I Want To Be Thankful

I believe that being thankful is one of the most important values a person can have. It is one of the attributes of a good, decent person. From the time that I was a young boy, I have heard my mom say a million times the words, "what are the 'magic' words?" I learned then that the words 'please and thank you' were extremely important. You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with positive thinking in our lives. Here's my take on this subject. If each of us want to raise up good decent children, who will grow up to be exceptional human beings, they need to be grateful. There are very few things, in this world, that are more concerning than the reality of someone who is ungrateful. I have a strong opinion on this topic, but I feel such an urgency when it comes to our own children. I am grateful to Becky for instilling in our children the import that this characteristic will offer throughout their lives. The implementation of this divides the good from the great, in my opinion.

Puts A Smile On My Face

Today, we enjoyed the opportunity to watch a Swim Meet.  I feel impressed to share a couple of observations about things I saw at 'the meet'.  On two different occasions, during a particular heat, I watched an individual have an especially difficult time with their swim using a specific stroke.  They were much slower than the other competitors but they were still required to finish the race as to not let down their teammates or family who were there to support.  It was fun to watch all of the supporters as these individuals finished even through difficulty.
The other observation was the mass amounts of people there to support children, grandchildren, and even friends.  I always like to see support from those that care the very most.
Life, in many ways, is just that--support for one another.  I love to see love extended from one person to the next.  It is a wonderful sight. 
Our family was there to 'cheer on' our two nieces and nephew.  We enjoyed the time we spent there just like everybody else who came to encourage and cheer for those who they love.
And the night was complete at the sight of beautiful fireflies in the warm, humid air of St. Louis, Missouri.
What a time!

The Funniest Things

I love to laugh.  The feeling of being able to relieve the various stresses of life through a loud outburst from a funny joke or something that is said that is unexpected is awesome.  One of my favorite things is to hear something said from one of our children.  When they were young, they had some really funny things to say.
When our oldest was young, she would say something that seemed inappropriate, but funny, and I was quick to correct her.  As time goes on, I have come to realize that there are just some funny things that they say. Some of life's greatest moments have come from the hiliarious things that were said.  Thank heaven for those things.

Drive Because We're Free

I am so thankful that I live in the United States of America, where the freedoms we enjoy are without number.  That is the case today.  We are able to leave and travel without any problems.  We enjoy the blessing of having vehicles that run well and that we can count on to get us to the places that we want to go.  We have family that care for us and take an interest in our lives.  I feel grateful to be a citizen of a land of great promise.  God bless America!

Nothing But The Bottom Of The Net

I don't know how many of you even like the game of basketball but I thought that I would share a little something about the game as it pertains to me and my life. 
The dimensions of a traditional court is ninety-four feet in length by fifty feet in width. Like with anything in life, there are boundaries.  It is expected, by all participants, to abide by the regulations set. 
There are similar boundaries set in our own lives.  As long as certain rules are kept life seems to move forward at a pretty good clip. 
Our lives can be compared, in many ways, to the game of basketball.  There are fundamentals, that if learned, practiced, and then mastered, can aid the player in a higher level of success.  The is precisely the same with life.  There are countless opportunities to become better skilled in a certain area of life.  There are opportunities that require effort but are character builders in the end.
I love to play basketball.  These days, it's really only fun for me to play on the driveway with our kids.  There are fundamentals that can be learned to better hone your own personal skills of the game.
More important than basketball is our ability to master the things of life.  To be the very best you can be!  Day by day, a little at a time, the day will come where self-mastery is the end result.  That will take a lifetime but the hard work in the journey is worth the end result.

Feeling Great!

It's a great feeling to know that I can think clearly. There is a man I work with who struggles with mental issues and I watch him battle through those difficulties with obvious frustration. My health is something that I take for granted every day. I have never had a reason to worry about whether or not I could make good sound decisions. I believe that I say this almost every day, life is great and even in our most challenging times, there are blessings that are ours if we will look for and then recognize them. I know it's late...but I'm feeling great!

Thinking Of Somebody Else First

Another good story to share for those who want to be uplifted.  It gives me great hope for the future when I see these kinds of nice acts.

On Saturday, West Liberty-Salem (Ohio) High junior Meghan Vogel won a state title. Incredibly, that might not even be what she or anyone else remembers most about her day at the Ohio Division III track and field state meet, because she later committed one of the most selfless acts of the year on the track: She stopped running the 3,200-meter final to help along a foe who had collapsed just 20 feet from the finish line. 
As first reported by the Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News, Vogel had already captured the state 1,600-meter title when she came upon Arlington (Ohio) High sophomore Arden McMath near the finish line of the 3,200-meter final. Both Vogel and McMath were out of contention for the medals in the event at that point, and rather than try and make a final, mad dash, Vogel decided she was better served helping ensure McMath made it to the finish line.
"I was kind of blacking out," McMath told the Daily News. "I wasn't too aware of my surroundings. I was just trying to keep going. When my body gave out, she was there. It was amazing.
"I just told her, 'Thank you.' I just couldn't believe she'd done that for me. We're all in it together as distance runners. Everyone is trying to do their best. It's a lot harder on your body than a lot of the other races. We just try to help each other."
The result was nothing short of electrifying, as you can see from the video above. With each step, the cheering crowd at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Stadium seemed to get louder and louder, finally reaching its zenith when McMath crossed the finish line just in front of Vogel.
In fact, even that final finishing order was Vogel's idea; after all, McMath had been ahead of her when she collapsed.
While McMath and her teammates may have been most touched by Vogel's charitable actions, the state champion insisted that she got just as much out of the charitable act.
"Helping her across the finish line was a lot more satisfying than winning the state championship," Vogel told the News-Sun.

Technically, Vogel should have been disqualified for helping McMath, as regulations call for any runners aiding another to be disqualified from their event. Yet, perhaps in line with the spirit of Vogel's touching act, Ohio officials failed to disqualify either runner, with final standings crediting McMath for a 14^th-place finish and showing Vogel crossing the line in 15^th place.
"She could have just gone around Arden," Arlington coach Paul Hunter told the News-Sun. "But she chose to help. I've never seen that at a state meet. That's real sportsmanship."

The future is bright because there are a lot of people who want to do what's right.