Wednesday; March 13

As I sit here in my office, I have music going in the background. In all honesty, modern music abandoned me a while back, so most of what I listen to dates back to my childhood and adolescence. (Yes, they did have music back in the 20th Century … and it was pretty good music.) When I am typing along, I will hear a song that takes me back to a time or place and, at least for three minutes, I get to bask in the good times of yesteryear. In a sense, this is the soundtrack of my youth.

Interestingly, there is another soundtrack that keeps playing over and over; but this one has nothing to do with tunes. The sounds are the words that people said to me and around me as I was growing up. My emotional soundtrack is a lot calmer than the musical one it parallels. I hear the voices of calmness and peace. I can tune into the words of encouragement and the expressions of love I heard. Sure, in the distance, I can hear some of the din of unrest, but my primary soundtrack is filled with hope and happiness.

What soundtrack are we laying for our children today? Are they hearing raised voices and constant outbursts of anger? Are they building a playlist of hopelessness and despair? When it comes to music, most of us get to choose the songs we like, but when it comes to that emotional soundtrack, we may have to listen to what is being played quite loudly around us. Let’s do our children a favor, let’s provide them with an emotional playlist that will serve them better and provide them comfort in their later years.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more