Wow. Another day!

October 12, 2021

There are many things that we tend to take for granted and not think about very much. Life itself is one of them. That is why the quote in today’s installment of the Jack’s Winning Words blog is so important –

“Every day is a renewal, every morning the daily miracle. This joy you feel is life.” (Gertrude Stein)

Waking up in the morning should not be taken for granted. Not being indifferent about each day will do two things – force you to make the most of today and allow you to be thankful for seeing the morning.

“Image courtesy of Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.

It is a shame that so many people come to that realization so late in life. Perhaps it is the fact that the daily lives of older people tend to slow down, and they have time to think about life. Time and life itself take on increased value as one finally perceives that both are limited.  The young think that there will always be a tomorrow and more time to get things done. As one gets older the certainty of that fades and the importance of enjoying what time one has left increases. The youthful sense of entitlement to another day also fades with age and be replaced with a sense of thankfulness to see another morning.

The physical consequences of aging often limit mobility which serves to force one to focus upon what is right around them. Sometimes when one is not so busy “doing”, they have the time to appreciate what they are seeing all around them. It is then that they make begin to see the beauty that they have been overlooking or notice the wonder of some of God’s creation that is right at hand.

If you wake up each morning and take the time to thank God for another day, it will put you in the right frame of mind to make the most of that day, you will be able to feel the joy of life all day long.

Wow, I just realized that I have another day. I’m glad that I had some time to share with you, but I’ve got to go. There’s so much to see.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Learn how to play again…

October 10, 2021

A quote that I’ve used before that I probably saw first on the Jack’s Winning Words blog goes something like this – “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw.

Today is National Mental Health Day. Across the nation serious and weighty discussions, newspaper articles and TV stories will focus upon detecting and treating mental health issues. I wonder how many will bring up playing as a treatment for mental health issues. Yet the ability to let go of anxieties, fears or self-hate is a natural component of playing – playing in the childlike sense of the word, not competing, just playing.

Children often hear the admonishment, “Grow up”, from adults or “Stop acting like a baby”. We take away the joy of their childhood play because it annoys us in our serious, sometimes dour adult lives. Even in what we call play as adults we find ways to make it competitive, to focus on keeping score and turning that play into serious business. When we “grow up” we tend to squeeze the fun out of too much of our lives and forget how to just play.

Maybe one part of the answer to improving our mental health is to learn howe to play again. It was kind of funny to see the old playground game of dodge ball reemerge as an adult activity. It probably started as just a fun thing to do to recapture that playground spirit; but, then, adults did to it what adults do and made it competitive, formed teams and holding formal tournaments – they took a lot of the innocent fun out of it.

Playing does not have to be an organized thing with rules and goals. It is just a time when you have fun for no reason other than to have fun. Taking time to play may be a very short, little respite in your day, maybe as you are getting ready for the day in the morning. I’ve posted here before that I often will just make a funny face in the mirror in the morning. There is no reason for it; it just breaks any serious mood that I might be in and forces a smile or a laugh – it is play.

So, take some time for yourself to just play. Maybe make a funny face in your mirror in the morning. Life is too short to be serious all the time. Learn how to play again.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Be at peace

October 9, 2021

I got the opportunity last weekend to deliver the Sunday sermon at my church in the absence of our Pastor. We say the Lord’s Prayer every week in preparation for Communion and a part of that prayer is are the lines “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive the trespasses of others”. I opined in that sermon that one of the “others” that we need to forgive is ourselves. The inability to forgive others or ourselves is a one-way ticket to unhappiness and maybe even to depression.

Men seem to have two innate tendencies that are their undoing – the need to understand everything and the need to control everything. Unfortunately, the need to understand things is thwarted by our limited imaginations and the need to try to control everything was never more than a pipedream. We can’t even control ourselves, much less anything else.

