This was Annie’s suggestion for a toe tapper this morning.
Everything is better when we stick together.
Life is better together, in relationship with those we love.
Remember to tell someone today that your life is better because they are in it.
Make it a great day.
Jake
The best way out is always through. – Robert Frost
The path from where you are today to where you want to be is going to be “through”.
Through something.
It won’t be easy.
There will be some obstacles.
You will have to stop being the person you are today and become a different person.
But it will be worth it because you are worth it.
It will be the best way.
Make it a great day.
Jake
The daily attitude email below is one I think of often and one I wanted to start my day off with today…..
Below is a powerful story shared in an email that I received.
These lines in particular stood out to me:
“Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were also able to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and horrible as that.”
Holding on to past wrongs actually keeps us from building the lives we want.
Whether the offense you are holding on to was as small as putting the toilet paper on facing the wrong way or as serious as the imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, all can be forgiven.
Who can you forgive today?
Make it a great day.
Jake
“The Face of My Enemy”
by Corrie ten Boom
It was in a church in Munich that I saw him–a balding, heavy‐set man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken and moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. The year was 1947, and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.
This was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed‐out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown. “When we confess our sins,” I said, “God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that says, ‘NO FISHING ALLOWED.’”
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, collected their wraps in silence, left the room in silence.
And that’s when I saw him working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!
The place was Ravensbruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard–one of the cruelest guards.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, Fräu‐lein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bot‐tom of the sea!”
And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course–how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?
But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face‐to‐face with one of my captors, and my blood seemed to freeze. “You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard there.” No, he did not remember me. “But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein”–again the hand came out–“will you forgive me?”
And I stood there–I whose sins had again and again needed to be forgiven–and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow, terrible death simply by the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there–hand held out–but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it–I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus says, “neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses.”
I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were also able to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and horrible as that.
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that, too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Jesus, help me! I prayed silently. I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.
So, woodenly and mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, and sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart.”
For a long moment, we grasped each other’s hands–the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Romans 5:5: “Because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Mark 12:41-44
New International Version (NIV)
The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Yesterday’s parable of the talents reminded me of this couple of verses.
An important component in life is the giving of ourselves in service to others.
It’s easy to get caught up in just the monetary aspect of the story. Maybe even feel bad because you haven’t given away all of the dollars you have earned.
And while I think that is an important element of the story, I believe that maybe a more important idea in today’s world is giving all of ourselves in service to others.
In service to our families.
In service to our church or favorite local charity.
In service to our clients.
In service to our teammates.
Make it a great day of service.
Jake
The Parable of the Talents in the Bible teaches some important lessons.
I have included the story below.
Spoiler alert….one of the morals of the story is that “to whom much is given, much is expected.”
And we all have been given much.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Matthew 25:14-30
New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Talents
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This was Annie’s suggestion for a Toe Tapper this week.
We’re all in this together.
That’s my favorite part about Mavidea/Maxlider – we’re a team and we’re all in this together.
If something needs to be done, we’re doing it together.
If something needs fixed, it’s on us to fix it.
If somebody needs help, we’re going to help them.
Not to get too philosophical, but it works this way in the big picture too. There’s only Earth. We all have to work towards making it a better place.
Make it a great day.
Jake
“Busy is the new stupid.” – Ed Baldwin
Over the years I have become more and more convinced how “busy” has become a meaningless throw away word.
Something that just gets put in the place where another word should be instead, like good or nice or stuff or like or …..
The interesting thing about this one though is that at some point a lot of us bought into it. We bought into the idea that more busy equals more better.
We fill our time (and our homes and our cars and our….) with more and more busy until we feel like we are “winning” the busy contest.
Only to find out later that we are all the same amount of busy. 24 hours passes at exactly the same rate for us as it does Bono (or someone else who you think is really important).
Today I give you permission (ignore the fact that I have no actual power over you) to let go of busy. Let go of trying to cram it all in. Decide on what is important and do that. Make a top 5 list for the day (or a top 1 list to start).
And then do it again tomorrow.
Do it enough days in a row to build a habit.
Make it a way of life.
On second thought, maybe there is a way to win the “busy” game. Stop playing it.
Make it a great day.
Jake
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/busy-new-stupid-ed-baldwin-sphr-gphr?trk=hp-feed-article-title-like
Love is a great beautifier. – Louisa May Alcott
I like this picture of love. It makes the person more beautiful.
Does the appearance of the beloved actually change? It does to the person who loves them.
When you think the best of and for another, it makes them take on a whole new appearance.
Isn’t it cute how they leave their socks on the floor?
Isn’t it funny how that co-worker slurps their soup?
Grandpa is so forgetful….
When we have love, we take the little stuff of life and add a positive and loving spin on it. We choose to think the best.
What if we could do this in more of our interactions today?
What would that look like for you?
Make it a great day.
Jake
Found this old daily attitude email, figured we could all use a reminder to be a little weird where it counts.
“Some are born weird, some achieve it, others have weirdness thrust upon them.” ― Dick Francis, To the Hilt
While on vacation I saw a woman running. She was running fast, had all the gear on, etc.
I thought to myself “she must be one of the weirdos that actually likes running.”
And then I thought “maybe I need to be a little more weird.”
And then I thought “maybe I could send out a daily attitude email about this.”
And then I thought “better make a note so I don’t forget.”
And then you thought “get on with it, you weirdo.”
Anyways, achieving something meaningful or breaking through our self-constructed barriers usually involves getting weird about something.
The person who ends up with a fortune first had to be the person who was a little weird about making and saving money.
The person who loses the weight and keeps it off first had to be the person who was a little weird about the food they ate and how it was prepared.
The person with all the great friendships first had to be the weirdo who talked to everybody and invited himself over.
We are all a little weird in our way.
But maybe we should consider adding to it. Adding a little weirdness where we need to make a change.
Make it a great day.
Jake
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. – Anne Frank
Great way to start a Monday – with the reminder that we don’t need to wait to start making things happen. We can start right now.
This day, this week, this month can be your new beginning, the time you really poured it on.
The world changes when we do.
Change begins when we do.
Let’s get started.
Make it a great day.
Jake
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The Daily Attitude Email 