Mark Twin once said—"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” I have no idea where this “It’s Saturday” is going; I really don’t. BUT I do know that if you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
I gave my body a couple of days of rest when I got back from FL; it was tired! Soooo I got up and went for a jog. It was snowing but it was really pretty. Sooooo I started out, but I got a lot of push back from my body; it wasn’t a bit excited about doing it. Yikes! I forced my body! After a mile my body started feeling a lot more excited about jogging. When I got done, my body was exulting the experience (i.e. that’s all that counts). I have a crazy body! Soooooo Heather called me the same day. They had maybe a foot of snow and more in the mountains. Soooo much that I-70 was closed most of the day. James was using the neighbors’ snow blower. Their neighbor doesn’t have room in their garage to store it sooooo they have to store it in their back shed which isn’t convenient soooo they worked out a deal—he lets them store it in their garage if he can use it. I called James a manipulator; he called it good business! A win-win situation—that all that counts! JoeBlow says—One of my earliest business ventures was when I was 9 years old. I realized there was a shortage of pencils at school, so I started Rent-a-Pencil. But I made a fundamental mistake. Everybody stole my pencils.
I wonder if a change of pace (e.g. vacation) is really good for a person? I think it is for me. It stimulates me I think. It seems to make me like home even more. It gets me out of a rut, especially during winter. Maybe????? I don’t know. When I get in a grinding mood, it seems to help to stop everything, it lets me take a deep breath, do something different and then I go back to my tasks of life with more vigor. It seems to give me a renewed perspective on life (i.e. it energizes and relaxes me). ThePrettyLittleGirlFromWA emailed me this—"Your blog today sounded much more hopeful. I can tell you had a good trip. Arlene will always be in your heart, no matter what state you are in.” She is sooooo darn sweet and smart. Arlene never leaves my heart. Many of you understand that and maybe some of you don’t. Love is hard to explain. LuckieEddie says—Marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
This is the time of the year when as a kid we played King of the Hill on top of the snow piles at Roseland Elementary (i.e. never queen of the hill). Generally, the strongest was always King and that was never me. I really never had much experience being King of the hill in anything like many of you folks. I played some sports and still like to watch sports. It appears to me that it is hard to remain King of the hill for a season or for your career. Tooooo many times, teams and individuals fall off the hill on their own, many times because of cockiness (i.e. it’s hard to have a proper mentality when everyone is telling you how great you are). But some can do it. Those are the great ones (i.e. it appears that very few can handle success). I think this applies to many phases of life for all kinds of folks. The good ones seem to be able to maintain control of their emotions and egos which seems to count. The ones that can’t think they are the world a.k.a. king of the hill. Now that isn’t good usually. GeorgeTheCrook says--These are the ones that are pretty much toast even if they don’t know it. Such is life.
One of my good college friends, who I also played basketball with at Northwestern College, just had a severe heart attack. He told me that he thinks he was 5 minutes from death. Wow! He said he had a great peace about himself (i.e. he’s a believer). ANYWAY, when he told me all about it, I told him I was just humbled by his heart attack. He said he was humbled as well. Humbled, folks! It took the king of the hill out of me. I just talked to him again this week to see how he is doing. He said—Some days he doesn’t have as much oomph as he wants. He, when in his prime, had a lot of oomph let me tell you; he could really put the ball in the hole. And he is a nice guy toooooo!
We teach our children how to count early in life (i.e. everyone does) but do we teach them what counts? And then will they believe us? Why would they believe us? Then they get educated at the university and are told something else to believe which some do and others don’t. Then they get a job and their world changes again. Then they get married and add a spouse and their family into the equation with different beliefs and opinions. Then some have families and things change again. Sooooo I guess at some point each person has toooooo figure out what they believe and be who they are. It might not be necessarily what their parents taught them. Folks, that is reality. Reality is that none of us are clones of our parents—that can be good or can be bad—depends who is doing the evaluation based on what counts to them, I guess. Such is life.
There seems to be some confusion folks! A friend told me that their son is a good kid, intelligent, educated, does what he enjoys doing and does it well. Sounds good. BUT he doesn’t get paid and they pay his way. Ooops! Now he is getting married. How is that going to go I asked. My friend didn’t know. They have options—they can support her toooo or wean him off the bottle or have tough love. What would you do? That is what counts. Change is hard folks. When we get programmed by our genetics, past environment, and current environment some stuff is really ingrained into us. Good or bad, it’s hard to change. I asked a friend why she is such a loyal Democrat. She explained herself and it made sense. Some others around the dinner table of friends were loyal Republicans and a couple were independents. I read in the paper (i.e. soooo it must be right), the JoeTheBiden camp taught me a new word. They said—They questioned the “veracity” of the eventual final count hours before there was a final count (i.e. the count that really counts). Really, it seems that a lot of folks don’t trust anyone anymore, even the folks on the same team. There seems to be some confusion in politics.
