I’ve been listening to Jordan Peterson’s new book and it reminded me of this email from last year.

“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).”

― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

I’ve been reading this book again after listening to it last year.

It really is a tremendous book. Highly recommend.

A theme in the book is what I would call “being a grown up”.

This quote from the book puts it well.

Open your eyes and face reality.

Accept your responsibility to participate in it and make things better.

Understand your vulnerabilities and move forward anyway.

Gladly take on the sacrifices necessary to improve the lives around you.

These ideas seem particularly important in a time of difficulty like we are facing now.

Now is the time to stand up straight with our shoulders back, not to shrink or shirk our responsibilities.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

I saw a quote the other day that essentially said the key to happiness is to limit the number of desires.

Sometimes (most of the time?) the end of the year is a time where we overcomplicate our lives with too many desires. We try to do, buy and have too much.

Maybe a library and a garden aren’t your things.

What would be on the “short list” for you?

Make your list shorter this holiday season.

Make it a great day.

Jake

You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child. – Dr. Seuss

It is a great experience to read a book to a child. It almost makes it worth having them (begin knee slapping and laughing).

Instead of asking you all to sit down and read a book to a kid near you, I thought I would encourage you to read in general.

We all need to exercise our minds.

We need to change gears and a change of pace.

We need to see another view on what life is like or could be.

We need that special insight that a great author can provide.

When we experience this different perspective, we become a better version of ourselves.

Make it a great day.

Jake

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self. – Ernest Hemingway

Am I getting better or getting worse?

Was today an improvement or a setback?

Improvement or decline?

Imagine the power of asking yourself these questions versus comparing yourself to your neighbors.

I especially like the simplicity of this.

We can make things overly complicated when we seek out what others have, when we seek to live the lives of others.

Instead, pursuing our better self each and every day brings with it clarity and simplicity.

Let’s all get better today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/DWrMeBR8W-c

Here is one of my favorite excerpts from Band of Brothers (a book I’m reminded of every year on Veterans Day as it reminds of what it means to be a Veteran).

From Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose –

Sgt. Skinny Sisk also had a hard time shaking his war memories. In July 1991, he wrote Winters to explain. "My career after the war was trying to drink away the truckload of Krauts that I had stopped in Holland and the die-hard Nazi that I went up into the Bavarian Alps and killed. Old Moe Alley made a statement that all the killings that I did was going to jump into the bed with me one of these days and they surely did. I had a lot of flash backs after the war and started drinking. Ha! Ha!

Then my sister’s little daughter, four-years old, came into my bedroom (I was too unbearable to the rest of the family, either hung over or drunk) and she told me that Jesus loved me and she loved me and if I would repent God would forgive me for all the men I kept trying to kill all over again.

That little girl got to me. I put her out of my room, told her to go to her mommy. There and then I bowed my head on my mother’s old feather bed and repented and God forgave me for the war and all the other bad things I had done down through the years. I was ordained in the latter part of 1949 into the ministry and believe me, Dick, I haven’t whipped but one man since and he needed it. I have four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The Lord willing and Jesus tarrys and I hope to see you all at the next reunion. If not I’ll see you on the last jump. I know you won’t freeze in the door.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Veterans Day is today.

The last line of the “Band of Brothers” HBO series has always stuck with me.

They ended with interviews with the actual veterans.

The last one told the story of his grandson asking if he had been a hero in the war.

“No, but I served with some.”

Wow. It takes a lot of character to conduct yourself like that.

We should all be proud of the legacy left by the great men and women in our armed forces and those who are currently serving.

Thank a veteran today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. – Andy Stanley

The last couple of days, Annie has been watching “The Blind Side”.

It’s a story of an affluent family that takes in a young man without a home. The young man goes on to play professional football.

It reminded me of the Andy Stanley quote above. The family in that story did just that.

The future of that young man was forever changed because of the love of that family.

How could you reach out and help just one person today?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Last night was Annie’s band concert.

It was also proof that human beings can and do grow over time.

When Annie (and her classmates) had their first concert in 5th grade….it wasn’t super great. There was some room for improvement.

Last night, they were about 100 times better than that first time.

They went from not being able to play a note to being able to play songs.

How?

Practice.

Persistence.

Perseverance.

They did something hard for a period of time and got better at it.

We can all do the same. We can learn and grow.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Annie’s the best!

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. – Albert Camus

Freedom is not the end. It’s a chance. It’s a choice.

What are you planning to do with your freedom this week?

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/M11PBJbFApw

I’m already loved

I’m already chosen

I know who I am

I know what You’ve spoken

I’m already loved

More than I could imagine

And that is enough, oh-oh

We all wish to be known and loved.

God knows every hair on your head.

God loves your very soul.

You’re already loved, more than you can imagine.

Don’t let anyone (including yourself) convince you otherwise.

Make it a great day.

Jake