DailyConnections.net

SUNDAY THOUGHT 9/11/11

IN THE LAND OF LIGHT: A GIFT TO AMERICA ON 9/11/11

Years ago, I used to send “Island Notes” about life on St. Maarten in the Caribbean.  I am reminded of those notes on my visit to Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.

On this, the tenth anniversary of what has become known simply as “Nine-Eleven,” I know that many people have lost hope in America;  while we stand and talk tough, we have become a demoralized, uncertain, frightened nation, a nation on the decline.  I am writing today to say that I, for one, no longer believe that.  I have found a place of hope, of light, of life right in the  heart of America.  I feel I will express it poorly, but here goes:

I have the honor of being invited by a friend, Dr. Dennis Hensley, to do a series of weekend writing workshops at Taylor University, a Christian school with about 2,500 students.  This first week was a great experience, my class filled with a handful of sharp, motivated, talented students. 

After a full day of teaching, I went to the Commons to eat.  I sat by myself and watched hundreds of students as they had their Saturday evening meals.  I saw a slice of America I thought was long gone.  The huge dining room was charged with more positive, honest, joyful energy and noise than I had experienced since attending a Rascal Flatts concert several years ago. 

What I did not see was a single tattoo or “angry” T-shirt, though some did have crosses on them.  I heard lots of playful laughing and saw students, quietly and individually, bow their heads in silent prayer before eating.  What I did not hear was a single curse word, even after I saw students at one table prank a friend by heavily salting his food while he went to get his drink, or a table of male athletes engage in a mild food fight.

So, lose the idea of a Christian college being filled with a bunch of repressed, weak-kneed Bible scholars.  As I said, they are athletes (Taylor has football, baseball, softball, basketball, and other sports), as well as serious, ambitious scholars, focused and purposeful.  (Taylor offers a broad range of majors, from Accounting to Economics to Theater and more.  It also has one of the first and best Professional Writers programs in the country.) 

Earlier, over lunch with some of the students, as well as in class, I found that they are not afraid to speak of their faith as a simple fact of life.

My point:  On this, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I am pleased to report a wondrous message of light and hope.  This is not the lost generation, and I strongly suspect Taylor University is not a lone colony, but the ever-present renewed and renewing seed of America.  – jri 

 John Ingrisano

209 Church Street

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

www.dailyconnections.net

September 11, 2011

SUNDAY THOUGHT 7/31/11

LIFE WISH

“I have a death wish,” my brother, Lou, once told me with a shrug when I asked why he does medical mission work to the most dangerous places on earth.  I almost believe it.  Almost.    

•  He got mobbed by a group of street children in South America who discovered he had a knapsack full of tennis balls.  (He brought them for the children, but had to abandon the knapsack for his own safety.)    
•  He faced armed and nervous teenage militants in Darfur who weren’t sure his papers were in order.  (He kept working on patients in a makeshift clinic while, guns aimed at him, they sorted out the papers, which I suspect they could not read.
• He got lost one night after going for a walk in Kabul, Afghanistan.  (He ended up hunkering down with Pakistan troops behind sandbags until the U.S. Embassy opened in the morning.)

 Why does he do it? No, he’s not a thrill seeker or a glory hound.  I believe it is because he has a “life wish,” a restless need to devote is life to something that actually counts and that actually makes him feel alive.  I know the feeling.  We all do. 

 When he is at home, just doing the routine medical stuff at the hospital in Bar Harbor, Maine, he is bored to death, restless, and borderline (if not downright) miserable. 

That kind of explains why he created the “Outer Island Initiative” years ago, bringing medical care to residents of Maine’s offshore islands (and picking up a reputation along the way as one of the best Physician’s Assistants in the country); why he runs triathlons at the age of 64, even though his body is wracked with arthritis; and why he became  a 2^nd degree black belt in Karate (the hard contact stuff) several decades ago. 

 Why does he do medical mission work in dangerous places?  First of all, he is drawn, almost magnetically, to the children.  They haunt him in his sleep, he once told me.  And though he never quite admitted that he has a need to feel alive and meaningful, he did once share with me that “this is what I do, this is what matters to me.”  He is driven to fulfill a sense of purpose, to make sense of the often meaningless days and days and days of our lives. He didn’t write a check for Haiti relief; he went down there personally. 

