Posted on by BWThomas

Find meaning in the small things, everyone can do something to make life better for someone.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. Michael Jordan

What if Jordan Peterson is right, a mother can only be as happy as her most miserable child. What if this is true about society as well? What if we don’t want to see the terrible toll drugs are taking on our society because to look away means we don’t have to acknowledge a society that isn’t working for everyone?

What would it take for society to work for everyone? What would it take for someone to exchange meaninglessness for meaning? How must the change makers of the past have felt when they brought meaningful change to hurting souls? When they had a cause they believed in that would make life better – not for themselves, but for people they didn’t know, and weren’t born yet.

Where do we find meaning in our lives? Do we find it through service to others, our families, our community, and the greater society? Our society with all that is wrong with it, has many people who feel the hurts of others and want to help. The problem might be we are misusing empathy. He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate. Jewish folk saying

I’ve been listening to speeches from the ARC Conference (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship). Have we lost our way as a civilization and need to return to what helped us build a great civilization, but not a perfect one? It might be true we will always have the poor, but relative poverty is not the same as abject poverty.

Society grows and changes and we have to grow and change with it, but we have to keep the moral compass that has kept us moving forward for thousands of years. If we lose our faith in ourselves, our religion, and our society we will be ripe for other ideologies to take over. We have seen other ideologies rising, but we haven’t seen other ideologies create better societies. I think it is time for a revival of meaning and values and this is what ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) offers.

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. Les Brown

Working farms are being used as tools to overcome addiction. An active working farm resembles a life of recovery in that the work is never complete. Having grown up on a farm I can see how caring for animals, fields, and daily chores could help someone build a life of sobriety and meaning.

The other day, I heard someone mocking the idea of working for free on a farm to achieve sobriety. Would they rather see them on the street addicted to drugs? It is hard to know how to fix hurting souls, but if all we want to do is tear down other people’s ideas, how do we move forward?

We know working with animals helps people heal. We know meaningful routines are good for us. We know we need to remove ourselves from the environment that causes the problem. We know farm life is considered by many to be a wholesome life, and this might be exactly what addicts need. On a farm, they could find meaning, and structure, and be part of something bigger than themselves which will prepare them to go back out into the world, as a person with a contribution to make.

What if we are moving into a new era of people finding hope, meaning, and faith? Finding faith in themselves, a higher power, and faith in their countries, communities, and the world, and this is the antidote to a hurting world? We sometimes think people of faith are small-minded, but what if they are the big-minded people, not all of them, but enough to be the change we need? What if we can do all things through God who strengthens us? What if hope and promise are here, what if the future is bright?

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Dale Carnegie

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius… Steve Jobs

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Families build our society, anything destroying families, destroys society.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The family is the basis of society. As the family is, so is the society, and it is human beings who make a family not the quantity of them, but the quality of them. Ashley Montagu

Do we need a day to celebrate our families? Every day do we celebrate them in some way? Being a grandparent gives us a fuller sense of family as we watch our children become parents our lives become fuller, richer, and deeper.

Some people think they are too young to be a grandparent, we are however old we are, and being a grandparent shouldn’t make us feel older, it should gladden our hearts in ways we can’t imagine. A friend is waiting for her twin grandchildren to be born, double the fun, and double the joy.

We have a short time on this earth, and there is much to fit in, but what is more important than family? One might even wonder why we do the other things; if not for family. If we are fortunate we come from a close-knit family, whether large or small, and we build a close-knit family of our own.

Is Family Day hard for those who gave up on family because of disagreements, unmet expectations, or misunderstandings? If we talk to people who built families and stayed together, we know it wasn’t always easy, because life has its ups and downs, for all of us.

Of all the days we celebrate, and let’s be honest someone or many people wanted a holiday in February, but I do love celebrating family day because the family is the building block of society, the very foundation of all we have built.

The family is the cornerstone of our society. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the ambitions, and the values of the child. And when the family collapses it is the children that are usually damaged. When it happens on a massive scale the community itself is crippled. Lynden B. Johnson

Do we need to celebrate our families, embrace the forces bringing us together, and minimize the forces tearing them apart? We might not agree on everything that will make our families and society stronger, but strengthening families strengthens everything about our society. Billy Graham told us, “When the family is destroyed, society eventually disintegrates.”

What do we need to say no to, and what do we need to say yes to, to strengthen our family, and if each family can be a little stronger won’t the whole society become stronger? What practices and beliefs if we follow them will help us strengthen our family through the generations, and what practices and beliefs will weaken our families? Do we need to make the right choices while we still have an impact on our family?

