Month: October 2025

At one time or another we all get our feelings hurt. When you feel left out, or disrespected, or forgotten, it hurts. If you don’t handle it well, your feelings can fester and grow into deep resentment, even hatred, and isolation.

It’s not easy to do, but the best way to deal with hurt feelings is to get your mind off of yourself. Focus on what you can do to brighten someone else’s day. You will find that something amazing happens. Turns out, helping others to have a more enjoyable day will actually improve your mood as well.

If folks have hurt you by making you feel you don’t fit in, become the missing puzzle piece in the life of someone in need. That’s God’s plan. You fit perfectly there.

When I was a child, I had a bad case of nyctophobia. That’s fear of the dark. My two brothers are much older than me and were gone from home when I was still young. So I was all by myself in what I perceived as a cavernous upstairs, and when Mom would kiss me goodnight, turn off the lights, and go downstairs, I was terrified. My active imagination would conjure up all sorts of monsters that were just outside the windows, waiting to pounce on me. Sometimes I was so frightened I would sneak back down the stairs, hoping my parents didn’t hear me. Those old wooden steps were so creaky, they would give me away.

Sixty years later, I’m still uncomfortable in darkness. It’s hard for me to feel secure in what I cannot see. Maybe that’s why some people have so much trouble trusting in Jesus as savior, trusting in a God they cannot see.

Just a small night light usually helps me to relax in the dark. Maybe you could be somebody’s spiritual night light. You could be the one to chase away the monsters in somebody’s life.

There is a person in my life who, for some reason, has determined that he just doesn’t like me. Honestly, I have no real idea as to what I might have said to him, or done that has caused this. He is friendly and considerate of everyone else, but he never speaks to me, unless it is some sort of snide comment about something I mentioned to somebody else. It has happened too often to be coincidence. I’m not imagining this. He just doesn’t like me.

Because he is in my circle of friends, I see him often. I am struggling with how to deal with this. Mostly I just try to ignore his behavior. But it’s so hard to suppress my feelings of resentment.

Lord, give us the strength to love those who don’t love us back. The way you have loved those who have turned their back on you.

I was sitting in the bleachers watching my four year old grandson play baseball recently. His team consisted of all boys, except one brave, determined little girl. She struggled to hit the ball the entire game, until her final at bat. With the bases loaded she managed to hit a groundball and make it safely to first base. A run scored that helped her team win the game.

In the team huddle after the game, the coach presented the little girl with the game ball. She broke into a joyous smile that was bright enough to light up the world. She excitedly ran to the backstop screen to proudly show the ball to her family in the stands. She was so thrilled.

There were other players on the team that had played a better game. But the coach knew that acknowledging the little girl in this way would bring her joy. It occurred to me that’s what life should be all about. Bringing joy to others. Everybody was happy for that sweet child and broke out into applause for her.

Because joy is contagious.

The other day my young grandkids asked me if they could watch TV. I asked them what they wanted to watch, and since it was close to Halloween, they told me they wanted “Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin”. I put it on, and they watched it intensely. There were loud bursts of laughter when Charlie Brown got rocks in his trick or treat bag, when Lucy pulled the football away yet again, and when Linus was labeled as a “blockhead”.

This cartoon was made in 1966. I watched it as a kid. My children watched it when they were young, and now my grandkids are into it. It is refreshing and encouraging to know that clean, wholesome entertainment is still appealing to children. It gives you hope we can survive the moral decline in our video culture.

Good, honorable fun will never go out of style. Even a blockhead can see that.

I was mowing my backyard with my lawn tractor recently, when I ran over a stick. The small branch somehow lodged in my deck belt and threw it off the gears, meaning I could no longer engage my mower blades. I fiddled with the belt for hours, trying to figure out how to reinstall it. This sort of thing is not my forte, and I eventually gave up.

I started asking around if any of my friends could help, and a wonderful guy, who has fixed the same problem on a mower just like mine, came over and knew just how to do it. It was his good deed, and he wouldn’t accept anything for the repair.

I’m never going to be able to fix anyone’s lawn mower, but it certainly made me want to forward the kindness to someone else. And I have strived to do that. I’m part of a chain of goodwill, and I won’t break the chain. Sooner or later, that chain will reach you, if it hasn’t already.

Keep it going.

I love to tickle my grandkids. I revel in their cackling laughter when I bring out the “tickle bug” and “sting” them with it. I found out something interesting about this. Did you know you are not actually ticklish in the armpit, or the ribs, or on the bottom of your feet. You are ticklish in the brain.

The physical contact stimulates the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls emotional reactions. This explains why some people can focus their mind and resist the temptation to laugh while being tickled. We used to play that game as children, daring each other not to laugh as your friends tickled you. It’s really difficult. But you can do it if you concentrate hard enough.

And if you can train your mind to do that, rest assured you can also train it to overcome all kinds of stress in your life.

I f figured you would be tickled to hear that.

The other day I was out in my yard and I looked up and saw a large flock of birds. They were all heading south for the winter. Some of them will travel thousands of miles, halfway around the earth. They will find their way to the same exact place they have been before, using only their own instinct and sense of direction.

The internet says birds can detect the earth’s magnetic field, which allows them to determine latitude and global positioning. Contrary to what most people think, it’s not changes in temperature that cue them when it’s to fly south. It’s changes in daylight patterns.

Such gifts are surely not the product of evolution. They are designed. No doubt by The Great Designer.

You’ve probably never heard of a Chinese billionaire by the name of Xu Gang. He founded a titanium dioxide pigment company (whatever that is) in 2011 and went public with it. The company was spectacularly successful and brought him great and immediate wealth. He became a billionaire in just a few years.

Then, last May, Xu Gang suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. He was just 61 years old. All that money. All that success. Yet it didn’t even get him to retirement age.

Don’t spend the time you are given by being obsessed with pursuing wealth and material success. Make your days count. Love people around you and leave a legacy. Don’t put it off. You may not have as much time as you think. Just ask Mr. Gang.

Oh, wait. You can’t.

One of the best ways for older folks to protect themselves from falling is to practice balance. I didn’t even know balance was something you could practice and improve. I figured you either had it or you didn’t. But apparently, if you make a daily routine of things such as, standing on one leg, or walking heal-to-toe in a straight line, you will eventually develop more solid balance when walking, climbing stairs, exercising, and so on.

Keeping a good mental balance is important also. Life has many obstacles that can trip you up. A healthy dose of prayer and church fellowship will help keep your moods and outlook from falling into dark places.

You’re always on stable ground when you focus on others. Who can you catch from falling today?