My point:  It is only when we feel focused with a genuine, credible purpose (not a mindless goal of beating our own best golf score or growing the world’s biggest pumpkin) that life matters.  I am jealous of my brother; he reminds me that there is a meaningful, important reason why we were born.  Lou makes me restless to go out and, once again, find my sense of purpose … real purpose.    – jri

“For the secret of man’s being is not only to

live … but to live for something definite.

Without a firm notion of what he is living for,

man will not accept life and will rather destroy

himself than remain on earth ….”

                       –  Fyodor Dostoevsky

                             (edited out copy from The Brothers Karamazov)

Lou leaves this week for Libya, a hot war zone.  He expects to be gone three weeks.  Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts.  I suspect that he will spend that time miserable, tormented, yet joyful in his own way.  I am so proud of the old guy.      

John Ingrisano

209 Church Street

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

www.dailyconnections.net

July 31, 2011

THURSDAY THOUGHT 6/9/11

THAT WHICH DOESN’T KILL US… 

Why do we suffer grief?  I just read about an amazing answer to that question in the June 9, 2011 edition of The New York Times.  Cate Edwards, 29, is an attorney and the daughter of the late Elizabeth and disgraced former senator John Edwards.  She has become the glue that holds the wreckage of her family together.  She’s an amazing lady, her strength born of loss.

Fifteen years ago, Cate’s brother, Wade, was killed in a car accident.  She was a teenager, and it was her first brush with suffering.  She grieved and struggled for two years.  However, it was this painful loss that gave her the strength to become the touchstone and glue for the family during the recent series of suffering: her father’s political loss, followed by his disgrace over the revelations of infidelity that tore the marriage apart, her mother’s long battle with cancer (Cate delivered the eulogy at her mother’s funeral last December), and now her father’s indictment, with the threat of prison (Cate is a key member of her father’s defense team). 

Life isn’t all lollipops and puppies, and meditating on the splendor of God’s beauty in this world; it’s a tough trip.  Remember that the hero of our story, Jesus the Christ, got pretty much skinned, gutted and fileted during his 33 years here.  Sure, he came back in triumph … and that’s the whole point.  In the end, we win!  However, taking up the faith does not mean we suddenly are given Kevlar armor and freedom from pain.  It means we take up the cross, shoulder the struggles, and, most of all, throw an arm around the waist of others to help them in the journey.  Hang tough.  Be strong.  No whining.  God bless.

John Ingrisano   

DailyConnections
209 Church Street
Algoma, WI 54201
(920) 559-3722
June 9, 2011

THURSDAY THOUGHT 3/17/11

GOING FOR THE LIGHT 

I know people – way too many – who shun the light, who dwell in a self-imposed state of hopelessness, overwhelmed by either their own too-numerous failures or a sense that life has done them wrong.  They wouldn’t know joy if it snuck up and bit them.  Worse, somewhere along the way, they decided that the darkness was best for them, a comfortable, if bleak, known.  They have quit.

Then I think of my mother, who was beset and assailed at every turn of her life.  However, every day I knew her she awoke with an off-key song on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes.  Most of all, when I would feel defeated, she would ferociously admonish me: “Go for the light, Johnny.  Always go for the light.”  

My point:  We cannot always choose our outcomes, but we can always choose our attitudes.  In faith and life, choose joy … no matter what.  And never give up! – jri 

How can we choose joy?  Well, start at the end.  We will all die someday.  That’s a fact:  100 percent mortality.  We don’t know when and we don’t know how, but we will die.  To me, that means every day is  a gift, a blessing, an opportunity.  (No, there are many days I do not see it this way, trust me.)  During each day, all we can do is the best we can, and some days we will fall again and again and again.  That doesn’t matter.  We can choose (and that is sometimes the only thing over which we have control, our ability to choose) to keep getting up, keep trying, and also keep accepting our weaknesses as well as our strengths and successes.  Joy is a choice we can all make.  Choose it today.  God bless. 

TUESDAY THOUGHT 12/7/10

 CELEBRATE THIS DAY

FRET-FREE FRIDAY THOUGHT 4/9/10

It’s Fret-Free Friday

I have a confession.  I’m a fretter.  Beneath, my boyish charm and bluff manner, I tend to worry.    

I fret when life is troubling.  I fret when life is good … wondering when it will flip back to the troubled side again.  I also fret that this fretting is a sign of lack of faith, a lack of trust. 

