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The Lisa Barry Show Podcast
The Lisa Barry Show Podcast
Embracing Imperfection, the Beauty of Failure and Zip Lock Bags to Catch a Thief
Ever felt like your imperfections are glaringly front and center? This episode is a heartening reminder that through those very flaws, the warmth of divine love and human connection can shine brightest. I'm Lisa Barry, and I'll regale you with stories where imperfection and loss give way to beauty and laughter. You'll hear about a bride's precious remembrance of her father on her wedding day and chuckle along with my dinner party disaster - damp chairs and all! Plus, I've got whimsical tips to keep your spirits buoyant through the gloom of winter, from Christmas lights that linger to the bright promise of happy lamps.
Eric Arnold, CEO and father to four dynamic kids advocates for a counterintuitive approach to parenting: teaching children the value of failure. Drawing from Eric's personal odyssey of career pitfalls that paved his path to success, we examine the indispensable lessons learned from setbacks. Discover how embracing the unexpected twists and turns of life can lead to growth, and why sometimes, the best way forward involves a step back. So, grab your favorite mug of coffee, and let's connect over these life-affirming insights.
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Hi, it's Lisa Barry. You're welcome to the Lisa Barry Show podcast, where I share highlights from my radio show during the week. And some of the things you'll hear are I don't know what God thinks of you, how to figure out what to say when you have no idea what to say, and the beef I have with Neil Diamond. And if you'd like to figure out how to hear the show on the radio, I'll tell you at the very end. Stick around. Hey, there, it's Lisa Berry. I've got a question. Have you ever wondered how God feels about you? You try to do the right thing most days, but you also know you're inconsistent. You lose your temper, you've got a few bad habits that you just can't shake and you think if God grades on a curve, you're maybe at a C. But now let me ask you this have you ever had one of your kids surprise you with breakfast in bed when they were about four years old? This is probably what went down. You heard a lot of clanking and crashing in the kitchen, then little footsteps coming up the stairs and they walk into your room, unable to hide their sheer delight with this brilliant idea. When the tray gets to you, you notice that the toast is burnt to a crisp and on top of that a lukewarm egg white that's still clear in spots, and then there's the orange juice that spilled over onto the tray, because you know well it's hard to balance. Coming upstairs Now, when your child presented you the worst breakfast in the history of breakfasts, what did you say? Did you point out the disaster? Not a chance, because you knew the heart that made the offering was genuine, the effort was stellar and the outcome irrelevant. You took that little face in your hands and you kissed those chubby cheeks that tasted like maple syrup and you said this is the best breakfast I have ever had. I can't believe you did this for me. Okay, now that is how God feels about you. Death has the worst timing, isn't it? Hey, there it's Lisa Berry. It makes you rearrange everything. You have to rewrite the future. You have to get out your eraser and erase that person out of anything that you hoped they would be a part of.
Lisa Barry:Natalie felt that because she was getting married in a few months and her dad had passed away the year before and she always thought that he would walk her down the aisle. So there she is being a good sport, she's trying on her dress and all of a sudden she felt something kind of scratchy by her ankle, and so she lifted up the hem of her dress and started looking around. And pretty soon she sees this blue heart made of fabric sewn into the inside of the dress. And her mom said honey, that's your something blue. She looked at it and it said I love you, natalie. Daddy, she burst into tears. She's like Mom. How did you do this, natalie? Mom had taken something he had written in your yearbook, had that transferred onto one of his blue t-shirts and then cut out the shape of a heart.
Lisa Barry:You know, I feel like that's what God does for you and me. He's not going to prevent everything sad from happening in our lives, but he can make it special and meaningful, and that is one of the bajillion reasons I fall on Jesus. Hey, there it's. Lisa Berry. You know how, when you have people over, you want everything to go perfect. You don't want any catastrophes. Well, you know, it always happens, right?
Lisa Barry:Maybe you had guests over to your house over the weekend. We did too Well. In anticipation of company coming over, a few days ago, my husband used some upholstery cleaner on the chairs when they looked marvelous. Well, we're eating and like three quarters of the way through the meal, I realize I think my chairs wet. I think I'm wet and so I nonchalantly ask everybody okay, by the way, is anybody's chair wet? Two out of the three said no, but one said actually I think it is here once again. The hostess with the most is now has one of her guests trying to figure out how he's going to dry his pants. Now see, I tell you these things so you either know what happened to you wasn't that bad, or you have company on the wall of shame.
Lisa Barry:Did you hear about the guy who went to the doctor because he had a skin rash? The doctor ran a few tests and said I know what the problem is. You're allergic to your dog. After his exam was over, the guy's walking out and the doctor says well, are you going to give your dog away or sell it? The guy said no, I'm going to get another opinion. It's a lot easier to find a doctor than it is to find a good hunting dog. Oh my god, I laughed because you know what.
Lisa Barry:That's the way I read the Bible sometimes, like, if I don't like what one verse says, well, I'll just go find another verse that it's more palatable. You know, in this year of 2024, I don't want to be the one that's going to hunt for the verse that I want, because if we do that, neither of us are going to grow. But I know one thing listening to these songs really helps. One of my friends maybe feels the way you do. She said is work fun? No, but does it pay the bills? Also no. Do you know?
