Winning Words 2/10/12
“You can’t argue with a river. It’s going to flow.” (Dean Acheson) When you were a child playing in the rain, did you ever try to build a dam to stop the water running in the street gutter? I never got mine to work. Life presents problems, too. The secret is to turn the negative problem into a positive outcome. A “mountain” may be blocking your way. Climb over it; tunnel thru it; find a way around it, but don’t give up. ;-) Jack

FROM BEC IN MICHIGAN: Reminded me of this saying. Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path, and you will find you have crossed the mountain. (Author unknown)////FROM JACK: I haven't heard of that one before. Good advice.

FROM SHARIN' SHARON: It's interesting--to me anyway--to do this prayer knitting/crochetting things for people. Knitting/crochetting shawls, lap robes, afghans for people a person cares about while at the same time praying for the person and especially the person living in community is a secretive way to turn negative problems into positive outcomes and I think the real success comes from the flowing of time. Whether a person is knitting or not, crochetting or not, praying or not, the river is going to flow and over time the river's flowing will just inevitably change. I've seen it happen!!!!!! and choose to believe the knitting/crochetting/praying had an impact on how the river changed so that it flowed in a constructive way in this world. Sometimes the rain just stops.////FROM JACK: In Tennessee, the TVA harnessed the river in such a way that electrical power was provided. The river still runs, but in a positive way. You are helping to make positive things happen in a negative world.

FROM HS IN MICHIGAN: Clever.////FROM JACK: Sometimes the "clever" is simply recognizing the obvious that others overlook. We need some clever idea people in Washington who can help turn the negatives into positives.

FROM MV IN MICHIGAN: A former minister of mine said something to me that could be a corollary to that: the only way around a problem is through it. ////FROM JACK: We pray in the Lord's Prayer: "Yea, though I walk THROUGH the valley...thou art with me."

FROM PASTOR BOB IN THE U.P.: Reminds me of the question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. Like yourself, I’ve tackled lots of elephants and the formula does work most often!////FROM JACK: Now, that's a descriptive response. Did you try to eat and elephant (or other wild animal) when you were working in Africa?

FROM JG IN MINNESOTA: Thanks, as always, for your Winning Words. Your last sentence today is somethimng we have said for years, but it is a shortened version. :-) "If you can't go over or under, go around" ////FROM JACK: Most of us have faced "impossible" situations. In history, I like the story of Hannibal and how he crossed the Alps using elephants. He found a way.

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: You did it again! Your sixth sense is uncanny. ////FROM JACK: With God's help, you'll be getting another one next week.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: There was a small island in the AuSable River where my parents lived. Often us kids would try to block off the little stream so we could make a "swim hole". Of course, the AuSable runs at around 7 miles an hour and we could never get anything to stop the flow. Life is like that. It flows and flows ... sometimes passed the mountains and sometimes right through. We just have to keep paddling.////FROM JACK: The city where I grew up (Moline, Illinois) was on the banks of the Mississippi. The power of the annual flooding was something to behold.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: We are talking about the river Nile in school now. This is our theme song.
The river she is flowing...flowing and flowing...
The river she is flowing... Down to the sea.
Mother carry me, a child I will always be.
Mother carry me down to the sea.
Great experience to hear the interpretation of each child.
Never stop a river. There is a reason it flows!
////FROM JACK: It wonder how the child interpretations would differ from the adult.

FROM BLAZING OAKS: I can remember the water gushing and gurgling around my ankles when I stood before the gutter. Had real clean feet! Ha! Maybe when the river is flowing, we have to make up our minds to "go with the flow"...at least until we can exit the river!////FROM JACK: I remember seeing raw sewage coming out of a large pipe and "going with the flow" into the river. The carp loved to hang around there.

FROM SAINT JAMES IN MICHIGAN: This WW reminds me of the Jim Valvano quote: "Don't Give Up...don't ever give up!" What an inspriational thought from someone who knew he was dying of cancer! Personally, I live by his mantra...some days, it's easier to do that than others, but what a joy it is to be alive and have the privilege to grapple with that concept!////FROM JACK: I remember seeing Valvano as a coach. Talk about enthusiasm...He was like a raging river, running up and down the basketball sidelines. His death came too soon. On his tombstone is written, "Take time every day to laugh, to think, to cry."