Month: November 2025

Life is like eating chocolate cheesecake. The first several bites taste heavenly and bring you much joy. But as you work your way through it, your body begins to tell you it is so rich you can hardly take another spoonful. It becomes too much of a good thing. By the time you finish, you may actually feel a bit ill.

Most of the material things in life have the same effect. They bring you great joy….for a while, then they either become routine or problematic. Love is different. Real love, that which you give, and which you receive, never becomes routine or problematic.

Love is chocolate cheesecake you can keep eating every day!

Sharon and I recently celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary. Wow. Half a century together. Life has taken us through so many twists and turns, peaks and valleys. We got through them together. I doubt we could have done so on our own.

Having a loving companion is a wonderful blessing. But even if you don’t have one on this earth, you never have to feel alone. God never abandons you, never gives up on you. If He is not your companion today, ask Him to be. There are holes in everybody’s life that only He can fill.

Sadly, one day we will part with our spouses on this earth. But that will never happen with God.

How do you feel today? Are you basically okay? If so, you are truly blessed. According to the National Institutes for Health, one of every five Americans wake up with chronic pain every day. Nearly one in twelve say their pain is so bad it affects their ability to function.

Lower back pain is the most common form, followed by headaches. If you are in pain, my prayer is that you will find relief and peace.

But if you feel good today, give thanks. Your health is not guaranteed. It is a blessing, not an entitlement.

Have you ever noticed that people are much better looking when they smile? There’s just something about it that highlights a person’s face and casts them in the most attractive countenance possible. I can’t tell you how many times I have noticed a woman or a man breaking into a big laugh or smile, and thinking to myself, “Gosh, I never noticed this before, but she is really very pretty”. Or, “he is quite handsome”.

There is a reason a professional photographer tells you to smile when they snap your picture. You just look better. Maybe it’s because a smile sends out good vibes. Gives you an aura of peace, contentment and joy.

So, if you want to look your best, smile. You just may find you light up the room.

Just got back from a routine visit to my dermatologist. She brings her “freeze” gun in with her and usually finds a few spots to zap. It’s comforting to know she can take care of any exterior skin problems before they get dangerous.

Now, if only we had something we could use to zap away internal problems, such as loneliness, anger, fear and depression.

Actually, we do have such a weapon. The word of God can be your freeze gun. Fire it up.

There are certain parts of your body that you cannot see. Sometimes it frustrates me to no end. For example, a sore on the underside of your middle toe. No matter how I would contort and twist my leg and neck, I couldn’t get a look at it. Even using a hand mirror, I couldn’t quite position it to enable me to get a decent view. I had to have somebody else take a picture of it and show me.

It got me thinking there are parts of our lives that nobody sees as well. Not even those closest to us. Secrets we may take to the grave. Some thoughts and feelings are so private we’re just not comfortable sharing them with anyone. We would do well, however, to remember that there is one who sees everything.

And one day we will be accountable to Him.

Several years ago we went on vacation to Alaska. Among our stops was Nome, where we were offered the opportunity to actually pan for gold. There are real gold flecks in the soil there, and it was fun to sift them out. You are given a very small, clear plastic tube in which to save the shiny grains you collect. You can then go to the gift shop and have them weighed and assessed.

Our accumulation was valued at $40. The gift shop won’t give you cash, of course, but you can use the value toward redeeming purchases. Naturally, everything in the shop is priced high enough that they still make a profit.

We chose to just keep our gold dust. The fun memory it brings back to us is worth more than some souvenir we might have acquired. Souvenirs get put in the attic and forgotten. Memories last forever. Especially good ones.

When I was a boy the fantasy threshold when it came to financial success was one million dollars. Being a millionaire was considered the elite success, a mere pipe dream for 99 percent of Americans. Forbes magazine would publish the short list of American millionaires.

Today, anyone with any kind of skilled labor career will likely earn one million dollars over their lifetime. An annual income of $50 thousand dollars, which is moderate by today’s standards, will add up to one million in just twenty years. Now the new fantasy standard is one billion dollars. Forbes now publishes lists of American billionaires. And, with the incredible explosion in the internet and technology industries, billionaires are more common, and younger, than you think.

You will probably never catch up to your financial fantasy. And that’s okay. You have been blessed with a reality that fits you just right. Be grateful for it.

If life has got you down, and you need something to pick up your spirits, try looking at your phone. Specifically, go into all of your photos and scroll through them. You’ll probably find many you took spur of the moment that you don’t really have any use for. They are ready to be deleted.

But if you’re like me, you have hundreds of pictures, many of which you’ve completely forgotten about, that chronicle your life for the past several years. Happy times with dear friends and family. Precious grandkid shots. Inspiring vacations. Scenic shots of the beautiful world God has created. Many reminders of how you have been blessed. Seeing these photos again will make you smile. They will pick up your mood.

Try it. The answer to your depression may be right there in your pocket.

The older I get, the more important it is becoming for me to focus. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten up to go to another room, then got distracted, and forgot what I originally wanted to do. Or times when I have gone on to the internet to find information, seen something interesting that grabbed my attention, then shut down my computer without ever finding out what I logged on for.

I need to focus more intently on the task at hand. Do it right away. Don’t give distraction a chance.

We all get derailed by life. Taken to unexpected circumstances and setbacks. It can make us forget and disrespect the people and things we love the most.

Focus on the truly important folks in your world. Don’t let disappointments take over your attitude. You may wind up in a bad place, and forgotten how you got there.