Are we proud of our families, what we’ve built, what’s been accomplished, and what we want future generations to accomplish?

For some, family day will be hard because someone is missing, Mom or Dad’s chair is empty, or worse a child’s, but is celebrating by getting together better than mourning alone?

Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold. Andre Maurois

The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career. C.S. Lewis

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself. Gilbert K. Chesterton

Thank you for reading this post, please come back and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you to those who read my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate link.

Posted on by BWThomas

Crisis creates opportunity. We should never waste a crisis.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Opportunity is everywhere. The key is to develop the vision to see it. Jeremiah Say

Crisis creates opportunity, and even if we don’t take advantage of the opportunities they are still there and someone else will take advantage of them. How often do we look back over our lives and think I was there but didn’t see it? Many of us have been waiting for opportunities but only looking back do we see the opportunities that came our way.

I look at other lives and think why didn’t I see what they saw, what was I thinking when X was happening, why didn’t I jump on board?

How big of a life can we live if we are opportunity seekers and opportunity takers?

It’s time to start thinking about planting seeds, in our gardens and lives. The seeds we plant, like the thoughts we think will bear fruit. Are we planting for one season or for years to come? Are we planting something that will bring a blessing to generations?

My son tells me we are the worst generation; he thinks we haven’t been very interested in the legacy we leave behind. We haven’t been the builders but instead the users, not the conservers of what we inherited.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill

How do we look at what is happening in the world without fear? If it is possible, we have to have faith we can deal with what is coming, that embedded in chaos and crisis is opportunity. We need faith in our traditions that have helped build lives based on courage, fortitude, and trust.

We know if life is to be better for us, it has to be better for others. What does better look like, is it one more big purchase, one more memorable holiday, or is it building for the next generation? What choices need to be made as individuals and society to build better? Do we trust life can continue to improve for coming generations?

What would our grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents think of what we’ve built? Some of the good is very, very good, but some of the bad is very, very bad. How can we build a society with less of the very, very bad?

Why when we have an array of choices do some of us choose the very worst of what is on offer and others choose the very best, while still others muddle somewhere in the middle?

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon

Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat. Napoleon Hill

Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you. John C. Maxwell

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Competition and national interests.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

In almost every case, whenever a tariff or quota is imposed on imports, that tax is strongly supported by the domestic industry getting the protective shield from lower-priced foreign competition. The sugar industry supports sugar tariffs, textile mills lobby for tariffs on foreign clothing. Stephen Moore

Who gets to weigh in on this conflict between America and the rest of the world? As a common person, I’m throwing out my two cents. What if what we are most afraid of will make us stronger and more resilient? What if we grow from adversity and become complacent with ease? What if all the angst can be harnessed for good and we will all come out better on both sides of the border?

What if self-reliance is needed because reliance on others means we can’t always get what we need? What if the price of a bargain is too expensive? What if fair trade and not free trade is what we need? What does fair trade look like, and is fair according to whom?

What if this trade war with America costs my household, but Canadians start doing things we should have been doing, we might all prosper in the end. We finish the pipelines to export our oil and natural gas to the world. We secure our borders.  We build houses, build up our country, and make things work. What if the kick in the pants we need comes from South of the border?

I listened to an interview with Jean Chretien, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister from 1993 – 2003 and turned 91 on February 1st. He tells us this is nothing new, we’ve always had trade wars with America, and he started dealing with America in 1968. What we sell to America they need.

There’s no such thing as a genius in politics, or at least I have never met one. There are only human beings, some better than others, who rise or fall on the challenges they meet. Jean Chretien

This might be a glass half empty, half full moment, and we choose to look at it either way. We have good people to negotiate for Canada, we have to trust they will do their best, and we also have to trust that America does not want to throw a wrecking ball into the parts of our joint economies that work tightly together. We must stay calm, Canada is not going to be the 51st state. Will we end up better because we get our house in order?

Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that all the signs point this way, that the 20th century shall be the century of Canada and Canadian development… For the next 100 years, Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come. Sir Wilfrid Laurier October 14, 1904

A weaker currency is a national tariff. After we get a weaker currency, we have to take advantage of that. Or else, we will waste it once more in inflation and in the inability to raise competitiveness. Uday Kotak

Everybody talks about tariffs as the first thing. Tariffs are the last thing. Tariffs are part of the negotiation. The real trick is going to be increasing American exports. Get rid of the tariff and no-tariff barriers to American exports. Wilbur Ross

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thanks for leaving a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.