Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises. – Emily Carr

When we went to Colorado a few years ago there were a bunch of Aspen trees outside of the house we rented and they were mesmerizing to watch (we bought and planted two in the yard when we got home).

The leaves rustled perfectly in the wind.

It seems to me that God did it on purpose. Just another way to add beauty and wonder in the world.

What is something in nature that inspires wonder in you?

How could you add more wonder in your life?

Make it a great day.

Jake

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"Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s levels of aspiration and expectation." – Jack Nicklaus

Challenge yourself to raise your aspirations. Dream bigger.

Challenge your expectations of yourself. Don’t let yourself get away with anything but your best.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/AHe_qmo3gX4

Apparently God is trying to teach me a lesson. Several podcasts and books that I have listened to lately have included the story of how this song was written.

Horatio Spafford wrote the song while crossing the Atlantic Ocean to meet up with his wife after his four daughters drowned in a ship wreck during the trip across the same ocean.

Imagine sitting in some dimly lit boat floating your way across the ocean for weeks. Your daughters have just died and your wife is too grief stricken to return on her own so you get on a ship to bring her home. You are left with some time to think during the voyage so you decide to sit down and do some writing.

And he writes:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well, with my soul

It is well with my soul? He writes that in the midst of hard to imagine heart break. I have a hard time imagining that kind of peace when I get stuck in traffic for more than a couple of minutes.

Is it that he was just that much better of a person than me? Maybe a little.

Am I just that much of a big baby? Probably.

Does the Creator of the universe offer this kind of hard to imagine peace and serenity to all of us? Definitely.

Struggling to find peace? Looking for more joy?

It is there and available for you. You are not some special case that is especially incapable of these things.

Seek it. Knock and the door will be opened.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here are the entire lyrics to the song:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well, with my soul

It is well

With my soul

It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul

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https://youtu.be/GTu5ltfX2dw

Part of the new school year is making new friends. Inevitably you will have classes with someone who will be a new friend.

As adults we have to look for these opportunities.

To change seasons or spots or schedules in order to make room for a new friend to appear.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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First day of school for the Davis kids. I went looking for a quote or old daily attitude email about making the most of today and cherishing the moment and found the one below.

As the kids get older – being present and cherishing the moments becomes more and more clearly important as time goes by.

"I think that surviving those we love must be among life’s worst experiences. My uncle Ken Hayward – a man of wisdom and courage who, in his eighty-three-year lifetime, led squadrons of men through countless air battles and city councils through difficult change – has just buried an aged five-pound dog. And he is distraught beyond belief."

This line from "An American Caddie in St. Andrews" by Oliver Horovitz really stuck with me.

Something we all have in common is that we will "survive someone we love" at some point. And, I suppose, we will all find ourselves "distraught beyond belief" as well.

There is a positive side to this realization.

We can remember to be thankful for those we love.

We can cherish our memories and create new ones that will live with us forever.

We can slow down and bend down for that all important conversation with a bouncing 5 year old.

We can tell those we love that we love, right now.

No one is guaranteed tomorrow. We all must make the most of today.

Make the most of today.

Jake​

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The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better. – Thomas Carlyle

Simple but good idea in this one – there is beauty in nature and the world around us – if we look for it.

Be on the lookout today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/RwlhUcSGqgs

Hopefully I can remember to send this out each year around the time school starts.

My favorite line from listening to it this year – What are you teaching?

Everybody’s a teacher and everybody’s a student.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Monday morning reminder – you reap what you sow.

Each week is a new opportunity to sow differently than last week.

We get to pick how we spend our time and resources.

If you don’t like what you are currently reaping then it’s time to sow differently. Plant new seeds in a different.

Different thoughts. New habits.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/OuFnpmGwg5k

(Another Taylor Swift song! Seriously Jake, what is your problem!)

Sorry….apparently we listen to too much T Swizzle at our house.

This song has been stuck in my head the last couple of Sundays at church.

And isn’t it just so pretty to think

All along there was some

Invisible string

Tying you to me?

My sincere wish each Sunday is that more of us might realize there is an invisible string tying us to our Creator. That He is pulling on that string. That He wants us close to Him. Forever.

In the song Taylor tells the stories of the ups and downs of coming together with her love. She describes moments and how they now make it clear that the two are tied together. Maybe the same is true of our relationship with our Heavenly Father? All these little details and moments – meant to bring us close to Him.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – This may not be well thought out, but I think of the string as love itself. Love is what ties us to each other and to God.

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Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home. – Mother Teresa

Andy Stanley has a line that goes something like “do for one what you wish you could do for all”.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all that life has coming at us. Work obligations. Family obligations. TV. Marketing. Social Media. Bible studies. Exercise. Junk food.

When I feel overwhelmed I try to focus on doing the next right thing.

Oftentimes that means showing love to the person in front of me.

Focus on those closest to. Think about what love would require of you. And then do that. Again and again.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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