From a recent post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog – “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” – Clarissa Pikola Estes
How often inaction is driven by thinking too big. We think about the problems of the world and they become too big for us to tackle ourselves, so we do nothing. We cannot
provide food for the millions in Africa who are starving, so we do nothing. We cannot stop the genocides that are on going in the Middle East, so we do nothing. We cannot stop human trafficking, so we do nothing. Doing nothing is the easy choice. We fail to see what we can do right in our own back yard. What’s within your reach?
If we really took the time to stretch out and see the needs right close to us, we would be able to do plenty to reduce hunger and suffering and human exploitation right in our own towns and cities. How often do we scurry by that homeless beggar on the corner asking for our help? How easy is it for us to look the other way when we see a teenage girl selling herself on the streets to support a drug habit? How many times must we tune into the nightly news and do nothing as we see and hear about another massacre in our schools or churches. These things are happening within our reach. Stretch out and try to mend what you see every day. What’s within your reach?
We tend to let ourselves generalize the problems that we see and let them grow into 
seemingly unsolvable huge things that we are incapable of solving alone. It’s not just that homeless beggar, it’s all homeless people. It’s not just that one teen prostitute, it’s all people hooked on drugs. It’s not just that one crazed shooter, it’s all of the disturbed people in the world. If we let that happen, we become paralyzed by the enormous size of the problems than we see. What’s within your reach?
But, what if you could help that one homeless person that you meet get back on their feet and become a productive member of society again? What if you could save that young girl from a life on the streets? What if your efforts to alert authorities about an unstable person who is headed towards becoming a shooter could prevent that from happening and stop the carnage before it happens? Do you see how taking action, even with only one person in need, can change things in the world? If you can see it, what is stopping your from doing it? Look around. What’s within your reach?
Maybe you just can’t bring yourself to act alone. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable trying
to approach the homeless person or the street walker with your offer to help. Maybe fear keeps you from saying anything to (or about) that unstable person. There are still ways that you can help. There are organizations that you can join and work for that provide that help and intervention. Groups like Community Sharing are here locally, within your reach. Groups like the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force exist and run hotlines that provide help. They need people to do the work that they do. They are within your reach. And there are crime tip hotlines like the Safe School Helpline in every state that provide an anonymous way for to alert the authorities about a potential problem person. That phone call is within your reach.
So, don’t become paralyzed by thinking too big. Think about what is within your reach and then take actions to do something about what you can see. If everyone, everywhere just did that the big national problems would fade away one local solution at a time. What’s within your reach?
Posted by Norm Werner 
in Indonesia and thought by many to be the first bird that God created in the Garden of Eden. To see such a bird is rare and to actually have one alight upon your hand even more rare.
possess people. We want them to be “ours” and ours alone. What we don’t understand is that love is a feeling that must be shared and not possessed. Saying I love you to someone does not carry with it “I own you”; but, sometimes people imply that into the relationship. Those relationships are doomed to fail. Love is something that is at the same time shared and earned in return.
violence situations. It is often the case that domestic violence is driven as much by the need to control the other person as from any other reason. Once all other techniques of control fail, the possessive person is left with physical violence or threats as a mechanism of control. Domestic violence becomes the final spiral towards oblivion of a long failed relationship.
there are things that you could do that would cause love (and the Bird of Paradise) to fly away by being too possessive. Love cannot be grasped it can only be shared and it must be shared freely and without constraints. Just as the Bird of Paradise is beautiful to behold, love is a beautiful things to see and feel and even touch, but it cannot be grasped and possessed.
condition. PTSS is a leading cause of suicides among soldiers returning from prolonged or repeated duty in war zones.
Perhaps you haven’t been through anything in life as traumatizing as deployment into a war zone; however, we all have had events in our lives that were (at the time anyway) somewhat traumatizing. Those “how can I go on” moments helped shape our lives. For most there was the “ah ha” realization that, as bad as it seemed at the time; it didn’t kill us and we made it through the event. Perhaps the pain was real or maybe just deeply emotional; but we survived and life went on. It is our ability to compartmentalize and rationalize things that happen to us that helps us get through them and go on with life.
thing to contemplate, with thoughts of “What can I do? I’m just one little person” or maybe “I have no skills to help the world.” The fact is that your time and willingness to help are the only things that you need to get started making a difference in the world. Don’t hold your breath.
help. There are children who are too hungry to learn in school. There are thousands in hospitals and nursing homes that long for someone to talk with. There are caregivers struggling to to get through each day without anyone to relieved them. There are families trying to deal with hardships or losses with no one to turn to for help or counseling. Don’t hold your breath.
stand on the food line serving the food when the TV cameras show up. There are many people in the background doing tasks like preparing the food or washing the dishes. Those are often thankless tasks, but essential to the process. Often, when I volunteer for something, I’ll ask, “What’s the job that nobody wants to do?” Then that’s the job I ask for. In church event’s that’s usually set-up and tear-down or perhaps washing dishes. Don’t hold your breath.
actions, unless you become more conscious of the impact that the past has on shaping your thinking. Do you reflexively mistrust others because of a bad incident in your past? Does fear based upon some old prejudice drive your reaction? Do you find it hard to allow yourself to love someone because of a bad relationship earlier in your life? Do you get down on yourself because you have experienced criticism and scorn in the past, perhaps even from your parents? Where are you coming from?
