Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 232). Center Street. Kindle Edition. I want to, though, don’t you?   I mean, I am 65+ and I really want to control my future.   I want to feel that I am secure and that everything is going to be great.   That would be great but it is impossible.   I can’t control my future and I can’t even know what it is going to be like. But John goes on and says that “Knowing today is essential; controlling today is possible.”   Today is all I have to work with, tomorrow I give to God.   But to emphasize, I do have today.   I have the potential to still make choices of how I am going to live each day. I am also reading a book by Bill Hybels called, The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God,Having the Guts to Respond.   And on page 79 he says, “Many of God’s whispers are offered to save us from difficulties and pain that we don’t have the wisdom or maturity to fore

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Themand Reach Your Potential (pp. 203-204). Center Street. Kindle Edition. Do you enjoy your life?   On my other blog, Bill’s Front Porch , I’m de aling with the subject of happiness.  Today I said, “ The accepted idea of happiness is having the right circumstances. But God’s way to happiness is having the right attitude.”   So I ask again, “Do you enjoy your life?” Now John says here that if you do, then the lines between your work and your play begin to blur.   You see, it is an attitude thing.   I chose to enjoy my life.   It is a choice.   I love reading the Psalms in the Old Testament.   Usually the writer starts with a lament, a bad attitude but as he changes his focus it becomes a praise.   His focus changes his attitude.   He has control over his attitude and so do you. Yes, life can be tough.   Yes there may be some real problems at work but you can see work as a

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 203). Center Street. Kindle Edition. I did that today.   I was dealing with not only a sluggish mind but a sluggish metabolism.    Instead of a coffee and a banana for breakfast I had a bowl of oatmeal with nuts and fruit and then I went on a longer walk.   I had brought my computer to Starbucks and instead of walking home to do some work I came down to Peet’s Coffee and Tea. I am outside in a great spot doing my work.   Then I will take a longer walk back home.   I disturbed my routine. How about you?   Are you in a rut in your routine and you are sluggish in your mind?   Change it up a little bit.   You might be surprised at what happens. Why not try it today?

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (pp. 202-203). Center Street. Kindle Edition. So many times it is in a crisis that we come up with a good idea.   Now we may be able to avert the crisis by stopping and looking outside the box before we have to b ut we don't. It is also important to see that the only way many problems can be solved is by looking outside the box.   That is where frustration comes when one won’t look outside and thus can’t solve their problem. What problem are you in the midst of right now?   How are you striving to solve it?    Are you frustrated, really frustrated because you can’t solve it?   Maybe you have never looked outside the box before and you need help.   One thing I have done is to set down with a note pad and put 1-10 on the side and come up with 10 different options.   Some that make since and some that don’t.   I just would be creative and the

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 189). Center Street. Kindle Edition. I love all sports but I really love baseball.   On every bat there is this sweet spot. The goal of the batter to hit the ball thrown by the pitcher on the bat’s sweet spot and if he does the ball will go far. The same is true in golf.   If the golfer hits the golf ball on his golf club’s sweet spot then the ball will go far. The same is true of each one of us.   We have a sweet spot in which we will give maximum effort in our work.   Now, many people work hard and at the end of their day, they are worn out, they are de-energized.   But if they work in their sweet spot then they are energized by what they are doing.   You’ve seen people like that haven’t you?   They love doing what they are doing.   Now your sweet spot is doing something that you love to do, you have a passion to do, that fits your abilities,

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus (2003-09-04) from his book , Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (Kindle Locations 3509-3510). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. I started this year to learn more about Jesus.   I wanted to see how He responded to life’s situations, to see   how He handled the difficulties of life, to see what He stood for and what He was against.   I wanted to see what He said not what other people thought He said.   So I am now on my 11 th time through the four Gospels found at the beginning of the New Testament.   They are four books from four different writers who shared His life and His words.   If you have a certain type of Bible His words are in red. What is Jesus like to you?   Did you get your thoughts from someone else’s views or from His words?   So many times our view of things in life is through what other people say.   People are very important in my view of life.   I learn so much from other people.   But people’s view must go through where they

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 184). Center Street. Kindle Edition. Wow, have I ever found that to be true. What skills I need now as a writer and a retiree are totally different from when I was a church planter/pastor.   All the skills I need to be Margaret’s husband change all the time and the fact that I am a parent of adults and also a grandparent to three awesome young ladies means it is imperative that I keep growing, i need new skills. The fact that I am retired is totally different to when I was working 50 – 60 hours a week with people needing me on a daily basis.   I need to constantly keep growing. What about you?   Are you one of those who believe that you know all that you need to know? That you have all the answers because there are no more questions you have to have answered.   Are y ou one of those who have never picked up a book since you graduated from high