Worthy Words

Have you heard the story about the lady who purchased a small package of cookies at an airport before her flight? When she got to her terminal gate she took a seat while waiting for her departure and began to read a newspaper. During that time she gradually became aware of a noise coming from the seat next to her. From behind her paper, she was stunned to see a man helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, but wanting the man to know she noticed him, she reached down and took a cookie for herself. A few moments went by, and she heard more rustling. She looked down to see the man taking another cookie. So, she reached down and took another cookie as well. Finally, she watched the man take the last cookie, break it in half and push the other half over to her. He ate the half-cookie, got up and left. The woman was furious! Later, on the plane, the woman opened her handbag and was both shocked and embarrassed to find her package of unopened cookies. Has something like ...

Did you hear the story about the elderly blind woman who was being moved to a nursing home? Upon arrival, she was escorted to her new living quarters. When she entered the room she told her attendant energetically, "I love it!" The attendant questioned the blind woman, "How can you say you love it, when you've never been in it before — and you can't see what it looks like?" The woman spoke up, "Seeing the room doesn't have anything to do with it. Happiness is my choice. I have decided to love my room. Every morning, I have a choice on whether I focus on what I don't like about my life or what I do like about it. I'm choosing right now to love the new room where I'm going to live." Let’s face it, life has its share of trials and everyone will face situations that are less than desirable. Yet, so much about the quality of our lives is determined not by the situation itself, but rather how we respond to it. Honestly, I don't kn...

It’s been twelve weeks since we began the long overdue remodel of our front restrooms. With the project near complete, except for a few minor but important details, I made a final to-do list. The list consisted of eighteen small projects to complete within the larger scope of this restroom / parlor restoration. The finish line was in sight. At the end of the week six remain. Honestly these six were the hardest of the final eighteen. Why do I always leave the hard things until the end? I guess because I didn’t want to do them yet. Well, “yet” has arrived! In your work there are probably a few little things that you don't want to do: items that should be done, but don't have to be done — at least not yet. Legendary football coach Tom Landry said, "The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be." It's also said that successful people become successful by doing the little...

Studies conducted recently by neuroscientists have brought to light new and great discoveries about the functioning of our minds. Our noggins can think up to 60,000 thoughts each day. Most thinking is done on autopilot with the mind thinking the same habitual thoughts over and over again. If it seems like you’re hashing out the same mental routine each day, there’s a good chance you are. Our brains protect their storehouse of information — good or bad. Engrained habits are protected so the autopilot lifestyle can be maintained. But when we’ve repeated a new thought or practiced a new behavior for about 90 days, it becomes part of the brain architecture; voila, we have new hardwiring! The good news is that we CAN change the way we think. After that, those new-and-improved – redemptive thoughts become habit. A new lifestyle can become the new norm. The Bible says we can challenge false thoughts by “taking every thought captive.” The apostle, Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8: “Finally...