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Do other people think you are a nice person? Can you pass the nice test?

Find someone you see every day. Could be a spouse, a child, a friend, a co-worker. This time when you see them, make it a point to compliment them about something. Anything. Maybe her hair looks nice today. Maybe he’s wearing a handsome sweater. Just make it positive.

Take note of their reaction. If they act surprised, it means they’re not used to compliments from you. You failed the nice test. However, if they just smile and say “thank you”, it indicates they are accustomed to your thoughtfulness. You passed.

I still love the old westerns on TV. It’s always easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. And the good guys always win in the end. Sheriff Matt Dillon always prevailed, to the delight of Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke. Hoss and Little Joe always got the upper hand when defending the Ponderosa on Bonanza. Chuck Connors couldn’t miss with that sawed off weapon on The Rifleman.

These days the messages being sent by many of the new TV shows are mixed and confusing. Not only do the good guys not always win, but often it’s difficult to tell which ones they are. But no matter how much our world is changing, right is still right and wrong is still wrong. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger always understood that.

And we should too.

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and located the North Star? You can find it extending from the outer edge of the bowl of the Big Dipper. But when you see it, you are looking at the distant past. It has taken the light from Polaris (the North Star) 433 years to reach your eyes.

One day, Polaris will burn out and disappear, but when it’s gone it will still leave a 433 year legacy of light for the people of earth to enjoy. What kind of legacy will you leave behind? And how long will it last? Will your children, grandchildren and generations to come benefit from your example?

Be a North Star. You won’t be here forever, but your influence can shine long after you depart.

Only one out of ten people is left-handed. Lefties are much different from the more common righties. They need different scissors, different notebooks, different golf clubs, different guitars, different baseball gloves and different computer keyboards, just to mention a few issues. Even shaking hands with a lefty is awkward.

Yet lefties and righties have no trouble living together in peace and harmony. Somehow we manage to put this considerable difference aside and get along. We’ve decided it’s just not that big of a deal, and certainly not worth hating over. Lefties and righties need each other and are much more effective together.

So why is it harder when it comes to race, politics and income level?

We went to one of those off Broadway plays downtown. It was a wonderful performance by the entire cast. At the end, the individual actors took turns taking a bow. All were cheered loudly, except the man who played the bad guy. His applause was muted, and there were even some boos from the audience. He flashed a big smile at the reaction.

He had done his job so well, he actually convinced some of the crowd he was a bad person. Must have been a weird feeling, knowing you did good, but not getting the credit for it. Still, the other actors and the director knew he was excellent, and that’s all that mattered.

Kind of like our relationship with God.

I have a friend who can lick her elbow. That’s very rare. Only a few people can do it. You have to have short upper arms and a longer than average tongue to pull it off. My friend calls it “her special talent.”

When I try to do it, the only thing I accomplish is straining the muscles in the back of my neck. Clearly, I don’t have this special talent. I can do something else, though. I can pop my shoulder to make a clicking noise. I guess that’s my special talent, but I would like to think I also have some sort of ability to do something that is a little more beneficial to humanity.

We all have that special something. You have been blessed with something unique that you can use to enhance the life of others. You already know what it is. It’s time to use it.

Just don’t pull any muscles in the process.

The richest person in the United States is Elon Musk. According to reports, he is believed to be worth $474 billion dollars. To put that into perspective, if he liquidated all of his assets, he could spend one million dollars every day for 1,298 years, and still have money left over.

The problem is, he won’t live 1,298 years. No matter how much money he spends, he will still have a normal life span, likely somewhere between 80 and 100 years. And when his time has come, he will answer to the same God as you and me, and will be judged by the same standard.

The amount of your money and possessions are irrelevant to your eternal future. How you used them will be what matters.

How many times have you heard the term “Mother Nature”? Who is this woman? Where does she live? What does she do?

Mother Nature is the term given to the perfect design and order of all that exists. The dictionary calls it a “personification”. That means attributing human qualities to something that is not human. For example, “The flowers danced in the breeze”.

There are those who think Jesus is a personification. But where there is design and order, there must be a designer. Science tells us nothing can create itself, much less create with perfect order. Jesus is not a personification. He is the real Mother Nature. Ironically, Jesus loved to personify, as when he told the Pharisees that, if they stopped people from proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, “the rocks will cry out.” (Luke 19:40)

Sometimes, in our world today, you can almost hear them sobbing.

I’m watching young children play organized basketball. Most of them don’t want to dribble the ball. They just run down the court and shoot. The parents and the grandparents seated in the bleachers applaud and cheer loudly for the kids who score a basket. But not the coaches.

The coaches make it a point to cheer and give high-fives to the kids who unselfishly pass the ball to a teammate, allowing someone else to get the glory. In its own small way, the game will teach these little tots the importance of sharing your opportunities and blessings with others. A virtue that will bring them much joy and peace throughout their lives.

Pass the ball to somebody today.

Studies show that most of the time your first impressions of a person are wrong. I can’t tell you how often I have encountered someone who immediately struck me as unfriendly, snobby or aloof. But when an opportunity comes to have a conversation with them, and you actually get to know them a bit, they turn out to be completely different.

Some people are just not comfortable breaking the ice. They’re not sure what to say, so they say nothing, making them seem stand-offish. Or they may be focused on another conversation at the moment, and don’t realize you are feeling left out.

Try to hold off on judgement. Give someone a second chance to impress you. Chances are, they will.