Monday Morsel #31

MONDAY MORSEL #31

TIME IS FLEETING
           USE IT WISELY
                    IT CANNOT BE REPLACED

Brevity

Brevity

The Oxford Online English Dictionary defines brevity in two ways:

1. Concise and exact use of words in writing or speech.
2. Shortness of time.

Brevity is a concept that can create energy and enthusiasm, or when taken to extreme can extract too much depth of meaning from a situation and leave us wondering if we have just been overlooked, discounted, or disregarded.

There are many times when my wife, Angie, in talking to me says, “too many words.”  I can have a way of taking the long way around in getting to my point, or can toss in too much irrelevant information.  Not good.  Using myself as an example I, more often than not, can be in need of a little more brevity in my conversations.  There are times though in which hanging a little more meat on the conversational bone is important.  For each of us we must strike a balance in our speech.

In most cases it behooves us to be brief and get to the point.  Far too often we sputter and stutter trying to get every last bit of information into an exchange rather than providing just the essentials.  Shakespeare wrote of brevity in Hamlet where Polonius says:

“My liege, and madam, to expostulate

What majesty should be, what duty is,

What day is day, night night, and time is time,

Were nothing but to waste night, day and time;

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,

And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,

I will be brief, Your noble son is mad. . .”

The great writer points out that when we ramble on and on, as this article is beginning to do, then we lose our audience and waste time.  On that note I urge you to conserve your words, and only when necessary, flourish and embellish what you have to say.  The world around you will appreciate the extra efforts it takes to choose your words wisely.  As another blogger I follow, Chalene Johnson, says “be brief, be brilliant, and be gone.”  With that I will leave you with encouragement to Do Well this week by working on keeping it brief.  Those around you will notice the difference.

Midweek Motivation 10/26/16: Tim Hawkins - The Government Can

In honor of our upcoming election I thought I would share this classic from the Great Tim Hawkins.  Sometimes the motivation we need is just a good laugh that keeps us from crying.  Enjoy!!!

Monday Morsel #30

Monday Morsel #30

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do."
Benjamin Franklin

We can always turn to old Ben for some sage wisdom.  It is my hope that we can all recognize when we are starting down this path, and just stop.

Salvage Dawgs and Jesus

Salvage Dawgs and Jesus

My current favorite television program is found on the DIY Network and called Salvage Dawgs.  In it a group from Black Dawg Salvage in Roanoke, VA go all across the nation, primarily the southeast, and take items from within and off of buildings and homes that are about to be demolished.  They then take those back to their shop where they clean them up for resale or in many cases upcycle them to create new pieces that can be used in home and business decor.

If one takes a closer look from the Christian perspective you could say that Jesus was the original Salvage Dawg.  He came to Earth and sought out those of us who were being destroyed (all of us) and through His mercy and saving grace has reclaimed us as we face destruction.  Once He has us in his camp as followers He works to upcycle us as into beautiful pieces in His kingdom.  

Just as each of the pieces the Salvage Dawgs give new life to, Jesus gives us new life and the opportunity to shine in this world as we reflect the light of His love.  I for one am thankful that He chose to be in the Salvage (salvation) business, and that He looks at each of us with a different eye than the casual observer.  Jesus looks past the flaws that exist and sees to our core of what we could be when we would trust in Him.

I know that most of you have submitted yourselves before Him, but if you haven’t I encourage you to do so, and soon.  When we are in His hands there is no limit to the beauty that can be present to the world around us.  Once we are in His hands we too can be Salvage Dawgs looking for opportunities to uncover those reclamation projects that are all around us, with friends, neighbors, co-workers and the like that need a bit of upcycling in their spiritual lives.  I believe that we, as representatives of Jesus, will Do Well, when we recognize the way we have been salvaged and the opportunity we have to assist our Lord in the salvage of others.

