Category: Motivation

Patriotism Delivered

Patriotism is somewhat of a difficult term to define, but this picture is worth a thousand words.

“This afternoon I was coming up my street and I noticed a stopped USPS truck across from my house. It wasn’t until I was at my driveway that I realized the USPS driver was not in the truck, but rather standing at attention next to it, saluting the flag my neighbor was raising. I stopped right there and grabbed my camera off the seat next to me, took off my hat, and captured the moment. Many thanks to retired U.S. Army sergeant Robert Franklin, who is still serving his country, rain sleet or snow. He is the manifestation of true patriotism, and I am proud to have met him.”

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Facing the Storm

Storms in life are inevitable. Not all storms are destructive; some are heaven-sent.

While we want to avoid trials or storms, they are a part of life. However, God uses every circumstance in your life to strengthen your faith and trust in Him. In fact, storms can move you toward your destiny—if you learn how to trust God during them!

During intense weather, bison turn and face the storm. It is said they are the only animals known to do so because heading into the storm shortens the length of the storm out in those vast open spaces. Michael Hodges, author and photographer, took this photo demonstrating this.

We all have storms in our lives, some more than others. We all have things we must overcome. In this scene, out there with this magnificent, legendary animal in Yellowstone Park, my lens froze over with ice and my fingers stung from the cold. The winds almost knocked my tripod over and I knew I only had so much time to get this right.

Michael Hodges

Follow the bison’s lead, turn and face the storm. Take what life gives you head on. Because the bison knows how to shorten the storm. And then it heads for the light.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:17-18 ESV

How to you head for the light? Instead of fixating on the storm, we can focus on God and know that He will see us through whatever comes our way. My mom always said input garbage, output garbage. What you read, watch and listen to will impact your attitude toward yourself, others, and the world. Make sure you are feeding your soul a nutrient dense diet of good ‘ole biblical truth.

Listen to Christian music, and watch Christian movies and TV shows. These things can help to remind you of who Jesus is and what He stands for. It also can be a good distraction from the storms of life. Go on a retreat or a mission trip or volunteer in your community. This can help you to get away from the storm in your life and help you focus on helping someone else who is struggling.

Here are 6 more action steps you can take to help get through the storm.

  1. PRAYER – Pray and read your Bible consistently. When you do this, you are reminded of who Jesus is and what He has done for you. Plus the Bible says that we renew our minds by reading the word of God.
  2. FELLOWSHIP – Spend time with other believers. They can encourage you and help you to keep your focus on Jesus. Your sisters in Christ can help pray you through!
  3. STUDY – Attend a Bible study or a small group. This is a great way to learn more about Jesus and to be encouraged by other believers. Remember, we renew ourselves by being in the word of God.
  4. SERVE – When you serve others, you are reminded of the fact that we need each other and God will use us too bless and help each other.
  5. GIVE – This is a way to show your love for Jesus by loving others. This doesn’t have to be money. Make a meal for someone who doesn’t have much. Offer to babysit for a single mom. Know of an elderly neighbor that needs help with lawn care? You can donate clothes or even your time.
  6. SHARE – Witness to others about Jesus. This is a great way to keep your focus on Jesus and share His love with those around us. We all need someone to come along side us and encourage us along the way.

Focus on the positive. When you focus on the positive, you are reminded of all that Jesus has done for you and all that He will do for you in life. The classic song “Put On A Happy Face” from the musical “Bye Bye Birdie” always helps pull me out of a funk. If you haven’t heard it, I encourage you to take a listen, just click here. As the song says “Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy, it’s not your style”. I love that because it’s true! Turn your head toward the sun, my Friend, and let the shadows fall behind you. And don’t forget to smile. Life is too short not to. 

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Random Acts of Kindness

Kindness counts. Make it a habit.

On this Random Acts of Kindness Day, LPD encourages you to make a difference in someone’s life. It can be big or small. But those actions have ripple effects far beyond what you may see.

Our officers work hard every day to have a positive impact on the people they interact with on calls for service.

Be intentional and we can all make this world a better place. Be the change.

🤍 #LPD #LNK #Kindness

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Mike Rowe Out of Touch?

By Mike Rowe

There was a time, not so long ago, when work ethic was considered a virtue. It didn’t matter if you were an employer or an employee, rich or poor, liberal or conservative – a good work ethic was a good thing to possess, and therefore, a good thing to encourage. Well, those days are over. Today, if you encourage a strong work ethic, you will likely be accused of carrying water for the “oppressor class,” or being wildly “out of touch.” Or worse.

