Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s level of aspiration and expectation.
Confidence is believing in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win. My confidence was developed through preparation.
Ohio native Jack Nicklaus (born 1940) is considered by many to be the greatest American professional golfer. Born in Columbus and later attending The Ohio State University, his accomplishments are too numerous to count.
Life consumes ups and downs
Warm smiles give way to frowns
One moment pours with joy
Another will annoy
Mountaintop songs swell hearts
Dark valleys tear apart
Tonight’s thunderstorms boom
Tomorrow catches gloom
Miles bridge life’s paradox
Some shine, others break glass
Life’s cycle never halts
Dancing to steady waltz
Time takes different road
Living by rhythmic code
Expectations grin back
Days no longer look black
Morning rain shares rainbow
Outlook blossoms and glows
Love filling empty hearts
Today brings fresh restart
Hourglass never drains out
Happiness transforms drought
Life consumes ups and downs
Now sowing fertile grounds
Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.
When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand.
From James 3:5-6: “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
Children sometimes hearing these words
Sticks and stones may break someone’s bones
But, cruel words shall not hurt thee
Sadly, words can harm like thrown stones
Taming his rough tongue, mankind fails
Harsh words lash out, crushing others
Steers life toward ominous clouds
Disrespecting earthly brothers
Mothers teaching, “Now bite your tongue”
How often must we all forget?
Allowing words to run amuck
Their cold misdeeds, sin’s rising debt
Practice daily, Christ’s “Golden Rule”
Taming tongue, words chosen rightly
No longer curse, but life’s blessing
Words count, so use them politely
From James 3:10-12: “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.”
What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His–completely.
From 2 Chronicles 16:9: “ For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to Him.”
Dreaming of fresh dough
To grocery store for yeast—
Bread shall rise again
Eighty-two years young
Earning high school diploma—
Ageless dreams blossom
Golden harvest waits
Farmer’s efforts rewarded—
Blessed field of dreams
When in doubt, stand still.
Leave every place you go, everything you touch, a little better for you having been there.
I am a solitary man traveling on an empty road
My life journey’s been an awfully heavy load
I yearn to walk a few more miles by the end of this day
My battered and worn shoes have so very much to say
I survive by myself after all of these long years
My past is filled with disappointments and tears
I have met few along this road who even say “hello”
My disheveled appearance keeps eyes looking low
I look ahead to what this day will offer to me
My weakened eyes make it challenging to see
I would welcome a hot meal and a warm shower
My bag of jerky will need to nourish for hours
I feel my energy running low on fuel just the same
My mind tries to stay alert as if playing a new game
I wish to stop by this large sycamore tree
My eyes can rest under its shade for free
I will rest and relax in peace along this quiet road
My journey will soon be finished, yet I never slowed
I will continue my peaceful trek down a lonesome route
My days are numbered, but I remain strong and stout
I am ready to meet my Lord on His righteous terms
His everlasting spirit brings much for me to affirm
The world makes all kinds of promises about love, acceptance, and self-worth, but they never last. Only Jesus can fill our empty souls for eternity.
From John 4:13-14: “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.'”
Papa had always been sort of set in his ways. Some might even say he’d become much too old-fashioned, but he took pride in being thrifty with a dollar.
My brother, Nick, walked up to Papa one afternoon and explained his dilemma, “My old, worn-out phone needs to be replaced. All of the guys at school own a way better one than mine.”
Looking up from his magazine, Papa firmly replied, “Ain’t broke yet!”
A few days later, Mama called out to her husband in a voice filled with distress. Her washing machine was on the fritz . . . again. Papa made a couple of quick fixes, and then told Mama, “Ain’t broke yet!”
Mama always told me, “Papa has always been a penny pincher, just like his dear ol’ Papa.”
A couple of weeks later, the zipper on my outdated winter coat was stuck. Running to Papa, I tried to convince him to buy me a new coat, “Papa, this old coat is just worn out. Don’t you think it’s time to buy me a new one?”
Papa took my coat. After fiddling with the zipper for a couple of minutes, he brought it back to me with a proud smile on his face, “Ain’t broke yet!”
The next morning, Papa was sitting at the breakfast table, and he was looking over the advertisements in the newspaper. A dashing, new pick-up truck caught his eye, and he imagined himself driving it down the street for everyone to see. With his usual humble confidence, he announced to the rest of us, “I am thinking of trading in the ol’ truck for a brand new one. She has quite a few miles on her.”
In unison, we all shouted, “Ain’t broke yet!”
Big Sky Buckeye 