“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” (A. Lincoln) – from the Jacks Winning Words blog. Jack’s remarks included the fact that
Lincoln was not a very religious man, but a good man who did know the Bible quite well and made his life an example of trying to do good. I would hope that all of us live to some extent by the same philosophy. At the very least that philosophy is based upon knowing the difference between right and wrong, good and bad.
Sometimes I wonder, as I’m watching the news each night about all of the bad things that people do, how they grew up not being able to tell the difference between right and wrong 
or even worse, knowing the difference and making the choices that they do to take the bad path. Do they feel bad when they do that or are they just numb to those feelings? Maybe for some, doing bad things makes them feel good, or so they think. I can’t even imagine how robbing or shooting someone could make one feel good. I feel the same about people who show prejudices and hatred against others, no matter how different they may be. How can that make them really feel good?
Every now and then, I’ll say something stupid and flip, maybe about something that my wife has done or said and she’ll call me on it. Shen will say, “Did that make you feel better, 
to point out my mistake?” I suppose feeling small in those moments is equivalent to feeling bad. I sure now that it doesn’t feel good. I’ve been known to comment out loud, in
fit of road rage, about something that someone else may have done while we were out driving somewhere. She calls me on that, too; sometimes without saying anything at all. I realize that I’ve done another bad thing and that makes me feel bad.
I think it’s important that we admit it to ourselves, and perhaps to those around us, when we’ve done bad (or stupid or insensitive) things; and, where possible, to make up for them. It’s the right thing to do; and, while it is not my religion, it is part of my religion, a teaching from my religion and the thing I am called upon to do by my religion. The words of James 4:17 sum it pretty succinctly – “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
For Abraham Lincoln and for most of us, just knowing the difference between right and wrong and between good and bad is no enough, we must choose to do what is right and good in order to feel good about ourselves and about life in general. So get out there this week and do good. It’ll make you feel good, too.
Posted by Norm Werner 
frame of mind have a huge advantage in life. The absurdity of clinging to the past is demonstrated in the ads for Let Go, the web site for selling stuff that you don’t really need anymore. A person dangling over a cliff but stubbornly holding onto a bowling ball is no more absurd than us carrying around the worry or guilt about something that has already happened or may happen some time in the future. There is little that we can really do about either, but they both could consume immense amounts of our time and energy.
h day by putting away the things that you’ve been thinking about or worrying about or regret having done. File a place to file them in your mind or resolve to discard them, but don’t keep them for tomorrow. Those things, those mistakes, those doubts, those losses are over, so let them go. They are so yesterday. Erase them as you would a blackboard at school. Tomorrow you start with a clean slate that has yet to have any failures or successes written upon it.
light on them. If you feel that yo still need a little more help in dealing with them, remember that God is always right there, ready to offload any burden that you want to give Him. The serenity that Emerson mentioned may be found in the act of prayer and the decision to let’s God’s will for you to prevail.
inspirational and I hope you do, too. I particularly liked this one as a starting point for thought and discussion – “Be what you are. This is the first step towards becoming better than you are.” – J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare. Too many of use try to be what we think someone else wants us to be, sometimes to fit in and sometimes because we think that is the key to success and sometimes just because we don’t yet like ourselves. The first step towards being the best you that you can be is to drop the mask and abandon the fake persona that you have been hiding behind.
direction in which you are heading, which I wrote about yesterday (see 
have the courage to stand and say, ‘This is who I am.’”
Corey) – from the Jack’s Winning Words blog. Jack went on to write a little about Professor Irwin Corey, who died recently at age 102. For those who don’t remember the Professor, here’s a link to one of his appearances on the show Late Night with David Letterman in 1983 – 
decision to change direction. All of the programs are really there to support that decision and change in direction your life.
yourself. Some call it soul searching, you may call it meditation or whatever. The point is to temporarily let go of the things that clutter you mind and focus upon what it is that you want out of life and whether the path that you are on will take you there or not.
lose track of the goals that initially set out to achieve or the dream that originally launched us on our journey. No one sets out to work until they drop or to ignore their family and friends in pursuit of more success at work. They just end up with their heads down charging full speed ahead so much that they miss the turns and changes in direction that are needed some times to reach their ultimate goals in life. Neither does anyone really define their goals in life purely in terms of money or position. People who take the time to really reflect on their goals in life tend to use terms like happiness or fulfillment or usefulness or love to define their ultimate goals.
really want to end up. It’s almost never too late to change directions, otherwise you will end up getting to where you’re going. If you do take that time during prayer, you might find the directions that God can provide for you to be the ultimate GPS system for your journey. Just like you do in your car, use prayer to reset your destination and then listen to the directions that God gives you.
and the requests that we make for someone to “Friend me”. I don’t think we really put on a special face for each of the people on our “friends” list on Facebook. Those special faces are reserved for people with whom we have a real friendship, such as that described by Aristotle – “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” 
a spouse or partner in life. Marriages (partnerships) that last a lifetime have that longevity because of that ability to share your soul.
