A Fisherman Story



A fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out the reason why the fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.
"You aren't going to catch many fish that way." Said the businessman to the fisherman.
"You should be working rather than lying on the beach!"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?"
"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" The businessman answered.
"And then what will my reward be?" Asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!"
"And then what will my reward be?" Asked the fisherman again.
The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions.
"You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" He said.
"And then what will my reward be?" Repeated the fisherman.
The businessman was becoming angry.
"Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world and let all your employees catch fish for you!"
Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. And going on from there He saw two brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

Matthew 4:18-22

Every Job is a Self-Portrait of the Person Who Does It

Autograph your work with excellence.

Someone once asked All Jolson, a popular musical comedy star of the twenties, what he did to warm up a cold audience.  Jolson answered, "whenever I go out before an audience and don't get the response I feel that I ought to get...I don't go back behind the scenes and say to myself, 'That audience is dead from the neck up-it's a bunch of wooden nutmegs.  No, instead I say to myself, 'Look here, Al, what is wrong with you tonight?  the audience is all right, but you're all wrong, Al."

Many a performer has blamed a poor showing on an audience.  Al Jolson took a different approach.  He tried to give the best performance of his career to his coldest, most unresponsive audiences....and the result was that before an evening was over, he had them applauding and begging for more.

You'll always be able to find excuses for mediocrity.  In fact, a person intent on justifying a bad performance usually has excuses lined up before the final curtain falls.  Choose instead to put you full energy into your performance.  Your extra effort will turn an average performance into something outstanding.

Ah!...the joys of a job well done...that is true satisfaction!

"Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all."

Proverbs 31:29

Be Like a Postage Stamp---

Stick to One Thing Till You Get There.



All her life, Veronica worked in jobs that served other people but gave her little personal satisfaction.  As a young girl, she missed a lot of school to take care of her younger siblings and help with the family business.  Consequently, she never learned to read.

After getting married, she worked as a cook in a restaurant, memorizing ingredient labels and recipes to conceal her illiteracy.  Every day she lived in fear of making a mistake, while dreaming of one day being able to read.

A serious illness put Veronica in the hospital and then at home for a long recovery.  Her health improved some, but not enough for her to go back to work.  She saw this time as her opportunity to learn to read and enrolled in the adult reading program.

Veronica's new reading skills boosted her confidence and she got involved in her church and in organizing community activities.  She wrote a prize-winning cookbook and became a local celebrity.

Veronica never let go of her dream while working hard wherever she found herself.  In the end, her dreams were realized far beyond her imagination!

Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58 NASB

Charging the Human Battery

by Mac Anderson The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday morning. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it: I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital," he continued; "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There's nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight. Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. It was nice to meet you Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 year old man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!" You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

Can You Hear Me Now?

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Robert McCloskey

During my first year of teaching school, I discovered that there were many things I did not learn in college.  For instance, there was never a class on dealing with parent-teacher conferences, or a class on dealing with parents who, even after four years of school, had a hard time leaving their children at the door every morning.  No one ever taught me how to get around the gossip-mill called the teacher's lounge and no one ever taught me that children, in most cases, have never been taught how to listen. 

Now, it's been a couple of years since I was in the classroom, but I'm bringing this up now because everywhere I look, it seems that people have not learned this skill.  If you look at the definition of listening, it says, "to make an effort to hear."  OK, I think I see the problem right away...to make an effort.  Listening requires effort, work.  It's not a passive activity. 

When I was a little girl, a LONG time ago, I had an aunt who was very hard of hearing.  She had two hearing aides which, in those days, were very big things that she plugged into her ears.  They squeaked and made funny noises and I always wondered how she could hear with them.  Even with these, we had to talk very loudly to be sure that she heard us.  She had to make an effort to hear, and even then she missed a lot of what was said to her.  It took a great deal of effort on her part and on the part of the speaker to be sure that the conversation was understood. 

