Jack’s Winning Words 8/11/14
“Eat the frog first.”  (Dustin Wax)  In an article, “50 Tips For Getting Things Done,” Wax suggests doing the most unpleasant job first.  Another list of tips recommends doing the easy things first.  C.L. Allen’s tip: “Visualize, prayerize, actionize.”  I translate it to mean, have a goal, pray about it, and then work at it.  Do you have a good tip for getting things done…besides eating a frog?    ;-)  Jack

  FROM PLH IN  MINNESOTA:  Good morning, Jack...====JACK: Good morning, good morning, good morning to you  Good morning, good morning, good morning to you  Our day is beginning, there's so much to do  So, good morning, good morning, good morning to you ====PLH:  awesome poetry!! here is another one.  good morning, good morning, its grand to be on hand, good morning, good morning to  you!  its a song really...

FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  Give yourself a treat or reward after you've accomplished a difficult challenge.  (It works with dogs as well..Isn't it interesting that a dog is regarded as man's best friend & dog backwards spells god?mmm)====JACK:  The best reward is a sense of satisfaction that the job is done...over...completed...ahhhh!

FROM JIMBO IN HONG KONG:  Pray first ... receive the task ... pray again for help ... perform the task.  Any other way is not from God.  We don't "have goals" .... we are given them. God bless! ====JACK:  Allen suggests that we first see the problem, and them pray about it.  As the old hymn puts it..."Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there."  Of course, you don't necessarily have to see/have a problem in order to pray.  Sometimes it's just like saying "HI" to an old friend.  ====JIMBO:  Jesus suggests that the only goal worth having is "to do the will of his Father".  I agree with that.  If Allen is cognizant that what he "sees through a mirror dimly" is a problem the Spirit has opened his eyes to, then he is right in praying about it immediately.  As Elwood Blues knows, the LORD works in mysterious ways.  (We interrupt your current task with a special "task in need" situation!)  Not sure why you changed the topic from goals to problems, Jack.   We don't have to have a goal in order to pray ... except the main goal.  It can be easily argued that it's better if we don't have a goal other than the main one.  It can also be argued that if you have a burden it's because you had a goal that was unworthy.  Therefore pray first ... see clearer later.  Our sight is so limited, isn't it?  Yes, saying HI can and should be part of the conversation, especially when asking for help to perform the task.====JACK:  Usually a "goal" is related to a problem or a need.  The goal is to get it taken care of.  Sometimes it needs the help of prayer.  Sometimes we can handle it on our own.

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  Sometimes in writing my weekly CBS, I set a time to start and just DO IT regardless how I feel. I usually feel uplifted after starting - but I usually start with the easier work first.====JACK:  Yesterday, as I went write today's Winning Words, I discovered that the computer had wiped out my thought starters.  Do you suppose "God" did that....on purpose?

FROM TARMART REV:  I remind myself often, "Just getter done!!"====JACK:  Early in my ministry, when we lived next to the church, I remember struggling with the ending of a sermon and hearing the church bell ringing, announcing the "call to worship."  That caused me to "getter done!"

FROM LBP IN PLYMOUTH:  Wow. That was just what I needed today. Guess it's time to down a frog.====JACK:  The strangest thing I've eaten is escargot.  I wonder if a frog tastes like that? ====LBP:  Probably chicken. I'm guessing it's the notion of eating a frog that is worse than doing it. Much like this darned paper...====JACK:  Last night, composing Winning Words was difficult.  The "words" just didn't come.  This morning was a different story.  Sometimes when there's a problem, we just have to "give time, time."

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  just eat the frog. order isn't important.  altho a shrink friend says, "it is easier to face a difficult task than to avoid it."====JACK:  I've heard of eating frog legs, but not the whole frog.  Is it possible, to take a hard problem and be successful by just solving part of it?

FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  My tip.......    Start====JACK:  Charles Kettering is credited with inventing the first automatic starter for automobiles.  When it comes to solving problems, most of us have to rely on "cranking it up" to get the engine of thought started.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  When it comes to cleaning out my garages, and cupboards, etc. etc. I probably need to read the whole book!  I am slowly getting ready to make a move from my big lake house  to a one level home "somewhere" as yet undecided, and motivation to get rid of "stuff" is hard to come by...but it must be done, so today's the day to start!!  Good to have my computer up and running correctly again!====JACK:  It's not as bad as "Hoarders," but when I look around and see the "stuff" decisions that would have to be made before a move...it lends itself to procrastination.

FROM GIL IN MICHIGAN:  God knows, God loves and God cares........God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him...    We all have to work and pray about it, but it still is God's choice.......God choose to keep me around for awhile after I passed out and  I fell down the basement stairs on Dec.10th 2013. Arachnoid Hemorrhage and busted bones...     Just went through a Cervical fusion ====JACK:  As the Scandinavians say, "Uff Da," translated...Overload...Overwhelmed!

FROM BS IN ENGLAND:  I always start a new day with this prayer.  Lord help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I together can't handle.====JACK:  Your response reminds me of this song...
My God and I go in the fields together,
 We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
 We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
 My God and I walk through the meadows hue;
 We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter;
 My God and I walk through the meadows hue.
He tells me of the years that went before me,
 When heavenly plans were made for me to be,
 When all was but a dream of dim conception
 To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see;
 When all was but a dream of dim conception
 To come to life, earth’s radiant glory see.
My God and I will go for aye together,
 We’ll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
 This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
 But God and I will go unendingly;
 This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
 But God and I will go unendingly.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  There are, for me, two sides to this lily pad. There's a reality these days that the tadpoles come steadily and frequently. So, unless the frog is an emergency, I tend to swallow the tadpoles as they come by, and they do so steadily and frequently. And the "frog"...well, sometimes I suggest he/she go "jump in the lake" and sit on a lily pad for a awhile .Of course, I haven't used this analogy 'til today, but it makes me smile, so...Thank you.====JACK:  Now, that is a witty and funny response...and good advice, too..."Swallow the tadpoles!"  "Jump in the lake," recalls one of my first writing experiences.