Jack’s Winning Words 6/11/14
“Never get so fascinated with the extraordinary that you miss the ordinary.” (Magdalen Nabb)  I read a story about a man who was at the bedside of his dying mother.  As time dragged on, he noticed a struggling fly that had fallen into a glass of water.  He watched the fly for a long time.  Meanwhile his mother had died.  The story reminds us to focus on the truly important things in life and not be distracted by the trivial.    ;-)  Jack

FROM TARMART REV:  The experience I had a few years ago in an outside wedding came immediately back into focus . . . as I was reciting the vows for the bride and groom to exchange, the groom's father's cell phone rang . . . to our amazement, at the front there where he sat, he moves over a few open chairs and facing away from the couple and the small crowd, he begins to talk quietly as "not to disturb" the rest of us. How thoughtful!!====JACK:  At least it wasn't the groom (or the pastor).

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  As Christians know, the focus should be on pursuit of eternal life rather than the seductions of daily life.  In that respect doesn't the converse of the WW apply, dismissing the ordinary while concentrating on the extraordinary?====JACK:  You can make anything mean anything if you try hard enough...like architects explaining their work...or pastors explaining their sermons.  In the case of the illustration used, it was simply meant to say a man missed the death of his mother, because he was concentrating on the death of a fly.

FROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  Wow!!! Thanks for this, Jack.====JACK:  Some illustrations have a way of really illustrating.

FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  Oh that is sad!====JACK:  It is sad when the wrong choices are made with regard to life's important decisions.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  Well, it's kind of like "Don't sweat the small stiff!" However, small stuff can be distracting from the real issue, or it can portend ....as the "mustard seed". I really like these admonitions.....they set the mind stirring in many directions.....like both sides of a debate. ====JACK:  We can become so preoccupied with the ordinary stuff that is in front of us that we overlook worlds still waiting to be discovered in the sky and in the sea and within the earth...and even within ourselves and others.  As the old song goes, "It's a strange (interesting), strange (miraculous) world, Master Jack."