Now Is The Time

I rarely remember my dreams of the night.  This morning, I awakened and my dream of last night was clear.  I want to share some of what I got from that dream.
I spent the night with my mom.  I am blessed that she is still alive, today.  The entire dream was just her and I.  She said something in my dream that resonates in my head.  "The time you spend with your children, now, is more important than anything else you can do."  Now let me clarify to you that the thing of greatest import to my mom is the relationship she has with my dad.  If that is healthy and strong then everything that follows, will be too.  So what she told me in my dream comes after her relationship with my dad but I already knew that beforehand.
I have spent some time thinking about my dream.  When I was a kid my parents did a really good job at rendering support.  I remember a time in junior high when I received an academic award.  That award was given to me in front of all of my piers, in a school assembly.  My name was called to receive the award.  I accepted it from the school principal and as I looked out into the audience, I saw my mom sitting in the back of the gymnasium with all of the other parents.  I wasn't aware that she knew about the award.  I was overjoyed.  My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. 
That is only one instance of the support I received.
There are many things that can occupy our time.  You can begin to list them one by one.  I must say that when it comes to the support that our kids need, right now, those other things seem very insignificant.
I read an article that stated one of the greatest heartaches that teenagers currently feel.  They don't feel like their mom and dad are really there.  There is a lack of support because everything else in life has pushed parenting to the background.
I have long held out the opinion that while our kids are at home, I need to take every opportunity to attend their various functions to lend my support.
Our youngest daughter, Laurel, and I walked down the Jr. High School hallway, this week, and visited with each of her school teachers.  It was parent/teacher conference time at the school.  Becky and I alternate going to parent/teacher conferences.  It give us both the chance to visit with and get to know them better.  It also shows the teachers that we have something invested in our kids education.  I was so grateful for Laurel's efforts to be a great student.  I felt a great deal of gratitude for the teacher's efforts in teaching Laurel.
Becky and I believe that the support we give to our children will instill in them the belief and confidence that they can achieve anything if they want it bad enough.
So back to my dream.  My mom said to me, in my dream, that she was proud of the efforts that I was making in teaching my(our) children by the example they were seeing. 
Let me say this.  There isn't a project in this world that is important enough to overshadow the desire to support your children.  Another professional sporting event will be on the television tomorrow.  Turn off the T.V. and spend some time with your son or daughter.  The PlayStation can wait for another time.  Grab your bikes and a ball or two and make your way over to the elementary school playground.  When school is out, there is no one there.  The playground awaits you!  A Big Gulp is in your future.  Ask your teenage son to go for a ride with you in the car.  He's got a lot on his mind.  Take some time, today, to listen to him.  He needs a listening ear not a talking mouth.  Although it may not interest you, your teenage daughter wants to tell you of her future aspirations.  Take the time to hear all about today's cutest boy. 
The key is time.  Throw aside all of the worthwhile distractions and spend the time that is the most needed, right now.
There aren't any of us that have perfected what my mom taught me in my dream of the night.  She doesn't even know how important her insight is to me--and that was in a dream.  I love her so much and I have and will always value her opinion.
We need to give a special concerted effort to using the 'now' time.  I will do it and I hope you will too.

Service With A Smile

When I was a young boy, our family planned an evening when we could go help an elderly woman in town.  She was Aunt Jessie to everyone who knew her.
She was in her early nineties and still drove her car.  She was blessed with strength and a great amount of determination to press forward in life.
We got to her house and we were each given an assignment of what to do in her yard.  We were there to clean things up a bit in her yard.
My parents always taught us the importance of hard work.  It was fun to work together to accomplish a project, especially one that would help someone else.
I can remember the feeling I had as we worked together.  We were able to pull weeds from the flower beds.  The lawns needed to be mowed and my dad took care of that including edging the grass next to the sidewalk.  It was a memorable project.  Aunt Jessie was pleased with our efforts and she wasn't shy about letting us know how thankful she was for all that we did.
I enjoy helping other people out.  The feeling that I get while serving someone else is a special one.
Service is the sure way to bring a smile on someone's face.  It puts a smile on the face of the one rendering the kind act. 
You can't ever serve too much.  Give it a try today.  Your day will be brighter, guaranteed!

Follow The Sign

I was driving down the freeway today and I passed many different signs with various directional information for all drivers.  I thought about the importance of the signs but because I drive the same exact way to and from work, I never pay attention to the signs.
I have thought about this same scenario when it comes to every day life.  I thought about the many signs in my own life that point to various things that are important to a happy and safe life.
Let's talk, for a minute, about a few of those signs that should be important to me and maybe will be of benefit to you.
Because my family is extremely important to me, I automatically think about the signs that keep me grounded and headed in the direction that will keep us together, happily.  I make a concerted effort to always be where I say I am.  That means that if I am going to late home from work that I inform Becky and then I am either at work finishing some last minute things or I am somewhere else.  But being anywhere else than where I say I am going to be, is not an option.  That 'sign' keeps trust fully intact with no wondering questions to be asked.
In our home, we have a standing rule that when anyone is on the computer they have to be out in the open.  There are never any questions about the content being viewed.  Following that sign keeps our spirits healthy and strong.
I talk a lot about our marriage.  It is extremely important to me in my life.  The signs that are influential in creating and maintaining a great marriage state words on them such as, "Speak kindly to each other all of the time."  "Compliment Regularly."  "Be Positive."  "Have a Great Time."  Liking each other is as important as Loving."  "Date. Date. Date"  These things are just a few of the keys to a successful recipe of a happy marriage.
The signs in our lives will keep us focused on the things that are the most important.  I am committed to doing these things, and more to make life the best that it can be.