Do you trust folks or not? I heard this true story of trust (i.e. not a parable). A father was sitting around the table with their adult children and spouses eating desert. He asked them if he lost his wallet with $150 cash in it and someone found it would he get it back. One child wanted to know where he lost it—Hy-Vee parking lot—another asked—which Hy-Vee parking lot—another asked—what time of the day did you lose it—another asked—what day did you lose it. Soooo he went around and asked them all what percentage they thought he would get it back. He said the percentages ranged from 20 percent to 80 percent. Why do you think the big difference? He said it was because of their past experiences. I guess our past experiences really count. What do you think? That is what I thought.
Friends were telling me of how their church almost went down the toilet. I asked them what saved their church—basically they thought it was when some leadership finally accepted and recognized that there was a major problem (i.e. they were blind for many reasons—my friends’ opinion). They think their church has rebounded and seems to be doing good today. Good for them for sure! My Mom, Anna, would say—erv, if it stinks a little on the top, when you get to the bottom of it, it will really stink. CommonJoe says--It seems it usually takes a little time to get to the bottom of the barrel. Friends also said that leadership finally paid attention when folks voted with their feet (i.e. mass exodus—something must not be going right). Abraham Lincoln said—You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. JoeHistory says--BUT don’t kid yourself, money and power and ego are part of the equation. You can count on that for sure!
I read this while eating my oatmeal with half a banana on it—"We live in an age of incredible scientific discovery. While quantum physics describes nature at the smallest scales of energy, and molecular biology pulls apart DNA, both sciences unraveling mysteries of light and life. Sometimes it feels like all the secrets of the universe are being revealed, and human progress is limitless. But in the midst of all this discovery, the darkness of the human heart persists. What humans have discovered doesn’t necessarily lead to human flourishing.” Joesixpack says--Now that is sorta kinda deep; it might take a six pack of Bud Lite to figure that out!
Dr.J says—"There’s no better new beginning than the new birth. When money, status, wealth, fame, and occupation all fail, try Jesus. He alone can satisfy the empty space in your heart.” Now that is what Dr.J says. BUT, my opinion, that it could be a genesis of happiness for anyone. It is very subliminal; only you can feel it and appreciate it. You got to admit it, that that is hard to argue against; no one can; faith in your heart is unarguable (i.e. rules, traditions, interpretations, and beliefs can be argued, but not faith—it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out). Like the Three Amigos said--Oh great! Real bullets! That is why testimonies are soooo powerful. It is what it is, my opinion. Just maybe—a change of pace + change of place = change of perspective. A new birth could change us from a yesterday person to a today person—could be. Or is it from a today person to a yesterday person or a tomorrow person? I don’t know but we will change!
I had breakfast with a long-time friend last Saturday. He drove up in a new F-150 pickup. I gave him a hard time. He told me that he has wanted one for 10 years but always thought it wasn’t practicable and he couldn’t justify it and he didn’t want to stand out. I told him—MyFriend, half the folks won’t know you got a new F-150 pickup and the other half really don’t care unless you flaunt it or make it your idol (i.e. some do). We had a good laugh. That is much like winning a little golf tourney in Butler Co and you put it in your obituary (i.e. who really cares). That always makes me laugh. But if it’s important to you as one of your accomplishments, put it in there; you or your family can say whatever you want. Most folks could care less but most folks will remember us not for something like that but for what we did for them (i.e. who really are you). That is my opinion as what counts in life. BUT what do I know, I’m just a little ol’ farm boy from a mile and a fourth south of Roseland, MN. And you know what, my friend is such a neat person; the kind that cares; he could probably pay cash for 10 Ford F-150 pickups. His wife says he thinks toooooo much!!!!!
More about the guy sitting next to me on the plane on my return flight. He told me that he and his two partners started a company which grew unbelievably fast and became a big player in the business. He said--They became good at making wedges and marketing. Then one day a large conglomerate came along and made a huge massive offer to purchase their company. They sold it for really big bucks. They hired the three owners as consultants for the transition. They didn’t listen to a word they said. They drove the company into the dirt and eventually closed the business. I asked how the large conglomerate reacted--they couldn’t care less; they treated it like a pimple; the management team was more interested in flying in the corporate jet and their image than the managing the company. That is what they counted important to them. Huh, interesting.
Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:
erv
MyFriendJean says--Thunder is impressive, but lightning does all the work.
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