Tag: lifelesson

Don’t Look Back

When I miss a putt or just have a bad hole in golf I have a hard time moving forward to the next hole. As golf mimics life, the same thing happens to me a lot in life. When I screw up I have a tendency to keep looking back. Well, I’m here to say you can’t look back. Looking back is only OK if you are trying to learn from your mistakes. Beating yourself up and dwelling on mistakes just feeds the devil, who wants you stuck and not moving ahead.

God knows what you have done and will do. He knows you’re not perfect and will make mistakes. Although He expects you to learn from your mistakes, He doesn’t expect you to get stuck up in your mistakes. He expects, and wants, you to move forward. To move forward to Him. And stay positive, not negative.

If you are into golf, there is a pretty famous book by a sports psychologist entitled, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect. Watch any pro tournament and the best players in the world hit errant shots. They screw up. But they recover because they look forward.

Life is not a game of perfect. It’s filled with ups and downs, and offshoots and even dead ends. The key to life is to keep moving forward. Understand that life is not a game of perfect. I’m not saying it’s easy to not dwell on the past but the past is just that—the past. Treat it as such. Work on moving forward and forgetting. And God is always there encouraging you forward—if you let Him.

Keep moving forward today and every day. And have an EXCEPTIONAL time doing so!

Throwing the First Stone

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

I don’t think I have ever lived through a time like now when people are so quick to judge and throw stones at others, sometimes for what they said 40 years ago. Get real!!! News flash: I’ll say it right here and now that I have said stupid things, done stupid things in the past. I’ve made many, many, many (did I say “many” enough to make a point) dumb things in the past. But I have tried to grow and learn from my mistakes. But I still make some today.

I’m not perfect. And neither are you. And neither are the politicians and self-righteous pundits flooding our cable news airwaves. We are all born in the image and likeness of God. We are children of God. But imperfect children trying (hopefully) to move towards Godly perfection. In fact, that’s what I think our earthly stay is all about. Learning and growing. Maybe not to perfection but towards it.

When I go to cast that first stone my visual is Jesus bending over and writing in the dirt and challenging anyone without sin to cast the first stone at the woman caught being unfaithful. Says it all because I am never without sin. Although there are some who very obviously think they are perfect—without sin.

Jesus is writing up on the clouds challenging those of us without sin to throw that first stone.

Have a GREAT week!!!

What Has the Coronavirus Taught Us?

Nothing in modern history, not even 9/11, has come anywhere close to providing the opportunity to soul search like this novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 health crisis. Especially in the hot spots, we have been shut in and in many cases shut out of work and school. BC (before coronavirus), families were running all over the place, sometimes barely talking and less frequently sitting down for a meal together. Now, families are shut in together and forced to converse and eat together. But what has this taught us, if anything?

The things I use to complain about I now finding myself missing. Traveling almost every week, Laguardia airport in New York, traffic in Connecticut, walking the halls of Congress in D.C. are among those things that use to get to me, more than on occasion. Now, I find myself missing them. Except for a run to the grocery store, or a morning run on the local rail trail, I’m a shut in with my wife. I have a lot (a LOT!) of phone and Zoom contact with work people and friends but it’s not the same as live interactions.

I think the most important thing I have learned is to be thankful. Thankful for the things that use to bother me and I would complain about. Thankful for all the basics—yes, I would include toilet paper on that list—that I simply took for granted BC. Thankful for the company of friends, even if BC I was more than happy with a good book than at a party having to converse with people. Thankful for my health as I watched my healthy sister-in-law struggle for 5 weeks with COVID-19. But, most importantly, thankful for God and my faith. If there is ever a time to fall back on faith and put your trust in God it’s DC (during coronavirus).

If there is ever a time to truly soul search it is now, DC. What do we want to do differently, how do we want to live differently PC (post coronavirus)? This is what I have been asking myself and hope you have done some reflection on as well. Do we keep aimlessly wandering the desert of life, like the Israelites, or do we follow the path and purpose that God has laid out for our lives? We may not know it, but God most certainly has laid out a purpose for each one of us. A unique, special, individual purpose for each one of us. For you, For me.

Life purpose. That’s a good thing to reflect on DC as we prepare for life PC.

Be well; be safe!!!

My Ties Are Too Wide!

I realized that towards the back of my tie rack that several are too wide. I’m not talking about “clown” wide but ties today are narrower. But one day they’ll be wide again and I’ll be saying that most of my ties are too skinny. That’s fashion—it’s unexplainable whim. Most of us follow the fashion and conform to what’s “in.” I’m just glad that God is consistent, constant, and not given to whim. We can’t count on fashion, and being “in,” but we can always count on God.

The longer I live the more I understand that life changes. Things and people don’t stay the same. Life moves on. But as life moves on God stays the same. He’s an anchor in our lives that keeps us steady and secure, especially when the seas of life get rough.

And in following the whims of fashion and the changes in life, Jesus has an amazing message for us on how to live…

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

It’s OK to follow fashion where it goes but here Jesus is talking about not conforming to the world but constantly “renewing” your thinking—in essence, detach yourself from the masses to really understand the will of God in your life. I think that’s especially important in this current, crazy world of ours.

Follow the fashion but don’t follow the crowd. Think for yourself, and think about God. What he thinks is “good and acceptable and perfect.” Spend some time thinking about this, then putting it into action.

Have an AMAZING week!

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