Monday; June 29

As a baseball fan, I am curious to see how the 2020 season plays out.  As of the writing of these thoughts, it appears that the season will consist of 60 games – which figures out to just under 40% of a normal season.  On the one hand, I am somewhat disappointed that we haven’t had baseball for the past two months, on the other hand I am intrigued by the shortened season.  Typically, at the beginning of each baseball season, hope springs eternal with the cry, “This could be our year!”.  Well, in all honesty, that could be true of a lot of teams that couldn’t get into the playoffs in a 162 game season.  All they have to do is weave together a little magic and who knows what will happen.  I have followed a lot of teams who were in contention at the 60-game mark who swooned miserably after the halfway mark.  Who knows – in spite of all the disappointment surrounding baseball this year, it could end up being exciting for a lot of people.  No, I haven’t gone out and bought my MLB.tv subscription yet, but I just might be tempted to do it this year because anything could happen.
As I thought about the excitement of a condensed baseball season, it got me to thinking about what would happen if we put everything we had into our short lives?  Most times, when people get to the end of their lives, they have a tendency to echo the Old Testament character, Jacob’s, assessment of life, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” (Genesis 47:9); however, what if we decided right here, right now to fill our condensed lives with excitement?  How much fuller could our journey be if we lived life with a belief that anything could happen?
We may not get the chance to determine how many years we get to live, but we do get to choose how we live the years we have.
          Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more