Lisa Barry:There's one city in Alaska that in the winter months has 67 days of darkness, like the sun just does not come up for that many days. Wouldn't you think it would be so depressing? I would have a hard time with that. But actually the people there are quite happy. They keep their Christmas lights up until the end of January, they eat vitamin D and they use those happy lamps. So you know what you just got to have a strategy. So if winter is getting a little too long for you, just make a little list two, three, four things about what would make it more tolerable for you. Now there's a fun project.
Lisa Barry:If today you're in one of those downward spirals of anxiety and you're wondering why, you know what somebody said to me God's not in a hurry, you are. It's why you're tired, it's why you're anxious, it's why you're frustrated, stressed and disappointed. Hmm, that's something to think about. You know what's cool God loves you simply because he chose to. Others might abandon you, divorce you, ignore you, but God will love you always, no matter what.
Lisa Barry:So remember that friend I told you about a little while ago, whose husband passed away just a few months ago, and people keep telling her she's strong and she wants to say back to them which she doesn't, but she's like I'm not strong. This happened to me and I have no control over it and I don't feel strong at all. So I asked her. I said well, instead of that, what is something that would be helpful for people to say? And you know what she responded and said I think I get the most comfort right now being told that God is with me. I think any kind words are nice, but people don't know what to say, so they're silent and that's actually worse. I'm just feeling very alone right now. So being reminded that God is with me is nice. About to tell you could be the most important thing you hear today. Hey, there, it's Lisa Berry.
Lisa Barry:So yesterday I told you about my friend, lisa, whose husband passed away three months ago and she wishes people wouldn't tell her she's strong, because she said I'm not strong, I'm just surviving in a situation that I have no control over. But then her Facebook friend, jessica, said this strength isn't always a confident bravery. Strength is showering, eating, doing house chores and caring for your pets, despite everything in you that wishes life would just give you a break. Strength is shoveling your driveway in tears. There are so many ways you can exude strength in spite of the heartbreak you weren't given a choice in. I know the pain is immeasurable, but I assure you you're doing so much better than you give yourself credit for. Strength is the way you continue to show up for yourself every day, while trusting God has plans of happiness and grace in store for you.
Lisa Barry:Hey, there, I'm Lisa Berry. I'm not sure if this ever happens to you, but I was telling my friend about this quote that I had taken a picture of and I had it on my smartphone and I was like just a minute, let me find it, I'll find it here. And then I'm scrolling with my thumb, scrolling, scrolling like two hours later Not quite, but it felt like that. It's like I can't find it. So I just thought, if you have that same thing too, you know what we could do this weekend. That's Uber productive. Put a lot of those pictures in albums on our phones. It's going to make stuff so much easier to find.
Lisa Barry:Did you know Neil Diamond just celebrated a birthday? You know how old he is? What would you guess If you guessed 83, you're right, that's an older, I guess, than I would have thought. Isn't it funny how his song Sweet Caroline has become iconic. It's at all wedding receptions, it's in all major stadiums, but there's only one beef I would have with him, I guess, if I had to be honest. I feel like his songs were like this I don't know if I want to talk or sing and I can't decide, so I'll do both.
Lisa Barry:Here's me last night. Does this ever happen to you? I'm like good night brain. A few minutes later, my brain responds what disease do you think we have? You may be trying to eat healthier by juicing. I took raw carrot and kale and ginger and lime and celery and juiced it all. Gave one to my husband and one to me. You know what my husband does. He goes to the fridge, takes a can of whipped cream and, yep, he did. Hey, there it's, lisa Berry.
Lisa Barry:So think about the times when people ask you to do something Maybe be involved in a committee or to help out in the children's nursery my first reaction is inner turmoil. Do you do that too? Because on the one hand, my schedule is already very busy, but on the other hand, a lot of people say no and somebody's got to do it. So here's this person standing in front of me waiting for my answer, and here's me, dear in the headlights, because I'm trying to come up with the best answer. I don't have one. It's like I really want to say no, but I really should say yes. But then I learned about three questions Lisa Turkers asked herself before saying yes to anything that she's asked to do. Number one would I be saying yes to prove something? Number two am I saying yes to impress someone? And number three have I count the cost of saying yes? Those are so good. No more deer in the headlights.
Lisa Barry:Well, here's a little bit of financial advice. I learned by personal experience If you want to be financially stable, don't get into crafts the end. I'm not sure if you've seen this picture or not, but it's of a huge eagles nest completely covered in snow, and right in the center there's the eagles head, and the eagle is sitting patiently keeping the eggs warm up to its neck in snow, not complaining, not flying away to a more comfortable situation, yet probably very aware of how uncomfortable this situation is. That's parenting. That's what you do. You could choose greener pastures if you wanted to. You could put your foot down and say that's enough, I'm working too hard, but you don't. You're mindful of your responsibility and you don't complain, even when it's hard. Good on you.
Lisa Barry:Is it really believable that a dad would want his kids to fail? Are you kidding me? Hey there, lisa Berry. Well, here's a dad. His name is Eric Arnold. He's a father of four and a CEO of a financial planning business. He really wants his kids to fail. You know why he said because without all the failures in his life, he would never be CEO today. So here's a post that he shared. He goes I failed at nine startups, got fired from two companies, quit three jobs without notice, failed out of college, lost a ton of money on a bad investment. Let me be clear those memories don't fade. If you'd like to listen to my radio show, there's a lot of different ways you can do it. I can raise millions into BerryShowcom. Click on how to Listen and while you're there, you might even discover how I could buy you a cup of coffee. Thanks for listening. This program, yay).
