FUN FIRST!

Torching the Gasoline for Explosive Success

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2009

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MARCH, 2007

A jockey can help guide a horse, but only the horse can run the race. Don’t try to run someone else’s race for them.
I was looking at a friend’s arrowhead collection. There were a lot of them. Each unique. Each created with a purpose: killing something for dinner or someone in battle. Don’t know from looking at them which had fulfilled its purpose and which hadn’t. Some may have just fallen by the wayside despite having been carefully made for a purpose. We’ve all been created to fulfill a purpose. Unlike the arrowheads, whether we fulfill it or fall by the wayside is up to us.
I once heard the author Flannery O'Connor (today's her birthday) quoted as saying: "If I could tell you what my story was about, I wouldn't have had to write it." A story isn't about something. A story is something. Every word chosen, every sentence crafted to present a complete work. A person is a complete work as well. It's important to pay attention and take in the whole rather than reducing your view of a person to just one notable characteristic ("he's lazy", "she's pretty" etc.). When you get past the obvious, you can have a richer experience of the people in your life.
God’s love for His creation is like a huge vat of continuously overflowing healing elixir. The vat never runs dry. His love keeps growing and the vat cannot contain it. What falls on the floor is lost. It can never be drunk. We are the cupbearers. We each have the cups to fill, the hands to carry them and the feet to deliver them to love-thirsty individuals. So, put on your sneakers, grab some cups, fill’em with love and start passing them out. The floor’s getting wet.
A happy wife makes a happy life.
Words are like a magnifying glass. They can make things easier to see or cause a painful burn. All depends on how you use them.
Today pay attention to beauty. Wherever you are today look for beauty. Be thankful for the beauty you find. Let it energize you.
Today pay attention to beauty. Wherever you are today look for beauty. Be thankful for the beauty you find. Let it energize you.
Love is like being a piece of chocolate cake. Sitting on the plate, you hold the promise of satisfying someone’s need (yes, chocolate is a need!!) but you’re job’s not done till you’re gone. Bit by bit you cease being a chocolate cake and become a pleasurable taste, then a full-feeling in the belly, and then a part of the person, no longer recognizable as chocolate cake. Love involves similar self-dissolution. If you’re still fully intact, you’re probably not loving very effectively.
Do you ask questions or do you deliver criticism in the form of a question?
You’re made in the image of God. What does God look like to the people who see you?
Your whole life story is written moment by moment. Will this moment be worth reading? Make sure each moment advances the plot or enriches the characters
Each of us is like a freshly spilled pool of gasoline waiting for a torch to ignite us into the person we were made to be. Without the torch, spilled gas is just a stinky mess. But, when you put the torch to it, it explodes into spectacular flame. Ask yourself, what is my torch? What will light me up to reach my potential?
Some people think every problem is the end of the world and bemoan their sad fate. Others are grateful for what they have and let gratitude carry them through their problems.
Talk may be cheap but it can confer great value
Don’t look for the perfect way to love someone. Look for the first way that occurs to you and do it. Love lives in small unnoticed moments.
St. Patrick was a slave of the Irish who escaped. He then went back to Ireland to convert his former captors to Christianity. Often, the difficult circumstances we find ourselves in are the seed bed for greatness. If we allow them to form us in a positive way, we can accomplish things we would not have achieved had we not been through the challenge. When things are tough, look to the future and how you can use your struggle to reach your dreams.
Talking about living the life of Christ is like talking about eating. No flavor. No nourishment. Before long, you’re dead. To sustain a life in Christ requires acting on what you know.
Effective living is simply deciding what you’re going to do with your time and then doing what you decided. It’s as simple as that.
Equinox: a day of equal parts light and dark. Don’t be the equinox. Be the summer solstice . . . in Alaska . . . light all the time.
Don’t treat "fun" like a distant relative you never see except by accident. You need to be on intimate terms with "fun". You need to make a point to find it in your daily life and to create it when you can't find it. Joy is the fuel for a good life. It's hard to have joy if you never have fun.
Gratitude is the key to the storehouse of joy.
A friend is a mirror that lets a person see clearly what’s good about themselves.
A good jockey knows what her horse does best and tries to put it in position to do it. Parents should be like good jockeys. Learn your kids’ gifts and passions and equip them to excel with them.
What qualities do you have that most show you are made in the image and likeness of God? Focus on those qualities and take every opportunity to use them.
They say, when you’re running uphill, it’s best to keep your head up and eyes on the top of the hill. This is true for life as well. Keep your eyes on your goal no matter how steep or long the hill looks and you will make quick (though probably not painless) progress toward the top.
What you say is like rain. It can be a soft, refreshing shower that rejuvenates a hot, tired soul or a violent thunderstorm that sends everyone running for cover.
Dreams are like plants first breaking through the ground. You have to work hard to keep the rabbits of negativity from consuming them.
Loving someone is like holding a butterfly on your open palm. The butterfly can fly away at any moment. You could close your hand around it but then you wouldn't be able to see the butterfly. What's the point of holding a butterfly you can't see? Admiring its beauty is why you're holding it in the first place. If we try to keep someone (child, friend, spouse) securely closed up in our fist, we're depriving ourselves of the real benefits of the relationship and we're slowly killing the butterfly. Are the people who matter to you on your open palm or inside your clenched fist?
Talk to strangers. Get beyond "How are you?" with the people you see today. Ask another question. "Got anything fun planned?" "Taking a vacation?" "What's up for the weekend?" Try to engage them in a conversation about themselves. It doesn't usually take very long for people to open up when you show some interest in them. They're usually amazed that you'd bother.
Life is like baseball. A series of decisions to swing or not swing. Your success over time depends on your ability to learn which opportunities to jump on and which ones to pass up.