1 Thing You Can Do to Escape the Foolishness of Struggle

May the Force NOT Be with You

May you find a way to keep yourself out of situations where you feel forced to perform like a trick pony or forced to complete the inventory without any joy.

May you laugh at the idea of constantly being encompassed by an agenda, especially when finishing the task brings no sense of celebration.

May you wisely refrain from feeling forced to fight to defend yourself.

Realize that those who are supposedly out to get you usually end up getting themselves.

And certainly, stop feeling forced to pray, to fulfill some sort of pious quota with God, or forced to believe so those around you can confirm that you’re part of the faithful.

Since working is the lot of those in the human family, find a reason to do it with humor and joy instead of being forced to climb out of your bed and trudge to the mines.

And most of all:

Do not allow yourself to be forced into a grownup world that’s full of sneers, leers, tears and jeers.

My hope for you, each and every one, is:

MAY THE GOOD CHEER BE WITH YOU.

 

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G-Poppers … June 16th, 2017

 

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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G-Pop welcomes all his children to the jungle called “today.”

It is possible to negotiate the experience as long as you avoid over-optimism or a nasty streak of pessimism.

First and foremost, G-Pop wants his children to know that coming into the jungle anticipating “good, better and best” is a futile, if not cruel, perspective. Human being s are not geared for such an agenda. Your friends will crumple if you place this regimen upon them.

What you have in the jungle is 1) the reluctant 2) the mediocre and 3) the available. Just realize this. It is the key to survival, which allows for success.

Reluctant people have one message: “leave me alone.” To pursue any further with a reluctant person will ignite their inner rage instead of awakening their potential. They will need to see much before they do anything.

On the other hand, the mediocre communicate clearly, “Why should I change?” They can explain why others need to alter their course and repent, but they feel deeply that they have done as much as they possibly can without sucking on their last straw of sanity.

Then you’ll come upon a clearing and meet the available. Those are the human beings who realize, “We need something.”It doesn’t mean they’re highly motivated to be productive, but they will admit that something needs to happen, or the same mediocre reluctance will render all of us vulnerable to the creatures of prey who devour the weak.

So what is your job? Are you called to turn a reluctant person into an eager one? God forbid. When you run across someone who’s reluctant, just encourage them to keep rummaging. If you see anything of quality, praise it.

Likewise, when you interface with the mediocre, G-Pop wants his children to leave them with something to think about–that good, old-fashioned food for thought with a lot of relish and mustard. Just tell them what you’re considering, and admit that you don’t have the answers, but you’re curious. Mediocre sometimes gets stirred, and in the process, can turn into a bubbling stew.

And of course, when you stumble upon those who are available, urge them to wonder. For instance:

• How much could a little change accomplish?
• How about if we just painted the fence?
• What if we just purchased a welcome mat for the front door of the house?
• What power does a little creativity bring, which might stimulate the passion to do more?

G-Pop must warn his children that the search for good, better and best is only suited for when we walk among the angels.

Enter the jungle called “today” knowing how to deal with the reluctant, the mediocre and the available.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Ask Jonathots … November 10th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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What role do you think the media played in the 2016 Presidential election?

Decide.

It’s the most important step each one of us takes in our lives. Decide what we think is important and steer our life in that direction.

Without this determination, we often find ourselves misled by the passing fancy of an overzealous press or an under-informed society.

Once you understand the function of the media, you can begin to comprehend how their input is valuable, and where it is detrimental to your own well-being. Here is the agenda of the media in the United States of America:

1. Dig up information–the fresher the better.

In the process of desiring to bring news-breaking stories, often truth and detail are compromised. So in order to be intelligent, you must realize that what you hear is not dependable unless it has survived 72 hours of scrutiny.

2. Fill time.

When the nightly news was only half an hour in length, there was no requirement to cover so many stories with so many angles, as with the introduction of the 24-hour news cycle.

It is similar to going to a party knowing you’re going to stay an hour, or going to a party knowing you will be forced into the confines of that environment for four hours. Under the one-hour limit, you don’t have to work so hard to fill the time, and therefore may actually be less likely to lie, exaggerate or gossip.

