I know it’s not Father’s Day – but I think of this moment every time I watch the Olympics so I’m resending this daily attitude email from a few years ago.

Father’s Day Lookback: Derek Redmond 1992 | NBC Sports (youtube.com)

This is one of my favorite father-son moments from sports.

Derek Redmond is running the race of his life, on the grand stage of his sport and the unthinkable happens: he pulls a muscle and can’t finish the race.

As he hobbles along, trying to just cross the finish line his dad comes running out from the stands and helps him across the finish line.

Imagine what is going through his mind.

I can’t believe this happened.

I’ve wasted so many hours and years training.

I failed.

And then comes this loving gesture from his dad.

His dad swoops in and puts his arm around him and helps him across the finish line.

Together, they showed that sports are more than just winning and losing. More than an injury at the worst possible time. It was about the love of a father for his son.

I have been very blessed to have a father and father-in-law who have shown me this same love. I work to show my kids this same love every day.

Maybe we all can’t be fathers who run out on the track during the Olympics.

But we can all be that person to run in and put our arm around someone and show that we are there for them in their moment of pain and weakness.

We can be strong for someone we love.

We can inspire others to love and serve one another.

We all will struggle at one point or another. My sincerest hope is that we will all also have someone in our lives to run in, put their arm around us and help us across the finish line.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. – George Bernard Shaw

The Olympics have been a great reminder that it is fun to play.

We were designed to enjoy play and to have fun.

What could you do today to have fun?

What is something you could introduce into your life to get more playtime in?

Make it a great day.

Jake

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In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion." [The Minotaur] Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

Introspection is another one of those tricky double edged swords in life.

I think of it like looking in a mirror.

If you dont take a few moments to look in the mirror before leaving for work in the morning, you might just show up disheveled.

But if you spend an hour in the morning staring into the mirror getting every piece of clothing on just right, you just missed an hour of your day.

We all need to take time to look honestly at the mirrors in our lives (our relationships, our bank accounts, the mirror, the scale) and make the necessary course corrections to get where we want to go. We need to deeply understand ourselves in order to make the most of our strengths in service to others.

But we need to spend more of our time focused outwardly. Looking for others in need of service, in need of the love and warmth that only we can bring.

We werent created for ourselves. We were created for service to others. We need to look inward to find out what kind of service, but we need to look out to serve.

Make it a great day.

Jake
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Below is a short little story to start your week off.
This story reminded me that there are people out there that have it much harder than I do. I have yet to work at a job plucking chickens, and that was the least of the difficulties.
This story also reminded me of turning lemons into lemonade. We all have personality quirks, idiosyncrasies, and personal issues; and we all have the opportunity to turn these into something special. Something that only we can do.
Make it a great day.
Jake
A true short bio – A DREAMER AND HIS DREAM
Let me tell you, Jesse hated this job. And you would too I imagine, if you had to do it. Jesse was a chicken plucker. That’s right. He stood on a line in a chicken factory and spent his days pulling the feathers off dead chickens so the rest of us wouldn’t have to.
It wasn’t much of a job. But at the time, Jesse didn’t think he was much of a person. His father was a brute of a man. His dad was actually thought to be mentally ill and treated Jesse rough all of his life.
Jesse’s older brother wasn’t much better. He was always picking on Jesse and beating him up. Yes, Jesse grew up in a very rough home in West Virginia. Life was anything but easy.
And he thought life didn’t hold much hope for him. That’s why he was standing in this chicken line doing a job that very few people wanted.
In addition to all the rough treatment at home, it seems that Jesse was always sick. Sometimes it was real physical illness, but way too often it was all in his head. He was a small child, skinny and meek. That sure didn’t help the situation any.
When he started to school, he was the object of every bully on the playground.
He was a hypochondriac of the first order. For Jesse, tomorrow was not always something to be looked forward to. But, he had dreams. He wanted to be a ventriloquist. He found books on ventriloquism. He practiced with sock puppets and saved his hard earned dollars until he could get a real ventriloquist dummy.
When he got old enough, he joined the military. And even though many of his hypochondriac symptoms persisted, the military did recognize his talents and put him in the entertainment corp. That was when his world changed.
He gained confidence. He found that he had a talent for making people laugh, And laugh so hard they often had tears in their eyes.
Yes, little Jesse had found himself. You know, folks, the history books are full of people who overcame a handicap to go on and make a success of themselves, but Jesse is one of the few I know who didn’t overcome it. Instead he used his paranoia to make a million dollars, and become one of the best-loved characters of all time in doing it!
Yes, that little paranoid hypochondriac, who transferred his nervousness into a successful career, still holds the record for the most Emmy’s given in a single category.
The wonderful, gifted, talented, and nervous comedian who brought us Barney Fife was Jesse Don Knotts.
NOW YOU KNOW, "THE REST OF THE STORY"
There is a street named for him and his statue in Morgantown, West Virginia, his place of birth.
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https://youtu.be/TfiYWaeAcRw?si=DnjnM2512Kdqw_r9

