Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
Col 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”

LAST WEEK, GOD OPENED A new window on what He and I can do together. I was in the middle of preparing for a class I’m teaching at church when God reminded me that He is life. As in, “I have come that they may have life” (Jn. 10:10) and “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Ro. 4:17).
Then He invited me to join Him in the business of bringing life. “In any situation where there is ‘death’,” He said, “You get to pray and ask me to bring life.”
Whoa. That’s a prayer focus that had never occurred to me. I’ve gotten so used to living with realities such as “Too good to be true” and “Going from bad to worse” that it doesn’t occur to me to notice where elements of death are at work in a situation—they’re like background noise.
But God’s invitation has nudged me to look at situations from a death-and-life viewpoint. Sometimes it’s obvious where life is needed, as when a friend is grappling with cancer. In other situations, I’ve had to look a little harder. I’ve sat in meetings and conversations wondering, “Is there an element of ‘death’ in what we’re talking about—maybe through an attitude, an emotion, a way of thinking, or a practice?” And I’ve sent up little prayers, “Father, would you bring life here?” or “What would you like to do here that would bring life?”
Looking around and realizing, “I get to ask God to bring life,” has been fun—mostly. You see, this prayer has had an unexpected consequence: It’s revealed I’m not always eager for God to answer it. How can that be?! I’ve tasted life and know how wonderful it is; why wouldn’t I want that touch on everything around me?
Truth is, I don’t. In one situation, I’ve gotten used to the dynamics; I can navigate them just fine. If that situation were brimming with life, I’d have to grapple with the change. In another situation, I’ve been chagrined to find myself thinking, Why bring life and let them off the hook? They made their bed; they can lie in it.
Oh me of small heart and small faith.
And, apparently, even smaller vision for what God might want to do.
And even smaller reverence for His sovereignty! All He’s invited me to do is ask for His life. I don’t remember Him asking me to determine when and how He should bring it.
So I ask for forgiveness for my small heart, and continue praying my new prayer, that the King of Life will bring His “Midas” touch to those around me.

God bless you all.

You need to understand that God created intimacy as His plan to build oneness in marriage. The way men and women respond to intimacy is vastly different. Sometimes those differences can complement each other and sometimes it complicates the experience. Those differences can tear apart the very fabric of your mutual fulfillment.

Satisfying intimacy is much more than focusing on the physical aspect. There are four levels of intimacy and they all need to be playing a part for the experience to be successful for both husband and wife. Those four levels are mental, emotional, spiritual, and then physical. All of these areas are vital in establishing intimacy and when used as together they will enrich and deepen your oneness as a couple.

Does your marriage need more intimacy?

Cabin in the woods

Christmas is my time of year. Christmas thoughts of times past.

I love the winter months of November and December. I know, I know, that may seem weird to a lot of people. All I hear at this time of year from just about everybody is, “It’s so cold, I wish we were in Florida or California were it’s warm and sunny.”

I love winters in Michigan.

I think of ice skating in the open air rinks. Taking a rest inside a log cabin where there is a warm fire, sipping on a cup of hot chocolate, and listening to a guy playing his guitar and singing some Christmas carols.

I think of playing hockey with the guys at an outside rink, that we made.

Sledding down a hill and falling off the sled as you slide all the way down in the snow. Laughter and fun times with friends and family.

I think of trudging out to the woods and finding just the right tree. Cutting it down, dragging it back to the truck, taking it home and trimming it before we put it up in the living room window. Wow, I still remember how beautiful it looked after it was all decorated with lights and lots of old and homemade ornaments. And the wonderful smell of the fresh pine scent that filled the whole room.

Not being able to get to sleep on Christmas eve. Thoughts of Christmas presents under the tree as my brother and I, laying in our bunk beds, and talking for hours until we finally and slowly drifted off to sleep. And than killing ourselves as we rushed down the hallway to see what waited for us under the tree.

My wife and I watched the movie, ” The Grinch that stole Christmas”, the other night. The one part that stuck in my head from the movie was when after the Grinch had stolen all the presents, and all the things that represented what we all think today, means Christmas, he stopped and listened from the top of the snowy mountain that he called home, and instead of hearing kids crying and people wailing away from the loss of all the things that were stolen, he heard something very different. He heard singing, and people coming all together and even though they didn’t have their things, they were still celebrating Christmas. Holding hands and singing around the Christmas tree.

The Grinch stood there in amazement and silence. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing! As the snow continued to fall all around him, he thought, ” I guess I didn’t steal Christmas after all. Christmas isn’t in the things that we spend our money on, that we buy in stores. Christmas is in your heart. It comes from within. Than an amazing thing happened. The Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day.

That to me, was the best part of the whole movie. That was the theme of the movie. Our society puts so much on presents and getting things, that we really miss the true, and real meaning of what Christmas is about. We have lost that over time, and over years of rushing and going as fast as we can to achieve and preserve what we have worked for, and for what we want and for what we can get. We, we, we. I me my. That is what we have turned into.

It’s about giving not getting. It’s about letting someone else go first instead of me pushing my way to the front.

” For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. God loved, so He gave. What do you love? That’s what you will put first in your life. Whatever you love comes first. It’s human nature.

Well anyway, those are my thoughts about Christmas. What are yours? What thoughts scurry through your mind when you think about Christmas?

Give to someone. Help someone and see if your heart might not grow a couple of sizes too.

Let me know what you think. I really would like to know. I want to see how many thoughts from Christmas you all can accumulate and post.

Thank you. God bless you and Merry Christmas.

Brian Gosur