“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee

Reminder – take action!

Get started.

Keep going.

Wherever you are on the path – take action.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. – CS Lewis

As a follow up to the “love your neighbor” emails – CS Lewis has a great way of explaining it.

Our goal should be our neighbor’s glory.

And the weight of that should be so much that we have no choice to be humbled in our attempts to achieve it.

Only with God’s help will we be able to properly orient ourselves to the goal of neighbor’s glory.

In the Bible it says “my yoke is light” (paraphrased) – by working together with God, the load is lightened.

When we take up the yoke of our own glory or our own happiness our backs will be broken under the weight.

When we give up our lives in service through love we will gain it all and more back.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Stop worrying about what other people think about you. Starting working on what you think about other people.

I wrote this down a few months ago, I’m sure I got it from someone else but forgot to write that part down.

We fall into the trap of worrying and considering too much what everyone else thinks about us.

We’d be better off thinking more about what we think of others.

Thinking thoughts of love, grace and gratitude will yield much better results.

Figure out ways to serve and put others first.

Find time to pray for others.

Make it a point to add joy and peace wherever you go.

In turn, you’re life will be so much more full.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World. – Christopher Columbus

Meaghan’s grandmother was known for saying “Columbus took a chance, so should I” (especially while playing cards).

Leaving the Old World was a risk.

And the best part was that what he found was something he didn’t think he was going to find.

He set out for one destination and instead found something else – something he couldn’t have imagined.

The same can happen for us. If we take a chance and move forward towards positive change, we must just end up somewhere we couldn’t have imagined.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/_7xMfIp-irg?si=B06UNnZCt39o7uD4

Love is all you need.

Follow up to yesterday’s email – if we could find a way to love our neighbor as ourselves, that sure would help a lot.

We’d still need food and stuff, but a lot of the world’s problems would feel a lot easier if we could find some room for love.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Love your neighbor as you love yourself. – Jesus

In one of the all time classic Bible stories, Jesus is asked “but who is my neighbor?” after telling a group to “love thy neighbor".

Most people know the story of the good Samaritan.

It’s easy to just think about it as “the nice guy who helped his neighbor”.

But the story has a little nuance – the Samaritans were a people that the Jewish people of Jesus day strongly disliked. They didn’t want to be in the same room with them, let alone think of them as good.

In today’s age, we could update it a little to something like….

The Good Democrat (or Republican)….

The Good Conservative (or Liberal)…..

The Good Weird Young Person with Too Many Piercings, Colored Hair, etc…..

The Good Poor Person (or Rich Person)….

Jesus’ point was that our neighbor was an inclusive idea. We are to love all of them. Even those we disagree with. He even later tells us to “turn the other cheek” and to “give up our clothes if someone steals them from us”.

I think he was trying to get us to focus on our heart, not on what others may or may not do. Our role is to assume the right heart posture – to love our neighbor.

Make it a great day.

Jake

One of the big ideas when it comes to meeting goals and being successful is the idea of stewardship.

What we do with the money, time and other resources that come our way helps determine how happy we are.

When it comes to how we use the money that comes our way, a big idea that has been sticking in my head lately is to spend money on experiences and not stuff.

This article on Forbes explains better than I can:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2016/08/09/why-you-should-spend-your-money-on-experiences-not-things/#287846af1c08

My take on it is that the more stuff we accumulate the more it controls our lives.

We spend our time buying, maintaining, repairing, cleaning, moving, storing, sorting, taking it out, putting it away….you get the idea.

What if you spent all that time and money having fun with friends and family instead?

Make it a great day.

Jake

I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. – Calvin Coolidge

Reminder – sometimes (most of the time?) it’s better to keep quiet.

Part of learning to better control our emotions is to not believe everything we think.

Even better is to not say everything we think.

Judge what you think – is it true, is it helpful?

Carefully choose what comes out.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Laughter is an instant vacation. – Milton Berle

Usually at some point during a vacation I realize that I should be doing more “vacation stuff” all the time.

This quote really sums it up well.

We can go on an instant vacation any time we want. Just laugh and have fun.

As we go about our typical work days we tend to allow ourselves to get stuck in the routine of it all.

Change it up.

Take a vacation from the routine.

Do something simple today to take a vacation from the normal.

Take a different route into work.

Order something you normally wouldn’t for lunch.

Spend a few extra minutes outside.

Stay up late.

Go to bed early.

Change it up.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/3YqPKLZF_WU

You. You are. My Universe.

Don’t we all just want to hear somebody sing that to us (preferably with a poppy upbeat song and some smooth dance moves).

Every time I hear a song or read something like this it reminds me of the quote – “babies are born with a need to be loved and never out grow it”.

We never outgrow our need to be loved.

I’m convinced that the proper response to this truth is to love others.

To have them feel that they are loved.

It can be small…..a kind, warm interaction with a service worker who’s stressed out.

Or it can be big….years of lovingly serving a loved one who has become ill.

Big or small, our job is to love somebody – today.

Make it a great day.

Jake