The latest person to learn this lesson is Niraj Shah, the CEO of Wayfair. Shah is a very successful entrepreneur running a very successful company in a very competitive marketplace. Last week, Shah told his 15,000 employees in a company memo that, in spite of a very good year in 2023, the future was uncertain, and that much would still be expected of those in his employ. “Winning requires hard work,” he wrote. “Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from.”

Shah also had some things to say about the importance of frugality, initiative, and smart negotiating, but here’s that part that seems to have triggered the most backlash. “Hard work is essential for success, and a key part of getting things done. There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success. Everyone deserves to have a great personal life, but everyone manages that in their own way. Ambitious people find ways to blend and balance the two.”

Naturally, the most hysterical meltdowns have occurred on Tictok, and if you want to see hundreds of triggered twenty-somethings calling for boycotts and vowing to “never again buy a chair from Wayfair,” I’ll leave it you to conduct a search. However, the truly triggered are not limited to Gen Z. Here’s Richard Quest over at CNN, who is absolutely beside himself. He “doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” and believes that Shah is “out of touch with best business practices.” This one is worth a watch. https://bit.ly/47iZmDg

To be fair, in spite of all his sputtering contempt and righteous indignation, Richard Quest isn’t wrong. What Shah wrote is in fact, absolutely “out of touch” with the current take on modern employment. For instance, Shah doesn’t seem to know, (or care,) that millions of people today no longer see work ethic as a virtue, but rather, as a rhetorical cudgel employed by the ruling class to keep the downtrodden under heel. He also doesn’t seem to know, (or care,) that his personal net worth has made him unpersuasive to the many people who now believe that wealth and greed are one and the same. But of course, being wealthy doesn’t mean that Shah is wrong, just as being “out of touch” doesn’t mean he isn’t right. I’ve read his letter three times, and I can’t find a single untruth therein. Can you? https://bit.ly/3H13bmc

Obviously, I’m biased. I’ve run a foundation for the last fifteen years that awards work ethic scholarships, and like Shah, I’m criticized every year for being “out of touch.” People still want to know where I get off asking people to sign a S.W.E.A.T Pledge, https://bit.ly/3TIDsXe and why I’m so certain that work ethic is still a virtue worth elevating. The answer is simple. Work ethic is a virtue worth elevating, because like all virtues, it’s available for free, to anyone who wants it.

Unlike the color of your skin, or the country you were born in, or your gender, or the net worth of your parents, or any other circumstance out of your control, you can choose to work hard. Just as you can choose to be grateful, or thrifty, or patient, or kind, or responsible, or curious, or ambitious. I realize that no one wants to be reminded about such things – especially by a billionaire – but that doesn’t change the fact that people who embrace those virtues are far more likely to succeed than those who don’t. Nor does it change the fact that we are born into this world totally helpless, utterly dependent, completely selfish, and void of all virtue. And we would surely stay that way if we weren’t challenged to do virtuous things. Because virtuous things are hard things, and people who do hard things are more interesting, more reliable, more competent, and more successful than people who do easy things. That’s a fact, regardless of how it makes you feel, and irrespective of who repeats it.

In related news, I’m delighted to report that mikeroweWORKS has now awarded over $1.6 million dollars in work ethic scholarships in 2023. That’s a record for us, and I’m proud to say, with your help, we’re doing our part to train the next generation of skilled tradespeople. The latest batch of recipients was just confirmed, and I’ll share their names on this page, before the New Year. Till then, I remain shall remain profoundly and unapologetically “out of touch,” but sincerely grateful for all the support and encouragement I’ve received this year. You are all, as always, invited to apply for a work ethic scholarship, or share the site with someone who’d like to master a skill that’s in demand, at mikeroweworks.org.

PS For the record, if there is one, I don’t know anything about Wayfair. Home décor is not my thing, and I have never met Niraj Shah. But I did like his letter to his employees and I wish more CEO’s had the guts to tell their people the truth. So please, sir, stand your ground. Don’t apologize for encouraging your people to do the hard thing.

The article Mike Rowe is referring to.
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Don’t Believe It!

THE SYSTEM WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE IN THESE LIES…

You have to wake up before it gets late!

News

The news is there to hack your attention. Not to keep you informed.
They want you to:

  • Be Distracted
  • Believe their lies
  • Stay under their control
    Observe with your mind not your eyes.

Failure

“You should avoid failure there is one correct answer.”

Wrong. Make mistakes so you can:

  • Grow
  • Learn
  • Strengthen your skills
    Nobody is born perfect. Embrace failure and see it as an opportunity to grow.

Work hard

You should work smart, not hard.
Don’t get me wrong, it will still get hard sometimes, but they want you to trade your time for money your whole life.
1 Minute of your life is worth more than all money combined.
Stop valuing it more than your time.

