Jack’s Winning Words 7/24/20
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”  (Sent by Robin Klehr)  Psychologist Jim Taylor asks, “What’s the worst emotion you’ve experienced…fear, anger, sadness?  For most of his clients, it’s regret.  Shoulda!  But a new day dawns.  We’re given a chance to make a new start and to do better.  Replace coulda in your life with gonna.  I’m gonna do better starting today.  With God’s help, I’m gonna!  ;-)  Jack

FROM SK IN SJ:  I love that message. It’s a message of hope. We have a new day to do better. Thank you for an inspiring message.===JACK:  In these days of so much unrest, I think that messages of hope are needed.

FROM NORM'S BLOG:  We often spend too much of our lives regretting the things that we might have done differently in the past and not enough time thinking about doing things differently in the future. Freed recommended saying to yourself, ”with God’s help I’m gonna…”  One needs to deal with the fact that in the instances in your life when you coulda, woulda, shoulda, you didn’t. The best way to deal with that is to forgive yourself and move on to the gonnas that are still ahead of you. For people who cannot find a way to forgive themselves the ending is often depression or worse – suicide. Those are endings that must be changed.  You prefaced the words “I’m gonna” with the phrase “with God’s help” and that is the best way to begin. Every week in our church service (now on video during the Corona Virus Pandemic) one of the first things that we do is a confession of sins and an ask for forgiveness. It is easy to understand that one’s coulda, woulda, shoulda’s are sins of either commission or omission – we state it as “things done and left undone”.  After admitting our sins the Pastor exercises his authority, thorough Jesus Christ, to forgive them.===JACK:  I don't think that the scholars who write the liturgies we use in church would use shoulda and gonna, but we common people know what they mean. 

FROM LBP:  I think this one needs to go on my wall===JACK:  On my wall is: If it weren't for the last minute I wouldn't get anything done.