Wake Up With Purpose!: What I've Learned in My First Hundred Years

by Jean Dolores Schmidt

I’ve always said, if you’re not moving forward, you’re going to get left behind real quick. Adaptability is my superpower.

Sometimes the most important part of love is showing up.

It’s up to us to learn to accept people, no matter how different they are. Acceptance has to come from the heart.

loving and caring for family was an important part of serving God.

a dream without a plan is just a dream. Plans require action, and action requires persistence.

the key to being a good teacher was to make learning fun,

There was so much I didn’t know and had to improve upon, but I had to trust that God would get me there eventually.

Listening is a skill, too, and it has to be learned.

it’s the teacher’s job to make learning easy and fun. If the students aren’t learning, it’s often the teacher’s fault, not theirs.

when you love what you do, it never really feels like work.

you’re only as good as your players. I may have been new to the job, but I knew right away that I was part of a winning team.

Once again, I had no choice but to go with the flow. Life’s too short to be stressed, right?

As far as I was concerned, I was there for whatever they needed, which is why we were able to bond so quickly. Once someone senses you are truly invested in their dreams, they come to trust you and gravitate toward you. That’s the blessed life of a teacher.

Jesus taught us to love one another no matter what our differences—indeed, because of our differences. I really believe that if we could just see one another the way God sees us, this kind of nonsense would never take place.

If we don’t learn about our mistakes, how will we learn from them?

I believe it’s God’s purpose to help us through the suffering, not avoid it altogether.

We spend so much time at our jobs, it’s important that we feel good about being there. Life is too short to be unhappy.

the more personal things become to us, the harder it is to see them change.

All leaders have to navigate resistance if they want to make change.

all of God’s children should be friends. We should have a great time together whether we are at a game; seeing one another in an elevator, at a formal meeting, at a meal; participating in Liturgy; or simply sharing prayer side by side.

when we are sad, helping other people overcome their own sadness makes us feel a lot better.

We can put on whatever costume we want, but God sees who we really are on the inside.

We can put on whatever costume we want, but God sees who we really are on the inside. And we’re all the same in His eyes.

We can pray all we want, but I also believe that we have to do our part.

God didn’t create us to be perfect. He created us to be human.

We pray so hard and so often, and maybe we feel a little guilty about asking too much. And then God comes along, dispenses His miracles, and we realize that all along we were asking for too little.