From today’s post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog comes this delightful quote – “Life is like a Maypole. Life is colorful Bright vibrant and always fun For children and fools.” (Mason Hartley)
Jack went on to tell about Maypole dancing in May in Scandinavia as a way to celebrate 
the end of winter and the arrival of Spring. In a larger sense, it is a metaphor for the celebration of life. As Hartley pointed out, children seem to find fun in life no matter what is going on around them. One can see that in the occasional news stories of children finding a way to play in the midst of war-torn countries. For them life is always fun, bright, colorful and full of things to discover.
Hartley seems to say that, in adulthood, only fools find the same wonder in each day. I would submit that it is not fools who can see the bright, vibrant hope in each day, but rather Christians who wake each morning and thank God for another day. God is our Maypole each day and we should celebrate each day that God has given us with joy and thanksgiving.
When we lose our childhood wonder and the ability to play and “grow up” to be a serious adult, we also lose some or all of our ability to dance around the Maypole. For many that includes losing touch with God. With the growth of the body comes the development of the mind and the rise of our ego. It is from that ego; that springs our need to feel like we are in control of things; and, in that, we lose touch with the God that we innocently accepted as children. We begin to think of each day as ours and not God’s. 
We begin to believe that we can control things, manipulate things and decide outcomes to events and not to trust that God is in control. Many may substitute something new in place of the Maypole – success in business with promotions and more money – and dance around those goals in the belief that having more of everything will bring happiness.
It is only when we return to our belief in God that we are free to once again be happy, dance, and celebrate each day. When we finally say to ourselves and to God, “Not my will but thy will be done”, we can regain that childlike wonder at life and find a way to play again and enjoy the life that God has given us. No, we are not fools. Perhaps the fools are those around us who still think that they are in control of things and have lost contact with God.
If God is not at the center of your life, what Maypole are you dancing around? How’s that
working out for you? Don’t play the fool; return to the only true thing that you need to center your life around. Dance around God and be happy again, as if you were a child.
Have a wonderful day and find the time to dance.
Posted by Norm Werner 
that I’ve found in my life to give yourself to God is to prayerfully say to Him…Not my will but thy will be done.
Pollyanna-type who always finds a way to make lemonade out of the lemons that come their way. Which are you? Which would you rather be? The one has decided to be unhappy with life and the other will not let life ruin their happiness. You decide what kind of day you will have.
Sometimes we just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and something bad happens. Sometimes we actually make the bad decision to be at that place. Whichever it is, you are then faced with more decisions about how to react to things that are happening or that just happened. Perhaps another quote sums up your situation best: “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” —Charles Swindoll. Since your day is made up of events that you will react to; you decide what kind of day you will have.
decisions about what to do next, instead of letting some knee-jerk reaction control your future. By being conscious of your situation, you can choose to react in a positive way, rather than a negative way. You can choose to move forward with your life in a positive way, rather than shrinking back or retreating into depression. You can be in control; not of the situation, but of your reaction to it. You decide what kind of day you will have.
while I may not be in control of the things that are happening, I am in control of the decisions that I make in reaction to what is happening. Realizing that causes me to take a little pause and ask myself, “What is the right thing to do?” Just that little pause and that thought will allow you to see what God is telling you to do and you will make better decisions. You decide what kind of day you will have.
took you off in a bad direction. It’s never too late to turn back to God and say “A little help here”. Maybe you need to ask for God to help you recover from a bad decision. God will always be there for you and it’s never too late to ask Him for help. It’s as simple as this little prayer – “Not my will but thy will be done.” You decide what kind of day you will have.
proactively pursuing the things that we might wish to do. That’s life.
has taken on a new and twisted meaning under the current political environment. I guess when one lives within the theater of the absurd, one should expect surprises from the clowns who are in charge.
living in the most natural state of human rights. Anywhere else, where people are given, or have free access to, things above the subsistence level by the society they live in, is an example of privileges being extended by that society and not examples of people having rights to those things.
One can get in the right frame of mind about life by starting each day with a little “thank you” prayer to God for allowing you to awaken to another day. You weren’t even entitled to that day, so right away you have been given a gift to enjoy. Everything beyond that is just something that you should enjoy and be thankful for having. So, take the advice from today’s quote and make the best of everything that you have; rather than spend your time and energy worrying about things that you don’t have. God has just given you the most precious thing that money can’t buy and which isn’t a right – time. Use your time today wisely; be thankful and happy and make the best of what you have.
chasing, some other shiny thing catches our attention and off we go again. Most people will probably admit that getting the thing of our desires was not as satisfactory as they thought that it might be. In fact, quite often, they will say that the pursuit was the real satisfying part. But, is the pursuit of material things that we don’t really care about once that are obtained really a good use of our time?
feel better? We have a little saying in the ELCA church that is used in many churches – “God’s work, our hands.” The real significance of that saying is that, by doing those things that need to be done in your community to help others, you bring yourself closer to God by becoming the hands through which He achieves his miraculous work. This world that we live in is the job site and God is the site manager, doling out the jobs that need to be done and helping direct their accomplishment. You can’t find a better boss to work for and the benefits are great, both now and later.
go every day and then too busy to go 3 times a week and now I really have to make a special effort to go twice a week.
the practice of it in our daily lives can become victims of life’s changes and distractions, if we don’t make a special effort to recognize God as the central constant in our lives. For most that means taking time out once a week to attend church.
baseball or other sports (hockey in the winter) that are now played or practiced on Sunday mornings. One could hope that somehow the families involved took time later in the day to home school their children on the importance of God and religion in their lives, but I suspect that is more of a dream than a real hope.
e is sure handy to have around when you enter one of life’s valleys. Have you also noticed how many great athletes take the time to thank God right after they have reached a sports mountain top – a home run, a touchdown or a goal.
become complacent in everyday life and forget to call on God or to thanks Him for the everyday small things that He does for us. I catch myself every now and then saying something like, “Boy I got lucky with that” or maybe “Wow I’m glad that didn’t happen.” Then I stop and think about it and take an opportunity to thanks God for either my good fortune or for protecting me from a misfortune.
in our valleys or thank Him at the top of one of our mountains. Personally, I don’t usually start the day asking God for anything in particular, but I do quite often just say,” God, help me make good decisions today.” Really what more can you ask for?
topics from global warming to the lunar landings. Yet we still print “In God We Trust” on all of our money and pay at least lip service to that motto.
good way to start each day would be to take out your wallet and look at the back of whatever bills you have in it and read the motto – In God We Trust. If you don’t have any bills, look at your coins; it’s printed on them, too. The point is to take that motto to heart and start the day with the thought in mind – In God I Trust. You’ll have a great day, no matter what happens.
NormsMilfordBlog 