Month: March 2025

I’m a big fan of daffodils. The bright yellow flower is a great example of resiliency and determination. Every winter, about early February or so, our daffodils begin to sprout and open up. Problem is, that’s always too early. Inevitably there is a hard freeze at some point during the month. The frigid temps cause the new flower to droop and sag toward the ground.

But though they are going through trauma, these bold little plants refuse to die. They hang tough through the sub-freezing days, and somehow they survive until the sun shines brightly and brings milder times. That’s when they burst into full, healthy bloom and show off their beauty. They only last about three or four brilliant weeks, and then it’s time to go dormant again until next year. But they make the most of their opportunity to shine.

We could all benefit by being more like daffodils.

No one will ever accuse me of having a green thumb. I used to have a big garden. I tried growing melons and corn and pumpkins and lettuce and cucumbers. The bugs bored into my melons, my pumpkins stopped growing after reaching the size of a tennis ball, my corn stalks withered, and my lettuce turned brown.

But the cucumbers were a different story. My cuke vines spread throughout the garden like wildfire, sprouting the long green vegetables in droves. I gathered baskets of cucumbers and gave them to family and neighbors and food pantries and total strangers. I am a terrible gardener, but I am clearly good at growing cucumbers.

Everybody is good at something. You may have to fail at some things to find out where you excel, but you have a talent. Keep trying and you’ll find it. And if you need a pickle, I’m your man.

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.