Monotony is the awful reward of the careful. – A G Buckham
If you ever find yourself getting a little bored maybe it is time to take a calculated risk.
We live in a time when we can create a life of comfort without having to really test our limits. So much is available to us without having to strive and push that we can fall into a sense of boredom and monotony.
Find a way to take on a little risk.
Find a way to push your limits.
Make it a great day.
Jake
"If your dream is to live a life full of happiness, bliss, and love, chances are what’s holding you from that kind of life is either your pride or your fear." – Ken Black
When you read that quote, what popped into your head?
Afraid of failure?
Too proud to admit a mistake?
Afraid of what others might say?
Too proud to say you are sorry?
Maybe the day to get over yourself is today.
Make it a great day.
Jake
STEP 6
Were 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 recently 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
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Meaghan has this posted in the kitchen at home (if I was really cool I would have taken a picture of how cute it looks on the chalkboard paint stuff).
Seemed like a really good thought to start the week off.
We all fall short.
We all lose our way a little.
We all lose hope from time to time.
The changing season is a great reminder to push the reset button.
Reset your goals.
Restart your engines.
Pick one thing to knock out of the park before the end of the year and get started today.
The year isn’t over. Your story isn’t written. Start over if you have to, but don’t quit.
Make it a great day.
Jake
JD – The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. e. e. cummings
JW – Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6
EB – Daddy always said you can’t have enough bipods.
MS* – And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. – 2 John 1:6
One of my favorite ideas from Andy Stanley is that when you look at your interactions with others you ask yourself “What does love require of me?”
We must train ourselves to walk in love throughout our day.
We can ask ourselves this magic question as we interact with customers, coworkers, children, spouses and even our enemies.
Each interaction is an opportunity to practice love. To act out of love.
What does love require of you?
Make it a great day.
Jake
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. – Will Rogers
Take action.
Keep moving towards your goals.
Make it a great day.
Jake
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. – Phyllis Diller
I love smiling, smiling’s my favorite – Buddy the Elf
Never forget the power of a smile.
It works on you and those around you.
It can brighten even the worst of days.
Make it a point to smile today.
Find some thought or memory that makes you smile and hold it in your thoughts throughout the day.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Read every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity. – Christopher Morley
One of the temptations we all must battle is the temptation to be average.
We see what others are doing and are tempted to model our lives on what we see around us.
We need to be more thoughtful than this.
We need to choose to do our best. We need to push past average in search of the best version of ourselves.
We can choose better than average for our lives.
You are not average. You are capable of greatness.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Yesterday we got invited out to let the kids take a ride in the combine by a farmer from church.
As I get a little older, I learn more and more about life from the farmers around us.
One of the biggest lessons is about control.
Farming is one of those professions where there isn’t even an illusion about control.
Farmers have zero control over the biggest input variable in their business – the weather.
Sure, you hear plenty of them complaining about it, but in the end they all still do the same thing:
Work hard and do the best you can with what you have.
This is such an important life lesson.
We only have control over our own effort level and our attitude. That’s it.
To make it even more personal:
YOU are not in control of anything except your attitude and your effort.
If we seek only to better control our attitudes and our efforts we will have a chance at seeing the results we want (there are no guarantees the weather won’t be bad).
Make it a great day.
Jake
PS – God bless all the farmers (and Gary Butler and the Butler family in particular).
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