Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas A. Edison

Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out. – Iris Murdoch

Don’t let your shoes get worn out!

Don’t miss out on those opportunities!

Action is key.

Make it a great day.

Jake

A few years ago, Tony Robbins posted the following on the FaceBox:

“Labor Day here in America is a celebration of the incredible tapestry woven by our efforts. When we give our labor, we’re giving a piece of ourselves, a reflection of our passion, creativity, and boundless joy.

Labor is the embodiment of LOVE in action. When we infuse it with purpose, our daily tasks become expressions of our highest selves. Whether you’re healing, creating, teaching, building, or nurturing, remember that your labor shapes the WORLD around you.

As we mark this day, let’s view each undertaking as an opportunity to serve, contribute, and make a difference. Your labor is your legacy, and it has the power to create a ripple of impact that echoes across generations.

Wherever you find yourself today, take a moment to ask: How can you infuse your daily work with joy and fulfillment? How does your labor contribute to the bigger picture of contribution and service to life? How does your labor stand as a gift to others?”

Great thoughts on how we contribute to each other through our labor (of love).

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/Y66j_BUCBMY?si=CFpwaraIpmiCW1uf

When Oliver was little, if we were doing something fun – he’d yell out “this is the best day of my life!”

As we get older, it’s easy to lose that kind of enthusiasm.

To find fault in what we’re doing, how we’re doing or who we’re doing it with.

To compare ourselves to others and feel less than or not good enough.

OR….we could swim against the stream….

To find joy in what we’re doing, how we’re doing or who we’re doing it with.

To have empathy for others and serve with love wherever possible.

Make it a great day (or maybe even the best day of your life?).

Jake

Below is the prayer of Oscar Romero.

I particularly liked these few lines towards the end:

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

So much of our fretting and worrying come from trying to control our fate and to do more than our “step along the way”.

I hope that each of you find peace today as you go about your day. The peace of knowing that the Lord will take care of the rest.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The Prayer of Oscar Romero –

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent

enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of

saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. – Anne Frank

One of the great things about books and history is that we get to see what’s possible.

We get words like these from Anne Frank. Someone who lived through terrible atrocities and some of the worst evil in history.

And what does she focus on – the beauty that still remains.

Our challenges don’t really compare to being a jew in Nazi Germany, but we still face them.

We still have the choice to make – focus on the misery or the beauty.

Both are available to us.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable. – Benjamin Franklin

This reminds me of another quote that goes something like “a baby is born with a need to be loved and never outgrows it.”

We were all built with a desire to be loved.

The path to fulfilling this desire flows through our ability to love and be lovable.

We can’t force another to love us. To fill that part of us that wants to be loved.

But we can be loving. We can think loving thoughts. We can take loving actions. We can become more lovable. All of these are within our control.

If you’re looking for some ideas, these verses from the Bible are a good start:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

If we could go to work on becoming more like this, I’m guessing we’d end up feeling more loved.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Your Father in heaven loves you so very much. He sent His only son to die for you so that He could be with you forever. I’d recommend taking Him up on this offer.

I always entertain great hopes. – Robert Frost

Let’s start the week off with hope.

Hope that it will all work out.

Hope that it might turn out better than we thought it would.

Hope that good will win out over evil.

Hope that love will conquer hate.

Hope that discipline will be the rule.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2x6L1_vjKj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“I’m bout to have a good day, in every single way.”

Saw this the other day and couldn’t help but smile.

Simple idea to brighten up your day.

Listen to something positive and upbeat.

Smile.

Have a little fun with it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you want to listen to the whole song – https://youtu.be/Uc_HxKMKB_E?si=K52XSUnpxo6ovly1

Love is a great beautifier. – Louisa May Alcott

Love changes our perspective.

We love our kids and our spouses and see the good in them. We help and serve with a smile.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbor – to train these same kinds of thoughts and feelings on those around us.

And if we do? It all gets more beautiful. It all gains purpose and meaning.

We aren’t just going through the motions at work and at home – we are serving and loving someone beautiful.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. – Warren E. Burger

Reminder – you have two ears and one mouth.

We should listen twice as much as we talk.

Make it a great day.

Jake