https://www.facebook.com/reel/368998788981156

Jordan Peterson offers some direct talk here.

“It’s not ok to be a weak loser. The reason it’s not ok is because you could be way more than that. It’s a crime for you to let all that necessary potential to go to waste. It hurts you. It hurts your family. It hurts the world. Really.”

Putting in the effort to work through your own idiosyncrasies and to push through and become your best isn’t for you.

Sure, it helps you, but the real point is that you have something to give to others.

You were meant to be of service (in love).

Don’t give in to just getting by. To living day to day and not thinking it doesn’t matter what you do. It does matter.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

Valentine’s Day – the day of love.

The story running throughout the Bible is that God is love.

It’s behind everything He has done.

He loved you so much He sent His son to die on the cross for you. So that you can be with Him forever in heaven.

We run around every day, busy as bees. Thinking of all of our to dos, our worries, our anxieties and our selfishness.

He wants us to put that all down and be loved. Fully and completely.

On Valentine’s Day remember this – you are loved.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Prayer of St. Francis

Wow. The world sure needs this right now.

The level of maturity required to live this out is beyond me most days, but it’s still worth trying.

Even if we just got one or two of these right today the world would be a better place.

Pick a couple to work on this week. Watch what God does with your step of faith.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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I sent the email below after the Super Bowl in 2020. Little did I know that shared experiences would mean even more soon after…

Last night was the big game. The Super Bowl.

We don’t watch many sportsing shows at the Davis house, but we try to watch the Super Bowl every year.

There’s a lot wrong in the world of professional sports, but there’s also something magical about it.

We all can appreciate the excellence and hard work represented by those at the top of their profession.

But I think the real magic lies in the shared experience.

The shared experience shared by the teammates.

The shared experience of knowing so many others are watching the game.

The shared experience of a little family watching the game in their home.

Shared experiences have power.

Pay attention to your days and your moments this week.

How can you create a better shared experience with teammates, family and friends this week?

What can you do to bring the group together?

What part can you play in making things better.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/_shxzlTRK44?si=ZMyq2PJxvEhNjwRt

Senior Night for basketball was last night.

Hard to believer this chapter is almost over and we won’t be loading up the family truckster and driving around Central IL to watch Maggie play basketball.

Life is full of these different chapters. One ends and another begins. Each one adding to the overall story.

As I get older, I’m trying to embrace it.

Enjoy the chapter we’re in. Make the most of it and then let it go.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Expect problems and eat them for breakfast. – Alfred A. Montapert

Expectations sure cause us all a lot of anxiety.

We expect things to go a certain way and when they don’t, we get frustrated.

Sayings like this a reminder that’s it is sometimes helpful to think about what we expect.

Problems will occur. Tackle them head on. Don’t spend time worrying or fretting about how we expected everything to go well and then it didn’t.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Another of my favorite expectation quotes from my dad – “Life’s not fair and people don’t act right.”

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The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness. – Dalai Lama

Thankfulness for the goodness we have been blessed to experience.

Focus on the goodness we see around us.

To me, that’s what he means by appreciation for goodness.

Our brains just work that way.

We plant in our minds what we are thankful for and what we think about.

Let’s try to plant goodness today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness. – Dalai Lama

Thankfulness for the goodness we have been blessed to experience.

Focus on the goodness we see around us.

To me, that’s what he means by appreciation for goodness.

Our brains just work that way.

We plant in our minds what we are thankful for and what we think about.

Let’s try to plant goodness today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. – James Allen

The law of reaping and sowing actually means you reap more than you sow. Every time.

Maybe it is the overly analytical part of me, but I really like it when you can take a simple truth like this and dissect it more like James Allen did in the quote above.

In Earl Nightingale’s “Strangest Secret” he makes the point that our minds are built for growing thoughts so we must be careful what we plant. Our minds are like fertile soil that will grow a weed as readily as a beautiful flower.

Plant worries of ill health and your mind will build those up until you are actually ill.

Plant thoughts of wealth and happiness and your mind will build that reality around you.

Plant thoughts of want and need and before you know it you will be behind on your bills.

The law of the harvest works in all areas of our lives, but the starting point is usually in our own thoughts.

Make a conscious effort today to be careful of what you are planting.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Looking for something positive to plant today, here are a few of Jake’s suggestions, please feel free to share some of your own.

Norman Vincent Peale’s books – in particular “The Power of Positive Thinking”

Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

Listen to Jim Rohn’s “Art of Exceptional Living”

These are just a couple that have had a major impact on me, I would love to hear what has made an impact on you.

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“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”

― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

What a powerful thought.

Regardless of where you stand on believing in God and whether or not God places trials in our lives to test us, life will test you at some point.

The older I get the more I wonder how many of my "temples" are really houses of cards.

We see others whose metaphorical card houses have been toppled and quickly jump to conclusions about what they may have done wrong, not noticing we are balancing precariously in a card house ourselves.

But where’s the positive spin, Jake?

First, showing empathy for the weaknesses and follies of others can help us from meeting that same fate.

Second, seeing our house of cards for what it is before it falls can save us a whole lot of heartache.

Take a look at what you are building your beliefs and habits from to make sure they are built on solid footing.

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

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