Behavior Doesn't Lie

“Want shows up in conversation, expectation shows up in behavior.” – Les Brown

I love this quote from Les Brown as it captures the problem with so many goals, plans and resolutions: they’re all talk and no walk! People like the idea of losing weight, reading more, watching less TV (and Netflix), paying off their house early, finishing the master’s degree, being a more sacrificial spouse, etc., but when it comes to actually changing their behavior and habits to accomplish that task, they aren’t willing to pay the price. And because their commitment was relatively shallow anyway, failing to accomplish the goal doesn’t hurt that much as they had little invested anyway. And they probably didn’t really expect to succeed anyway because deep down inside, they knew they only wanted the prize, and weren’t willing to pay the price.

Proverbs 20:11 tells us that, “Even a child is known by his actions.” Our lives are characterized by our behavior more than what we say because what we do exposes what is truly important to us. We must be careful to align our actions and attitude with our talk. Otherwise, we are like a bus showing “Next Stop: Bel Air” when it’s actually headed to Compton. We fall out of integrity with ourselves.

Make sure your marquee matches your movement.

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