There are three types of generosity: time, talent, treasure.

The most difficult generosity today may be giving one’s time. Nothing can replace the special private time you give your spouse, your children or extended family. There is a caveat however, no phones!!

Many times your children will remember time spent alone with them years later when recalling their childhood.

There is no doubt that time alone with your spouse enriches your marriage and is a blessing for both of you.

Private time spent with your extended family will give you peace and comfort looking back on your life.

Generous giving of your talents to family and community not only enriches your self worth but also lets others know you care about them.

Choosing to be generous with your treasure or wealth can be easy and enjoyable for some and very hard for others. There can be an attitude of, “I earned mine, let them earn their own.”

There is a story in the bible of a man who filled his barns to capacity and then sat back with great pleasure knowing he was “set for life.” HE DIED THE NEXT DAY! You cannot take it with you so share along the way.

For a more complete self, try to be generous every day of your life. You will be much happier.

A 29-year-old California soccer player died 15-days after a large fight erupted during a match over a disagreement with the referee’s decision, according to the Oxnard Police Department.

On July 10, Oxnard police responded to reports of a large fight between two adult soccer teams on a high school soccer field. Authorities found Misael Sanchez unresponsive and not breathing, Oxnard police said in a release.

“The fight occurred when the two teams disagreed with a referee’s decision,” Oxnard police said. Sanchez was on the field playing when the fight broke out. “During the fight, Sanchez was assaulted by multiple assailants,” police said. (CNN)

Why, on this earth, did this young man have to die while playing the game that he loved?

Will modern society come to its senses and realize violence is never the proper solution to a problem.

Misael Sanchez had his whole life ahead of him.

To have it taken away in such a brutal fashion is a loss for all of us, not only his loving family and friends.

What is the solution?

Why did the Reverend Jesse Jackson always tell us to: ‘Keep Hope Alive?”

Because most us his audiences were poor and black.

Hope was not a part of their everyday lives.

So, how about you?

Do you have hope for your marriage?

Do you have hope for your children?

Do you have hope to live your life with a healthy body?

Do you have hope for your financial future?

Do you have hope for your country?

Do you have hope for peace?

Hope is a precious aspiration that must be nurtured every day.

Jesus said: “They who have hope will soar on the wings of eagles. They will run and not grow weary.”

If you don’t have hope today, when?

We are all capable of many forms of sin.

Betrayal, however, is in a class of it’s own.

Where once there was trust, there is no longer trust now or ever.

Most of our sins are against God.

Betrayal is an offense against a person who was once very close to the offender.

One of my friends suffered a grievous betrayal from which he will never recover.

Recently, he asked me why he is so unlucky.

I didn’t have an answer.

If someone trusts you, be grateful and don’t ever violate that trust!

Not today, not ever!

New York (CNN Business)Two astronauts — one European and one Russian — exited the airlock on the International Space Station for a spacewalk on Thursday, marking the first time in more than 20 years such a joint endeavor has taken place.

Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev entered the vacuum of space in their puffy white spacesuits before 11 a.m. ET, and they’re expected to spend about seven hours working to install a 36-foot-long robotic arm on one of the space station’s modules.

Spacewalks are a routine endeavor on the ISS, but they typically involve two Americans or Europeans, an American and a European, or two Russians working together. The last time a European astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut left the ISS together wearing Russian-made Orlan spacesuits was in April of 1999.

How can they be at war on earth and at peace in space?

It happens to all of us.

There are challenges in old age that didn’t exist in our youth.

Our health may not as be good now as it was then.

Some of the activities we loved are no longer possible.

Close friendships we had in our younger years have passed on or moved away.

Many people seek climates that provide added comfort in declining years.

When you learn that a close friend or old teammate has passed away, it’s a shock and a fact that the people you once new are becoming fewer.

Despite all these aspects of old age, we must still count our blessings and always be grateful. We really do have a wonderful life compared to the millions who have nothing.

We must rise above our discomforts and celebrate what we do have.

If not today, when?

Some nurses have abandoned a workplace where conditions have become harder to endure, with impossibly high patient loads and even a shocking uptick in workplace violence. Others have quit their jobs to become travel nurses, staffing bedsides around the country on a temporary basis, and for as much as triple their usual pay.

But there’s a less visible reason why the current demand for nurses vastly exceeds the supply: Colleges and universities are turning away tens of thousands of qualified aspiring nursing students every year, undercutting numbers in this vitally important profession. In 2020, even as universities expanded enrollment by 6%, they turned away 66,000 qualified applicants for bachelor of nursing programs, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (CNN)

There is also a shortage of qualified instructors and lab equipment.

It’s just less costly for universities to offer lecture classes.

I believe the national shortage of nurses could be described as a crisis.

Something must be done to incentivize universities to graduate more nurses.

If not today, when?

 

Amalfi, Italy (CNN) — Above the green hills of the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy, an agile farmer leaps across terraced lemon groves overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Balancing between one wooden pole and another, the not-so-young acrobat defies gravity, bending to pick lemons and transport them in crates weighing more than 55 pounds between vertical gardens more than 1,312 feet above the ground.

A strong aroma of the unique bittersweet scent of citrus surrounds him. The sound of waves below masks the hum of car traffic.

“Not blood, but lemon juice runs through my veins,” says 87-year-old farmer Gigino Aceto, whose family has been growing lemons here since the 1800s.

He was even conceived among these plants.

“In my parents’ old days, the lack of space and intimacy meant that love was made outdoors, underneath the citrus trees,” he says with a smile.

Many of your attributes dictate how you are perceived by others.

PERSONAL GROOMING-This attribute indicates how much pride you have in yourself and your appearance.

Taking an extra minute to check yourself before going out the door is important.

WARDROBE- Do you dress appropriate to the occasion? Do you have good taste when purchasing apparel?

Does your choice of clothing add or detract from your appeal?

YOUR BODY- Do you watch your diet and commit to regular exercise? Diet and exercise must complement one another in order to bring forth the best of you.

ATTITUDE- Do people want to be around you? Or, do you turn them off?

I hope this checklist helps you identify areas that need improvement.

If not today, when?

Many of us have things we’d like to own.

Or, people we’d like to become.

In order to attain either objective, we must be prepared to take risks and work intensely.

About risks, have you not been a risk taker in the past?

Many people don’t live a fulfilling life because they always “play it safe.”

And you won’t fulfill your dreams either if you’re unwilling to reach and struggle.

Also, nothing is ever accomplished without hard work.

Are you a hard worker?

Do you have the perseverance to keep going despite the setbacks and disappointments that lie just around the corner.

One more thing.

If you try and fail, it is still worth it because at least you gave it your all!

If not today, when?