Author: jakedavis1910

Daily Attitude Email 06 15 21

Choose your love, Love your choice. – Thomas S. Monson

Sorry to continue on with the “Meaghan is the best” love fest, but another important lesson learned in the last 19 years is that of choosing love.

I’m sure there have been many days when it would have been easier for Meaghan to choose something other than love.

I’m sure there have been many days I didn’t deserve it.

But it was there. She made the choice.

It’s not always easy, but it is always the right one.

Make that choice today in your relationships.

Ask “What does love require of me?” and then make the choice to do it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 14 21

“Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks.” – Frederick Buechner

Today marks Meaghan and I’s 19th wedding anniversary.

We’re getting up in years enough that sometimes people will ask questions along the “how’d you do it?” line of thinking.

While I’m busy pondering and over-analyzing things Meaghan usually answers with some form of “grace”.

Thinking the best of the other person even when they don’t deserve it.

It is great advice for all of our relationships and interpersonal interactions – from the waitress to our spouse our lives will be more full of joy if we choose to respond with grace as frequently as possible.

Grace is a great area to practice giving and generosity. The more you give and the more generous you are the more joy you will experience. It’s not an equation I can document or fully explain, but I’m convinced it is just how life works on this planet.

Thank you to Meaghan for being a great example in my life of showing grace (maybe it is because I give her so much practice?).

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 09 21

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. – Charles Dudley Warner

I thought this one was pretty funny….

We do tend to spend a lot of our time in life talking and worrying about things over which we have no control.

Next time you are tempted to complain or become anxious over the uncontrollables in life, think twice.

Think of this funny quote.

If you are not (or can’t) do anything about it, stop worrying and complaining. Start planning and doing the hard work to turn it into a positive.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 08 21

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Prayer of St. Francis

Wow. The world sure needs this right now.

The level of maturity required to live this out is beyond me most days, but it’s still worth trying.

Even if we just got one or two of these right today the world would be a better place.

Pick a couple to work on this week. Watch what God does with your step of faith.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 07 21

Found this DAE from 2012 and wanted to send it again.

I finally became technologically savvy to get some podcast subscriptions set up on phone so I could listen to them in the car.

Last night I was listening to a sermon series and the pastor told a story that I thought I would share.

He talked about his plan for when he gets to heaven. He is planning on figuring out who paid for the gas for the preacher’s car on the day that the preacher came over to meet with him when he became a Christian.

He said he was going to go thank whoever that was because of all the good that had come in his life and his family’s life because of that pastor and whoever enabled him to come meet with him that day.

I thought two aspects of the story were particularly relevant for the daily attitude email.

First, little things matter. The people that gave money that allowed the pastor to fill up his gas tank probably didn’t think that much of it. Not a big deal to give a couple of dollars to a young pastor trying to make a difference. But it did make a difference. A huge difference.

So, remember that the little things matter.

It matters how you treat your coworkers, you never know when someone just needs a little extra help or a smile.

It matters whether or not you bend down to pick up that piece of trash, you never know when someone is watching.

It matters whether you smile and chat with the gas station clerk, you never know when someone has just endured some kind of tragedy.

The second thing that struck me was that he was thankful and recognized what had been done for him. He realized that someone else had sacrificed something (even if it was just a little bit of gas money) and was appreciative.

Noticing others and their generosity and being thankful for it is a great place to start when putting things into perspective.

This reminded me of how thankful I am for the generations that have come previously and this Ronald Reagan quote:

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.

Remember to do the little things in life that matter while being thankful and noticing the little things that others do for you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Daily Attitude Email 06 03 21

Below is a list of grade school kids answers to the question – “What does love mean?”

I send a lot of these emails with the theme of “love is the answer’ and I think the answers below show how to put that into practice.

The list is both funny and sweet, but the main themes are basic things like kindness, humility and putting the other person first.

Find some way to show love today. Take an idea from the list and make it fit for someone important to you today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca- age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily – age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka – age 6

(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle – age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” Cindy – age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare – age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine-age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris – age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” Mary Ann – age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren – age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image) Karen – age 7

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Mark – age 6

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica – age 8

And the final one — Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry”

Daily Attitude Email 06 02 21

Happiness is having a younger brother who is taller than you.

Today is my brother’s 41st birthday so I went in search of an inspirational “brother” quote and found a bunch of super sappy ones and then this random one that doesn’t really make sense, but is true in our case so I figured it was better than something corny about being best friends forever.

It has been a tremendous blessing in my life to have Bill as my brother.

Jim Rohn describes our family units as “the inner circle” and that as long as this inner circle is ok we can take on any challenge.

Bill’s always been a part of that for me. Meaghan and the kids have always been the “they’ll love me if even if it all went bad”, but Uncle Bill has been my “he’ll take good care of me when the zombies take over” person.

What’s the point, Jake?

The point is two fold:

  1. Don’t forget to take care of your inner circle. Take special care of those people and those relationships.
  2. Get somebody in your inner circle that is well prepared for the zombie apocalypse. It’s really not worth to get all prepared yourself, but you should definitely know somebody who thinks it is.

Make it a great day.

Jake