In church services there is an oft-used line from Number 6:24-26, “may God’s face shine upon you.” Perhaps that is what Jack meant when he wrote “God is like that”. When God is your friend, He shares his soul in our bodies and it shines through on our faces. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, nothing will.
to
it than just feel sorry for them. They have a long background in providing foster care of children in need of the love and discipline of a stable family environment. Now they are in the process of realizing a long-held dream to do more. They are behind a project to build an orphanage in India as part of the Angel House program there, which provides safe refuge for hundreds of children across India.
The Angel Hose that John and Lisa are building will begin construction in June of this year and is scheduled to open in the first week of December. Once it is built and open the on-going maintenance and operational costs will be picked up by a local church in India. John and Lisa plan on traveling to India in December of 2017 for the opening of their Angel House and to meet the 50 children who will live there.
e your prayers and financial help. You can see more about the Angel House Program please visit their web site at 
Some people have the ability to make snap decisions in any situation, while others (and I count myself in this number) seem to hesitate while they try to gather more information upon which to base a decision. Many times an opportunity will pass us by while we are pondering the alternatives. To an extent, we have become flat squirrels, because we couldn’t decide whether to go on or run back to safety.
make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” For many the fear of failure is stronger than the perceived rewards of success, so doing nothing seems to offer the safer path. The view of the flat squirrel is that of a flat earth, with no ups or downs but also with no dimension. We may not always be right, but we don’t always have to become the flat squirrel.
optimistic and supportive world can help prevent us from become flat squirrels.
l react – Heath Ledger said – “If you make decisions based upon people’s reactions or judgments then you make really boring choices.” How many times have you looked back on bad decisions in your personal life and realized that you were just “going along to get along” or maybe you’ve said to someone else (or at least thought), “Gee,
insight – “Our life is the sum total of all the decisions we make every day, and those decisions are determined by our priorities.” – Myles Munroe. If you can get your priorities straight and base your decisions upon those priorities; you will go a long way towards avoiding becoming a flat squirrel in life.
ly centered and based upon the priorities established by a strong faith, the decisions that you have to make will come more easily and are more likely to have good outcomes. Steven Covey was quoted as
of Wise Owl Enterprises has just published her latest book that can help with that – Living a Balanced Life Journal . You can visit her website at 
develop. Many times we might avoid people who seem to be different from us and our normal friends, because they are unusual – not like us. Maybe they look different or dress differently. Maybe they have a nose ring or spiked hair. Perhaps they are a different color or perhaps speak with an accent that is unfamiliar to us. For whatever reason, we choose to avoid them and go with what we know. How sad for us.
introduced to a different set of life experiences than we had, which shaped their view of the world. We may even discover how insular and one-dimensional our lives have been, compared to the experiences of others.
people trooped by you, so that you can meet them. You have to get out in the community and go places and do things that are different.
to shut-in through the Meals-on-Wheels program, or volunteering at a local soup kitchen or an organization like Community Sharing. Whatever the job, it does get you out of the ordinary and expose you to things and people that you would not ordinarily meet. Whether you realize it at the time, or not; your life is richer for the experiences.
Isn’t it amazing that the wisdom of so long ago, such as that of Homer, is so applicable in today’s world. One wonders if William Shakespeare was somehow channeling Homer when he said – “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
jumping into it? How have you prepared for the future? Have you been sitting in fear contemplating all that could go wrong or confidently striding forward in anticipation of all that will go right?
health and many do fit that description; however, the lonely can be of any age, sex or ethnicity. Many of those older people that we tend to stereotype in this group are still living in their own homes and tend to disappear behind closed doors. They may get visits by family members, if any are local; however, many spend hours or even days without anyone else to talk with. I’ve heard stories from many Meals on Wheels drivers about the fact that the elderly that they serve are as “hungry” for somebody to talk with and for interaction with other human beings as they are for the food that is being delivered. Be that somebody.
the strange language being used all around them and they may have just come from a dangerous and violent environment. While we think that they should be happy to be here, they might, in fact, be shared to death by their strange surroundings and the many people who always seem to be staring at them. They need somebody to trust and to care and to listen to them. Be that somebody.
are part of the community that is labeled GLBTQI (or whatever the latest string of letters may be). Just the fact that there is a label assigned demonstrates a societal need to separate them from the “rest of us” and that can, and for many does, lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. That is especially true for those in the stage before coming out in public about the issue. That can be a time of deep emotional conflict and insecurity that can cause them to be withdrawn and lonely. At that stage, they just need somebody to talk to about the conflict going on inside of them. Be that somebody.
through ignoring them, as best that we can; when all that they really want is to be accepted and talked to and treated like everyone else. You can break the mold that society might want to cast you in by accepting them and treating them just like you would treat anyone else. Maybe they just need to have somebody “straight” to talk to about the issues created by their sexual choice or gender conflict. Be that somebody.
other things, but also by people in need of companionship or friendship or just someone to talk with. Oft times we don’t see that need or we don’t recognize it when we see it. It is easy to see the need of the guy standing on the corner with the cardboard sign that reads “Homeless, will work for food”. There aren’t people sitting next to him with their own signs that read “Isolated and lonely, need somebody to talk with”. Be that somebody.
word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. – John 3:17-18
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