Author: kenlassblog.net

If at first you don’t succeed, take a lesson from the squirrels. We watched hard working squirrels shimmy up our birdfeeder pole to rob the seed. In an effort to prevent this, I greased the pole so the furry-tailed critters couldn’t climb it. But much to our frustration, we noticed that squirrels were still consistently perched on the feeder, pilfering all the food.

After keeping vigilant watch, we finally noticed they were actually risking life and limb by leaping off a nearby tree branch on to the pole, a distance of at least ten feet. When life created an obstacle, they just kept working hard to figure out a solution. I couldn’t help but admire their resolve.

I moved the bird feeder pole further away from the tree. The other day we found the feeder knocked down to the ground and the squirrels feasting on the spilled seed. I don’t know how they did it, but it must have taken hard work and creative thinking. We can learn from the squirrels.

When you take swimming lessons, one of the first things the instructor will show you is how to float on your back. It’s the fundamental way of surviving in the water. You will notice that if you take a big breath and hold the air in your lungs, you will float. As soon as you blow the air out of your lungs, you will begin to sink. So if you focus on breathing deeply, keeping good, pure air in your body for as long as possible, while gently moving your arms and legs, you will stay out of trouble.

It’s not a bad metaphor for life. Fill your life with pure, positive, Godly influences and you will stay afloat above your adversity. Empty yourself of such things and you will quickly sink into the depths of temptation and depression.

The water can get pretty deep, but God is a strong flotation device.

It’s never too late to start over. Gladys Burril ran her first 26.2 mile marathon at the age of 86. Ray Kroc changed careers and bought his first McDonalds restaurant at the age of 59. Estelle Getty didn’t make it as an actor until she landed a role in The Golden Girls when she was 62.

You can change your goals today. You can make the decision to live a better life immediately. You may never be rich or famous, but you can absolutely have more peace and joy. It’s your call.

I read an interesting article about a study done on listening. It stated that we are capable of hearing about 450 words spoken to us per minute. But on average our brains can only process about 25 percent of that. The rest is almost immediately forgotten.

This is important to remember when you’re trying to explain something to someone. They’re only going to remember about a quarter of what you’re saying. So get to the point and make yourself clear. The research also revealed that only about seven percent of your message is communicated through your words. The other 93 percent is perceived from your facial expression, tone of voice, and body language.

So be nice. Don’t shout. Don’t frown. And when you’ve said what you want to say, listen intently. Communication works both ways.

I timed myself. It took me four minutes to sit down, turn on my computer, go to my email, type in the address of a friend, write him a three sentence message telling him I was thinking about and praying for him today, and then pressing “send”. This includes the time it took for my desktop computer to boot up.

If you were to do this once each day, Monday through Friday, taking weekends off, for one year, you could brighten the days of 261 people. Seems like a pretty good and efficient use of time. Of course, you would also have to allow for the time it will take you to read their grateful and appreciative replies.

Sometimes I just sit in my breakfast nook and watch the birdfeeder in my backyard. The little finches and chickadees try their best to get at the birdseed, but they are often shooed away by a bigger robin, which in turn is chased off by a larger red-headed woodpecker, which is then scared off by a beautiful bright red cardinal, which then quickly departs when a huge blackbird arrives.

Interesting though. The blackbird doesn’t seem to pay attention to the little finches and chickadees, who then return and join him at the feeder. In fact, as long as he’s there, the tiny birds are free to eat and hang out.

Must be nice to know there is a higher power that is always around to protect you and make sure you have what you need to get by.

If you dye your gray hair brown, that doesn’t mean you have brown hair. You still have gray hair that is covered up by hair dye. You can’t change the way you are made, and you shouldn’t want to.

You are beautifully and wonderfully made by a perfect God who doesn’t make mistakes. He has created you precisely as you are supposed to be. Embrace who you are and what you look like. You are a miracle of His creation. He loves the way you look, so it doesn’t matter what people think.

We dye our hair, wear make-up and dress to please others. But underneath it all God has created his own masterpiece. Wear it proudly.

It’s easy to feel that the world is moving away from God. That immorality and self gratification are taking over American culture. It’s hard to observe television, movies and social media and think otherwise.

But you may be interested in a recent poll conducted by the Pew research center. It found that 85 percent of today’s teenagers believe in God. 60 percent of adolescents believe religion is very important, or at least somewhat important in their lives.

Even more interesting, of students who believe their faith is very important in their lives, 88 percent gave the same answer to this question as their parents.

You set the standard for your family. Morality will decline only as far as you allow it to.

There’s nothing quite like a good magic show. To watch skilled magicians execute amazing illusions is exciting and mesmerizing. It’s so much fun to wonder, how did they do that? We know there’s really no such thing as magic, so we entertain ourselves by trying to figure out the mechanics of the trick.

But if we do learn how the illusion is done, the enjoyment is lost forever. We can never observe it with the same sense of wonder we had before. It’s not knowing all the answers that makes the show fascinating.

It’s a good way to look at life. Every day is its own magic show, with twists and turns you might not have expected. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers figured out. God does. And he’ll have all the explanations for you at just the right time.

Getting on an airplane requires a good bit of trust. After all, you are literally giving up control of your life to a pilot you have never met and know nothing about. You simply have to trust that he or she is competent, responsible and healthy enough to get you to your destination. Trust that, no matter what unexpected turn or problem may come up with the flight, the pilot will know how to get you around it, or through it, and will do everything they can to do so, because that is their mission.

Imagine that. Trusting someone you can’t see with control over your life, feeling confident you will be protected and safely delivered to your journey’s end.