Barbara L. Ayers -- Author

Jeff Bezos has stated a few times that his success can be attributed to not letting anyone else tell him who he is. While this sounds like solid advice, this fixed idea fails to include the importance of   being flexible or open-minded, especially while building and maintaining a business. Just as the seasons change, so does a business and the social climate. Flexibility allows for growth. Maturity allows for change. People change and evolve in their thinking and who they are throughout their lives. A very over-simplified example is the child who receives an allowance. One child might spend it on candy or a toy. As a teenager, they may save it to build enough to buy something like a car that they want. As an adult, still saving, they may invest to make it grow larger and faster, planning out the larger picture. Who that person is today is very much the result of an ever-evolving time of growth and maturity. They are molded through the experiences they have. They stretch, grow, an...

When I was a little girl, I loved playing with my brother’s cars and trucks. I would build roads and towns in the front driveway. When my best friend and I would put on plays for the neighborhood, I was ok with playing the male roles because my mother always styled my hair into a pixie-cut. But what I really enjoyed the most was putting on dress-up clothes and playing house with my dolls. In reality, I did as all children do--I played with whatever I had available. I learned the roles and moral compasses of my family members and our community by watching what they said and did. I assimilated what I saw into my own character formation. I developed who I was to become in society from the people in my life. This did not happen overnight. There were often bumps in the road. It took time and patience. More importantly, it took a natural physical development to be capable of any decision-making.    Children have a limited range of knowledge from which to draw conclusions. They d...

Many years ago I read a book from my grandmother’s library on the great earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906. I was not only horror-stricken but fascinated at the same time. As typical of most people, I looked to discover how people could survive such an experience. The buildings that remained standing after the earthquake had been built upon a foundation of rock. The ones that collapsed had been built upon sand. Additionally, those built upon rock had to further withstand the fires that erupted soon after. I am reminded of the biblical scripture that describes to us the importance of building a foundation upon solid rock. The security and soundness of constructing any structure or even our character using this directive is made clear. Our own experiences reinforce this edict. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.   And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat...

My mother had been a member of two bridge groups for over thirty-five years. They got together every week for laughter and fellowship. Oh how much my mother loved to play bridge. She wore out cards so fast! Every year for Christmas I would place a new deck into her stocking. Shopping for that perfect deck of cards was not easy, but could be quite interesting. Mother was a history student throughout her life, so finding just the right picture or motif on them was important to me. Equally fun was to find that one deck having unique characters representing the face cards. Did you know that those face cards were originally designed to represent actual kings and queens—royalty from actual history? When I think about such a representation of reality, I drift off into thoughts of how a deck of cards is a lot like a person. The outside picture doesn’t tell us much about the actual person. We have to turn the deck over and look inside at the individual cards and what is represented therein....

Retired Admiral William McRaven wrote a book titled   Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World . I have frequently touted the same philosophy. Just ask my girls. By doing this one simple thing every morning, we can say that we have accomplished one thing today. If nothing else, we can begin the day with a small accomplishment and work our way towards bigger and more important accomplishments. When we feel down or oppressed in life, doing little things can help to clear the way for realizing and accepting that we can take control of the direction of our life. This morning, for example, I was feeling a little sad and didn't feel much like doing anything except crawling back into bed and feeling beaten. The only way out of this was to get up and make the bed. Step one. Don't they say that things often begin with baby steps? Then off to the kitchen to find some sustenance, even though my appetite has dissipated with the onset of my sadness. But I...

  Are you experiencing conflicts trying to understand your parents’ or friends’ Christian beliefs? Are you having difficulty explaining your Christian beliefs to other people? Are you having trouble defining it for yourself? The goal of this book is to help provide some of the answers you seek, exactly as God intended—from his written Word. Ten essential areas basic to Christianity are presented to help you establish a foundation from which to grow and mature on your journey. While God is a mystery to all of us, the Holy Spirit has been placed inside each of us to help bridge the gap. Throughout the book, three things will become clear. First, God desires to reconcile with humankind, to have a personal relationship with every one of us. We merely need to reach out toward him in trust and to respond in faith to his call. Second, when you understand God’s free gift of grace, righteousness can become a tangible and significant attribute within your very being. You will mature an...