Friday, June 27, 2014

Our Impact


Cue the scary music! When you hear it in the movies, you know something’s about to happen. I could have used the music this week when I made “the discovery.” As I was driving down the road, a bird swooped low, crossing in front of my vehicle.  I braced for the deadly thump, but nothing happened. I expected to see the bird continue its flight path, it didn’t and I drove on. Brace yourself. Cue the scary music!
The next day I glanced down and spotted two, tiny bird feet and a clump of feathers sticking out from my front bottom vent. The bird from the prior day hadn’t flown past me, but ended up lodged in my vehicle like some weird car ornament. Poor bird! After a third peek at the car vent, I found that the bird had fallen out. There’s a moral to the story and it goes like this:
                              http://youtu.be/PFxqDQ_A2OM
We don’t want to end up like the poor bird that flew too low and suffered for it. Instead let’s aim high to reach our goals. People often talk about fulfilling their life purpose. What’s yours and are you willing to aim high?  

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Under Surveillance


Our cat went “off the grid” by wiggling out of her collar three times this week. A bell attached to her collar is our radar tracker. It warns us of her presence, but without it she follows us undetected until the last minute when we turn around and stumble over her.   If she’s wearing her collar, we don’t have to follow her to know when she’s wrestling with a toy or jumping onto the window sill. We can tell by the type of jingles. These days she’s not the only one under surveillance. Have a listen:

                             http://youtu.be/Ze5eDmGX-lc

I can’t imagine hearing a mysterious voice from a faraway office scolding me for dropping trash or jaywalking. The video resembles a scene from a dystopian movie, not reality in 2014.  Welcome to the future—or is it? Maybe the future is now. How do you feel about being under someone’s watchful eye?     

         

Saturday, June 14, 2014

That’s No Bull



If you’re concerned about rising milk prices, you’re not alone. During a family discussion about high milk prices, one of our kids suggested we get a cow. Why not? We’d have free milk and free mowing whenever the cow grazed on the lawn. We could use the manure for fertilizer and sell the leftovers. If cow ownership doesn’t work out, there’s always beef for dinner. My husband pointed out a few potential problems with buying a cow, but one of our kids politely suggested that he shouldn’t be so negative.  We didn’t arrive at a final decision on the cow purchase, but since we live in the suburbs and not on a farm—I  don’t see our idea moving forward, however here’s one idea that did: 


 Syd just bought a cow! Congratulations, Syd! What a great lesson. I wonder if she understands the full implications of her purchase because it sounds like she can anticipate a lot of work and big payoffs once they sell the calves. It pays to weigh the pros and cons before jumping into new situations. What situation required you to weigh the positives and negatives before making a major decision? How did everything turn out?        

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Not A Good Thing


You probably know people who dislike certain foods. Maybe they avoid eating sweets or meats. We have a young person in our family who shies away from vegetables. When a certain someone lingered at the dinner table long after everyone else had gone, l wasn’t too surprised to hear, “Is it wrong to put corn in my pocket?” I think we can all agree that it’s not a good thing. We’ve all tried to avoid something by hiding it. The reality is that hiding doesn’t make the situation go away. Consider this question:    

             http://youtu.be/WEhNME4zwBE

Every day we allow various activities to keep us busy—work, hobbies, eating, exercising, social media, meeting with friends, listening to music, watching TV, surfing the web. Any one of those activities can be good or bad, but how many of them are helping us to hide from issues in life? Pause for a moment. Settle yourself with a deep breath. Is there an issue that you’ve been hiding or avoiding that needs your attention? It’s not a good thing to keep pushing it aside. So, what is a better way to deal with it?