So, today – if only for today – I declare it Fret-free Friday.  I will refuse to worry, refuse to get anxious.  I will put my whole trust (remember, it’s only one day) in God and put it all in His hands. Ahhhhhh!  Care to join me?  — jri

ALMOST MONDAY THOUGHT 2/8/10

God’s Odd Blessings

This one’s longer than usual.  Sorry ‘bout that.

My mother used to say I could fall in a pile of horse manure (not the exact words) and come up with a rose between my teeth.  I’m not the only one. 

Last Friday, I did a platform presentation at a client’s annual meeting in Pennsylvania.  The plan was to fly in on Thursday, do my dog ‘n pony show on Friday morning, fly out Friday afternoon, and be home, safely snuggled in my own bed, Friday night. 

God had other plans … again.  This time He decided to “bless” half the nation (and me personally; yes, I take these things personally) with one humungous blizzard.  After a series of misadventures reminiscent of the movie, “Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” I finally made it home Sunday afternoon.   

The rose between my teeth?  I got to meet some fantastic people along the way, most notably a fellow speaker with whom, by happenstance (yeah, right, Lord), I shared a limo from the airport on Thursday and also shared part of the return trip adventure, including paying a delightful hotel cook $100 to four-wheel us through unplowed highway roads to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport after the snowstorm shut down the shuttles and cabs.

His name is Mike Schlappi (no, not the cook; the speaker).  He’s an Olympic Gold Medalist (basketball), businessman, husband and father, marathoner, snowmobiler, scuba diver, etc.  He’s also a man with a humongously huge positive attitude.  (No, not the silly-grin, butterflies and everything-is-beautiful kind, but one with substance behind it.)  Still, no big deal, right?  (Well, except for that Gold Medal part … oh, and the marathon stuff, too.) 

The big deal part is that Mike has done all this from a wheelchair, after having been accidently shot in the chest by a friend when he was 15.  His presentation got a standing ovation — several actually — as a genuine inspiration to never quit, to never give up.  (His book is titled, “Shot Happens: I Got Shot.  What’s Your Problem?”) 

The rose part for me?  With my schedule blown to Kingdom Come, my luggage circumnavigating the globe in the opposite direction, my underwear on the verge of breaking a record for how many days and ways it can be worn, and all the usual stress of disrupted travel, I had the opportunity to laugh, talk and travel through part of my journey this week and this life with a terrific, everyday guy who had done (and continues to do) some pretty amazing things.

But I admit that, to me, I am not so much impressed with Mike Schlappi because of his pretty amazing accomplishments.  I just got the biggest kick out of his magnificent, positive attitude, as well as his candid honesty.  (Part of his presentation addressed his bouts of self-pity and how you can have some pretty lousy days even if you work to have a good attitude.)

I like Mike for a number of reasons, one of them being that he landed in a pile of horse manure at age 15 and yet keeps coming up with a rose between his teeth. 

My point:  God always blesses us …  just not in ways we might originally choose.  For me, it was a blizzard that delayed my return home and gave me an opportunity to meet Mike Schlappi.  For Mike?  I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I’d say it was a bullet in the chest at age 15 that gave him the opportunity to rise to his own personal great heights and to inspire, motivate and make a big difference to the thousands of people he touches. – jri

“Faith is not something we have but

something we do.”

-         Barbara Shlemon Ryan

(Living Each Day by the

Power of Faith)

