Be that candle today…

December 10, 2020
Be the candle

“A candle of God’s goodness can serve as a beacon of hope for those navigating dark passages of their lives.”  (Hanukkah Quote)

That was today’s quote in the Jack’s Winning Words blog.

Probably the most meaningful interpretation and implementation of that quote would be for each of us to accept a personal responsibility to be that candle of goodness in someone’s life. Be that candle today.

It comes as no surprise that many people are currently navigating dark passages in their lives, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have either experienced the disease themselves or perhaps lost a loved one to the disease. They need that candle, that beacon of hope, to help them get out of whatever dungeon of despair in which they have landed. Be that candle today.

God illuminates His goodness through the random acts of kindness that we occasionally hear about. The person paying for the meal of the person behind them in the line at McDonald’s or perhaps delivering groceries to the shut-in senior citizen. It also shows through in the many small things that we don’t often see on the news – dropping a dollar into a red kettle outside a store or holding a door open for someone whose hands are full.  Be that candle today.

Just the act of consideration for others by wearing a mask when indoors in public places is a tiny act of God’s goodness. Certainly, those who have recovered and give blood containing convalescent plasma to the cause take that a giant step further. Be that candle today.

Reaching out to those that we see, or sense, are having problems coping with the changes to their lives that the pandemic has caused is also critical. Many people have slipped into a quiet state of depression and too many have found no way out and committed suicide. People in those dark places need God’s beacon of hope that your candle can provide. Be there for them. Be that candle today.

Be the Candle

It is so simple to be God’s candle. Just pick up the phone and start making calls to relatives and friends. Maybe even to people that you don’t know all that well. Call and ask how they are doing. Talk to them about what you have been doing during all of this and let them know that somebody cares about their wellbeing. If they are OK ask them if they would help you with your calls and divide u your list. By doing so, you use your candle to light another candle. Be that candle today.

In your prayers today, include the request, “God let me be a candle for your goodness today”. If you start your day that way, you might be surprised how many opportunities you will recognize throughout the day to – Be that candle today.

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Posted by Norm Werner

The necessary evil…

December 8, 2020

In today’s post top his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, pastor Freed took on the topic of worshiping money with this quote – “Make money your god, and it will plague you like the devil.”  (Henry Fielding)

Certainly, we cannot ignore money or the need for it in order to live in the modern world; however, too many turn money from a means to an end into the end itself. The pursuit of more and more money becomes and obsession to those who worship it. I remember scenes of Scrooge McDuck frolicking in his money bins in the Donald Duck cartoons.

Men in particular seem to allow themselves to become obsessed with making more and more money. They start out telling themselves that it is for their family, but somewhere along the way it really becomes and end in itself and not a means to that end. It also becomes a big part of how they identify themselves – a scorecard for their position in life. The sad part is that it does become the thing that they worship.

I’m reminded of the Bible story of the rich man who asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. When told that he must sell all he possessed and give the money to the poor he wandered off, unable to give up his riches. One assumes that he died and did not go to heaven. Some may say, “I wish I was rich and had to make that decision”, but they don’t really wish that upon themselves, once they think about it.

Most of us spend time worrying about money – whether we will have enough to pay the bills or feed the family and pay the rent. Few of us really worship money or obsess about the accumulation of great wealth. Truly happy people are satisfied when they have enough money to meet their basic needs, so that they can focus upon what is important in life – the relationships that they have with loved ones and friends and their relationship with God.

So, yes, money is important as a means to the end of living a happy life, but it is not so important that one should worship (obsess over) it. Maybe instead of praying that God give you more money, one would be better served by praying that God help you find a way to be happier with the money that you have. That happiness is based not on possessions, but on the love in the relationships that you have.

