Daily Attitude Email 06 24 26

There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else. – Oscar Wilde

The mind is a rich fertile soil where we can plant and cultivate beautiful flowers and abundant crops. Or we can let the weeds and negativity in life take over. We can even plant weeds if we choose.

The hardest part is being mature enough to realize that the results you see today are because of the planting you have done in the past.

You must reap what you have sown, without complaint.

Take an honest assessment of the major areas of your life: relationships, physical, emotional, financial, spiritual. Try to understand the thought processes that have led to those results and then adjust.

Add a little more of the good stuff you got growing.

Do a little weeding with the bad stuff that crept in.

Stop planting what you don’t want more of.

The sooner you get started the sooner harvest will come.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 23 26

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. – Unknown

I’ve always like the analogy of the windshield and the rear view mirror.

The rear view mirror is small and is meant for quick glances behind you.

The windshield provides a larger view of what is in front of you.

In life, most of our time should be spent looking through the windshield. At our immediate surroundings and into the future.

We can glance at the review mirror to get some quick insights, but it shouldn’t be our focus.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 22 26

Some genius at the USGA decided a long time ago that the US Open golf tournament would end on Father’s Day each year.

This means that almost every year there is a scene on the final green where the winner is embraced by his father, usually accompanied by tears.

It’s a great moment to watch and a great reminder of all the great fathers out there.

The bond between father and son is such that even amongst the turmoil and celebration that is winning a major championship – the winner chooses to embrace his father.

I imagine the winner thinking about all the practices, tournaments, etc. and how they wouldn’t be where they are without the loving influence of their father.

I didn’t win a major championship yesterday, but I was thinking about the same things.

The world sure has it’s problems and imperfections. But it also has a whole lot of good fathers, doing the right thing, putting their family first, and being selfless (most of the time).

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 17 26

There is more to life than increasing its speed. – Mahatma Gandhi

Life is a balancing act between ambition and contentment.

It’s good to pursue more and better.

It’s good to be happy with our current situation.

Unbridled ambition leads to disaster.

Sedentary laziness leads to disaster.

We must balance the two – pushing and striving while being content.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – If you’re looking for more specific advice here I think the first place to look is to get rid of all the extra stuff (and stop buying more).

God has not been trying an experiment on …

God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

What a powerful thought.

Regardless of where you stand on believing in God and whether or not God places trials in our lives to test us, life will test you at some point.

The older I get the more I wonder how many of my "temples" are really houses of cards.

We see others whose metaphorical card houses have been toppled and quickly jump to conclusions about what they may have done wrong, not noticing we are balancing precariously in a house of cards ourselves.

But wheres the positive spin, Jake?

First, showing empathy for the weaknesses and follies of others can help us from meeting that same fate.

Second, seeing our house of cards for what it is before it falls can save us a whole lot of heartache.

Take a look at what you are building your beliefs and habits from to make sure they are built on solid footing.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Friday Morning Toe Tapper

https://youtu.be/8xg3vE8Ie_E?si=3_yf56zd1hA0Tmkr

Sunday will mark our 24th wedding anniversary (we were almost as young as T Swizzle looks in this video).

When I think about our love story, I can’t help but focus on a couple of lessons learned about love.

First, love is a verb. Love is about doing for those you love in your life. Being married to someone gives you endless opportunities for loving action taken on their behalf. Consistently taking those actions builds trust and helps fill the tank for all the times you (we/I) fall short.

Second, love is a choice. Whoever you love will let you down. They will fall short of expectations, forget to do that thing you told them, and make mistakes. You can choose to love them anyway.

Love requires grace. Not only do we need to choose to love in the face of shortcomings, we need to show grace for those same shortcomings. Not just being patient or understanding, but true forgiveness and grace.

Last one – for those of us who are Christians. God has to come first. If both husband and wife are earnestly pursuing God, the love will flow naturally.

Thank you to Meaghan for showing me love and teaching me all this over the last 24 years, sorry I’ve kind of a slow learner and still have a ways to go….

Make it a great day.

Jake