I think listening requires more than just two good ears or even two good hearing aides.  With today's technology the hearing aides are much smaller and much more effective, but we're still not hearing each other as we speak.  Listening requires more than just hearing the words that are spoken.  According to Dr. Larry Nadig, there are three basic listening modes:  

1. Competitive or Combative Listening happens when we are more interested in promoting our own point of view than in understanding or exploring someone else’s view. We either listen for openings to take the floor, or for flaws or weak points we can attack. As we pretend to pay attention we are impatiently waiting for an opening, or internally formulating our rebuttal and planning our devastating comeback that will destroy their argument and make us the victor.
2. In Passive or Attentive Listening we are genuinely interested in hearing and understanding the other person’s point of view. We are attentive and passively listen. We assume that we heard and understand correctly, but stay passive and do not verify it.
3. Active or Reflective Listening is the single most useful and important listening skill. In active listening we are also genuinely interested in understanding what the other person is thinking, feeling, wanting or what the message means, and we are active in checking out our understanding before we respond with our own new message. We restate or paraphrase our understanding of their message and reflect it back to the sender for verification. This verification or feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it effective.

As you can see, there are vast differences in the way we listen. In the first mode, we're listening only to prove our case or battle for our point of view.  We're listening to 'catch' them and prove them wrong.  In the second mode, which is more productive, we really want to hear what they have to say and to understand it.  The problem with this mode is that it's still passive and will probably hold misunderstandings.  The third mode is the one that few people really understand.  Like the second mode, we're genuinely interested in what the person is trying to convey to us, but we take action on their message.  We reflect back to them what we believe their message to be and then they verify or correct us.  The conversation is an action between two people who genuinely want to understand the meaning of the words being spoken.

I have a very dear friend.  She and I can visit with each other and understand each other with very little work.  We've known each other a long time and we've worked over the years to understand the meanings of our words when we communicate.  It wasn't always easy.  It took a lot of years, but it's much easier for us now to understand each other.  On the other hand, with all of my new friends I have to work much harder to be certain that I understand the meaning of their words and they me.  Here's an example:

I have a new friend who is a widow.  She has asked me on several occasions what I do, as a single, middle-aged woman, to fill all my time.  She has an interest in starting a single women's club.  I think her vision is to create a large group to come together on an in-frequent basis with small groups forming with specific interests, such as needlework, singing, theater, eating out, etc.  I think there is a lot of merit in this idea and through my work we'll probably start a group in the fall.  When I was sharing this idea with another friend this week, her immediate understanding of what I said was "single's club," complete with match-ups and dates.  Now I said nothing about men in this conversation but through her "filter," her life experiences, that's what she heard.  We had to work a little harder to understand the meaning behind the words we were sharing.  We had to make an effort  to hear correctly.

As adults, we set examples for the children in our lives for everything that we do.  When we listen to them as we're watching a television show or texting on our phones, we're not really attentively listening to them and they learn that this is the proper way to listen to others.  Listen is a verb.  It requires action, it requires work, it requires time.  I worry sometimes that in our age of Facebook and cell phones that we're losing the depth of our listening.  We're only hearing the words, and not the meanings.  I'm not saying that I think these things are bad.  I certainly use them and appreciate them every day, but I believe they just mean that we have to work a little harder, put forth a little more effort, to listen to each other.  These tools are good beginnings, but we must continue the work of listening past these channels to really hear and thus build our relationships, whether they be with our friends, our family, our co-workers, or our children.

Take some time today to really listen to the people around you.  Really being listened to and heard is a wonderful gift to give and all it takes is a little effort.

"To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.”

Chinese Proverb

The Seven Powers for Self Control

Lesson 3:  The Power of Attention

What you focus on you get more of.

This is a hard concept to understand well.  After all, we are taught in this society, that if we focus and work hard for something, we can make it happen.  Our understanding of this is simply that if we want something we just work for it and if we work hard enough, it will happen.   The part that very few seem to understand is that it also works in reverse.  When we focus on bad stuff, we get more bad stuff.  It’s as simple as that.

Whether you think you can or can't, either way you are right.