Midweek Motivation 10/19/16

Last night I began reading "Debt Free For Life" by David Bach.  Mr. Bach has been one of my favorite financial writers for years and I am looking to get reorganized in our family's financial life so i picked up this book at the Jonesboro Public Library.  The following statement I believe is critical advice we all need to consider:

"The best investment you can make over the next five years is going to be paying off your debts.  So my advice is to pay off what you owe as fast as you can."

I encourage each of you to take a look at your financial house and make sure it is in order.  If you find yourself in good order, congratulations you are in a desirable minority.  If you have opportunities to improve then you are in the majority and that group lives with great uncertainty.

Say a prayer, look at how much The Bible speaks about financial issues, and seek resources online, at your local library, or at the bookstore to help you through the journey.

MONDAY MORSEL #29

5 Things To Do This Week

1) Pray for our country as we go through this very difficult election season.

2)  Say thank you to someone who has done something for you recently.

3)  Take a good look at the moon and stars, and consider the vastness of the God - created universe.

4)  Read the New Testament Book of Philemon and consider the powerful lessons packed into its 25 verses.

5)  Listen to 30 minutes of music from an era before you were born.

Try these suggestions and see if they make a difference in your attitudes and outlook this week.

Salmon Families Week3: Cultural Currents

Cultural Currents

This week I will conclude my look at Salmon Families.  Each of the past two weeks I have examined aspects of the dangerous journeys our families maneuver through as we fight the constant flows at work against our values. Unlike the gentle stream we see in this photograph, the cultural current is a raging torrent.

Today we look at the constant stream of cultural trends, mores and expectations that are hurled at us from all sides.  From the television and movies we watch, to the internet sites we visit, the music we listen to, and beyond we are all being fed what I will call a “new norm”.  This is a dangerous departure from the traditional values that we as Christians hold dear.

We are attacked, mocked, and ridiculed by those who control the messaging of our current culture.  Our positions are said to be outdated, short-sighted, and divisive.  Those same ridiculed positions have stood the test of time for thousands of years, not without challenge or cyclical rises and falls in adherence, but have steadfastly provided a clear path for excellent living.

We swim upstream against an advertising industry that sells vice at every turn as it attempts to delude us further in our thinking.  This very industry that just a few short years ago turned to sexualizing ice cream in a series of commercials for Dairy Queen.  If there is a product on the market that doesn’t require sex to sell, then ice cream would have to be near the top of that list, yet it happened.  This flow includes the sexualizing of our young children, primarily girls, in the fashion industry.  A practice that has elementary school aged girls wanting to be “hot”, “sexy” or other such concepts that are totally inappropriate.

While I admit we cannot revert, at this point, to living in caves  we must take steps to fight the good fight.  Going against this cultural current is a necessity if we don’t want to lose our children.

Judges 2:10

“When all that generation had gathered

To their fathers, another generation

Arose after them who did not

Know the Lord nor the work which

He had done for Israel.”

If we are not careful in how we let the culture influence us and our children we could very easily find ourselves in this same position as Israel during the time of the Judges.  As the strength of the faith community has diminished in our society, and our own Biblical Literacy has dissipated we have allowed this upheaval to occur.

It has been said that we should keep Satan at arm’s length.  That sounds well and good if it were not for the fact that the more important goal should be to draw a line that we will not cross.  When we keep the evil one(s) at arm’s length we lose track of where we are in relation to God and His directives.  When Peter took his eyes off of Christ while walking on the water he began to sink.  Our culture is very much a stormy sea, and Christ is our savior, the hope upon whom we should affix our attention.   

We have been given the gift of free will, and Satan and his minions have taken full advantage through distortion, delusion, and disinformation.  We must renew our focus on those things such as prayer, Bible study, worship, gratitude, and Christian fellowship that are at the heart of our values system.  Until or unless we get these right the crashing currents of our culture will continue to impede our progress.  

Like the salmon, we are by necessity swimming upstream.  It is the ONLY way to generate another generation of faithful Christian followers who can have a hope to influence others to return to basic values expressed in scripture.  Despite the onslaught of evil influences we will continue to hold true despite the best efforts of a diligent and dangerous enemy.  I pray that you will hold the course and Do Well in your upstream swim.  