So, what we are left with is frustration and consternation. We are not at peace because we cannot stop fighting a battle that we cannot win against an enemy that we cannot even see, much less explain. I saw a quote recently that I will paraphrase – If you are having regrets you are living in the past. If you have anxieties you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot change the past or control the future. The only thing that you have any real power over is how you act and react in the present. You can be in turmoil, or you can be at peace. The choice should be a no-brainer, but it is very difficult for many.

I recently received a notification from WordPress.com where my blog is hosted that I had achieved one of their milestones – they informed me that I had posted my one thousandth blog post. As I looked back over the years of posts (I started posting to this blog in 2012) I noticed that I had posted many times about being at peace and how I have used the same little prayer for years to get to that peace – praying to God, “Not my will but thy will be done.”

The conclusion that I have come to is to forgive myself for any past failures, disappointments or sins (as God has forgiven me already) and put my trust in Him for my future. That leaves me peacefully happy in the present and I’m good with that. Try it, you might like it, too.

Be at peace!

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Posted by Norm Werner

When NOT to see or hear…

October 8, 2021

I saved this quote from the Jack’s Winning Words blog because it seemed to be good advice for life – “If thou be a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf.”  (Thomas Fuller) 

As I thought about it, one can substitute the word employer for master and employee for servant and it makes sense in the modern world. It also makes sense when discussing marriages (substitute the words husband and wife on either end as appropriate).

It also brought to mind another quote that I saved from Jack’s blog – “Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.”  (Unknown)

There are many times in life when the wisest course of action (or reaction) during the events of the day is to overlook something or pretend that you didn’t hear something. That can be true in the workplace or with friends. It is especially true in marriages. One of the more subtle but damaging forms of domestic abuse occurs if one of the spouses is always critical of the other. Marriage is a partnership, not a master/servant relationship. As such the partners need to find ways to be supportive of each other and not critical.

In all cases, it is always better to stop and think before speaking (recall the old saw – engage your brain before starting your mouth). And, since you can’t un-hear something that might have been said to you, at least stop and think before you reply or even consider if you need to reply at all.

So whatever role you are in, heed Fuller’s advice and be willing to sometime overlook some things or pretend not to hear some things. Maybe saying that little prayer each morning asking the Lord for help with you mouth will help. If it at least makes you stop and think, before blurting out something that you’ll regret later it is a good thing.

Have a great weekend reflecting on the things that you didn’t say or hear. Be sure to thank God for giving you a hand (over your mouth).

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Posted by Norm Werner

Are you all-in?

October 7, 2021

A couple of quotes that I picked up from the Jack’s Winning Words blog just seem to fit together this morning –

“Love is, or it ain’t.  Thin love ain’t love at all.”  (Tori Morrison)

“Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground.” (Bob Dylan)

Jack used the first quote today and commented on recalling “thin soup” from his life during The Great Depression, which extra water was added to soup pots to thin out the soup and make it go farther. Thin love, or watered-down love, he opined is as unsatisfying as thin soup. The Dylan quote he used some time ago in another post and he commented on the inability to have partial faith in God.

It is not possible to say that you believe in and love God only some of the time. However, what sometimes happens those who believe, is that they get distracted and wander away from God from time to time. Jesus told a parable about sheep that occasionally wandered away from the flock and how the good shepherd searched for those sheep to bring them back into the flock.

The events of life can distract us and cause us to wander away from our faith. We may become too focused on success in our work life and begin to ignore both our family and our faith. Perhaps we get so wrapped up in the secular events of our family, like sports practices and games, that we abandon our churches and temporarily lose sight of our faith. In some cases of the loss of a loved one, we may become overwhelmed by grief or remorse or even anger and turn away from God. That is the “How could God let this happen” reaction to a personal tragedy.

But the words of Morrison and Dylan provide the answer to our questions and the relief of our pain. If you love God and believe in him, but have wandered off; let the good shepherd, Jesus, find you and lead you back to the flock. Just like in a poker game, you must play the hand that you’ve been dealt in life, so either fold (not a good option at all) or go all-in with your faith. There is no thin love for, or partial belief in, God; you either got it or you ain’t. If you got it, let Jesus find you through all of life’s challenges and lead you back to the flock.

