Jonathots Daily Blog
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There are matters that are too important to ignore or leave to chance. These are salient moments.
Shall we take a look at a fascinating window of time that occurs in all human beings, from birth to about five years of age? Each one of us is so vulnerable, so needy, so inquisitive and so desperate that we are prepared to be taught to be Earth-dwellers by our parents. Sometimes this extends all the way up to age ten.
Three very intricate systems are introduced: manners, morals and motivation.
This is the period when we develop our ethics–perhaps a work ethic or a social one, but certainly a mental gear we adopt to deal with life and with others.
Most generally this instruction is completed by age eleven, because here comes puberty. For the average parent puberty can be best defined as this: “My children have lost their hearing in favor of their genitals.”
It is difficult to provide additional instruction during this period. Sometimes after a serious error, there will be a brief season of curiosity from the adolescent, but then the trio of temptation, taunting and teasing pulls them right back into the melee of mayhem.
This lasts until about age twenty-five. (Of course, it could be twenty-two, or thirty, depending on the person. But for the sake of this brief essay, I shall characterize it as twenty-five.)
At twenty-five young folks wake up–sometimes after a hangover or after getting their first threatening letter from a bill collector for their student loans, or perhaps realizing they might be in love.
A realization strikes: “Maybe me, an individual, could become us, a family.”
So three new friends show up to invigorate manners, morals and motivation. They are concern, confidence and clever.
We, as humans, develop a legitimate concern for others while building confidence and finding clever ways to use what we have more expansively.
It is a massive transition–a needful one. Without it, many young persons never become actual adults at all, but linger around their families, particularly their parents, coming back for another schooling in morals, manners and motivation.
This concern, confidence and clever births some children, buys a house, acquires job promotions and takes us, as people, to about the age of fifty. (Once again, this could be younger or a little older.)
At fifty, having tapped the fruit of concern, confidence and clever, people want more. There is a wrinkle in the spirit of human beings which causes them to wistfully wish to make a difference and leave behind a legacy.
It is at this point that we pursue wit, words and wisdom. It carries us through to our dying breath.
Yet we certainly know individuals in their seventies who have never escaped concern, confidence and clever–or maybe never even learned morals, manners and motivation.
This is a passage. All human passages are entered only through the power of repentance.
So here is your salient moment:
Gather up all your manners, morals and motivation, and stir in your concern, confidence and cleverness. And if you have reached the age, add on your wit, words and wisdom.
Finish the job.
Of course, if you’re led of the Spirit and you’re a creature who knows how to use faith, you don’t have to wait for birthdays to dictate your future.
As the Good Book says, “today is the day of salvation.”
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Jonathots Daily Blog 
G-Poppers … July 13th, 2018
G-Pop loves his children.
Of course, most folks claim they do. Even that lady in the courtroom who “offed her young’uns” insisted she adored the little tykes.
Love is the delicate balance between affection and correction. And who has ever found the balance? Some people are too affectionate–other people are just hard-asses.
How can you tell the truth in love?
G-Pop wants you to know that the world is segregating itself into clumps of misunderstanding.
For instance, over here on the right you’ve got the “He” crowd–“He” meaning God:
God is everything.
God is good.
Yet … God seems indifferent about the plight of children killed in war. (But that’s because we don’t understand His will.)
God, who is supposed to make us happy often leaves us sad, failing to return our messages.
So escaping “He,” we become…
Well, “you.”
I find myself having to contend with–you. After all, you have such great potential. If you would just listen to me, you would become amazingly fruitful, but you persist in your own ideas when you know that mine are proven better.
So you, who could be a companion to me, suddenly become a problem.
Conversations with you. I become convinced things are going to be better, and then you just end up being you.
Worse than that, many “yous” become “them” which is closely associated with “they.”
This is not an issue of prejudice or racism. These “yous,” who have clustered together in regions, have generated a serious predicament.
Maybe it’s skin color–but not exclusively.
Maybe it’s their customs.
But certainly, at the heart of it, they just aren’t quite as good and certainly not as adequate.
They need to be set apart.
Let’s not get mean about it. (Matter of fact, if we can get them to think it’s their idea to promote their own flag, their own skin tone or their own religion…)
Just keep them away.
I guess the only true way this can be achieved is for us to become a “we.”
We’re just so damn cute. We’re clever, we’re creative, we’re concerned about the world. We hold meetings and share ideas, relating with one another.
We are not animals.
We are not part of the ignorant masses who support foolishness.
We have culture.
We even have a mission statement.
Shoot–all we need is a song. Yes, a rallying tune to make it clear where “they” end and “we” begin.
So as the world drags on with devotion to “He,” criticism of “you,” bigotry about “them” and the self-righteousness of “we”, G-Pop notes that something needs to emerge that speaks the truth with love.
It is “I.”
But it is “i” in the lower case. It is an “i” that has not yet arrived.
And the tiny “i” is a way to signify that we understand that we’re empowered, but have not yet capitalized on all of our possibilities.
“i” am the beginning and the end of the significance of my life.
When “i” look to “we, them, you or He,” “i” drain energy from my existence–leaving a huge hole in my soul.
What do “i” need to do?
A. “i” need to repent of my fear of being wrong.
B. “i” need to make that repentance as joyous and as full of good cheer as possible, so “i” won’t resent doing it.
C. “i” need to focus on my work instead of trying to live off the efforts of others.
D. And “i” need to be humble.
G-Pop loves his children–enough to tell them the truth with affection.
G-Pop is an “i.”
He is an “i” who’s working everyday on trying to dot himself.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this inspirational opportunity
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on July 13, 2018 at 2:27 pm Leave a CommentTags: clever, companion, courtroom, customs, dot the i, fruitful, G-Poppers, God's will, good cheer, humble, ignorant, love your children, lower case i, misunderstanding, racism, skin color, speak the truth in love