Instead of lashing back at some unkind remark, perhaps we might ask, “Where’s that coming from?” and try to understand what is driving the other person to make that remark. Maybe they are just having a delayed reaction to something that they thought you did or they might be acting on bad information. In any event, before we respond in any way we need to better understand the answer to the question, “Where are you coming from?”
Beginning each day re-centered on your faith give you a great place to be coming from all day long. You can certainly choose any prayer that you wish that makes you feel good about your faith. I’ve posted here often that I like to start with a very short prayer that gets me in the right frame of mind – “Not my will but Thy will be done.” I know for the rest of that day where I’m coming from. How about you?
correct some factual error (at least in my opinion) that I think may have just been made in something that is said. Sometimes (probably most of the time) it is better to just let things go, even if you know that what was just said is not correct. Be kind this week.
view on things, but that’s OK.” Don’t say that out loud, unless you are just spoiling for an argument. Be kind this week.
stubbornly to a disproved position, it is much better to admit your mistake and move on by embracing the new “truth” of the matter. Perhaps now you will be better able to understand the position that others held all along, which you considered “wrong-headed” until now. You will probably also realize that, had you chosen to be kind rather than right in your position, you would now be in a much better position. Be kind this week.
yours. Maybe there is no right and wrong, just two wrongs that will get you nowhere. Life does not have to become as dysfunctional as our current political system, where everything is judged using a far-right or far-left litmus test. There is a win-win middle ground were different opinions and perspectives may be valued for providing diversity to the conversation and where the truth is somewhere in the middle or, perhaps, somewhere else altogether. Be kind this week.
something nice to say to someone puts you in a positive frame of mind, because you are being positive and not just finding fault with that person. It can be something as small as “your hair looks great today” or maybe just “you look great today”. You’ll probably get a smile and maybe a reply and it will usually be positive, which helps reinforce the positive vibe that you were on when you made the comment.
Another side-benefit of making the effort to say something nice is that it will usually put a smile on your face, which may be a pleasant change from your normal “at rest” face. It is quite natural that most people’s faces droop a bit into what might be interpreted as a frown by others. You aren’t really unhappy or trying to frown and probably don’t realize that your “at rest” face doesn’t look inviting or friendly. By conscientiously preparing to say something nice you will reflexively put a little smile on your face, which will be a pleasant change for those that you meet.
Charlie Brown comics. Snoopy is often used as the epitome of carefree happiness and a large emoji industry has grown up built upon creating variations of the well-known happy face emoji.
happy if only I had this new car or that bigger house or whatever shiny thing we see on TV”. Maybe we think that happiness awaits us at that next promotion level at work. Whatever it is; it nags at us and keeps us unhappy. For some there is unhappiness in their personal relationships because they have a nagging feeling that they would be happier with someone else.
us further and further away from God. We must stop and re-center ourselves back on our faith in God.
but thy will be done” or do you set your jaw and head out determined to face the world and its problems on your own? No matter what level of unhappiness you have sunken to, God is that beacon of light that you can still see off in the distance. Head towards His light. Happiness lives there.
new skills helps us strengthen our life Kung Fu. Certainly, becoming sedentary and stopping our learning makes us duller people and is just not healthy. Becoming stuck in the past is really not good, because it is also frustrating. You can’t change the past, no matter how long you think about the coulda, woulda, shoulda’s that come to mind. “It’s time to move on to a new adventure.”
is categorizing the things from the event that were good and bad and letting go of the bad, or at least filing them away as things not to do again. Most human interaction experiences have both components and we learn to master certain aspects of life by learning from those experiences. We learn from failures, disappointments and heartbreaks that those things didn’t kill us. They didn’t make us happy either; so we resolve to do things differently and better the next time. We strengthen our life Kung Fu because of those hardships. “It’s time to move on to a new adventure.”
that is to replace fear with hope. That hope should be based upon the promise that God has made to us – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” —Jeremiah 29:11
my business again.” (Unknown)
then? I think it best to ask before you advise. Ask if you can help. Ask if they think that there is some value in you sharing your opinion or experiences in similar situations. Basically, you should ask permission to stick your nose into their business. Based upon the response that you get to asking, your nose should be able to tell you whether to go ahead or back off.
You don’t want to lose a friend, but you can’t just stand by and do nothing as they spin out of control. In those cases, your nose will tell you that you are doing the right thing, even if your friend doesn’t appreciate it at the time.
that are wrong that you see going on around you, perhaps it is time for a self-intervention. Perhaps you are seeking permission for yourself, before you stick your nose in. Open your bible and find it there. There are tons of references in the bible about doing things for others, but the most direct is this one – “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” – Philippians 2:4
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