Sometimes it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

This song reminds us that we can give all that weight to God.

That we needn’t burden ourselves with worries.

Life sure can beat you down, but God can lift you up.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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"Without momentum, even the smallest obstacle can prevent you from moving forward. But with it you can plow through anything." – John Maxwell

In the article where John Maxwell talks about momentum, he uses the example of a train. When just getting started, a train can actually be stopped by a one inch block on the track. When moving at full speed, a train will smash through almost anything.

Think about the areas in your life where you are struggling to get started. Maybe you just need to remove the small obstacle to get going.

Focus on a really small, really short term goal.

Once you do that, pick another one.

Keep up this process until you have some momentum. And then you will be unstoppable.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. – Jean Anouilh

The Bible talks often of this idea – giving up your life for another.

This quote says it well in my opinion.

Somehow we must give our life away.

The more completely the better.

What’s the next step for you on this path?

What little thing could you start or stop doing to give more of yourself today?

What could you be working on to make the gift of yourself even more valuable?

Make it a great day.

Jake

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The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. – Jean Paul

Time and experience have a way of clarifying things.

What to do and what not to do.

Who to spend more time with and who to spend less time with.

What to spend money and time on and what to ignore.

If you haven’t gained experience yet – ask someone who has.

Got some experience under your belt? Write some things down. Reflect and observe on what has worked and what has not worked.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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No parent is perfect; we all can look back and think of things we could’ve done to help our children be better prepared for adulthood. And sometimes it’s best to admit it to them and encourage them to learn from our mistakes. – Billy Graham

Maggie turned 18 on Saturday. The list of things I’ve fallen short on in preparing her for adulthood has made itself more and more clear as she’s approached this milestone (that, and moving to college soon).

So many things I wish I could say or do to get her ready.

So many things I wish I had said or done differently.

When I think of where and how I have fallen short – I try to think of it like looking in the mirror.

I should face the results of my choices and the results I’ve created – but not focus on it to the exclusion of getting to work on the next best action I can take.

If we spend our lives looking in the mirror – whether it be for vanity, narcissism, or regretting our mistakes – we will miss out on what we are really here for – to be of service with love.

Maggie turned 18 – time to learn how I messed up – then get focused on this next stage of life – supporting a young woman as she makes her way in the world.

Wish me luck.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/oGpFcHTxjZs?si=RXSt-hmILIYbNIUR

What’s love got to do with it?

I know it’s not the message of this song, but I keep thinking that somehow we as a nation need to figure out how to get more love involved.

The election coming up seems to have everyone flibber flabbered even more than usual. With both sides seemingly more and more upset and angry.

When it came to the point that someone decided to take a shot at Trump and killed another and injured more, it’s obviously gone too far.

When I try to add more love for those around me in my life I try to remember that everyone is someone’s son or daughter. They are someone’s spouse. They are someone’s friend, uncle, cousin, aunt or whatever. They came into this world with a need to be loved and never outgrew it.

Even the meanest Democrat/Republican you can think of.

Life is just too short to not fill it with love for the people around us.

It all starts with us and the people in our lives. We love them more and they can love others more and on it goes.

I’m sure this is all too idealistic or whatever, but we have to start somewhere and I can’t think of anything better so that’s what I’m going to try.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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