Retired pastor, Jack Freed, is the author of my favorite blog – Jack’s Winning Words – and his daily quotes often provide the inspiration for many of my posts. Jack spent a week in the hospital recently because of a spider bite that became infected. He’s out and posting to his blog again and this was one of his posts this week, which I re-blog here in it’s entirety:
“I am totally lacking the ‘zippity’ part of my ‘do dah’ day.” (Sent by PZ) I laughed at this one, because I know what it is to lose your zip. Pete Seeger sang, “My get up and go has got up and went.” Pete continues, “I’m able to grin when I think where my get up has been…But I’ll stick around to see what is next.” That’s good philosophy when the do-dah-day isn’t going so well. Celebrate the memories and say with Scarlett, “Tomorrow is another day.” 😉 Jack
We all have days where our get up and go seems to have left without us, as Pete Seeger sang. Some days we awaken in the morning and just don’t feel like getting out of bed to face the day. Low energy days like that can be depressing if we let them. It is mornings
like that where you feel like turning to God and saying, “A little help here, God.”
That quick little prayer can make the difference in your day and provide you with a shot of energy much sooner and better than downing an energy drink. Nothing can put the zippity day in your do-dah day more than knowing that you are starting it with God at your side. What can life throw at you that He can’t help you handle?
So start today and every day by awakening the power of God in your life and you will be able to approach the day like the kids in this Disney movie clip.
Have a zippity do-dah day!
Posted by Norm Werner 
what it is that they believe in. It is comforting in those times to have a strong belief in God. Not understanding why things happen can be unsettling. It can cause confusion and anxiety. It can lead to hopelessness and depression. Being able to say to yourself, “I do not have to understand the ‘why?’ of everything. I just need to believe in God and accept His plans for me.”
with those things that happen.
novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
So, who are you now? What have you done with the experiences of your past? Did you learn from them? Were you able to forgive, if that was necessary? Are you able to put the praises for your successes in the proper perspective, so that they don’t delude you into thoughts of entitlement? Are you able to turn your experiences into knowledge and wisdom? Who are you now? Are you comfortable with who you have become?
to build your life than a strong belief in God. If you start with a strong, unwavering faith in God, you are free to build the character upon that faith that will serve you well in life. You will be able to absorb the defeats, disappointments or sorrows that life might through at you. You will be able to humbly accept the successes that you have in life as God’s gifts to you and not of your own making. You will be well grounded. You will always know who you are and in what direction you are headed.
The death and resurrection of Christ is the defining event in the Christian faith and I thought that if one believes in that event, i.e. if that is the foundation of one’s faith; then that belief should remove the fear of death. The next thought I had was one of wondering what someone has who has no faith? If you cannot find hope and comfort in the belief of life after death, then what do you have. Nothing? It’s no wonder those without faith fear death.
death and turn our attention to the joyous celebration of his resurrection. That is how we overcome our fear of death. Life after death may still be a great unknown for us, but we believe in it and look forward to the promise of “a peace that surpasses all understanding”.
somewhere in the world caused enough change in the movement of the atmosphere to cause minute changes to the weather patterns in the entire world. If you’ve ever wondered why it may be raining across the street, but not on your house, perhaps it was a butterfly somewhere in Asia that was flapping it’s wings that caused that weather pattern. At least it’s more fun to think of that butterfly flapping away in Asia than dwelling on the fact that it may be raining.
certainly guilty of procrastination about exercise. When the gym that I was going to closed, I told myself that I’d join another gym and get back to regular exercise. I’m still telling myself that. I’ve been looking at it as a big decision, when in reality there was a small decision that I could have made to do a little exercise at home each day, until I found a new gym. It’s time to make that small decision and change my life. Time for some home burpees.
Reconnect with God each morning and put your trust in what He has in store for your life today. I use the little prayer that I’ve posted here many times – “Not my will, but Thy will be done”. You will find that you start each day with a new attitude when you take that moment to reconnect and reassure yourself that God is with you. That new attitude and the aura of God working through you will carry over into the decisions that you make that day, which can’t help but change your life and the world around you. You will become God’s “butterfly effect” on the world.
provide for have grown up and moved away. They rationalize all of the time that they spend at work instead of at home as necessary to provide all of the things that they think the family needs. Often, the only thing that the kids really wanted was more time with dad. Perhaps the saddest country song that best captured this topic was 
chose to pursue will be viewed as a necessary and secondary commitment of your time and attention. An even deeper truth is that family will actually be second, after your commitment to God. Once you have made that commitment your other priorities will fall into line. When you get your priorities straight, you will also find that your level of satisfaction with life increases dramatically. A loving kiss from your partner or a hug and a heartfelt “thinks Dad” from your child is much more rewarding than another reward plaque to put up on your wall.
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?
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?
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 
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.
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?”
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