Jack’s Winning Words 10/16/20

“When you forgive, you live.  When you let go, you grow.”  (Sent by Sandi)  INC. magazine published an article on How to Be a Better Person.  Practice forgiveness was one suggestion.  Be open to change was another.  Others: Let go of anger - Be honest - Listen to what’s being said -  Be polite and respectful - and there were more.  The point is that we’ve all made mistakes.  If we want to grow beyond our failings and be a better person, it begins with action on our part.  :-)  Jack 

FROM LBP:  Was talking to my pastor a year back about slights that had nagged me for years. She asked me, do you think God forgives you? Do you forgive yourself? Me?!? That stopped me short. What she was hearing was my hang up wasn’t as much the offense toward me but my response to it. Got to forgive and let go of my own slips too.===JACK:  I don't know if you've heard of such a thing as flypaper.  We can be the most loving and kind person, but sometimes it's so hard to practice what we preach.  Things we should let go of hang on like a fly to flypaper.  "All we have sinned and fallen short."  I t reminds me of the pious lady who prayed at the Ladies Aid..."O Lord, forgive my falling shorts."

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  "Love grows when a fault is forgiven.”  Proverbs 17:9===JACK:  One of my favorite Bible books is Proverbs, but I can't remember reading 17:9, at least in that translation.  It's a good one.

FROM NORM'S BLOG:  Letting go. Forgiving. Listening. Being polite and respectful. These are all conscious efforts, but they are not efforts that you must do alone. In the business world there is the concept of having an accountability partner – someone with whom you agree to be completely honest and who agrees to hold you accountable for the things that you commit to do. They make sure that you make the effort to reach the goals that you have shared with them.  In life, one may also have an accountability partner, someone that you trust completely with your life’s secrets; however, I submit that we already have that partner – God. If we are honest with ourselves and God about wanting to be a better person by doing all of the things listed above, then we must hold ourselves accountable to God for what we have accomplished and what we have left undone. We do that through daily prayer, because that is the time when we open ourselves up to God and hold our lives up to His light. It may well be that the thing that we often think of as our conscience – that little voice that we hear inside our head that tells us the difference between right and wrong – is really the voice of God holding us accountable. We know when we haven’t made the effort, because that little voice admonishes us.===JACK:  The ultimate accountability is when we stand before God's judgment seat and we find out that our works have not been enough...that we have to rely on the mercy (grace) of God.  I can't do enough.  There's a song..."My God and I."  God is my partner.  

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  a very good one today,  Jack.  thanks!===JACK:  IMO, a good one fits my needs and causes me to think positively.

FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  You can't pursue a credible future while dragging the past.  No part of your past is more dangerous to your health than unforgiveness or constant prejudging of others' motives. ===JACK:  Yes, it's not good to rely too much on the past...but, since "the past" is responsible for much of who we are today, we can accent the positive and e-lim-i-nate the negative and move on to be a better person.===JON:  Agreed, as I recall in GDBD, I wrote, “Use the past as a reference library, not a place to dwell.  Draggin, around a carpetbag of old grievances, makes life very diffi===JACK:  I like the carpetbag visual.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Which is one of the reasons I would never vote for Trump!!!  He's amoral, a bully, ignorant in handling relationships and working with stafF, etc etc etc.  Never has said, I'm sorry, I  was wrong...:-( !!===JACK:  What would cause you to forgive him?===OAKS:   Certainly nothing he's done so far...although his life doesn't personally impact mine. He just appalls and offends me...daily ! ===JACK:  Not to denigrate what you've written, but WWJD?