Jack’s Winning Words 1/11/18
“If you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough.”  (Radiohead)  Who would guess a “morality” quote would come from a rock band, like Radiohead.  Two of their hits were Creep and Hail to the Thief.  But think about it…If you are doing your best at anything, what more can be expected.  My mother-in-law would tell her children, “Just do your best.”  That’s good advice for any leader to his followers…or, should the goal be to reach 110%?    ;-)  Jack

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Just do your best God will do the rest====JACK: Sometime, during my lifespan, I seem  to remember praying before a test.  I don't recall that it improved the test score.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  To define one's best is the problem....maybe we are settling for less than our best but consoling ourselves with the thought that we have really tried our best....JACK:  I can see that "good" and "better" can have qualifying definitions ( good and better that...what?)  But, to me, best is best (finest, greatest, top, foremost, leading, preeminent, premier, prime, first, chief, principal, supreme, of the highest quality, superlative, par excellence, unrivaled, second to none, without equal, nonpareil, unsurpassed, peerless, matchless, unparalleled, unbeaten, unbeatable, optimum, optimal, ultimate, incomparable, ideal, perfect).====JOHN:  The problem is that we don't always know what our own best is.    It is not the word best that needs to be defined but what we need to know is what our best is.   Holcomb really pushed me in debate and I think I did my best there.   I think I did my best in parish ministry.   In some pursuits I think I settled for a best that really wasn't.  ====JACK:  The problem, then, is not with the word, but with the self.  Generally, that's the case with many problems...even with commitment to our God.  It's hard to hear that "our righteousness (best) is as filthy rags."

FROM JLF:  Do your best. I always remember mom saying that.====JACK:  Yes!  I can hear it now...and..."I am who I am."...and another..."Tired!  What's that>  Everybody's tired."

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I remember cutting out and saving a column years ago by either Dear Abby, or Ann Landers entitled "Good enough is not good enough". It was very well said, and was a pitch to NOT settle for "Good Enough"...which many do all too often. I'm sure we've all also heard the old adage, "If something is worth doing, It's worth doing well!"  Why spend time in a mediocre effort? But as Quaker once said to me, "Sometimes if God cannot find a hammer to tap the nail into the wall, he'll use the heel of an old shoe."  In other words, God will get his work done, with those who are willing to say yes to the task! I never forgot that!====JACK:  Thanks to Google...          Dear Ann Landers: Our school district believes our schools are pretty good. Students score just barely above the national average on standardized tests, which gives administrators and teachers bragging rights.  To me, the national average is a disgrace, and scoring 0.1 percentage points above that is nothing to be proud of.  Several years ago, you printed a poem by Charles Osgood about a "pretty good student" in a "pretty good school." Please print it again. I hope our school board, teachers and administration see it and take heed.  John in Grand Junction, Colo.

Dear John: Here it is. Thanks for asking. And I hope every student who considers himself or herself "pretty good" will pay attention.

There once was a pretty good student,

Who sat in a pretty good class

And was taught by a pretty good teacher,

Who always let pretty good pass.

He wasn't terrific at reading,

He wasn't a whiz-bang at math.

But for him, education was leading

Straight down a pretty good path.

He didn't find school too exciting,

But he wanted to do pretty well,

And he did have some trouble with writing,

And nobody had taught him to spell.

When doing arithmetic problems,

Pretty good was regarded as fine.

Five plus 5 needn't always add up to be 10,

A pretty good answer was 9.

The pretty good class that he sat in

Was part of a pretty good school.

And the student was not an exception,

On the contrary, he was the rule.

The pretty good school that he went to

Was there in a pretty good town.

And nobody there seemed to notice

He could not tell a verb from a noun.

The pretty good student in fact was

Part of a pretty good mob.

And the first time he knew what he lacked was

When he looked for a pretty good job.

It was then, when he sought a position,

He discovered that life could be tough.

And he soon had a sneaky suspicion

Pretty good might not be good enough.

The pretty good town in our story

Was part of a pretty good state,

Which had pretty good aspirations,

And prayed for a pretty good fate.

There once was a pretty good nation,

Pretty proud of the greatness it had,

Which learned much too late,

If you want to be great,

Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.

--"The Osgood File," copyright 1986, CBS Inc.

FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  Our advice to our daughters was “do the right thing even if no one is looking”====JACK:  "When no one's looking?"  We used to sing this song as Summer Camp:
"He's got his eye on you; He's got his eye on you.
My Lord, sittin' in the kingdom, He's got his eye on you."

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  If you aren't satisfied with what your best is, then one may want to consider exploring how to make your best better.  Been trying to do that with my golf game for awhile. ====JACK:  Our BEST can be a movable target, changing from day to day and circumstance to circumstance.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  “Always strive to be your best”...something I was told growing up.  Great words!====JACK:  Part of the reason for Winning Words is an attempt bu me to reheat some of those adages that have grown cold with time.

FROM SHALOM JAN:  A retired pastor who served the congregation where I grew up in the shortage of pastors after WW II, driving down from Baltimore, MD to Arlington, VA each Sunday, would stand on the chancel step and talk to the children (no hoards of us running up to the steps).  He said, often enough that it became my mantra, "Do your best; angels can do no better."  That has served me well my whole life.  Jimmy Buffett is planning a concert to benefit one of the Caribbean islands, I forget which, in the hurricane aftermath.  Sometimes rock stars are more charitable than we think, most likely among the "spiritual but not religious" (SPNRs).====JACK:  "It's amazing what miracles and little angels and pure love around you can bring out."   (Tionne Watkins)  All the angels are not necessarily found in church-related places.====JAN:  As my best friend would say, "You got that right!"====JACK:  As a child, did you ever sing this song???..."All night, all day, Angels watching over me, my Lord.  All night, all day, Angels watching over me."