Henry Ford

We all know people who tend to focus on the bad stuff; their glass is always half empty.  I met a woman recently who was this way.  When I remarked at how glad I was that the fog had burned off and the sun had come out, she responded that there was no way the day would be good when it had gotten off to that kind of nasty start.  When I answered her in return that it had to get better from there, her retort was that there was just no way it possibly could be.  I tried one more time, “I hope that you have only good things from here on out today.”  Her response, “Well, there’s just no way; I don’t think that will happen.”  I found myself anxiously trying to move away from her.  I was very happy, after driving in extremely dense fog for four hours, to see the sun and know that I was safe in my destination.  I’m not sure that this woman would ever feel safe.  Maybe she had some devastating news to start her day, I don’t know, but I do know just being with her made me feel bad and she didn’t want it to change.

What a miserable way to live your life!  Remember the Charlie Brown character, Pigpen?  He was always surrounded with a cloud of dirt.  So is this woman, but her ‘dirt’ is of her own making.  She is choosing to focus on the negative things in her life.  And what you focus on you get more of.  Like attracts like, so if you choose to focus all day on the fact that you woke up late so everything will be wrong today, it will.  It’s just as easy to switch your focus to include, “Well, it’s got to be better from here on out.”  It’s a fifty/fifty chance either way, but if you predetermine what will happen by your attitude, there is NO chance of a good day. 

 This is especially true when you are working with children.  I have seen time after time when a teacher or parent is focusing on what they don’t want a child to do, they get exactly that.  Why?  Because they’ve already laid the groundwork for that outcome.  There was a little boy, preschool age, several years ago who loved coming to school.  This was his first educational experience and he was excited about it.  Now, sitting still and listening were not habits he had learned, at all, yet, so his teacher, who had limited experience in a setting such as this, was not comfortable with his behaviors and how to ‘control’ him.  Her form of ‘positive discipline’ was to seat him beside her at all times.  If she moved around the room, she held his wrist and made him follow her.  At the end of the class time, she would meet the parents, sometimes waiting in the street for them, to share the issues of the day.  And there always were issues.  It got so bad, that the parent would greet the child with, “Well, what did you screw up today?”  It’s no wonder this little guy got to the point that he hated school.  He was never allowed to be successful.  They were all set for him to do wrong and he did.  Who wouldn’t under those circumstances?  What they focused on, they got more of.  

Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it.

Napoleon Hill

No doubt this young man needed to learn how to be a good listener and how to remain focused in his new environment, but my great fear is that the pattern for his education was set in this first experience and that the rest of his educational life will be colored by the beginning.  I know that his next two years were not much better so the chances of him finding school enjoyable and being successful are probably pretty slim.  You know how teachers love to ‘share’ in the faculty lounge and the word has gotten around that this young man is a problem…therefore, he probably will be.

Why is it that we human beings seem to prefer to focus on the bad things rather than the good ones?  I believe that we have been programmed by very well-meaning people who were trying to protect themselves and us.  The idea that if you don’t set your sights too high then you won’t be hurt, seems to pervade our society, when just the opposite is just as true.  We may well face heartbreaks and failures in anything that we try to do, especially if it is new to us, and if we let those failures stop us from trying again, then we have chosen to limit our future.  It didn’t just happen to us, it happened because of us.  What do you think the chances are for this young man to believe in himself; to find any self-worth there?  While his parents love him immensely, they, as well as the educators, have told him repeatedly that he really isn’t capable of being successful.  He is destined to “screw up.”

I would hope that this young man will happen along someone in his life who will break the pattern and tell this young man just how lovable and capable he really is.  I hope that they look beyond the behaviors that, by now, I’m sure are very much habit, and see the young man who has a remarkable intelligence and sense of humor.  His creativity knows no bounds and when he is challenged, he is more than capable of following the rules and enjoying learning.  I know because I had the young man in summer camp-an educational, creative setting for the summer.  I found him to be a challenge to my teaching skills, merely to stay ahead of him.  He pushed me to my limits in keeping him challenged and occupied.   The difference was, I expected him to do well…and he did.  I greeted his parents with the good things he had done throughout the day.  Unfortunately, this experience only lasted the summer and then he went back to school where the teacher were “ready for him.”

