Tom's Message: The Five Things
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an awesome Friday! And now that the snow's all sloshed away, we can all live by the motto of the state of Wisconsin...
"Forward!"
The Tennessee state motto for last week could have been "Sideways!" or "Nowhere!" or "Spin In Place!"
I was looking up state mottos and there are some sweet ones and some weird ones and some real doozies!
South Carolina has a good one! South Carolina’s is: “Dum Spiro Spero”, or as we would say in our language, “When I breathe, I hope”. That’s what a motto’s supposed to be! Encouraging, inspiring, even if nobody really knows what it means!
Michigan’s is nice! “Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam, Circumspect!”, or “If you’re looking for a pleasant peninsula, look around you!” (If it wasn’t in Latin, everyone would know it’s about the nicest of all the fifty mottoes!)
Some are a little tough to understand.
Like North Carolina…”Esse Quam Videri”…”To be rather than to seem”…??
Or Oregon…”Alis Volat Propriis”…”She flies with her own wings”…Huh?
Maryland’s is in old 16th century medieval Italian (for some reason!)…and nobody really knows why they chose it!
“Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine”…or, “Manly deeds, womanly words”…
(If it was in English, there’d be some explainin’ to do!)
Our state is awesome!
Our motto is boring!
“Agriculture and Commerce”...zzz...zzzzz...
(I thought it had to be like a whole sentence!)
My fav is Hawaii…”Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono”…
”The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”…Now, that’s a motto!
Y’know, Alcoholics Anonymous quietly helps thousands and thousands everyday across our nation and around the world. AA is based on simple,consistent truths. Many are expressed in mottos or sayings that are so short and so true!
“You’ll get sober when you’re sick ‘n tired of being sick ‘n tired”…
"The elevator's going down and you get to decide what floor you're getting off on."
“Daniel didn’t go back into the lions’ den to get his hat”…
“We’re only as sick as our secrets”
“Self-pity says, ‘Poor me, poor me, pour me a drink.’ ”
“When you give a talk at AA, the rules are three: Be brief, Be interesting, and Be seated!”
I have a few I live by myself…
I was sharing them Wednesday with some new friends we've made out at a center for brave men and women in recovery.
I was telling them that it's good to have a few words you can remember when the battle gets loud and confusing.
I shared with them how I had recently heard someone say that he asked a crowd in a talk he gave, "If you were nine years old and burst into flames, what would you do?"
"Stop! Drop! And roll!", they all yelled.
Everyone knew the answer.
"How many of you have ever had to do that?"
No one had.
"BUT...if you HAD, you woulda known exactly what to do!! You had a plan! You've gotta get an easy-to-remember plan!"
So I shared with them the five sayings that I've needed and came up with and that I often repeat to myself.
(If I’m having a bad day, it’s usually because I’ve forgotten one of these)…
“My fight is for joy.”
“My job is to serve”
“My goal is to please God”
“My strength is weakness”
And the one that has been helping me most lately is…
“My time is today!”
This is the only day I have to live in!
I can’t live in the past and fix it.
I can’t live in the future and prepare it!
The only day I need to think about is this one!
I can love people…TODAY!
I can only be kind…TODAY!
I can trust Jesus…TODAY!
I can say “Yes!” to Him…TODAY!
I can please Him…TODAY!
I can laugh…TODAY!
I can be someone’s friend…TODAY!
All the possibilities I have for joy are found in one word: “Today!”
Regrets (about the past) and worry (about the future) are the two that send me sideways or keep me spinning in place.
But when I remember that simple motto...
"My time is today!", I can go where they go in Wisconsin!
"Forward!"