Midweek Motivation 10/12/16: The Hospital Window | Short Inspirational Videos | Motivational Business...

Midweek Motivation 10/12/16

Sometimes its the smallest things we do that mean the most to other.  It may take a little imagination, but we can lift the spirits of someone else.  That is how joy is compounded.  Little could be better than that, since the world needs more joy.  Can you spread a little joy today?

Midweek Motivation 10/12/16 The Hospital Window | Short Inspirational Videos | Motivational Business...

When we have a heart for others we can make a true difference in their lives.  This short clip shows how we can each offer hope to someone else in the simplest ways possible.  Sometimes it takes a little imagination, but the results are compounded joy.  What could be better than that!

Monday Morsel #28

God's creative genius is evident all around us.  Since we are told that we are "created.in His image" their is a creative spirit deep inside of us.  Though we all express it differently it is in there for us to find and foster.  How will you tap your creative potential this week?

Salmon Families Week 2: More about the Jones

Salmon Families Week 2:

More About the Jones'

There is something inherently beautiful about a stream, just like those that salmon make their spawning runs up each year.  It is little wonder that these fish are drawn upstream in this struggle for survival.  We too face an upstream swim as we try to keep our families on the right path, spawning a new generation of Christian adults through our efforts.

Last week we looked at living vicariously through our kids and at how keeping up with the Jones' is also a form of vicarious living.  Today we want to examine this idea further in the context of our finances.  The captains of industry spend a huge amount of money to show us the "good life" as they frame it, by burdening us with improper expectations.  How much money you might ask?  According to Statista, the statistics website (https://www.statista.com/statistics/272314/advertising-spending-in-the-us/) that figure for the current year is estimated to be $200 billion.  This number is greater than the Gross Domestic Product (measure of all national output) of such familiar countries as Romania, New Zealand, Vietnam, Hungary, and Ukraine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal).

So it is truly an uphill (upstream) battle to finish the course as we intend.  The flow that is the river of our economy is a torrent.  Then as we are influenced by the neighbors, friends, and others who have the so called good stuff to want it as well so we are tempted to buy it on credit.  Investopedia lists the current United States savings rate at 5.5% compared to a 30% savings rate in China.  This means that we are far more spend happy with our money a fact that lends itself to the insecurity most families feel financially.  With the low save rate and the high utilization of credit card debt $15,675 per household (https://www.nerdwallet.com/.../credit-card.../average-credit-card-debt-househ...) that carries credit card debt, it is easy to see why there is stress in the American home.

The rich rules over the poor,

and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Proverbs 22:7 NKJV

What are we doing to ourselves?  Yes the American dream is real and viable.  I am not against having nice things or improving our position in life, but my question is this, are we really improving ourselves by making these decisions.  No I am not encouraging everyone to go to extreme frugality by splitting the two ply toilet paper into two separate rolls, or making their own soaps, though there can be value in these actions.  I am just asking us to consider the consequences and to make some calculations once in a while as to how the decisions we make financially in keeping up with the Jones' truly impacts us beyond the impulse of today.

I am encouraged by something I see happening in my daughter's school right now.  She is a freshman at Greene County Tech, a public school in our hometown, where she is taking a course that is studying economics the first semester of the year and coupling that with civics the second semester.  This first semester economics course is being taught in a very useful, hands on and meaningful way.  They have examined macroeconomic concepts and are currently involved in a project at the microeconomic level that is teaching budgetting and forcing them to consider their actions and spending in a more intentional, thoughtful manner.  If we can get more of this into our schools, and if we can be intentional about sharing some (not all) of our struggles with our kids it will provide a firm foundation for the decision making they will be faced with as adults.

Swimming against the currents of credit abuse, non-stop advertising and the appearances of our neighbors is a very difficult prospect, but it can be done.  I hope that you will swim hard, continue the journey, and Do Well in the journey.  Your stress levels can ease, and your children can make it to and through adulthood on a positive track.  Keep the faith, with Christ all things are possible.

