Hanging out at the Tailgate and Tallboys concert yesterday reminded me of this email from a few years ago…..

http://youtu.be/BWSn0JFRiPI

Another summer time anthem.

This one reminds me of the fact that we are the same but different.

We all love summertime. But we all don’t love country music.

I am not a country music fan, but my wife is. She likes this song. Me, not so much.

And yet, despite (or maybe because of) these differences we are perfect for each other.

In life we will constantly be meeting people that are different than us. We can choose to embrace it and find the best in each other or we can judge and condemn.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Most days these emails are reminders of something we all already know.

Two reminders that I’ve been using a lot with the kids that maybe we all could use from time to time….

Make good choices. Jesus loves you.

How our life turns out here on Earth is largely driven by our choices.

No matter how life goes, Jesus loves you.

Don’t forget.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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“A good marriage is one where each partner secretly suspects they got the better deal.” —Unknown

Today marks our 21st wedding anniversary.

This quote is only half true in our case – I KNOW I got the better deal.

Gratitude is an important habit to cultivate in order to live our best life.

Fortunately for me, Meaghan is a constant reminder that I have something to be thankful for each and every day.

I’m sure I don’t tell her enough, but it’s true.

Make it a point to show some gratitude to the important people in your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. – Indira Gandhi

It’s easy to hold on to grudges and past transgressions.

To not forgive or forget those who have hurt us or done us wrong.

You cannot make peace with a clenched fist.

The most interesting part of this is that our path forward involves letting go.

What’s best for us is to let go. It has nothing to do with the other party.

Let go of something that you’ve held on to today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – I’m aware this is MUCH harder to do than say.

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Below is an excerpt from Band of Brothers.

It is an amazing story about an amazing group of men.

This story stuck out to me because it shows how difficult battle and war can be for a person, but that hope and love can always win out.

Let’s be thankful for the service of others and spread hope and love wherever we can.

Make it a great day.

Jake

From Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose –

Sgt. Skinny Sisk also had a hard time shaking his war memories. In July 1991, he wrote Winters to explain. "My career after the war was trying to drink away the truckload of Krauts that I had stopped in Holland and the die-hard Nazi that I went up into the Bavarian Alps and killed. Old Moe Alley made a statement that all the killings that I did was going to jump into the bed with me one of these days and they surely did. I had a lot of flash backs after the war and started drinking. Ha! Ha!

Then my sister’s little daughter, four-years old, came into my bedroom (I was too unbearable to the rest of the family, either hung over or drunk) and she told me that Jesus loved me and she loved me and if I would repent God would forgive me for all the men I kept trying to kill all over again.

That little girl got to me. I put her out of my room, told her to go to her mommy. There and then I bowed my head on my mother’s old feather bed and repented and God forgave me for the war and all the other bad things I had done down through the years. I was ordained in the latter part of 1949 into the ministry and believe me, Dick, I haven’t whipped but one man since and he needed it. I have four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The Lord willing and Jesus tarrys and I hope to see you all at the next reunion. If not I’ll see you on the last jump. I know you won’t freeze in the door.

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https://youtu.be/XzKSPRqFg9E

We were lucky enough to go to the Taylor Swift concert last weekend.

It’s always amazing to me when you can get that many people in one place singing and dancing to the same song.

Music has a special place in the human experience – there are so few things that can get so many people on the same page at the same time.

The whole stadium was moving to the music and 50,000+ people all felt like best friends for a couple of hours.

Find some music that moves you and play it loud today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.

-Emily Post

This reminded me of another quote that I really like as well "I am convinced that most of society’s ills could be solved with simple manners."

Manners are really just a manner (how about that for a play on words) for showing others that we are thinking of them more than ourselves. They are a simple way to show others we care more for them and their comfort than our own.

It is almost unbelievable how far simple "please" and "thank you’s" can take you in getting along with others in life.

Empathy for others is an important step in becoming a more mature and well rounded person.

In order to become the best version of ourselves we must subjugate our needs for those of others around us.

Let’s all make an effort today to use our manners a little more and think of ourselves a little less.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. – Charlotte Bronte

Short reminder for today.

Life is too short to spend on the wrong things.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. – John F. Kennedy

This feels true more and more as I get older.

As I look back it’s clear that my blind spots were bigger than I could have imagined.

It’s hard sometimes not to see the ignorance and give up on the pursuit of knowledge.

To resign myself to the fate of never really understanding enough to make the decisions I’d like to make.

Instead I’m working to be more thankful. Thankful for loved ones, friends and colleagues that are able to look past my ignorance and blindness and love me anyway. Thankful for the opportunity to grow and do better.

I’m also thankful for friends who are willing to show and tell me when those blind spots are there. To point out where maybe (just maybe) I’ve made a poor decision or appear to be heading in the wrong direction.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Resending this daily attitude email from a little over 10 years ago….

Saturday night I had the unique (at least for me) experience of going to a Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert at Soldier Field.

I am not much of a country music fan, so I spent much of the time people and crowd watching.

It is amazing what happens when you get tens of thousands of people in one place together. It is even more amazing when you get the majority of those people to sing and dance along to a song.

There was a lot of power in all those people and their collective voices and actions.

It was a great reminder of just what we can do if we work together as human beings.

A positively focused group of people can accomplish amazing things.

I am glad to be part of a great group here at Mavidea.

Make it a great week.

Jake The content of this email is confidential and intended for the recipient specified in message only. It is strictly forbidden to share any part of this message with any third party, without a written consent of the sender. If you received this message by mistake, please reply to this message and follow with its deletion, so that we can ensure such a mistake does not occur in the future.