Jack’s Winning Words 7/6/16
“Promise me you’ll remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think.”  (Winnie the Pooh)  I checked out a site for Motivational Speakers and discovered that many of them are asking $40K for a talk.  A high school teacher pulled me aside and said, “Jack, you can do better than this.”…and there was no charge.  Is there a person in your life who has inspired you to “do better?”  There’s some good stuff in Pooh!    ;-)  Jack

FROM YOOPER BOB:  Just last night our school supt. presented a program with three components:    Items to celebrate,  realities we face  and what the future look like.  He laid out a vision which fulfills Prov. 29:18 , articulated the numerous programs in place which are contemporary examples of what amounts to being the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, and using technology in such a way that Lansing and Washington are asking, “How do you excel amidst your poverty statistics?”  His motto is, “I want our school to be so far ahead that others look at our backs, not we look at theirs.”  It coincides with your winning word of the day.====JACK:  Teachers are teachers, wherever they choose to pitch their tent.  You are fortunate to have one who has chosen to live where you live.  The same can be said for people of any profession...including loggers, miners, preachers...people, in general.

FROM TARMART REV:  Too many to recall at one sitting...from Sunday School teachers and pastors early on (Dad sold insurance in those days and we moved due to promotions and hiring on with other companies) to college professors and guest ministers to countless ministry including God-send parishioners, pastors, teachers and evangelists from various denominations, including a Lutheran or two!! An invaluable treasure chest of gifted men and women, many coming through another's expense and in the name of Christ.====JACK:  My daily devotional life was set in motion by a Sunday School teacher who gave me E. Stanley Jones' "Abundant Living."  I lost that book, but last year someone gave me a new copy...and, in fact, I read from it this morning.====REV:  True blessings so often come in small remembrances!

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  That's the nature of the teaching profession these days...long on motivation, short on earnings.  There have been many in my life who made me "do better", and the majority of them were my school teachers.====JACK:  I think (I know) that most teaching is done by people who are not paid for doing it.

FROM LH ON HER WAY TO GERMANY:  You’ve presented one of my favorite quotations, which I tell my grandchildren.====JACK:  The trip with your granddaughter will be a teaching experience for both of you.

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  our kids loved those stories.  and yes,  there is wisdom in them too...

FROM JAYEM:  When I was probably 8 or 9 years old, we had a retired pastor as our "supply" for quite a while.  Dr. Wolf would stand on the chancel steps and talk to the children in the congregation, and often he said, "Do your best!  Angels can do no better."  That phrase got me through a lot of adult critique that said I could do better when I knew I was doing my best with what God had given me. ====JACK:  I like those "angel" words.  And, I like the way that you've applied them to your life experiences.  It's called, applied learning.  Some refer to it as the College of  Hard Knocks.

FROM ERINDM:  I have that saying in Zander's bedroom.====JACK:  I like the words: Braver, Stronger, Smarter on the big blocks/cushions shown on the picture, but where's that rascal, Zander? ...hiding behind them?

FROM LS IN MICHIGAN:  My dad's final word to his caregiver was: "Remember" I often have thought that it was to remember his words, teachings and his love.  Perhaps it was a little of Pooh for all of those he touched with encouragement throughout his lifetime.  He was a judge.   I was not present at the time of my dad's passing.  He and my mom lived in South Haven.   Knowing that his passing was imminent I made the good decision to drive back to West Bloomfield to be with my children at their time of loss.  His care giver, America, relayed his last words to me at the time of his passing.   America was an illegal immigrant that my dad nurtured and guided and loved very much.  She was wonderful with my mom and later with my dad as his health failed.  Her story to citizenship is heroic and inspiring. I will have to ask her how she interpreted his last word "REMEMBER". ====JACK:  What a fine caregiver...and how unfortunate to have the word "illegal" attached to her.  There are people who use it as a pejorative to express a political opinion.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  great quote.  i love "winnie ther pooh".  have you read "the world according to pooh"?  there are so many who have inspired me in life.  most didn't charge a penny...some i paid a few dollars for their book.  i am preparing a wedding ceremony for my god daughter.  i was reading "the world according to shug" from maya angelo's "temple of my familiar" for some inspiration.  maya inspired me to continue on during a sad and dark time in my life.  you inspire me every day!====JACK:  In-spire...The Spirit-in me!"  Those who put the Spirit in us could be referred to as God's shoehorns.  Do you know what a shoehorn is?  No...it's not a musical instrument.====MARY:  I not only know what a shoe horn is...I occasionally use one!

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  Yes! We all love/loved Pooh! And the word that triggered my memory today is "Remember." Upon her mother's death Miss Garst, our speech teacher, 43ad our class a poem titled " Remember". I recall some of it by rote and every once in a while reread it in my treasured book The Top 500 Poems.
Remember me when I am gone away.
Gone far away into the silent land:
When you can no more take me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned,,,,
There's more.....Lots of thoughts trigged by the word "remember".
====JACK:  My favorite book of poetry is James Dalton Morrison's "Masterpieces of Religious Verse," containing 2020 poems...including, "Remember," by Christina Rossetti.  While the title says "religious," many of the works are not necessarily religious.