Midweek Motivation 10/5/16: Motivational Minute #4 - Humility

Great thoughts from Nick Vujicic.  Humility is a choice we can make each day to improve our outlook on life.  With humility we build bridges to others that cannot exist when pride takes root.

Monday Morsel #27

I saw this roll across my Instagram feed this morning and thought it fit well with my Salmon Family week 1 post.  Shall we run the gauntlet to success?  I believe we shall.

Salmon Families Week 1: Living Vicariously

Salmon Families

Week 1:  Living Vicariously

Vicariously is the adverb form of the word vicarious, which also involves experiencing something through another person.  This is the definition provided by www.vocabulary.com.  In our current American culture there is a tremendous amount of vicarious living going on within our families.

This problem seems to be growing more and more as time passes.  Who among us hasn’t seen the dad who drives his son to be “the best” at every sport when it neither fits the child’s interests nor abilities.  Often this dad is trying to push his progeny to be something that he himself was unable to be in his own youth, thus living vicariously through the child.  It is not exclusive to the men of the family either, how many of you know an extreme pageant, cheer, or dance mom? Sometimes it involves music, for others it may be academics, but in the end the one that is most often “gaining” from the experience is the parent.

But are they gaining?  Often they are not only imparting undue stress upon the child but carrying a high level of stress in themselves as well.  I know as a former youth baseball coach that many parents are unable to enjoy the game because of their overwhelming “need” to control or critique every aspect of their child’s performance, while simultaneously creating excuses for any perceived underachievement or injustice.

It is difficult to swim against this flow, as it seems to be expected behavior.  In most cases this push to make our kids what we want them to be does not honor their God-given gifts, or their independently developed interests.  I am not proposing that we totally step back and let our children float through life seeking out whatever feels good to them, but rather to help them find the best outlets for their interest and ability within the character limits that would lead them toward success.  As the author Andy Andrews has said, “our goal is not to raise good kids, but to raise our kids to be great, responsible adults.”  

Another aspect of this vicarious upstream swim is “keeping up with the Joneses”.  Many of our families also fail to set out with any idea as to what their family stands for or represents.  A good number of our families today set the neighbors or the family from television as their role models based solely upon appearances.  Have you ever heard the phrase, looks can be deceiving?  That is far too often the case with these other families who show us only what they want to be seen, hiding and/or denying the skeletons that may be hiding in the closet or the troubles that are active behind the scenes.

I urge you to continue the fight.  Swim upstream, chart your course with integrity.  Don’t follow the course that our culture is throwing at you.  Know what you believe in, set the limits of cultural influence and determine what is important for you and for the future of your children.  The more we take time to share important moments and thoughts with our kids the better chance we will have for them to make it successfully upstream.  The salmon swim upstream to spawn a new generation, for those that make it the reward is theirs.  In our families when we make it we spawn another generation of well adjusted, responsible adults.  The trip is often troublesome; and for us it requires attention, strength, courage, discipline, and patience.  Each of these are worthy character traits to model and instill in our kids.

One final piece of this puzzle is the concept of teachable moments.  If we are constantly trying to be another family, and not our own, then we will miss a lot of teachable moments.  These times are some of the most critical times to convey essential realities that our kids will need as they grow into mature adults and begin making decisions for themselves.  This is principle is one that has been around a long time as we see it recorded in the book of Deuteronomy:

“And these words which I command you today

Shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently

To your children, and shall talk of them when you

Sit in your house, when you walk

By the way, when you lie down,

And when you rise up.  You shall bind

Them as a sign on your hand,

And they shall be as frontlets

Between your eyes.  You shall write

Them on the doorposts of your

House and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NKJV

I urge you to become a Salmon Family, and swim hard against the flow.  If you will do it, and do so consistently, I am certain you will Do Well.  Next week we will examine another aspect of going against the cultural flow and becoming a Salmon Family.