The crocuses are coming up around our house these days... Also a patch across the street by the newspaper box. And even in the lawn by the church side door. It's amazing where they poke up. Equally amazing is that somewhere around the homes and churches I've served, these first flowers of spring are coming up in the most unexcpected of places. I guess its not coincidental! I fancy myself the Paul Bunyon of the crocus world. It could be worse: I could fancy myself along the lines of a governor of New York!
The crocuses are that ray of joy after a long winter. My dad likes them too and around his home in Montreal he has them popping up; also all over the place. A few years ago he sent me 100 to get me started on my crocus journey.
I plant these wee flowers just where I can see them the most because they are so very short lived. They've got to count.
Life is short for the crocus and it is for us as well. We too must make it count. There is not a moment in a day to be lost. The minute you lose is gone forever.
- The time spent feeling sorry for yourself is a moment lost.
- The time spent drinking and drugging is time lost.
- The time spent arguing over useless topics is time gone.
- The time spent seething over some perceived slight is a total waste.
- The minutes paying attention to goofy gossip and hurtful comments about others is absurd minutes lost.
The crocus lives a short time but in it spends all its time beautifying its world.
How are you spending your time?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Nothing Can Defeat You
It’s been a long few weeks as winter tries to take hold for one last, final gasp around here…. The weather has been a bit dreary and the sun not out as much as it can be. Then, we see the glimmers of better days ahead.
As I was driving to the office today, I saw a tree budding in the shadows of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. Then, to my left, city workers planting tulips in a huge flower pot. Suddenly a rainy, dark and dreary day seemed filling with bright new feelings.
Easter is that sort of news.
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” John 11:25
A father and son were traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”
The empty tomb is God’s way of saying to us; “Peace, my child, I took the sting, death can’t hurt you anymore.”
Easter is the time to celebrate that nothing can keep us down, not even death. Nothing. Not broken dreams. Not nasty negative people. Not financial challenges. Nothing. Nada.
Because not even death defeats us.
As I was driving to the office today, I saw a tree budding in the shadows of the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. Then, to my left, city workers planting tulips in a huge flower pot. Suddenly a rainy, dark and dreary day seemed filling with bright new feelings.
Easter is that sort of news.
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” John 11:25
A father and son were traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”
The empty tomb is God’s way of saying to us; “Peace, my child, I took the sting, death can’t hurt you anymore.”
Easter is the time to celebrate that nothing can keep us down, not even death. Nothing. Not broken dreams. Not nasty negative people. Not financial challenges. Nothing. Nada.
Because not even death defeats us.
Friday, March 14, 2008
THE WELCOME MAT
There’s a huge granite building in New York that is imposing with thick, black iron bars on the windows and immense black iron doors. It’s not the easiest place to get in and the architect designed it to give that very message: ‘Do Not Enter’. The building is the Federal Reserve and it holds much of the world’s gold; more than the fabled Fort Knox.
A few minutes away from the Federal ‘Do Not Enter’ Reserve Building the mood is completely different. Little Italy. On Mulberry Street, the fantastic Italian Restaurant Row of New York, you are enticed to enter. In fact, they have people on the sidewalks in front of their doors inviting you in…. ‘Please Enter’. Come in. Please, BE OUR GUEST. They have the welcome mat out!
I’ll hang around Little Italy before the Federal Reserve because there, at that row of restaurants, I get the message that I am welcomed. It is an energizing, lively, life- giving place.
We can all make an immense difference in the lives of others when we put out the signals that people are welcome into our lives.
Palm Sunday is ‘Welcome Mat’ Sunday. Here is the day when we make the choice to welcome Jesus into our lives and homes. Once welcomed in, His love and grace induces us to changed lives… Our hearts are turned from stone into love. And lively, energizing life happens.
