I added a new article this morning to the Articles Section. It’s by one of my favorite online publishers, Jim Edwards. It (e-mail) addresses a subject that pokes us all in the side. See Is E-Mail Ruining Your Life?
Christian Book Reviews, Self Improvement, Positivity
I added a new article this morning to the Articles Section. It’s by one of my favorite online publishers, Jim Edwards. It (e-mail) addresses a subject that pokes us all in the side. See Is E-Mail Ruining Your Life?
I’m still somewhere over the moon over my beloved St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series. It’s such a complete surprise – not because I didn’t expect it from the team. You gotta love the chances of a team with Albert Pujols, Jim Edmunds, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter, and MVP David Eckstein. Especially when they’re coached by a baseball guru like Tony La Russa.
No, I’m totally surprised because of the year I’d been having – I never expected or hoped for anything good to come out of it…. I didn’t think it was capable of anything right or good. It’s just been one of those One D—… years – you know, one d— thing after another. Forgive my language – I’m not a cusser except for the most extreme of circumstances, but some years beg for it.
This one did.
So how had 2006 been treating me? My mom moved on to Heaven without asking me (guess she knew what my answer would have been), we had a few shake-ups and near melt-downs in our home businesses, we lost two beloved cats, another one went missing for nearly a week, my van decided running wasn’t in its best interest, the dryer thought that looked like a sweet idea and followed the van’s lead, then – of course – there are the crazy little things that happen on the norm. The type of things you come to expect when you have a large family.
And a year without a sense of humor.
Last night – after the pit bull incident – I figured it out. Life has simply forgotten how to be reasonable! And a quick look at the news lets me know that it isn’t just my life – it’s life in general. So if any of us look around for or long for that thing called normal, we’ll be sorely disappointed.
We’d be twice as likely to find the Easter Bunny.
I’ve been reading an amazing book by Buzz Bissinger. It’s called Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager and it’s about the guru I mentioned earlier, Tony La Russa. Kind of takes place inside his mind. It’s a great, great book and I’d say so even if I didn’t bleed St. Louis Cardinal red.
At one point, Coach La Russa is talking about his line-up. Due to a torn hamstring, the Cardinal’s gold glove winning Fernando Vina was sidelined for months. The Cards had to call up a young man named Bo Hart. He filled in and did his best – his “heart” made Hart a fan favorite. But he wasn’t Vina…. he was, well, far from it.
At the time the book was written, the Cards had an upcoming series with their rival, the Chicago Cubs. The Cubbies had a really strong team led by Sammy Sosa who was still at the top of his game.
La Russa knew that Vina’s absence in the line-up, and on the field, was going to hurt. Hart had no shortage of heart and determination, but he did lack Vina’s talent and experience. Which could be said of a lot of players. Vina was one of the best second basemen to ever play.
In one of the more telling paragraphs of the book, a lesson was given to all of us:
“….it’s another La Russa adage that you can’t dwell on what you don’t have and can take advantage of only what you do have, so Hart is starting and batting second.”
Spoken like a champion.
After the final game, as the celebration was taking part on screen and in our living room, I realized something pretty cool. After my dad passed away, his favorite team in the world (and one of his reasons for getting out of bed in the mornings) the UK Wildcats won the championship the following season. I got my ridiculously HUGE love for the UK Wildcats from my dad and I know he would have been crying tears of joy just as I was.
My mom loved the Cardinal’s and she knew baseball terminology inside and out – she knew all the players and had a really good idea about their averages. She also had a pretty healthy crush on Rolen. And just like my dad, her beloved team won the very first season she was in Heaven.
And just like I did with my dad, I got to thinking, “What a shame she isn’t here to see it…” – only to realize she had the best seat in the world.
Life goes on, doesn’t it? “You can’t dwell on what you don’t have… and can only take advantage of what you do have.”
Golden, Coach. Golden.
by Joi 4 Comments
If there’s one thing people talk about, maybe, even more than the weather it’s time. More specifically, how we don’t have enough of it, how we wonder where it “flies” off to, and how in the world we can get all that we need to do DONE in the amount of time we have.
It’s not a case of creating more time, however (even if we could!). What we should be focusing on is spending the time we have wisely – not wasting time on activities or even thoughts that won’t carry us forward.
Effective time management will do more than just lead us to a more successful life, it’ll GREATLY reduce the amount of stress in our lives. A great deal of stress comes from thinks that are UN-finished and UN-done. When we find a way to effectively manage our time, we’ll get more things done and have fewer reasons to stress.
What’s more, as we accomplish more, our self confidence will grow and, before you know it, we’re practically unstoppable!
But, before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to confront how we manage our time… or if we even do. Right up front, it’ll help to realize one very important thing: Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Mother Teresa, and Marie Curie EACH had the same number of hours in their day that we have. EACH had the same number of days in their week and the same number of days in their year as we have.
And look at what they did with it!
These people, and countless other giants, knew one of the greatest secrets of all: If you waste time, you waste your life. Pure and simple.
Many people will argue that it’s harder to focus on work in the time we live in. They’ll argue that with technology, television, video games, dvds, and so forth – there are simply too many distractions. They’ll even try to make you believe that people such as Lincoln and Washington had an advantage – fewer things to distract them from their work. Nonsense! I agree, there are tons of distractions and many of them are the biggest wastes of time ever known to man.
However, we have far more advantages today than the men and women who lived before us had. We have washers, dryers, Kroger, automobiles, e-mail, computers, refrigerators, Starbucks, top-notch eyeglasses, the best doctors, and the list goes on. We may have DISTRACTIONS but they had extreme DISADVANTAGES. Yet they persevered. A lot of it had to do with determination and character – traits that, in my opinion, they’d still possess if they lived amongst us today.
How can you improve your time management skills and, thereby, improve your quality of life?
Below are time management tips that can help you get on track and stay on track.
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P.S. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the sweet e-mails concerning the loss of my mother.
It was a terrible loss that just fell from the sky – she was far too young to die and it was a terrible shock. But I’d compound the tragedy, and make her as mad as a hornet on a July morning (in case you aren’t from the South, that means DANG mad) if I didn’t try to get on with my life.
And this would be me trying to do just that. With a heavy heart and overwhelming sense of loss – but trying the best I know how.
“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.” ~Edward P. Morgan
by Joi 3 Comments
I thought this would make a pretty perfect Sunday’s post! Below are a few prayers I’ve rounded up – each with its own special beauty.
“Heavenly Father, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed and wisdom to know one from the other.” (This prayer’s author is often said to be “Unknown,” but the prayer was written by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, a professor of Applied Chrisianity in New York City. It was first published in 1935 as part of a pamphlet.)
“I shall be true – for there are those that trust me.” ~Chinese prayer
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.
“O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.” – St. Francis of Assisi
“This is the day which the Lord hath made: Let us rejoice therein.” – Psalms 118:24
“O God, thou hast given so much to us, give one thing more – a grateful heart. Amen.” – George Herbert
The GORGEOUS Dr. Tony Evans Study Bible (Amazon affiliate link) is exactly what you need if you want to get more from your Bible reading. He makes the Bible come even more alive and, in a way uniquely his own, makes each chapter easy to understand… even Revelations!