Election day today. I’ve been trying to think about what the proper response from a mature citizen should be regardless of the outcome and the best I can come up with is:

Love thy neighbor.

Jesus states this as the second of two great commandments when asked what is the highest and most important commandment.

Notice he also didn’t mention any exceptions….

Love thy neighbor….unless they are a Democrat.

Love thy neighbor….unless they voted for Trump.

Love thy neighbor….unless they shared a Black Lives Matter post on the FaceBox.

Love thy neighbor…..unless they are wearing a MAGA hat.

What does loving thy neighbor look like in this situation? What would it look like to live out Jesus’ command?

A few ideas to get you started:

Get to know and care about someone with different views than your own.

Bake a casserole and bring it over to that neighbor’s house with the signs in the yard you don’t agree with.

Offer to stay late for that co-worker that was crazy enough to vote for Joe/Trump so they can make it to their kid’s game.

Show some love. Take some kind of action.

The best part?!? You’ll be better off for it. You won’t lose some kind of political rightness or give in to the dark side. You’ll feel better. Your heart will be lighter.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Bonus point – the other commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. Not a lot of room for hate or political anger if your heart is filled with love for God and your neighbor. Might be worth trying.

November is here!

The rest of 2020 is going to quickly from here. Election day tomorrow, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas right around the corner.

It’s still going to be a weird end of the year, but I’m sure it will be like most years and this time will go quickly.

When you look forward and see that the time is going to quickly, what should you do?

Set some priorities. Decide ahead of time what is important to you and make sure that gets the time it needs.

Whatever your goals or aspirations are – they will require focus and intentionality through the end of the year.

Make a list. Make it a clear and intentional list. Check them off as you go.

Make it a great end to the year.

Jake

https://youtu.be/Fe93CLbHjxQ

I’ve never been a fan of the dark and scary version of Halloween.

I’m more a silly, goofy version of Halloween kind of guy.

And this song falls in to the goofy category for me.

Do something silly and goofy for Halloween this year.

Don’t take things to seriously and have some fun.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Chapter 26 of "How to Stop Worrying" by Dale Carnegie is titled "Four Good Working Habits That Will Prevent Fatigue and Worry".

First up on this list is to: Clear your desk of all working papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand.

To modernize this for today’s world, imagine things like email and tasks instead of working papers and imagine your desk and your desktop on your computer/laptop/tablet/phone as your desk.

This has two positive results.

First, there is something about having a clean and clear workspace.

Everything on our desks carries with it a little bit of mental weight. If your desk is covered, it carries a lot of mental weight.

Second, there is magic to being able to focus on the task at hand. Having only the information relevant to your most important task in front of you immediately makes you much more productive.

Take a look around today.

Is there a mess?

Is there clutter?

Is it overwhelming and demoralizing to look at your work area/inbox?

Spend a few minutes before you get started today clearing things up. Give yourself a fresh start.

Make it a great day.

Jake​

One of the great parts of "How to Stop Worrying" by Dale Carnegie is that it includes a bunch of real world stories from people and how they have dealt with worry.

I have attached one of these sections of the book.

There are two important lessons included in this short story.

First, the idea of writing down your worries and putting them away for later. His realization that most of his worries never came to pass is such a fundamental truth that can help any of us worry warts.

The second lesson was learned from watching his wife do dishes. He realized she doesn’t mind washing the dishes because you only wash one day at a time. You can’t wash tomorrow’s dishes today.

Is there something worrying you that you need to write down and put away for a little while?

Are you trying to wash tomorrow’s dishes today?

Let’s make it a great day, full of joy and absent of worry.

Jake

PS – You should read this book. It is filled with powerful stories and practical tips on an area of life that most of us struggle with.

Well, it’s official, cross country season is over for Maggie. Last night was the first night of no practice for Maggie.

Cross country has been a great sport for Maggie so far.

But in a way I didn’t expect.

Running is good for you and being outside is good too. This much I expected.

What I’ve been surprised by is the positivity of the sport.

Youth sports have become rampant with overbearing parents yelling at the refs and over competitive kids (and parents).

But cross country parents and fans haven’t been like that for us. Everyone is supportive and cheers on the last place runner as much as the first place runner.

Encouragement and positivity abound.

What does this have to do with you?

Find something like this to get involved in. Surround yourself with positive people and cheer on others as they do their best.

Life is more about competing with and becoming your best self than in conquering and defeating others.

Make it a great day.

Jake

We got a little crazy at the Davis house last night. We started Christmas way too early and watched The Grinch.

I’ve read the book a ton of times and seen the various different movie versions many times but something new stuck out to me this time.

They forgave him. The Whos had every reason to continue to be mad. There was still a big mess. I’m sure at least one or two presents arrived broken. And he had stolen Christmas….even if only temporarily.

The Grinch was the guest of honor and was asked to carve the roast beast.

They recognized a sincere and complete change of heart, and they forgave him.

I don’t know about you, but I would have had a hard time with that.

Who needs your forgiveness?

Maybe something you could do in order to get in an early Christmas mood this year is to forgive someone. To let it go and reach out to build the bridge again.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/3DSVMDmzCcA

More of a slow tapper.

Probably not the real message of this song but when I hear I think about trying to be the “easy” person in a relationship.

Easy to talk to.

Easy to work with.

Easy to ask for help.

Easy to tell the good and bad news.

I think of being kind and nice. Of being the kind of person someone isn’t afraid to approach with whatever is on their mind.

What can you do to be the easy person for somebody today?

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – on the other side of this coin – sometimes we don’t want to be the easy person. If someone asks you to cheat or lie or steal, it shouldn’t be easy. It should be impossible. Like a lot of life – we must choose wisely when to be easy and when to be difficult.

The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. – Jonas Salk

This reminds of the concept from the Bible – those we are faithful with what is given will be given more.

Today you have some work in front of you.

Maybe it’s not the coolest or the most glamorous.

You may not be playing in the NFL or working on Wall Street (or whatever your dream job is), but the work matters.

It matters because you get to decide whether or not you are going to do it well.

You get to decide what kind of person you are.

I can’t tell you how, but I have faith that if you do it well, over time, things will go your way. I don’t exactly how this works, but it does.

Let’s get to work on a job well done today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

This quote reminds me to “be careful what you wish for.”

It’s easy to fall into the trap of wishing for more comfort or prosperity. For the bigger house or car. The nicer clothes or cooler gear.

The question of what we have to give up in order to get it seems a distant whisper in the face of our desires.

CS Lewis hits it on the head here – “it” gets a hold of us in the process.

When we give in to our desires and ambitions we can become something we never intended.

We can lose ourselves in the process and end up worse off than we were at the beginning.

We must strive and do our best in service to others (with love). Working towards goals and with purpose has been placed in us by our Creator. These must be filtered through a mature and thoughtful philosophy on life, not compared to the latest commercial or what our neighbor is driving.

We can live better lives. Not by striving for prosperity and comfort, but by giving up our own desires in services to others (with love).

Make it a great day.

Jake