John Ingrisano

Daily Connections

204 Lakeview Drive

Algoma, WI 54201

February 7-8, 2010

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 1/27/10

SATURDAY THOUGHT 1/23/10

MONDAY THOUGHT 11/30/09

MONDAY THOUGHT 11/23/09

TUESDAY THOUGHT 11/10/09

TUESDAY THOUGHT 8/11/09

SUMMER SATURDAY SUGGESTION

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 6/10/09

Your Greatest Power

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned as the years have gone by is the futility of being concerned about things over which I have no control. And if it is true that the best definition of wisdom is ‘knowledge rightly applied,’ I’ve gained wisdom in that I now concentrate only on things over which I have at least some modicum of control.
• I can’t stop the inconsiderate person who thoughtlessly throws a wadded up paper towel on the floor of the men’s room for someone else to pick up; but I can pick it up myself and toss it in the waste basket
• I can’t make young people use their turn signals or old people turn their turn signals off; but I can drive carefully and courteously myself
• I can’t stop the DOW Jones Industrial Average from dropping like a rock; but I can be careful about my spending habits and prepare an annual financial plan to make sure that we’re doing the best we can with the funds that we’ve worked so hard to accumulate
• I can’t run the government; but I can respect the President and elected officials currently in power at any given time whether I voted for them or not
• I can’t stop racism or sexism or any other type of ‘ism’; but I can appreciate all cultures and show respect for all people regardless of gender or skin color
• I can’t stop the aging process; but I can continue to learn and love and laugh and cry and work and play with great vigor and enthusiasm
• I can’t prevent people from losing their jobs and facing difficult times; but I can be a friend when it happens to someone by being an encourager
• I can’t be twenty-five again; but I can share (when asked) my experiences, both victories and defeats, in the hopes of making the road a little smoother for younger people who have years and miles ahead of them
• I can’t stop negative people from being negative; but I can choose to avoid them when possible and attempt to be a beacon of light during times of darkness
• I can’t slow down the changes in technology that come at us with warp speed; but I can accept, respect and learn how to use the tools that help us learn, allow us to communicate with the world and provide entertainment
• I can’t control the world (nor do I want to); but I can prevent the world from controlling me by taking responsibility for my actions and becoming a life-long learner
And you? Well, you can make you own list of what you can and cannot control. It’s a truly liberating experience!

Bill Sheridan    Sheridan Writes, LLC     www.sheridanwrites.com

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/6/09

MONDAY THOUGHT 4/6/09

The Great Something
 
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the energy force that powers humans, that drives us relentlessly, is a blank spot, a hole in the soul, an emptiness that impels us to find a way to be filled, to be completed.  This yearning for The Great Something gives birth to our passion for creativity, our sex drive, our quest for knowledge.  It is also the power pack of our competitiveness and desire to not just succeed, but to excel.  This is the force that moves mankind forward from caves to skyscrapers, from ignorance to knowledge. It is also the angst that drives us to over-eat, to drink and abuse drugs, to search desperately in dark places for light. 
 
It can be a painful force that controls and manipulates our lives.  Or it can be a harnessed passion that leads us to light and fulfillment, in a healthy quest for knowledge, goodness and light. 
 
My point:  Poorly expressed perhaps, but I believe that we can squander our passions in darkness and self-destruction, or we can choose a noble passion that leads us to truth and knowledge (the two being the same in my book) and — rarities of all rarities — fulfillment.  Our call.  — jri
 
“We may have all the things on our wish
list and still feel empty.”
    –    Harold Kushner

TUESDAY THOUGHT 3/10/09

In for a Dime
 
I knew a guy once who had no convictions, no core value.  He was a professional fence-straddler whose primary goal was to be pleasant and non-controversial.  Pretty sad, actually.
 
I think some people of faith are like that.  “Oh, I believe in God,” they confess, but that’s as far as their faith goes.  How very sad.
 
My point:  In for a dime … in for a dollar … all in, as the gamblers say.  If God is (and I believe He IS), then He is the overwhelming, super factor in our lives.  How very, very joyful. — jri
 
“Trust in him at all times.”
        –    King David
               (Psalm 62:8)

MONDAY THOUGHT 3/9/09

Happiness
 
I know a guy who is chronically miserable.  If he’d won a million dollars, he’d lament that he’d have to pay taxes on the money. 
 
So, are you happy?  If not, why not?  I know: your child is a bum; your boss is a jerk; you missed the lottery again.  So?  I may not know much (no amens here, please), but I do know that joy and misery are inner things, not dependent on the size of your bankroll or how many people think you’re just swell. 
 
My point:  Choose happiness. Learn it.  Make it a habit.  Practice it.  Be joyful.  No excuses. — jri
 
“A very large proportion of the unhappiness
of the average individual is self-manufactured.”
    –    Norman Vincent Peale

Avoiding Life’s Bloody Noses – Jason Elkins from Transparent Christian Magazine

At the beginning of the year I signed up for a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) class. I figured that I would get into shape and burn some calories – a couple of my new year’s resolutions – and maybe develop some tools that will help me defend myself.

Earlier this week, a young man about half my age gave me a bloody nose, and led me to question my decision about joining. When I discussed this with one of the other students, he agreed that the young man is a bit too aggressive sometimes and gave me a few suggestions to protect myself. Then he paused and said, “Well, this isn’t Chess Club”.

