https://youtu.be/xvqeSJlgaNk?si=v8iN9UOCGbD70U5u

Thought this would be a good way to start the year off.

The new year is a great time to do some day dreaming.

About what could be.

About how great things might get.

About how lucky we are.

And then to believe that it is possible for us.

Dream big!

Make it a great day.

Jake

Last day of the year.

Before we work on those goals and plans for next year, it’s a good time for reflection.

A great way to end the year and to get ready for next year is to be thankful.

Maybe make a big long list of everything you are thankful for.

Maybe send some texts to some people you are thankful for.

End the year with gratitude.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – I’m thankful for you!

The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been. – Madeleine L’Engle

We all need a positive spin on getting older.

We can look at mistakes and imerfections as something to hide or run away from.

Or we can look at them as stepping stones to a better future.

We get to choose our perspective.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

I saw a quote the other day that essentially said the key to happiness is to limit the number of desires.

Sometimes (most of the time?) Christmas and New Years is a time where we overcomplicate our lives with too many desires. We try to do, buy and have too much.

Maybe a library and a garden aren’t your things.

What would be on the “short list” for you?

Make your list shorter this season.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/7r3VVMUhAxU?si=sfH1aV5JPPAesFTz

Joy to the world!

Joy is one of my personal goals lately.

To seek for and live out joy in my life.

It’s so easy to get distracted by all the stuff.

To get frustrated and down.

To let the news and the worries of life win out.

Christmas is a time of joy.

God sent his son to save us!

Merry Christmas.

Jake

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.

The above is the very beginning of the movie “Love, Actually” (a Christmas favorite at our house).

It’s a great reminder that love is all around us.

Sometimes we forget.

Sometimes we let ourselves fall into the trap of thinking only of ourselves. We forget that we are happiest and at our best when we are loving others.

At Christmas we are reminded of these simple truths.

Keep the Christmas mojo going on past Christmas this year. Keep the feelings of love and selflessness at the forefront – where they belonged all along.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/IMUSit6KBfk?si=H9CXxAYbaLqgnh8K

Drove a thousand miles, just to see you smile.

Christmas is about baby Jesus.

Right after that is spending time with those we love.

Laughing, smiling and showing each other God’s love.

In the midst of all the running around and busyness of the season – make room for those you love.

Genuinely be in the moment. Focused only on your love for them.

Make it a great day.

Jake

From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow. – Aeschylus

Imagine an acorn falling to the ground.

It begins to plant roots, and then it grows into a sapling, then a young tree and then after many years it becomes a giant oak tree.

At any given point during the process, you could have said it was "failing" – it wasn’t a full tree yet.

Instead, you could also say that at each point in the process it was "successful" – it was growing through each step to become what it was designed to be.

We can look at ourselves through this same lens. We are growing and becoming – all the time. Each trial, tribulation, victory, setback and success – is another step along our journey.

The balance is hard – continually striving and pursuing growth while showing ourselves grace and patience that we are not yet fully formed.

Make it a great day.

Jake

It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

This is a great thought to remember this Christmas season.

Its so easy to get caught up with running from place to place and buying thing after thing.

Sometimes we move so fast we dont give ourselves a chance to be affected by the laughter and good humour of others.

There are so many reasons to smile and laugh, but we have to notice them.

We have to slow down enough to catch them from others.

This time of year it is easy to let it slip by without having letting a little joy in.

Make yourself laugh this week.

Watch that favorite Christmas movie.

Share a drink with someone.

Email a joke to a friend.

Do something to make yourself and others laugh.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone. – Oswald Chambers

This is a great way of looking at the perpetual to do lists that exist in our lives.

Choosing what not to do is as important as what we do.

When we react and simply do whatever is right in front of us right now we end up spending our lives doing what others think is most important for us.

We get to choose.

We get to make our own list.

And those choices will shape the results we get.

Choose wisely.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – for those of us who are Christians – the goal is for our list to match God’s list for us. To let the Holy Spirit guide our to dos.