Jonathots Daily Blog
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That Can Be Learned by Reading the Story of Joseph from Genesis, Chapters 37 – 50
1. The ever-present danger of pride impersonating confidence
2. The necessity of perseverance instead of drowning in self-pity
1 Thing That Would Make It Easier to Get Along with Each Other
Weakness
Unfortunately, we all seem to be terrified with the freakishness of meekness that seems to rob us of uniqueness.
So to remain strong, we will cry, try and even lie.
So what does this mean? “When you are weak you are strong.”
What is this devilish double-talk?
We are much more transparent than we wish were true.
In other words, people are already suspicious that we have weakness.
- Attempts to cover it up become comical.
- Efforts to deny it make us appear to be carnival fools.
You are weak. If you know this, it becomes your strength.
Why? Because you can be in charge of letting others understand your emerging nature. But if you insist on being strong when there’s an obvious weakness, not only will it be found, but those around you will work very hard to uncover and expose it—so they, themselves, can disguise their own weakness.
So do you want to make it easier, or do you demand on it continuing to be hard?
What should I do with my weakness?
- Admit it.
- Work with it.
- Rejoice in it.
I am weak, but even though I have a weakness, it has not stopped me. By continuing through that weakness, I have done things I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to get finished, so I am grateful.
Are you weak too? Do you have a weakness?
Are you able to speak it aloud, or must it be exploited in the town square and ridiculed?
Weakness is what makes us strong if we admit it, work with it and rejoice in it.
Sit Down Comedy … October 18th, 2019
Jonathots Daily Blog
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“Love your enemies.” A peculiar idea.
First, how does that happen? If you’re really a lover, how do you make enemies? Do some people just hate to be loved—therefore they have to hate you because you’re the one who loved them?
Or is it that you fail to love your neighbors, and in the meantime, they turn into enemies, so now you’ve got a real problem.
How can you love your enemies? Doesn’t the word “enemy” connote some sort of conflict?
Does Jesus love Satan? They’re enemies.
Does Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi love Donald Trump? They’re enemies.
There seems to be a prerequisite of a certain amount of disfavor, if not hate, in levying the word “enemy” onto someone else.
So what’s the purpose of the love? Are we speaking figuratively, as in, “compared to the amount of dislike we could muster, we sure seem loving in our discretion?”
Or is it that condescending “love your enemy,” like they do with gay people?
“I love the sinner, but I hate the sin.” How does one do that?
For this to work, the sinner would have to believe he or she is sinning, rather than following a sexual orientation. Any way you look at it, it’s hatred.
So how do you love your enemies? Doesn’t it express a weakness that leaves you vulnerable? Someone gets ready to punch you in the face, and you say, “Listen—I love you.”
Do we think it’s a deterrent?
Does “turn the other cheek” spare a cheek from being hit? Or just make you defenseless?
God knows, pessimism is a destructive virus. But likewise, optimism leaves us all gooey and doughy—half-baked.
I don’t know about you—I don’t want platitudes.
I don’t want someone to say, “Love your enemies,” and then if I try it, they chuckle and say, “No—not that way.”
Or, “Come on, kid. You’ve gotta stand up for yourself.” But we’ve been standing up for ourselves for a long time.
Israel stands up for itself in the Middle East. So do the Arabs.
Standing up for oneself is really the formula for a stand-off, isn’t it?
Yet what good does it do to introduce love into a volatile situation?
It seems so ridiculous to people, even those who claim to believe in the Gospel, that they try to ignore it and think of all sorts of ways to hurt one another.
How did I ever get goddamn enemies? Did I think I was loving, but ended up being an asshole? Or did I insist I imitate a loving person while being an asshole? Come on.
Words are useless unless you know what they mean.
When the words “love” and “enemy” occur in the same sentence, I, for one, need more information.
I’d rather not have enemies. Will being a loving person help with that? Now, there’s an idea.
I don’t want to pick a fight. Picking a fight is such a futile process. There’s a chance you’ll win. There’s a chance you’ll lose. But if you win, you still must have some sort of concern toward the person you beat the crap out of. Otherwise, people will think you’re wicked. I guess it’s alright to be hateful as long as you aren’t wicked.
When people say they’ll pray for you, do they? Or is the statement the prayer?
I think maybe the human race could do much better if high-sounding ideas like “love your enemy” were better explained, and really shitty attitudes, like, “every man for himself,” were exposed.
My thought is, if somebody is your enemy and you aren’t able to whoop him, you’d better find a way to get along with him.
And if you think you can whoop everybody, it’s safe to say that you’ll eventually get whooped.
I’m not in the mood for a good whooping—either to give one or to take one.
So I guess the thought is:
Once you find out that someone is pissed at you, control the vibe.
Nurture the energy that flows his or her way, and make sure they have no reason to turn the feud into a vendetta and the vendetta into a war.
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1 Thing You Can Do This Week to Be in the Know
Attractive Without Attraction Does Not Attract Anybody
I freely admit that being handsome or gorgeous is an immediate plus for gaining attention in the human family. Matter of fact, it may give you one or two free cracks at the prize without having to suffer too much critique from admirers.
