Reece Gardner: Live life for today

This morning I want to talk about the importance of living life TODAY.  Noted author Marc Chernoff talked about being in a small CVS store when an elderly man with a guide dog came in.  He walked to the aisle with the greeting cards, picked up a card, held it extremely close to his face, and desperately squinted his eyes trying to read it.

Marc was about to walk over to help him when a huge burly guy in a Harley Davidson jacket walked up to the man and asked if he needed assistance reading. He then proceeded to read him about a dozen different greeting cards out loud until the elderly gentleman smiled and said, "That's perfect! My wife will love that one!"

As the old gentleman checked out at the register, Marc walked up to the big burly guy and said, "I admire your kindness." "Thank you, Sir," he replied with a smile, "Lately I've been letting my soul guide me. I'm actually in a bit of a hurry right now, so it would have been much easier just to let that man struggle, or let someone else help him, but my soul knows the easy things in life are not always the right things."

One of the Dale Carnegie sessions I have most enjoyed over the years is the one on Enthusiasm, when the Class stands and shouts in unison such statements as, "Act enthusiastic and you'll be enthusiastic; I feel good, I feel great, I feel happy."

Folks, it's hard to be sad when you're smiling. Marc Chernoff reveals that recent psychological research reinforces this. For many years psychologists believed our minds could directly affect our physical state of being, but never the other way around. Now, however, it is widely documented that our bodies - for example, our momentary facial expressions and body posture - can directly affect our mental state of mind.

So while it's true that we change from the inside out, we also change from the outside in.  So we need to put our hearts and souls into today, not just in tomorrow's opportunities, but in the opportunities right in front of us. Not just in tomorrow's tasks, but into today's tasks, and not just into tomorrow's relationships, but into our relationships today.  We've all heard the expression, "One of these days," which all too often becomes "None of these days." So let's be happy TODAY!

Now, let's close on a humorous note: An English teacher wrote on the blackboard, "I ain't had no fun all week." She then turned to the class and asked how that sentence could be corrected. A little boy in the back of the classroom stood up and said,  "Maybe you ought to get a boyfriend!" 

And one more:  on a summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her little boy into bed. She was about to turn out the light when he asked in a shaky voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" His mom smiled, gave him a hug and said, "I can't do that, dear. I have to sleep with Daddy." After a long silence, the little boy said, "The big sissy!”