Maybe the lyrics to the Bobby McFerrin song should be slightly modified to read “Don’t worry (about money), be happy.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Making your life simple…

December 7, 2020

I collect and save the quotes that Pastor Freed uses in his Blog, Jack’s Winning Words. Sometimes I have them around for quite some time before I am inspired to write something based upon them and sometimes it is only by combining a couple of them together that I find that inspiration. Such is the case today. These two quote were used weeks apart in Jack’s blog and each is a good thought in and of itself; however when put together they define a great philosophy for life.

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”  (Charles Mingus)

“Simple rule in life:  If you wouldn’t like it done to you, don’t do it to others.”

Many of us tend to make life much more complicated that it need be. We see innuendo and conspiracies in the actions of others that really don’t exist and we agonize endlessly over decisions that should be simple. Human interactions do not have to be complicated. If one lives by the second quote, life can become awesomely simple.

That quote is just another way of stating what is often called the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. None of us would wish abuse to be heaped upon us by others; so why do that to others. We would not like others to judge us by how we look or dress; so why would we do that to others. We would not like people to make fun of how we talk or judge us by our vocabulary; so why do we allow ourselves to judge others by those same measures.

All of those judgements serve to create conflicts in our lives and those conflicts cause life to become complicated.  Perhaps the way to stop making those judgements is to try to live by  the words of Pope Francis – “Who am I to judge?”

The Pope was just repeating the advice that he found in the Bible –

“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12″

-and-

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;” (Luke 6:37)

If you stop and ask yourself that question – Who am I to judge? –  maybe that pause will allow you to consider the truth of the second quote above. If you don’t want to be judged to be a bigot or a homophobe or a jerk, then don’t judge others. It is really that simple. Those who constantly label others around them invite being  labeled themselves and the outcome is seldom pleasant.

Perhaps it is best not to rush to judgement of others; but, rather to focus on forgiveness – maybe forgiveness of yourself first. Make your life simple – just don’t do it if you wouldn’t want others to do it to you. That’s awesome!

Have a great and simple week ahead!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Open the door…

December 3, 2020

In today’s post to his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, Pastor Freed used this quote – “God enters, by a private door, into every individual.”  (Emerson)

The tormented minds of many who have descended into depression may have attempted to slam the door shut on God; however, God is both patient and persistent. That door is still there.  Unlock it and let God enter into your life. The key to that door is acceptance…acceptance of God’s presence and help in your life. The dungeon that is depression is a lonely place. Open that door to God and you will never be alone again.

There was a popular TV game show that presented contestants with 3 doors, behind which were hidden either great prizes or great disappointments. Contestants were asked to choose a door. Life can seem like that sometimes. Sometimes we make the wrong choices and open the door to disappointment or worse. The choices that we are faced with in life can seem both scary and mysterious. We really can’t see what’s behind the doors.

However, over in the corner, maybe just out of our vision, there is another door and that door is clearly marked – “God is here”. We know that it is there, but our own ego sometimes stubbornly prevents us from opening that door. We keep trying to do it alone, to face our challenges on our own, and to exert our free will. What we fail to realize is that same free will is what allows us to open that fourth door and seek God’s help. When God gave us that free will he also put that door there in our lives. He put it there for two reasons – 1. Just in case, we needed to open it and get his help and 2. To give us a direct way to communicate with and worship Him.

If it’s been a while since you opened that door in your life, or maybe you’ve never tried that door to see what’s there; maybe it’s time go see what’s behind door number 4. God will be there for you. He has always been there, patiently waiting for you, as we are told in the Bible –

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

Don’t be confused about the word repentance. The repentance that you have just reached when you opened that door is the release of your own ego and the acceptance of God in your life, That’s all He was waiting for. Now you can take step two and say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” You have flung open the door and God will work wonders in your life.

Open that door today and receive that rewards that are behind door number 4.

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Posted by Norm Werner

What will you throw back?

December 1, 2020

Today is Giving Tuesday in America ad Pastor Freed used this appropriate quote in his blog, Jack’s Winning Words –“You can’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands.  You need to be able to throw something back.”  (Maya Angelou)

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 to May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Wikipedia

It is easy to visualize people standing there with catcher’s mitts on both hands. They are the “takers” of life who constantly accept things from others, but who do not give back. You may know some people like that. I prefer to think that we all are not just takers, but we give back in different ways and to different causes.