3. Make money.

Yes, the media is at the mercy of sponsors, and they often have an agenda. So the media finds itself subject to that agenda, and therefore they pad reports with stories which support the requirement.

So whenever you watch a news organization, you are getting their “take” on the news instead of an even representation.

As for me, I consider what the media is doing–having already determined three things for my own lifestyle

A. I will love my neighbor as myself.

B. I will take personal responsibility for my life.

C. I will be of good cheer.

I feel that the media during this Presidential election was instrumental in robbing us of a sense of brotherly love, personal responsibility and certainly a desire to have good cheer.

There were just times I had to turn it off  to maintain the integrity of my heart’s desire and mission.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this inspirational opportunity

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Good News and Better News … January 25th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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I arrived early.

Nothing had started popping at Messiah Lutheran.

I was sitting at my book table checking out a few details when I looked across the vestibule and saw the bulletin board pictured above.

My first instinct was to chuckle since I was peering at a snowman while abiding in Panama City, Florida. But I guess because it was Sunday morning and my thoughts had become a bit introspective, I considered the snowman.

It isn’t, you know–a man, I mean.

If you came across a snowman and decided to melt it and free the human being inside, after extensive warming, all you would end up with is a puddle.

There’s nothing within.

It’s an imitation of life–using lumps of coal, a broom, a button, a scarf, a carrot and a top hat.

But it got me wondering if there are frozen people crusted over by the iciness of our culture, who really are more than just snowmen. Is it possible to become so chilled by indifference that you live beneath inches of ice?

Well, I certainly see it in politics.

Freezing out your competition and appearing above the fray, free of fault, seems to be the “call of the wild” in Washington. But I fear if the real heat of pressure and responsibility fell upon any one of them, they would sink into a drippy mess.

How about entertainment?

What could be more hypocritical than a bunch of snowmen in Hollywood who think they are so open-minded and liberal, who make a stand against guns–even as they use pistils, automatic rifles and any number of instruments of mayhem to kill thousands of human beings in their plotlines.

Then there’s religion.

Seems to me that we have sunk to the position of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, who spent their time counting cups, cleaning plates and decorating their robes.

Snowmen.

Nothing really left inside–just a cold form of what they once might have looked like.

So as I prepared to share with the folks at Messiah, I was reminded of the sarcastic statement of the angel, speaking to the women who came to the tomb to embalm Jesus: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

I had to ask myself a two-part question:

• Is my life the pursuit of melting snowmen, only to find there’s nothing really there?
• Or, under this arctic exterior, are there still living human beings who would like to have joy and abundant life?

The good news is that Messiah lifted my spirits.

Although at first they treated us as strangers, our hearts soon burned within us, taking away the frigid fear.

It was powerful.

It was good.

It was hopeful.

And unlike the snowman on the wall of their bulletin board, what I discovered were human beings suffering from a little hypothermia from being exposed to too much cold. So here’s the better news: We can warm up society and find out where the snowmen are and where the people just need to come in out of the elements.

1. When you see somebody doing a good job and you know they make minimum wage, give them a buck and a word of encouragement for their extra-mile efforts.

2. When you’re in the doctor’s office, instead of pretending to read an out-dated magazine, attempt to strike up a conversation with a nearby human being and see where it takes you.

3. Let “thank you” come off your lips more and more easily.

4. Lead with a smile long before you come face-to-face.

5. Appreciate the small things and be amazed at how the big things begin to take care of themselves.

6. Sit in your quiet, staid church and clap your hands during one of the hymns and see if anyone joins you.

I could go on and on.

Here are two dangers in life: falling under the spell of the deep freeze, or believing that you have no power to thaw it.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

 

Do You …?… July 28, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Do you care?

Do you have a way to help?

Or do you feel the need to push your agenda?

I woke up this morning with these three questions percolating in my mind.

Emotionally:

Can I be more honest about the extent of my real commitment instead of making too many promises which cause people to glow with enthusiasm at first, and then, when I fail to deliver, just burn out?