Are you all-in?

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Posted by Norm Werner

Persist and you will succeed.

October 5, 2021

Miguel de Cervantes(1547-1616) is widely regarded as the greatest writer of the Spanish language, best known for his epic story “Don Quixote.” Cervantes said – “Diligence is the mother of good fortune”

Success may be seen by some as good fortune; however good fortune or luck seldom has much to do with success.  But, if diligence is the mother of success, the father of success is surely persistence.

Calvin Coolidge put it well – “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

It is fitting to equate the determination that Coolidge referenced to the diligence that Cervantes mentioned.

Thomas Edison is perhaps the penultimate role model for persistence. Two of his many quotes about his own success ring true here –

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

If you did not succeed yesterday, don’t give up . Learn from whatever failure these was yesterday or celebrate whatever small, incremental progress you made towards your goal.

Persist and you will succeed.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Close that chapter and move on…

October 4, 2021

Today’s post was inspired by a graphic that I got this morning about moving on to the next chapter in your life. I’ve written about this a few times, that it is important to let go of the past to move on in life. A big part of that letting go process is forgiving yourself for things that you might have done or maybe left undone in your past.

I was given the opportunity to deliver the sermon at this last weekend’s Sunday service at my church. I talked about forgiveness and the need to forgive ourselves. People who can’t forgive themselves are stuck re-reading past chapters of their lives, usually past mistakes that they feel they made.

The bottom-line of my remarks on Sunday was that we must accept the forgiveness that God has promised us through the death of Jesus on the cross to forgive ourselves and move on. To do any less is to deny the forgiveness that Christ suffered and died for. We are forgiven. You are forgiven. The past chapters of your life are closed.

Now, let’s all move on with life.

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Posted by Norm Werner

What difference will you make today?

October 1, 2021

Recently Pastor Jack Freed used this quote in his blog, Jack’s Winning Words –

Jane Goodall

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”  (Jane Goodall)

Most people probably don’t think about the difference that they make in the world because they mistakenly believe that making a difference means doing something really big or significant. In reality, one makes a difference with each interaction with another person. The key is Goodall’s observation that what kind and how much of a difference you make depends upon what you do at that moment.

Very many of us tend not to notice or acknowledge other people that we pass during the day or even try overtly to avoid making eye contact or saying anything. Some may even try to avoid specific people, because they just don’t want to spend the time talking to them. Maybe you know someone who is always down or complaining and you just don’t feel like sharing time with them because you don’t want to let them bring you down, too. This is probably the type of person for whom the term “Gloomy Gus” was invented.

If you are like that, you have made a conscious decision not to make a positive difference in the lives of the other people. I know a lady, who is a life coach, who uses the motto, “Making a positive difference in other people’s lives”. Most of us probably don’t start each day with that motto in mind; however, if we start each day without a thought like that in mind we have defaulted to indifference and have created an indifferent world for ourselves. We do not make a difference and that is just sad.

One doesn’t have to be a bubbly, cheerleader type person to at least be friendly during the day – to greet others with a smile and a friendly, “Hello” or “How Are you?” greeting. You might be surprised to find out that your friendly greeting may have caused that person to reset their mood from negative to positive. You made a positive difference in their day. You may also notice that it made your day a lot better, too. You may never know what that person whom you influenced was able to do today, but it started with you. You made a positive difference.

There will be many other times during the day to interact with others in ways that are either uplifting and positive or negative and maybe even hurtful. Have you decided what kind of difference you want make today? The choice is up to you. You may not be able to do big things that will change the world all at once, but you can change the world one person at a time by the choices that you make today.

What kind of difference do you want to make? Maybe you can say a little prayer before you start out on your day and ask God to help you make a positive difference during the day. I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t pray that God help you be a grump all day.

Have a friendly day!

Make a positive difference today!

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Posted by Norm Werner

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