Give Him The Ball

You know by now that I love good stories that motivate.  I love this one and it seems appropriate for today.

CBS) It was the stuff of Hollywood, but it was real.

Senior Jason McElwain had been the manager of the varsity basketball team of Greece Athena High School in Rochester, N.Y.

McElwain, who's autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team's last game of the year.

Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time.

He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes go to.

And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot (video), for a total of 20 points in three minutes.

"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire."

"I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill."

The crowd went wild, and his teammates carried the excited McElwain off the court.

"I felt like a celebrity!" he beamed.

McElwain's mother sees it as a milestone for her son.

"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself," reflects Debbie McElwain. "I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it."

His teammates couldn't be happier.

"He's a cool kid," says guard Levar Goff. "You just get to know him, get used to being around him. A couple of weeks ago, he missed practice because he was sick. You feel different when he's not around. He brings humor and life to the team."

Jason's next goal: to graduate.


We can do anything we want to do, no matter how impossible it may seem.  I love real life stories that illustrate one's hope to conquer the world.

It's every day life and we are all a part of it!

Everyone Is Different

The reality of life is that everyone is different.  Sometimes that can be a difficult thing and most times that is a great part of life. 
I recently learned a valuable lesson.  It doesn't matter whether it is at work, church or anything else.  When people are involved,(that would be every part of our lives)there are disagreements about the way things are done.  Our personalities are just so different. 
The part of this that I love the most is that our differences also play an important role in the happiest moments of our existence. 
I want to learn all that I can learn.  That happens with the many associations I have with different people.  I am trying to be tolerant of all people no matter if I agree with the way they do things or not.  I want to be someone who can get along with everyone.  That is hard to do. 
I am grateful for those people who I love the very most. 
I realize more than ever the great sense of humor that God must have.  I look at who I am and realize that He really must be a funny person.
I want to be accepting of all people.  It doesn't mean that I will always agree with everything that everyone does.  But I understand that others don't agree with the way I do things.  Our individual personalities make the world go around.
This is a great life and I'm glad to be a part!

The Joy of Time Spent

I have told you before how grateful I am for my dad.  When I was a young boy, my dad taught me to ride a bike.  It was a memorable occasion, I am told.  I don't remember much about the day but one thing that is clear in my mind is the apprehension that I felt with learning something new.
Think about when you first learned to ride a bike.
My dad held on to the back of the bike seat and followed along probably letting go, momentarily, to watch me unknowingly ride under my own power without my knowledge of what was really happening behind me.  The panic would set in when I somehow suspected what he was doing.  Then everything went wrong and I would lose my balance and end up on the ground.  He would encourage me to just keep riding without looking back.  That sounded good but there isn't a kid on the planet that understands that sound advice and believes what is being told to him, at the time, and that was the same way with me.
I am grateful to parents who always spent meaningful time with me and my siblings.  I rode a bike just a few days ago.  I even did it without running into something on the side of the road.  Our boys are impressed, at times, that their dad can ride a bike.  Quite frankly, I'm impressed too.
Those days of the past are neat to remember.  My parents could probably tell you a lot better version of the story but suffice it to say...I learned how to ride and I have never forgotten its skill.
Keep on riding and keep making the memories that last for a lifetime.

Going Forward With Faith

I sat in church today, feeling especially grateful for the blessings that are showered upon me in my life.  My Heavenly Father, and His Son, care about me a great deal--and I can feel it.
I need to mention a couple of personal things that I feel in my heart.
This Wednesday, my oldest niece enters the Missionary Training Center, in Provo, Utah.  She is about to embark on one of the greatest adventures she will ever have.  It will be her privilege to serve as a full-time missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called to labor in the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.  I love her and I am extremely grateful that she has decided to go and serve.
Because of her upcoming opportunity, I have thought about some of my own experiences as a missionary.
I attended a missionary conference where Elder Robert Dellanbach, who was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  When he spoke, he reminded me of my own dad.  He was loving and sincere in the delivery of his message.  He challenged us to go home, that evening, and express our gratitude for all that we had in our lives, in our personal prayers. 
I accepted his challenge.  I knelt down on my knees and began to thank my Heavenly Father for everything that He had blessed me with.  When I closed my prayer and opened my eyes, the night had passed completely and the sun was beginning to rise.  I had spent the night on my knees in prayer.  I still had energy to go throughout the day.  I felt grateful to have had that experience.  It taught me that I was extremely blessed.
No matter what the circumstances are in life and no matter how difficult things seem to be, Elder Dellenbach's challenge is still very real.  Take the opportunity to thank heaven for all of the good that you have in your life.  You might be very surprised.
I am committed to move forward, in faith.