There has been much already written about the harsh impact that the COVID -19 pandemic has had on charities and non-profits. The financial impact on so many people from the actions taken to slow the spread of the disease has been the subject of almost nightly news show coverage. That impact has had the secondary effect of limiting the giving of those whose own livelihood has been disrupted. Many small local entities like churches, community arts associations and local museums have also been devastated by the cancellation of all fund raising activities or suspension of their services, due to the virus. Fortunately there is some relief available to some of the non-profit organizations through grants.

A less –well documented impact was the subject of the feature article in this morning’s New York Times daily E-Newsletter – The devastation of small local newspapers and the impact on their communities of the loss of their local news reporting services.

Many readers of this blog may already know that in addition to being a Realtor®, I also work part-time for the Spinal Column, a small weekly newspaper with editions for Milford, Highland, White Lake and Commerce Township (including Wixom and Walled Lake). The Spinal Column has been around since 1961 and its name reflects the belief of the founders (and the current owners) that small, independent newspapers are the backbone of democracy in their communities, thus the name. Indeed, our country might not have been born were it not for the local pamphlets, such as James Otis’s Rights of the British Colonies (1764), John Dickinson’s Farmer’s Letters (1768), and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776). Many of those pamphlets were the equivalent of some or our modern day small local papers.

The Spinal Column Newsweeklies, like other small local papers is dependent upon the revenues from advertising to support its free distribution to homes in the communities that it serves. The current pandemic has wreaked havoc on the local businesses that normally advertise in the paper, especially local restaurants and small local stores. The revenue needed to support the staff needed to put out the local papers are drastically down. That is the reason that The Spinal Column is currently seeking donations from its readers.

There are certainly many worthy causes vying for any charity dollars that are available this year. That makes it all the more important to keep our local channels of communications viable. Yes, there will still be the internet; however, the internet does not have reporters digging into and reporting the stories of importance in your local neighborhoods. The internet does not send people to the local Village Council meetings or the Zoning Board meeting to report on issues of local importance only. The internet may report the scores of your local high school games, but it doesn’t do the post-game interviews or post the pictures of the game that your local newspaper might. There might be a post on Facebook about an imagined conspiracy behind a local school board vote, but only the local newspapers actually have people out interviewing the school board members to report the facts behind that vote.

So on this Giving Tuesday, I’m asking you to take off the catcher’s mitts and consider throwing something back to your local newspapers, especially in this area to the Spinal Column. As the New York Times reported, these are the backbones of democracy in our townships, towns and villages You can go to our web site,  http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com and use the Donate to the Spinal Colum choice in the banner  to make a safe donation to keep democracy alive in this area.

What will you throw back today?

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Posted by Norm Werner

What will your extra be today?

November 27, 2020

Pastor Freed used a quote from a football coach today – “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”  (Jimmy Johnson – Football Coach)

Phrases like that are often used by coaches during pep talks to get their players fired up and motivated to find that little extra for the game. But, how does it apply to the normal person in their normal (one might say ordinary) day?  

We often here people saying, “Have a great day”. How does one do that? How can you make it a great day, today? Maybe the secret is in that little extra that you can put into the day that will change it from ordinary to extraordinary for someone else.

The extra that you can add to the day to make it extraordinary may be as simple as a smile or kind greeting to someone that you don’t even know. Maybe you can hold a door open for someone or offer to help carry something for him or her.

Lately there has been a practice called “paying it forward” in which someone at a drive-up window at a fast food place pays for the order of the person behind them. That extraordinary act of kindness makes the day for the person behind and makes the person in front feel great, too.

Doing those little extra things during your day takes a conscious effort and out of being conscious of it comes your own sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Stop and ask yourself before you start your day what you can do extra today to make the day better for someone else. That frame of mind itself will make your day better.

