Thanksgiving week.

It’s a great opportunity to be reminded of all that we have to be thankful for.

Friends, family, careers, God, food, shelter – we all have a long list.

Happiness and contentment begin with thankfulness.

One of life’s great balance acts is the balance between thankfulness for what we have while still stoking the desire for growth and change.

As we look to make changes in our lives, we need to both strive for more and better while being thankful for where we are and the journey to get to where we want to go.

I still haven’t wrapped my head around this entirely, but I’ve taken up the practice of trying to be thankful for where I am any time I’m working on changing something.

Be thankful for the $10 in your savings account even when you would like it to be $1 million.

Be thankful for the 1 pound lost even though you want it to be 20.

Be thankful for the opportunity for growth, some never get it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Resending this “Toe Tapper” from a few years ago….

https://youtu.be/o_v9MY_FMcw

This one goes out to Meaghan. Between her and the girls, I have heard this one many times this week.

I have a confession to make though. I may not actually believe this is the best song ever.

But the message is a great reminder of the power of a great song.

I am sure we all have a song that moves us.

A song that brings back happy memories.

A hymn from church that pulls at our heart every time.

A classic song that injects just a little bit of our youth back into us.

A slow song that reminds us of that first dance at our wedding.

Go find the YouTube for one of these songs today and listen to it. Let it take you places.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Bonus points for those that "Reply All" with their "Best Song Ever" for everyone else to hear. Please try to keep them relatively clean (that warning was for Erik as I know the rest of you are way too mature to send out something inappropriate).

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.’

What you reap, you also sow.

We have all heard some version of this. Whether we read it in the Bible or a newer version of it in books like “The Go-Giver”, this little truth has been around for a long time.

One of the important things to realize about this is that it is like gravity. It is there whether you are paying attention or not. It is there whether you are purposeful about leveraging it or are just dealing with the consequences of it.

Each and every day, we are sowing seeds that will grow.

We are sowing seeds in each interaction we have with others.

We are sowing seeds through our daily habits.

We are sowing seeds through our thoughts and attitudes.

The question becomes, what are you sowing?

An inexperienced gardener doesn’t know the difference between a carrot seed and a tomato seed. An inexperienced gardener doesn’t know whether the seeds he just planted need lots of sun or room to grow.

This is where most of us get stuck. Without some wisdom and knowledge, we aren’t sure what seeds we are sowing or what to do with them once they are planted.

Fortunately, there is help.

First, we can look at the fruit we currently have. This is a great way to learn what kinds of seeds you are sowing. Take stock in your life. Look around and see what kind of fruits are growing. Then decide if you want more or less of a certain fruit.

Second, we can read books. All kinds of people have written books about their experiences sowing seeds and the fruits they experienced. Reading a book can help you determine whether those seeds you are sowing are carrots or tomatoes and what is the best way to get the most fruit you can from them.

Lastly, we can ask a mentor or coach. Asking someone else to help us identify the seeds we are planting and the fruit we are growing can illustrate how we could do things differently. They can also share their experiences and show us the results they have gotten from sowing similar seeds.

Make it a great day of sowing.

Jake

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. – Colossians 3:23-24

This is one of my favorite Bible verses.

Whether you are a Christian or not, this one can be a game changer for your life.

Finding a way to go about your day with enthusiasm for the task at hand is a sure fire way to have a much better day.

Whether you are washing the dishes or making a sale, doing it with enthusiasm changes everything.

As you go about your day today, find something you usually aren’t too excited about and do it with enthusiasm. Then apply that enthusiasm to the next thing. And just keep on going.

Make it a great day.

Jake

God of our fathers, who by land and sea have ever led us to victory, please continue your inspiring guidance in this the greatest of all conflicts. Strengthen my soul so that the weakening instinct of self-preservation, which besets all of us in battle, shall not blind me of my duty to my own manhood, to the glory of my calling, and to my responsibility to my fellow soldiers. Grant to our armed forces that disciplined valor and mutual confidence which insures success in war. Let me not mourn for the men who have died fighting, but rather let me be glad that such heroes have lived. If it be my lot to die, let me do so with courage and honor in a manner which will bring the greatest harm to the enemy, and please, oh Lord, protect and guide those I shall leave behind. Give us the victory, Lord."

General George Patton

I went searching for something meaningful to share for Veteran’s Day.

This short prayer stood out.

In particular, this one line: Let me not mourn for the men who have died fighting, but rather let me be glad that such heroes have lived.

Veteran’s Day is a great day to be glad that such heroes are around.

It’s a day to be thankful for those heroes.

We are so lucky to have heroes on our side.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/OBwS66EBUcY

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

To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: "Leave no stone unturned." – Edward Bulwer Lytton

One of my other favorites about seeking is the Bible verse “Seek and ye shall find.”

But that simple verse leaves out something important.

You might have to look for a really long time and it might be hard.

Sometimes finding what you are looking for requires a whole lot of patience.

Sometimes finding what you are looking for requires you to become a different person.

Leave no stone unturned.

Don’t give up along the way.

Keep turning over stones.

One last thought. Make sure what you are seeking for is worth it.

Wouldn’t want to spend all that time turning over stones only to find out you didn’t really want it in the first place.

Make it a great day.

Jake

STEP 6

We’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

The gospel reminds us that we are to be known by our capacity for love. The source of this love is God’s love. As we discover this source of unconditional love, we become more effective in all of our ongoing relationships.

In Step 6, we ask God to remove defects of character, and this removal requires that we die to old ways of being and acting. We must die to a false reliance on possessive and jealous human relationships. We must die to a narrow preoccupation with material wealth, power, or authority. We must die to our dependency on mood-altering chemicals or food as means of satiating spiritual needs.

The expression of the Holy Spirit within us can only be alive to the extent that we have died to our old ways. We seek to be thorough in this invocation of God’s help, for “half measures availed us nothing” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 59).

I once read a bible study based on the 12 steps in the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This one stuck out as worth sharing.

At some point, we must die to our old ways of being and acting.

We must be thorough in our attempts to eradicate our old bad habits and thoughts.

Half measures will avail us of nothing.

What comes to mind from your life when you read this?

What needs to change in order for things to get better?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Adverti

Andy Stanley once did a series going through the process of decision making and how to make better decision’s in your life.

He suggests asking yourself a question. What story do I want to tell?

When facing an important decision, he suggests looking into the future and asking this question to help clarify what you are really deciding.

Some examples….

When it comes to your finances, what story do you want to tell?

When it comes to your health and fitness, what story do you want to tell?

When it comes to your family and your closest relationships, what story do you want to tell?

These are just to get you thinking a little. Thinking of the story you want to tell is beginning with the end in mind. Everything becomes clearer when you can attach a story to it.

I encourage you today to not only think about what stories you want to tell, I encourage you to write them down. Then start making decisions that align with those stories.

We are all writing the story of our life everyday by the decisions we make.​ Let’s do our best to write the story we want to tell.

Make it a great day.

Jake