It’s a great quote from the movie “Fight Club” where Brad Pitt’s character reminds everyone that they signed up for something physically challenging – and it immediately made me think about my faith. So much in our lives “isn’t Chess Club”… it’s a tough world out there, and we need to train and exercise our minds, just as I’m working on my body. Do you read the bible or listen to music that loads your head up with scripture? Do you have a church family? What about a small group that you attend? Arming yourself with these ‘tools’ will help you defend yourself when attacked by the ‘great deceiver’ – or enable you to manage a negative situation. Hopefully you can avoid some of life’s bloody noses!

Love,
Jason

www.transparentchristianmagazine.com

TUESDAY THOUGHT 2/17/09

The Quest for Happiness

No one is happy all the time … except, of course, for the terminally moronic!  As my mother used to say:  “If you find brief moments of joy in this life of struggle, count your blessings.”  Good advice.  I can be happy with that.

Of course, it seems to me that happiness is way overrated.  Personally, maybe it’s a sign of age, but I’d much prefer satisfaction these days, knowing that my life is being well spent with and on good people, not squandered in a quest for feel-good self-fulfillment.  

My point:  Money, power, success, physical pleasures (now there’s a euphemism if ever there was one) may keep us busy and fill our time, but it seems to me that the greatest joy in life results from believing in something well worth believing in.  Enjoy this beautiful day. — jri

“Many people have a wrong idea
of what constitutes true happiness.
It is not attained through self-
Gratification, but through fidelity to
A worthy purpose.”
 – Helen Keller

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/11/09

Growth?  Pain?  Yes?  So?
 
I just joined Toastmasters last fall.  Why?  Because, at 58, though I’m not bad on my feet, I know I can be better.  My brother, when he was pushing 60, took up running for the first time.  Next month he will complete yet another Boston Marathon.  Why?  Why not?
 
Growth is challenging.  It can be stressful.  But if you don’t grow … well, look at that baby struggling to take his first steps.  It takes every ounce of strength and concentration.  Or look at the tree that is pruned way back … only to grow better, bigger and stronger. 
 
The bottom line:  It takes work, sweat (and a fair amount of falling on our butts) to grow and to achieve anything worthwhile.  Sooooo, no whining, no complaining; ignore the bumps and bruises … and just go for it.  Why not?  — jri
 
“We cannot become what we need to
to be by remaining what we are.”
        –    Zig Ziglar
 
If you enjoy my ramblings, please share them.  Oh, and check out my latest book, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.  It will be available by the end of February.  But order a pre-publication copy now (and workbook) and I’ll cover the shipping costs. Thanks
John R. Ingrisano
www.b2bbookofmoney.com
(920) 559-3722

MONDAY THOUGHT 2/9/09

Blessed or Miserable?
 
Did you ever notice that many people who have pretty much everything often seem a whole lot less happy than many folks who carry a heavy sack of troubles on their shoulders?
 
No, I’m not suggesting that misery is a good thing.  However, I am saying that people who have learned to deal with their problems do seem a whole lot more appreciative of their blessings.
 
My point:  Misery or joy, it is a choice of attitude, well within our own control.  So, I challenge myself (and I invite anyone else who would care to join me) to be flat-out joyful — no matter what — on this beautiful day. — jri   
 
“Delight yourself in the Lord
    and he will give you the desires
    of your heart.”
        –    King David
               (Psalm 37:7)

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/4/09

“What, me worry?”
 
Alfred E. Neuman, the dopey, big-eared fictional mascot for Mad magazine, got it right.  We waste so much time worrying about what we do wrong, what we have failed to do right, what went wrong yesterday, what just might go wrong tomorrow.  Whew! 
 
I know people who, as a result of their habitual worrying, rob themselves and their loved ones of peace and joy.  They destroy their happiness. 
 
My point:  Work hard to make of life what you want it to be.  And then … forget about it.  Enjoy the upticks and downbeats, the incredible wins and the two-by-four-across-the-nose setbacks.  Enjoy your strengths and your weaknesses.  None of us is perfect.  Do not worry yourself sick about it.  So, as my Italian grandmother would say — enjoy!  — jri
 
“The spiritual life is the life of a man’s real
self, the life of that interior self whose flame
is so often allowed to be smothered under
the ashes of anxiety and futile concern.”
        –    Thomas Merton
 
Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you today.  If you enjoy my ramblings, please share them.  If not, please let me know that as well.  Also, I have a new book coming out this month, The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace.  For more info, click on www.b2bbookofmoney.com.
John R. Ingrisano