What will you do extra today?

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Posted by Norm Werner

On being thankful…

November 26, 2020

Our thoughts turn to things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving ay 2020. It has been a year, so far, that saw the cancelation of almost everything that we look forward to sports events, parades, wedding and more have been put off or were not held , due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many it has been a year of gut-wrenching pain as they lost loved ones to the disease. Many others, who lived through it, continue to suffer the debilitating after effects of it. For others, the loss of jobs has left them destitute and barely able to hold on. For them, this Thanksgiving feels like one that Charlie Brown described in a recent post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog –

“I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner.  All I can make is cold cereal or maybe toast.”   (Charlie Brown)

Yet, all who are in those states still have something for which to be thankful. They are all still alive to be thinking about it. If they are reduced to eating cold cereal and a piece of toast that is still more than the starving children of many African nations have today. If they ae homeless and living on the streets, they are still LIVING and being thankful for that is a start.

Most of us are probably not facing such hardships this day, but most also probably don’t begin each day by being thankful that they woke up again. As one gets older, that becomes more of a thing for which to be thankful. If one starts by thanking God for giving them another day, it is easier to move on to finding other things for which to be thankful – friends and family come immediately to mind.

Each of us could quickly compile a list of other things for which we are thankful. That puts one on the right frame of mind to go out and create new things for which to be thankful – successes in one’s job, meeting new people and making new friends, experiencing new and different things in life and so much more.

So eat the cereal and toast, if that’s what life gives you, and be thankful that you are still here to do so. Take a moment to thank God for giving you another day in which you can do better, experience more and be happier. God’s promise was not heaven on earth; but rather Heaven after earth. Don’t ask God to give you more; ask instead that He help you find more joy in what  you have already. The Bible tells us…

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.”  (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

We are also admonished to lighten up about life –

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

God’s got our backs.

So, be at peace this Thanksgiving holiday and take a moment to find the things that you should be thankful for, beginning with that moment that you have of life.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Be thankful and be safe.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Right is not just noble…

November 25, 2020

“Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.”  (Henry Royce) – thus quoted Pastor Freed in a recent post to his blog Jack’s Winning Words.

Henry Royce was one of the founders of the Rolls-Royce car company, a company known for its endless pursuit of perfection in cars. They strive to do it right. One of their claims is that at 60 miles per hours the only thing you will hear in the Rolls-Royce is the sound of the electric clock. They have almost perfected the quiet ride.

I would add to Royce’s quote that things done right are also comforting, reassuring and satisfying. At the end of the day, if one can look back and know that what they did was right, they will be at peace with themselves. They will not have regrets or second thoughts about the events of the day. They will not have to try to remember any lies or deceptions from the day for future reference.

I’m not sure when WTF replaced WWJD in our lexicon and on our T-shirts and wrist bands; but I am sure that WWJD would provide better guidance for daily living that WTF ever will. Using WTF is just an excuse and a cover up for doing the wrong things.

It is also easy to blame the rapid pace of our daily lives for the mistakes that we make; however, the truth is that we always have time, in any decision (even a so-called “split-second decision) to do the right thing. It all starts with knowing right from wrong and that is based upon the morals and principles that guide your daily life. If one does not have the moral compass that a strong faith provides one is destined to lurch through life without direction, making one bad decision after another.

Before sailors set out to sea they check and set their compass because they know that once out at sea there will be no visible points of reference for them to use to orient themselves, just their compass. Our lives can be like that. If we don’t have a good moral compass. We can become disoriented and are soon adrift, being carried along by events, rather than navigating them with solid direction. Jesus is our compass. He showed humankind the way to heaven and he provides the moral compass that we need for daily living.

So, start each day by checking and setting your compass in prayer. Put WTF out of your mind and replace it with WWJD. Ask God to be there with you as you make decisions during the day, helping you see right from wrong. If you take that compass with you throughout the day you will arrive home at night without any need for regrets or second guessing.