Money

Until 1971, money was tied to gold, which gave money value.
Nowadays, money is tied to nothing. Money is basically worthless.
Learn how:

  • To create money with no money
  • To make money work for you
  • Money works
    or you will work your entire life for it.

Consumerism

Many people think fulfillment lies in materialistic things. It lies in:

  • Personal growth
  • Relationships
  • Self-love

and in contributing to something greater than ourselves. You won’t find fulfillment anywhere else.

Change is impossible

“Life is the way it is”

That’s a lie. Life is what you make out of it.
Before you can live the life you want, you must become a person.
Change how you:

  • Think
  • Feel
  • Act

and you can become almost anybody!

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The Elephant Rope

A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains.

All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.

As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all.

Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.

The trainer replied: “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

Don’t limit yourself to a belief that You Can’t!

No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.

So, don’t limit yourself to a small world, stop confining yourself to a life that is restricted. Don’t confine yourself any longer to the belief that you can’t do something, shatter those thoughts and beliefs and spread your wings and fly! YOU can do anything you set your heart on, if you just believe it! Go on, just try it and never mind what the outcome is, just enjoy every experience you encounter in your life and embrace every bit of it! So what if it takes you 10 attempts or 100! Which will you regret more…the things you did or the things you didn’t do?! It’s all a journey so let’s make it AWESOME! You will never know how far you can go until you have the courage to do it! And if you fall, just get up again… that’s all!

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Breaking The Santa Secret

To Santa or not to Santa, that is a question many young families have asked for years. I thought this story gave some great insight.

Because sharing is caring

ATTENTION TO ALL PARENTS WHO NEED TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT SANTA 🎅

Son: “Dad, I think I’m old enough now. Is there a Santa Claus?.”

Dad: “Ok, I agree that your old enough. But before I tell you, I have a question for you. You see, the “truth” is a dangerous gift. Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.
Once you know the truth about Santa Claus, you will never again understand and relate to him as you do now.
So my question is: Are you sure you want to know?”

Brief pause…

Son: “Yes, I want to know”

Dad: “Ok, I’ll tell you: Yes there is a Santa Claus”

Son: “Really?”

Dad: Yes, really, but he’s not an old man with a beard in a red suit. That’s just what we tell kids. You see, kids are too young to understand the true nature of Santa Claus, so we explain it to them in a way that they can understand.

The truth about Santa Claus is that he’s not a person at all; he’s an idea.

Think of all those presents Santa gave you over the years.
I actually bought those myself.
I watched you open them.
And did it bother me that you didn’t thank me?
Of course not!
In fact it gave me great pleasure.
You see, Santa Claus is THE IDEA OF GIVING FOR THE SAKE OF GIVING, without thought of thanks or acknowledgement.

When I saw that woman collapse on the subway last week and called for help, I knew that she’d never know that it was me that summoned the ambulance.
I was being Santa Claus when I did that.”

Son: “Oh.”

Dad: “So now that you know, you’re part of it. You have to be Santa Claus too now. That means you can never tell a young kid the secret, and you have to help us select Santa presents for them, and most important, you have to look for opportunities to help people. Got it?”

Help each other this Christmas🎄🎅 and…be kind ❤💕

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Oh Deer!

A letter from someone who wants to remain anonymous, who farms, writes well, and actually tried this…

I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up– 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold.

The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education. The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.

That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer– no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it, and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer’s momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn’t want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder – a little trap I had set before hand…kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ….. I reached up there to grab that rope, and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head–almost like a big dog. They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp… I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -like a horse –strikes at you with their hooves and you can’t get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.

This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.

I finally managed to crawl under the truck, and the deer went away. So now I know why when people go deer hunting, they bring a rifle with a scope……to sort of even the odds!!

All these events are true, so help me God…

An Educated Farmer

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A Night at the Circus

Here’s a heart-touching story once shared by Katharine Hepburn about a trip to the circus and the example her father set. It serves as a good reminder to us all that it IS better to give than to receive.

“Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.

There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn’t have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.

The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You’re my knight in shining armour.” He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, “I’d like to buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.” The ticket lady stated the price.

The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man’s lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?” The ticket lady again stated the price.

The man didn’t have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.”

The man understood what was going on. He wasn’t begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.

He looked straight into my dad’s eyes, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; “Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.

Although we didn’t get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.

That day I learnt the value to Give.

The Giver is bigger than the Receiver. If you want to be large, larger than life, learn to Give. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only with what you are expecting to give – which is everything.

The importance of giving, blessing others can never be over emphasised because there’s always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving.”

~ Katharine Hepburn

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