 It’s just as easy to find good things.  Sometimes, for a young man with the history that this one has, you have to look hard at first, but there are positives and the more you focus on the positives, the more you will find.  The more success he had, the more success came.  Parents, child, and teacher focused on the good stuff, not the bad.  It was a choice we all made.  It’s a choice you can make. 



I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Thomas Edison

Will This Be Important Five Years From Now?



I haven't been here much this week, because I've been doing double duty at my other job.  I'm not sure why it is, but I've always been the kind of person that sees something that needs to be done and instead of waiting for someone to tell me, I just jump right in and start.  I work at a church, part time, and this church is finishing up a building project; they've added more classrooms and re-purposed some of the old areas.  Saturday is supposed to be cleaning day for all members to come together and rid the church building of the dirt and concrete dust that is everywhere.  Just walking through the building leaves me craving a shower, it's so dirty. 

I discovered in staff meeting on Tuesday morning that I will be the only staff person there on Saturday...me, the newest member!  My immediate response was to think, "Well, I know nothing about anything so I'll show up and wait for a long-time church member to tell me what to do."  Now, if you know me at all, you know that this really is not my personality.  I don't generally sit and wait to be told what needs to be done, so I asked a member of the building committee who happens to be the church secretary (and we all know that they know EVERYTHING) to walk me through the intended purposes of the space and what she believed should be done.  And then I dug in!

I have spent this week up to my....well, all of me....in every nook and cranny of that church.  I've dug through every box, sorting and cleaning.  I've visited with church members about getting shelves hung and how to go about getting more shelves.  I've asked members to join me on various days this week to come in ahead of Saturday to get some things done so that on Saturday morning we can actually do the cleaning and setting up that was intended. 

The thing that I've had to keep reminding myself of, as it gets overwhelming each day (and I really mean several times each day) is this:  Is this going to be important five years from now?  Or even one year from now?  Sometimes we get so caught up in the trivial details that we lose sight of the big picture.  My job at the church is to help coordinate all the programs and therefore, the people, of the church and their activities.  To do that effectively, I wanted to know what resources we have and how it has all fit together so far.  This process of sorting and cleaning has made it possible for me to know what we have and to get to know more new friends as we work together. 

One member has been a little concerned that things will not be precisely where she would like them and that is when my mantra came back to me...Is this going to be important in one year...or five years?  Will I even remember this in that time frame? 

Isn't it funny how easy it is to get caught up in the most minute of details and forget to see what is really important?  I think that we tend to do this because the little details are easier to take care of, to make decisions about.  The big picture requires us to think it through and to spend a little time.  You know, we all start out with the best of intentions... "today I'm going to do.....," but then some little thing happens and "I'll just take care of this and then...."  But then something else comes up and we get to the end of the day and we haven't done what we set out to do.  OK.  We'll do it tomorrow and the same thing happens.  My friend says that she has a PhD in procrastination.  That's what this is; putting off what needs to be done.

There is a room in the church where all the consumable supplies are stacked right now.  I have cringed each time I've walked past that room, not knowing even where to start.  Well, I really know.  I just need to pick a place and begin.  I've used all kinds of excuses all week long to put it off.  Five years from now will I remember this?  (I might. I might still be there sorting and cleaning!)   Probably not, but what about the really big things in life that you're putting off?  What is it that you need to address TODAY that you will remember five years from now. 

Pick a place, it really doesn't matter, just pick a place and start.  Take baby steps, if you have to, but start.  Right now!  As Nike says, 'Just Do It.'  You'll feel so much better when you get it started and imagine how you'll feel when you get it done! 

I send you nothing but blessings today to go forth and BEGIN!

Again and again, the impossible problem is solved

when we see that the problem is only a tough

decision waiting to be made.

--Robert H. Schuller