There was once a man and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.
In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of money totaling $25,000. He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she said, “My grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily.”
The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. “Honey,” he said, “that explains the doilies, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?” “Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the doilies.”
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Moan and groan—how many of you know people that all they do is moan and groan? People say I’m not happy with my job. They say 87% of the people go to job that they hate. We have the dubious distinction in this country that on Monday morning between 6 an 9AM the heart attack rate increases over 35%!! People going to jobs that they hate. Their hearts tell them didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to go and they attack them?I can imagine that some of y’all don’t want to go to work next Monday.
People all they do is moan and groan. I’m not making enough money, I’m unhappy with my job! So, the thing about it is this…. all some people do is moan and groan.
I heard a story about some men on a porch. A man was walking by and heard the dog howling and whining. He asked the men why the dog was whining. They said he was laying on a nail. The man asked them why the dog didn’t get off the nail. He said because it wasn’t hurting enough.
I heard someone say that God gave us Ten Commandments but if He has given an eleventh it would have been “Thou Shall Not Bellyache”
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
I have written a lot lately about animals and insects because they are so amazing. When they come to earth they are hardwired with what they need. Nobody tells the birds that it’s time to fly south for the winter. They just come with the knowledge that they need.
Man, when he arrives on the other hand, only knows how to cry when he is hungry and not much else. Everything else is learned.
I know there’s many versions of the eagle and the chicken but I will tell the version that I know. An eagle’s egg got mixed up with some chicken eggs. It hatched out with some of the other chickens. Since the eagle couldn’t see himself he thought that he was a chicken. He pecked on the ground and only jumped a few feet. He imitated everything he saw his brothers and sisters do.
One day, while outside with his mother, he saw a majestic eagle fly above them. He wished so much that he could do that and fly so high. He told his mother that he would give about anything to be an eagle and be able to fly that high! She told him that he was a chicken and would always be a chicken.
You could be an eagle if you wouldn’t be so much of a chicken!!
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
I am reminded of the man who lost his luggage on a transcontinental flight. Upon arriving at his destination and discovering that his bags had not, this man made his way to the airline’s claim office, where he caused a scene.
The employee recording his information “patiently endured the angry tirade until the passenger accused her of personal incompetence.
“Sir,” she answered, “no one knows where your baggage is yet. At the moment, only two people in the whole world even care where it is—and one of us is rapidly losing interest!”
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
As you are reading this I am sure some of you have strained relationships that need fixing and have needed fixing for such a long time. Fathers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters, good friends who haven’t spoken or have avoided each other for a long, long time. Why don’t you just pick up the phone if they are not near you, or better still, Go and see them if possible.
If I could say something that would prick the heart and conscience of just one person reading this , I would feel like its existence would be well worth it!
Hasn’t your separation gone on long enough? Some of you have even forgotten what it was all about, and why it even happened.
I don’t know why you feel the way you do but I do know that it’s not worth it.
We should treat every living person as if they would be gone from this earth within the next twenty four hours.
The person that you have a strained relationship with may very well be gone within twenty four hours. In the cemetery there will be apologies never made and forgiveness never given.
You may not see the bars and no one else may not be able to see them but you’re in prison all the same. Oh I’m not saying that you don’t ever get out or ever get away from those bars. But like a caged animal you eventually come back to your cage.
I hate for something so small to make you a little person when you could’ve been something big. Don’t you hate for something to have such a hold on you that it wounded you and rendered you helpless.
Friend I know it looks like a mountain and looks so hopeless and helpless. I would love to see the handcuffs and shackles fall off you at this very moment and you be free.
Don’t tell me that you are getting accustomed to this and you are actually enjoying it. Don’t tell me that you have wallowed in this for so long that you are actually getting comfortable in wallowing?
When Moses went before the pharaoh and asked to let God’s people go, God sent plagues to the Egyptians.
One of the plagues was frogs. Pharaoh said that he would let the people go. Moses asked him when did he want the frogs to leave. Pharaoh told Moses tomorrow.
To me this is unbelievable and unacceptable to be willing to live with the frogs another day. I wouldn’t want the frogs in my bed and in my stove another night.
When are you gonna forgive,tomorrow? You are willing to sleep with unforgiveness another night and wallow in stubbornness?
I can just almost hear your thoughts. You want to know if I am asking you to forgive when you know you are in the right. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing, because you can have the right away in an automobile and still be killed.
Oh, I’m doing all right you may be saying. Oh really, whether you know it or not you are dying by degrees.
