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 didnt. 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 house of cards ourselves.

But wheres 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

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

I like this perspective!

Too often we fall into the trap of wanting to do the least amount of work.

Work is an opportunity. An opportunity to be of service and to be helpful.

We get to work.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Just listened to a podcast talking about this quote from a daily attitude email from a few years ago.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
C.S. Lewis
This year so far feels like we are going through some growing pains at the businesses. Processes arent perfect and growth causes those imperfections to manifest themselves in mistakes or missed expectations.
This quote reminds me of our growth as individuals.
At first changing seems like a good idea. Even as something we would welcome.
Then it takes on a life of its own.
Some of our cherished stories about ourselves and the world need to come down. We have to become uncomfortable.
In the case of a Christian life this takes on the perspective of eternity. We are building our forever selves. A version of ourselves that is meant to commune with God in eternal happiness.
Make it a great day.
Jake

The gain is not the having of children; it is the discovery of love and how to be loving. – Polly Berrien Berends

What a great phrase to describe the loving relationships in our lives.

The gain is in the discovery of love and how to be loving.

How to put someone else first and to think of their needs before our own.

How to love them despite their flaws and issues.

How to wish for the best for them when they make both good and bad decisions.

I’m convinced we are treat everyone like this. Literally everyone.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/IPXIgEAGe4U?si=GmeYYbVvH0xiMe1v

Gotta have high hopes!

It’s easy to play it small and safe.

To not take any chances on trying something big.

Don’t believe it.

Have high hopes in something bigger.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee

Reminder – take action!

Get started.

Keep going.

Wherever you are on the path – take action.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. – CS Lewis

As a follow up to the “love your neighbor” emails – CS Lewis has a great way of explaining it.

Our goal should be our neighbor’s glory.

And the weight of that should be so much that we have no choice to be humbled in our attempts to achieve it.

Only with God’s help will we be able to properly orient ourselves to the goal of neighbor’s glory.

In the Bible it says “my yoke is light” (paraphrased) – by working together with God, the load is lightened.

When we take up the yoke of our own glory or our own happiness our backs will be broken under the weight.

When we give up our lives in service through love we will gain it all and more back.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Stop worrying about what other people think about you. Starting working on what you think about other people.

I wrote this down a few months ago, I’m sure I got it from someone else but forgot to write that part down.

We fall into the trap of worrying and considering too much what everyone else thinks about us.

We’d be better off thinking more about what we think of others.

Thinking thoughts of love, grace and gratitude will yield much better results.

Figure out ways to serve and put others first.

Find time to pray for others.

Make it a point to add joy and peace wherever you go.

In turn, you’re life will be so much more full.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World. – Christopher Columbus

Meaghan’s grandmother was known for saying “Columbus took a chance, so should I” (especially while playing cards).

Leaving the Old World was a risk.

And the best part was that what he found was something he didn’t think he was going to find.

He set out for one destination and instead found something else – something he couldn’t have imagined.

The same can happen for us. If we take a chance and move forward towards positive change, we must just end up somewhere we couldn’t have imagined.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/_7xMfIp-irg?si=B06UNnZCt39o7uD4

Love is all you need.

Follow up to yesterday’s email – if we could find a way to love our neighbor as ourselves, that sure would help a lot.

We’d still need food and stuff, but a lot of the world’s problems would feel a lot easier if we could find some room for love.

Make it a great day.

Jake