A few minutes away from the Federal ‘Do Not Enter’ Reserve Building the mood is completely different. Little Italy. On Mulberry Street, the fantastic Italian Restaurant Row of New York, you are enticed to enter. In fact, they have people on the sidewalks in front of their doors inviting you in…. ‘Please Enter’. Come in. Please, BE OUR GUEST. They have the welcome mat out!
I’ll hang around Little Italy before the Federal Reserve because there, at that row of restaurants, I get the message that I am welcomed. It is an energizing, lively, life- giving place.
We can all make an immense difference in the lives of others when we put out the signals that people are welcome into our lives.
Palm Sunday is ‘Welcome Mat’ Sunday. Here is the day when we make the choice to welcome Jesus into our lives and homes. Once welcomed in, His love and grace induces us to changed lives… Our hearts are turned from stone into love. And lively, energizing life happens.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
TACKLING A CHALLENEGE
We’re back from vacation. It was tough being in Phoenix in the midst of a North East winter; sitting by a pool, dipping in the hot tub and drinking 40 ‘Caramel Machiatas’ (recipe is two squirts of caramel, vanilla and double espresso!!! Our daughter and husband live in a ‘resort ish’ sort of complex with the critical ‘help yourself’ coffee bar… Here you can get that caffeine fix day and night. Gratis. And Sara, having been a ‘Barrista’ at Starbucks, taught me how to make my favorite… By the time we left I’d dived into enough of that caramel coffee to pay for my flight to Arizona and back!
And now we’re back to regular coffee, no hot tub nor pool and colder weather! We’re back to routine; ready to tackle the challenges before us.
There are 3 steps to manage challenges:
1. Keep it cool: Don’t overheat or you’ll feel like a spaceship returning to earth; a lot of heat. Heat never makes for an easy passage because of the danger that you may burn up. A cool head evaluates the circumstances and allows for a strategy to unfold. When David met Goliath, the giant that was out to kill him and all his countrymen, he realized that if he got close he was in for some serious trouble. He recognized the danger and chose to keep his distance and use the best ability he had; the slingshot. Smart move… and David lived to tell the tale. Goliath did not. David kept his cool.
2. With God’s help, nothing need defeat you: Be confident! God did not make you and then abandons you. He said that he’d be with you always, to the very end of time. Our oldest daughter needs to buy a car. Jo Ann told me I’ll be going out with her as a father should. So, you know what I’ll be doing!!! We’ll make sure that whatever she gets has a decent warranty on it. This will give us confidence in the deal…. God’s promise is that he sticks by that which He has created, and that’s you and me. If we can trust the guarantee from a car manufacturer, do we trust our Maker any less?
3. Refuse to be discouraged: Once the seeds of discouragement set in, we have started the journey to defeat. I am an ice hockey goaltender. When the puck gets by me, I face a stark reality… I messed up or ‘stuff happens’. The former makes for a terrible game, I fight the puck and lots get by me. With an attitude of ‘stuff happens’, I’ll stop the very next shot. And the one after that too. I’ll evaluate what I may have done wrong and adjust my strategy so that the next puck that comes flying my way will not get into the goal.
Refuse to be discouraged when you miss something and you get stung. Pick yourself up and go at it again. Life’s reality is that we encounter challenges day after day. There is no way to avoid them but there is a way to manage them and emerge victorious. Use the 1, 2, 3 step startegy. It works.
And now we’re back to regular coffee, no hot tub nor pool and colder weather! We’re back to routine; ready to tackle the challenges before us.
There are 3 steps to manage challenges:
1. Keep it cool: Don’t overheat or you’ll feel like a spaceship returning to earth; a lot of heat. Heat never makes for an easy passage because of the danger that you may burn up. A cool head evaluates the circumstances and allows for a strategy to unfold. When David met Goliath, the giant that was out to kill him and all his countrymen, he realized that if he got close he was in for some serious trouble. He recognized the danger and chose to keep his distance and use the best ability he had; the slingshot. Smart move… and David lived to tell the tale. Goliath did not. David kept his cool.
