Month: February 2025

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.

Two goldfish are having a conversation in a fishbowl. The first goldfish says “I don’t believe there is a God. How can I believe in someone I never see?” To which the second goldfish replies “Oh yeah? Well, if there’s no God, who changes the water every week?”

They didn’t have it exactly right, but they were on the right track. We may not see God, but we can recognize Him by what He does. He will prove His existence to you today…..if you’re paying attention.

The median age of people in the United States is 38 years old. That means there are roughly the same amount of Americans under 38, as there are over it. Most would consider 38 to be quite young. So you might as well get used to it. The country skews young. In fact, it always has. In 1960 the median age was 30.

Instead of resenting the young for their independence, energy and freedom, embrace them. Be the person you would like them to become. They still have many choices to make in life. Show them what the right choices look like.

There’s nothing quite so amazing in this world as laughter. No matter what it does to us, we still feel happy. If you’ve ever experienced something that sent you into uncontrollable laughter, you understand this.

Prolonged, intense laughing will eventually confuse your brain so much that you will begin to shed tears, which usually indicates the opposite emotion. Because laughter involves expelling air, ultimately you will get short of breath. At a certain point you will begin to clutch your sides because heavy laughter makes your ribs hurt. Isn’t it strange that, despite all of these physical developments, we remain euphoric and upbeat.

So find something that makes you laugh today. Make someone else laugh. It hurts so good.

There is now an actually recognized psychological condition known as Facebook Depression. Studies have shown that people who spend the most time on Facebook tend to be less satisfied with their lives. It’s understandable. A constant diet of reading how perfect everybody else’s lives, kids and experiences are can certainly make you wonder why your life isn’t that happy and great. Or scanning a daily dose of posts from those who are sick, or who have lost loved ones, or who spew political hate, can surely get you down.

On the other hand, studies also show that those who spend more time reading the Bible and praying tend to feel happier and more at peace with their lives.

In ten to fifteen years self-driving cars are expected to become common on our streets and highways. Imagine that. Being able to just tell your vehicle where you want to go, and then completely surrendering control over your travel to a machine, trusting it will get you there safely and on time. Chances are we won’t understand the technology nor the workmanship required to build such a car. But that won’t matter to us. We’ll put complete faith in it anyway.

God would like to be your driver. Unlike your car, you don’t have to tell Him where you need to go. He already knows. In fact, he’s already trying to take you there right now.