Spiritually:

Do I believe in a caring and helpful God who lifts burdens instead of loading the heavens down onto frail, earthly shoulders?

Mentally:

Do I realize that my training and experience are a beginning of understanding instead of the summit of knowledge? Degrees from universities eventually must translate into some degree of common sense.

Physically:

Can I package and present myself well without competing in an ongoing beauty contest or centering in on the differences in others?

Being valuable means possessing value.

It involves care and help with a minimal agenda.

• Does my God care?
• Does He help?
• Is He locked into an agenda that sounds righteous in a heavenly board meeting that isn’t very practical on the assembly line?

Three questions.

Great questions.

To question is to care.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

Click here to listen to Spirited music

 

 

Listen! Stop! Look! … July 21, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Listen!

Don’t assume you’ve heard it all.

Allow your brain a chance to receive the freshness of a new insight.

People are always telling you their story.

They will let you know where it hurts.

They will inform you of what they need.

Sometimes they bury the lead under a joke.

Often they disguise the anguish beneath religiosity.

But listen.

Allow yourself to believe there’s more.

He that has an ear, let him hear.

Stop!

Yes, cease to believe that you’ve heard it all and know it all.

Don’t try to fix people.

Find a way to input them in the space they’ve provided.

Stop trying to save the world.

Instead, give people a chance to grow.

Don’t be so sure you know the will of God.

Because after all, it’s not His will that any should perish.

Don’t allow yourself to be so far behind the times that you’re chasing truth.

Stop repeating things that don’t work.

Start anticipating fresh blessings every day.

Look!

• For ways to bless people.
• For ways to hug people.
• For ways to touch people.
• For ways to make people laugh.
• For ways to drop a dollar at just the right moment.
• For ways to learn.
• For ways to avoid too much work.
• For ways to lift a burden.
• For ways to establish your humanity.
• For ways to be forgiving.
• For ways to be vulnerable.
• For ways to accept that people are the closest thing to God you will see today.

Listen!

Get your ears on.

Stop!

Selling an agenda.

Look!

For God.

He’s out there.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

Click here to listen to Spirited music

 

 

Entertaining … November 22, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

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I joined in the discussion.

Well, actually, I more or less monitored it by reading what people were writing back and forth as they discussed the value of entertainment on Facebook. It really fell into three categories:

One group thought entertainment was supreme, and that a message of inspiration could be added as long as it didn’t push an agenda or wasn’t too obvious.

Yet another contingency insisted that all entertainment had value because it was escapism from the rigors of adult life and the difficulties of our society.

Then there were those who believed that entertainment was in the eye or ear of the receiver and therefore was difficult to define because it was so individualized.

To some degree, at various stages of my life, I have held fast to each one of these ideas. But honestly, none of the three define entertainment.

Entertainment is the blending of entering and attaining.

One of the weaknesses in our society is that we’re losing “sweet” fellowship for “tweet” fellowship. We no longer press human flesh by arriving at a location where we sit with other human beings and enter into an experience that lets everyone know that “we showed up.”

Then I believe that it’s the responsibility of the artist, the teacher, the preacher or any communicator–to find a way to use the common sense and good cheer of life to help us all attain greater understanding of one another.

Entertainment and inspiration are not at odds with each other nor mutually exclusive. They are fraternal twins.

For after all, you will never inspire people if you are not prepared to entertain their fancy, and you never truly entertain folks if they leave uninspired, merely comparing your offering to others they’ve sampled.

• I will enter.
• I will attain.
• I will show.
• And I will grow.

And when you mingle these two together, you get the essence of God, who was both a show-off in the way He exploded the universe, and a practical philosopher in the procedure of how it operates.

Tonight I head to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to perform after a banquet. They want it to be entertaining. This might cause some people to pause, wondering if they had the material and the inclination to solely entertain.

I don’t worry about such things. Because I believe if you truly entertain, you inspire. And no inspiration ever happens without the audience being entertained.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click for details on the SpirTed 2014 presentation

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

click to hear music from Spirited 2014