2. With God’s help, nothing need defeat you: Be confident! God did not make you and then abandons you. He said that he’d be with you always, to the very end of time. Our oldest daughter needs to buy a car. Jo Ann told me I’ll be going out with her as a father should. So, you know what I’ll be doing!!! We’ll make sure that whatever she gets has a decent warranty on it. This will give us confidence in the deal…. God’s promise is that he sticks by that which He has created, and that’s you and me. If we can trust the guarantee from a car manufacturer, do we trust our Maker any less?
3. Refuse to be discouraged: Once the seeds of discouragement set in, we have started the journey to defeat. I am an ice hockey goaltender. When the puck gets by me, I face a stark reality… I messed up or ‘stuff happens’. The former makes for a terrible game, I fight the puck and lots get by me. With an attitude of ‘stuff happens’, I’ll stop the very next shot. And the one after that too. I’ll evaluate what I may have done wrong and adjust my strategy so that the next puck that comes flying my way will not get into the goal.
Refuse to be discouraged when you miss something and you get stung. Pick yourself up and go at it again. Life’s reality is that we encounter challenges day after day. There is no way to avoid them but there is a way to manage them and emerge victorious. Use the 1, 2, 3 step startegy. It works.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Lessons from My First Valentine
My first Valentines memory… The teacher, it was in Grade 2, puts a box up by the blackboard and tells the class that it is for us to share our Valentines for each other. Most of us were immigrant kids and could barely speak English. And now we’re told about something beyond the realm of our experience plus in a foreign language! Few of us got it but for one or two of the English family kids. They filled the box and the teacher diligently made one for each of us. And I did feel special that first Valentine’s Day. All it took was 2 or 3 little ‘Be My Valentine’s’ cards.
How can we make others feel special this Valentine’s Day? It isn’t that difficult… Send an email, write a card, give flowers. Make sure that two other people do the same for those persons you are acknowledging as important in your life. The power of accumulating affection changes lives. What worked for the little immigrant boy works.
In a world wherein there is too little gentleness and care, every act of kindness is one that truly makes a difference. And every act of kindness you give has a boomerang effect and comes back to enrich and encourage you.
I want you to know that you’re getting this blog because you are a part of the fabric of my life and I am thankful FOR YOU. My one desire is that your day is enriched with a deep sense of the appreciative people that surround you. Thank you for your part in my life. Happy Valentine’s Day!
How can we make others feel special this Valentine’s Day? It isn’t that difficult… Send an email, write a card, give flowers. Make sure that two other people do the same for those persons you are acknowledging as important in your life. The power of accumulating affection changes lives. What worked for the little immigrant boy works.
In a world wherein there is too little gentleness and care, every act of kindness is one that truly makes a difference. And every act of kindness you give has a boomerang effect and comes back to enrich and encourage you.
I want you to know that you’re getting this blog because you are a part of the fabric of my life and I am thankful FOR YOU. My one desire is that your day is enriched with a deep sense of the appreciative people that surround you. Thank you for your part in my life. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!
‘Nothing is impossible if you get out of your own way’ said Mary Poppins. I sat there, beside my wife, at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Times Square and pondered what this could mean. Nothing is impossible if you can get out of your own way…
How is it that we get in our own way? We were created with all the potential in the world and yet, life falls so short of our goals and aspirations. Inner peace doesn’t live within us as much as we’d like.
The fact is that we do get in our own way. We live with a constant sense of falling short. Falling short in our relationships. Falling short in our career. Falling short in our personal human development. Slipping.
I have a friend, Nevin Eggum. He likes to climb frozen waterfalls in the Rocky Mountains. He climbs with spikes, ropes, helmet… He’s got a lot of gear so that he can survive and succeed. He would not get anywhere without the equipment. He’d simply slip and slide.
