
When you think about your trophy case, what do you have displayed? Is it your job or career, your kids’ accomplishments, your stock portfolio or bank account, your grades, your major, your status in different social groups? Or is your trophy case full of lives that you have impacted for good. It should be full of ways that you have tried to make a difference in this world and to be a positive force of change.