We like pretty people.
We, ourselves, either believe we are pretty, or certainly have a comprehensive plan and are working to get there.
But if “attractive” cannot produce an attraction, people will scurry away, not only disappointed, but vindictive that they so easily swooned over dimples and smiles. At this point, attractive has failed to deliver, through evident beauty, any promise of beautiful things forthcoming.
I don’t think I need to discuss with you what attractive is. But I have readily prepared myself to explain what the attraction is that can take unattractive people and attract them to everybody.
There are three links that form a chain.
If you’re able to grasp how these units are meant to combine to generate an attraction, then you won’t have to worry nearly as much about being universally considered attractive. There are even many actors in Hollywood who might, on the surface, be considered homely, but because of their work, character, longevity and quality, are now able to attract anybody.
So what are the three links that form the chain of attraction?
It begins with confidence.
Confidence is characterized through the statement, “I have some experience.” Confidence does not say that you have all experience, or that your experience will solve the entire breadth of problems or that there isn’t something that could come up that you would not be able to handle. Confidence is just stating, “I have some experience.”
You take that link and fasten it to “humble.”
Humble is an admission necessary for all of us: “I have some weaknesses.”
These two attributes connected create a ying and yang that let people know that you’re safe for consideration.
Confidence: I have some experience.
Humble: I have some weakness.
The final link is mercy: I have some forgiveness.
If you are a leader and you’re starting a job managing a group of people and you don’t have mercy, you unfortunately will soon turn into a tyrant.
But when you take the three links—confidence, humble and mercy—they form a chain of attraction.
No matter where you go across the world, they will attract you to anybody.
Too much confidence? You’d better be attractive, too.
Too much humble? You may just look like you’re playing it safe.
And too much mercy? You can be taken advantage of.
So if you can ignore whether you are deemed physically attractive, but instead, confidently, humbly and mercifully pursue your goals, then that will build the attraction which will attract you to anybody you meet.
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Sit Down Comedy … July 19th, 2019
Jonathots Daily Blog
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It is a breathtakingly simple three-step process:
I. Like. You.
I, like you.
I like you.
Although not complex, it seems to profoundly stump the consciousness of the human race.
It begins with I.
In other words, me. I will stop putting the focus and the blinding light on the faults of others and center it on my own foolish foibles.
I will remove the sacs filled with venom so that when I become grouchy and bite someone, I don’t have to accidentally poison them.
I will become the “I” that needs to learn what I need to know, and only I need to know, in order to accomplish what I must do.
This will lend itself to becoming a person who can “like” things once again.
I have stopped doing so. In favor of coming across with wit, I have transformed myself into a cynical snoot, thinking that intelligence is better expressed through critique. I have refused to appreciate the little blessings that have come my way.
But since I have taken the time to acknowledge what I am and what I need to do, I can ease up my insecurity and start to like things again.
Which brings me to You.
You have always been one of my problems—perhaps my only calamity—because I view you as competition and resent the hell out of you using up the oxygen in the room that I could be hoarding in reserve.
I am twice as critical of you than I am me.
I am ten times more judgmental of your pratfalls than my huge stumblings.
But if I will take the time to find out who I am and not be afraid of admitting that I am lacking in some areas, then the possibility for liking things will cheer my soul and make me much more pleasant to be around—so I will be able to store up a measure of grace for when I find myself dealing with you.
With Step One in place, I am ready for Stage Two:
I, like you.
Yes, I look for similarities between you and me—your kind and my kind—my race and your race. I want to stop discussing your culture and my culture and see if we can discover the human culture.
And thirdly, I believe I will arrive at a position where I can say—hopefully:
I like you.
Perhaps God was too optimistic to think we could love our neighbor. But maybe we are able, after we’ve taken stock of our own weakness, to like things again, offering more room for one another.
Then negotiation, reasoning, conversation and even arguments could be well-oiled with compassion, commonality and gladness.
There are nearly eight-and-a-half billion people in this world. It would not be necessary to get all of them to follow this three-step process. Even if we had one million people with hearts of good cheer, to pursue:
I. Like. You.
I, like you.
I like you.
Well, if we could just get a million, the light that would shine would be so brilliant that another ten million would want to imitate the success…
Of course, offering their own name for it.
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The V Word … July 2nd, 2019
Jonathots Daily Blog
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THE
WORD
She hurts.
He hurts.
You hurt.
I hurt.
They hurt.
We hurt.
It is a story told without resolution—a profile in defeat—a chair of comfort, set to the side.
It is a pain minus healing.
It is the word that should never be written or uttered again:
VICTIM
Being identified by your tragedy, characterized by your weakness or remembered for your sadness.
It is nearly drowning yet remaining in the water.
It is being battered and beaten and commanded to continue to wear your bandages.
It is the insincere belief that pity can ever be love, or sympathy, true mercy.
Victim
Victimized
Victimization
Don’t make one.
Don’t be one.
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3 Things … June 6th, 2019
Jonathots Daily Blog
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That Are Very Sexy
1. A confident humility
2. Leading with heart and soul instead of body and mind
3. Turning your weakness into a strength
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Jonathots Daily Blog 