Grace is all around us, and so is pressure. Just this week, amidst the thrill of growing and expanding my company, Real Living, the pressure has been incredible. Building a new team, reassuring new contacts. Since the real estate crash hit at the end of 2005, pressure has been mounting. Sometimes daily, sometimes just bubbling under the surface. For many of us, no matter the industry, the great recession has spelled doom, gloom, worry, anxiety and yes, pressure.
Not so easy to find in our world: Grace.
And yet, something happened last night that symbolized more about grace under pressure than any business lesson I could write about.
My friend, Stefanie Spielman, lost her fifth battle with breast cancer last wee,. She died at the age of 42, surrounded by her family, And I know you may have similar stories. Cancer, unfortunately, has touched all of us in profound ways. What I do want to share with you is her incredible example of grace. She believed God gave her cancer at the age of 30 for a reason. She used the pressure, the unbelievable hardship that it imposed, to become a shining light of hope and grace for all who knew her and hundreds of thousands who didn't. Through her quiet power, she raised more than $6 million towards breast cancer research, while also raising four amazing kids.
In her example, I watched a woman who rose above disease while staying real in everything she accomplished. Becaues of her grace under pressure, she gave strength to others fighting the same disease. She kept her family at the center of her life, and her love story with her husband Chris is one for the ages.
This Thanksgiving, no matter the struggles happening in your life, look around you for the moments and people embodying grace. They are there. In the blue sky. In the eyes of a small child. Through the life of a friend who fought to the end. And hold on tight to each other. People come into your life for a reason.
Perhaps one of the people in your life right now is modeling this type of grace under pressure, or maybe, that role model is you.
Comments(5)