We need to be equipped to stop slipping and sliding and to survive the sense of falling short. The equipment is of an attitude that while our past mistakes and falling short cannot be changed, we can move forward.
The challenge of today is too great to meet when dealing with all our yesterdays. There is a terrific life giving word written years ago that says: ‘There is now no condemnation...’(to read it all go to Romans 8:1).
The news is that your maker God wants you to let go of the past. It’s that simple. Let go. Live. And get out of your own way.
How is it that we get in our own way? We were created with all the potential in the world and yet, life falls so short of our goals and aspirations. Inner peace doesn’t live within us as much as we’d like.
The fact is that we do get in our own way. We live with a constant sense of falling short. Falling short in our relationships. Falling short in our career. Falling short in our personal human development. Slipping.
I have a friend, Nevin Eggum. He likes to climb frozen waterfalls in the Rocky Mountains. He climbs with spikes, ropes, helmet… He’s got a lot of gear so that he can survive and succeed. He would not get anywhere without the equipment. He’d simply slip and slide.
We need to be equipped to stop slipping and sliding and to survive the sense of falling short. The equipment is of an attitude that while our past mistakes and falling short cannot be changed, we can move forward.
The challenge of today is too great to meet when dealing with all our yesterdays. There is a terrific life giving word written years ago that says: ‘There is now no condemnation...’(to read it all go to Romans 8:1).
The news is that your maker God wants you to let go of the past. It’s that simple. Let go. Live. And get out of your own way.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Climb Every Mountain
One of my favorite New York stories is about Thomas Edison. He was a possibility thinker, so much so that he held patents for over 1,000 inventions and even applied for a few hundred more that were not granted. But he never was discouraged… In fact, the light bulb was the result of over 300 experiments. He had a dream and pursued it.
In life, we don’t always succeed but with perseverance, we can discover success. Often we must simply try and try again. I truly and passionately believe that nothing is impossible…
One day I was in the Rocky Mountains skiing. It was my first time downhill skiing and decided after just a few practice runs to tackle the mountain and went to the very top with some friends. I was far from prepared for the challenge and realized it quickly with the aid of several bruises! I was a bit shaky and had to collect myself… I took stock of my attributes. A. I had good friends who were experienced skiers with me. B. I was physically fit. C. I was mentally strong. There was no reason I couldn’t manage the challenge before me (about 4, 000 feet of vertical!). We broke down the mountain by sections and discussed how to manage each one. Several falls later – but none over any of the incredible cliffs - we made it down the mountain… and my friends have not let me forget it to this day!!! We still talk about it, laugh and celebrate yet again our successs.
Nothing is impossible when we break down a challenge into its manageable parts, when we have the support / coaching of colleagues and good friends and are blessed with physical strength, mental and spiritual strength. Absolutely nothing is impossible. Nothing! There is no mountain too high. You can succeed; professionally and personally!
In life, we don’t always succeed but with perseverance, we can discover success. Often we must simply try and try again. I truly and passionately believe that nothing is impossible…
One day I was in the Rocky Mountains skiing. It was my first time downhill skiing and decided after just a few practice runs to tackle the mountain and went to the very top with some friends. I was far from prepared for the challenge and realized it quickly with the aid of several bruises! I was a bit shaky and had to collect myself… I took stock of my attributes. A. I had good friends who were experienced skiers with me. B. I was physically fit. C. I was mentally strong. There was no reason I couldn’t manage the challenge before me (about 4, 000 feet of vertical!). We broke down the mountain by sections and discussed how to manage each one. Several falls later – but none over any of the incredible cliffs - we made it down the mountain… and my friends have not let me forget it to this day!!! We still talk about it, laugh and celebrate yet again our successs.
Nothing is impossible when we break down a challenge into its manageable parts, when we have the support / coaching of colleagues and good friends and are blessed with physical strength, mental and spiritual strength. Absolutely nothing is impossible. Nothing! There is no mountain too high. You can succeed; professionally and personally!
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