Have a noble day!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Don’t dwell on what might have been…

November 24, 2020

In today’s post to his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, Pastor Freed used this quote – “There’s another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.”  (Kazuo Ishiguro)

I suppose that all of us, from time to time, muse about what might have been…how our lives would have been different had we made a different decision at some critical juncture. While musing about past decisions might be harmless, if we go beyond that and dwell upon those events or decisions that shaped our lives into what they have become, we might become fixated upon what might have been and sink into depression.  

It is much better to move on as Ishiguro indicates in his quote and focus upon the life that you did end up having and which still lies ahead of you. Life does not give us “do overs” it only provides the opportunity to “do next”.

Life does give us the chance to change the course that we are currently on and get back on a track that we deviated from through some decision that we now regret. The detour that we took may have set us back a bit, but it does not have to prevent us from doing the right thing or accomplishing our original goals.

Maybe say a little prayer asking God to help you to not look back; but, instead to focus on what is ahead. That will help turn around your thinking and stop thinking about what might have been. Instead, you can think about what might still be. Planning for your success is a much better use of your time than regretting your failures.

walking man

So, don’t dwell in the past and on the past; instead, live for and in the future. The future is a much more pleasant place in which to spend your time; for as Anne of Green Gables author L.M. Montgomery said – “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

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Posted by Norm Werner

Be happy with who you are…

November 20, 2020

“We are not what other people say we are.  We are who we know ourselves to be.  That’s OK.”  (Transgender Slogan) – as seen recently on the Jack’s Winning Words blog.

While this little saying may be attributed as a transgender slogan, it really should be everybody’s slogan. Too many of us worry about what we think others think we are or say we are when we should be more focused upon who we say we are. You might find it interesting how many people in places like New York City or Los Angeles call themselves actors or actresses and not the waitresses or cab drivers  or whatever that we think and say that they are when we encounter them in their jobs. To them those are just gigs to tide them over while they pursue their true calling in the arts, be they actors or singers or dancers or whatever. They know themselves as something else and for them that’s OK.

I have posted here many times about being happy with yourself, with who and what you are, with how you look, with what your goals and aspirations in life, and with being alone with yourself. It is probably more important than ever, in these days of COVID lockdowns, to be comfortable and happy being alone with yourself. Maybe it will help to know that you are never alone. God.is always there with you.

In the Tom Hanks movie Castaway, Hank’s character created an imaginary friend that he calls Wilson (after the brand on the ball) from a volleyball. He spends much of the movie “talking” to Wilson. It was a convenient vehicle in the movie for dialogue. In real life, many of us (I include myself here) talk to our pets or maybe to ourselves. Some of us may talk to God, but we probably don’t expect any more back from God than what Hanks got back from Wilson. It is a mechanism for us to have a “conversation” that helps lead us to decisions or to calm fears or concerns.

There is currently a Subway ad on TV featuring New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick in which a young lady bumps into Belichick while on her way to get a burger. She has a quick “conversation” with Belichick without him saying a word and makes a decision to get a Subway sandwich instead. At the end of the commercial she says, “Nice conversation.” To which he replies, “I know”. Our talks with God are often that way and we don’t even get the “I know” at the end; but, you know.

I’m OK

When I was in the big business world I got to go to many training session for managers. One was called “I’m OK, You’re OK”. It was based upon the 1967 book by the same title by Thomas Harris, M.D. The class helped the students understand various personality types, so that they could understand both where they were coming from (their own personality type) in any encounter and where (personality-wise )the other person might be coming from. A key take-away from that class is that no matter the differences both parties are OK – there is no wrong in any encounter, just differences and they need to be addressed with understanding of the other person’s point of view.

So to get all the way back up to the top of this post, we must start with I’m OK and then we can explore You’re OK and go from there. Know yourself and be OK with that. Maybe you need a Belichick-like conversation with God first. You’ll find it to be a good conversation. You’ll know.

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Posted by Norm Werner

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