Besides this you may be killing the other person as well. Why don’t you give the gift that keeps on giving, forgiveness!
You may be praying that they will come to you and start the process of forgiving. And they may be praying that you may come to them and start the process of forgiving.
You’d better hurry or you just want to let them beat you out in being the bigger person!
If I had acid in my hand that I was going to pour on you for something you had done, my hand would be eaten up before I could get it on you. That’s what’s going on in your heart it’s gonna kill you and eat you up before it gets to him or her.
How about laying your weapon of unforgiveness down and go to that person unarmed?
When you go seek to understand first and then be understood later! I just feel like someone is going to take me up on this. When your chains fall off of you would you please email me and tell me that you’re free at encourager98@yahoo.com? I would like to celebrate with you!!
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Father to his son: don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do something…. not even me.
If you have a dream…. you have to protect it! When people can’t do something themselves .. they want to tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something go get it, period.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond. measure! Is our light not our darkness is that for most frightens us. You’re playing small does not serve the
world there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were all meant to shine as children do. It’s not distant some of us it’s in everyone. As we unconsciously let our own light shine we give others permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear. Our presence automatically liberates others. In this lifetime, you don’t have to prove anything to nobody except yourself!! You need to keep negotiating with your mind to find more strength…. but you keep going.
Dream big, don’t ever give up. Help other people achieve success and you will be successful! The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books –how not to eat what you’ve just learned how to cook.
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Father to his son: don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do something…. not even me.
If you have a dream…. you have to protect it! When people can’t do something themselves .. they want to tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something go get it, period.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond. measure! Is our light not our darkness is that for most frightens us. You’re playing small does not serve the
world there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were all meant to shine as children do. It’s not distant some of us it’s in everyone. As we unconsciously let our own light shine we give others permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear. Our presence automatically liberates others. In this lifetime, you don’t have to prove anything to nobody except yourself!! You need to keep negotiating with your mind to find more strength…. but you keep going.
Dream big, don’t ever give up. Help other people achieve success and you will be successful! The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books –how not to eat what you’ve just learned how to cook.
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Imagine you had a bank account that deposited $86,400 each morning. The account carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every dollar each day!
We all have such a bank. Its name is Time. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever time you have failed to use wisely. It carries over no balance from day to day. It allows no overdraft so you can’t borrow against yourself or use more time than you have. Each day, the account starts fresh. Each night, it destroys an unused time. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, it’s your loss and you can’t appeal to get it back.
There is never any borrowing time. You can’t take a loan out on your time or against someone else’s. The time you have is the time you have and that is that. Time management is yours to decide how you spend the time, just as with money you decide how you spend the money. It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do them and where they fall in our priorities.
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
A man and his wife had been arguing all night, and as bedtime approached neither was speaking to the other. It was not unusual for the pair to continue this war of silence for two or three days, however, on this occasion the man was concerned; he needed to be awake at 4:30am the next morning to catch an important flight, and being a very heavy sleeper he normally relied on his wife to wake him.
Cleverly, so he thought, while his wife was in the bathroom, he wrote on a piece of paper: ‘Please wake me at 4:30am – I have an important flight to catch’. He put the note on his wife’s pillow, then turned over and went to sleep.
The man awoke the next morning and looked at the clock. It was 8:00am. Enraged that he’d missed his flight, he was about to go in search of his errant wife to give her a piece of his mind, when he spotted a hand-written note on his bedside cabinet.
The note said: ‘It’s 4:30am – get up.’
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Don’t underestimate the power of the word. The movie, Stand And Deliver portrayed the story of Jaime Escalante who was an incredibly successful teacher in a rough high school. In his class were two students named Johnny. One was a bright student and a joy to teach. The other wasted his talent and bucked authority.
At the first PTA meeting for parents, Johnny’s mother asked Jaime for a report on her soni’s progress. Jaime’s reply was, “Johnny is a joy to have in my class. I’m glad he is there.” The next day, rebellious Johnny walked into the classroom with a new attitude and demeanor. He ran up to Mr. Escalante and said, “My mom told me what you said about me. I’ve never had a teacher who wanted me.” He became a model student.
Mr. Escalante had thought that Johnny’s mother was the mother of his best student. His comments were meant for the other Johnny but the results were dramatic. The word -spoken at the right moment -carefully crafted -caused dramatic change. Encourage someone. Ah, communication is an art!
Excerpt from “Live First, Die Last” by J D Canter
Check Out Books By J D Canter in Amazon And Kindle
Start Your Day Off Right 