Jacob's Job

Jacob decided early this year that he wanted to take $100 to spend at Scout camp. If you know Jacob, you can probably guess that he is anticipating spending the full $100 on junk food & sodas. Since camp is only 6 days, you can also probably imagine Jacob on about $16 per day of junk food & sodas. Oh, my!

Obviously, we are not going to give him $100 or allow him to foolish spend $100 from his savings account. Our response was the typical, "Get a job." So, he did. Every time he met a neighbor or friend, he would tell them that he was looking for opportunities to earn money. He would tell them that he could pull weeds, or mow lawns, etc.

Thankfully, he had more work than he had time to do.

I have to admit that as Mom, I was a little nervous about turning Jacob loose with a lawn mower or a weed eater. I could easily visualize a one-handed Jacob going to scout camp guzzling soda and somehow managing to eat candy by 2 handfuls at a time even with just one hand. :)

So, I took him to his first job, and was relieved when he came home tired from hard work and with all his limbs still attached. Later that same day I took him to his 2nd job, where I watched him mow and trim a lawn like a pro. Amazing! Why am I paying a landscaper when I have Jacob???

"I'm going to be fine."

As we walking out to the pool yesterday, Deborah kept saying to me, "I'm going to be fine." She repeated this exact phrase to many at least 6 different times. I really didn't know why she was saying it. But, then again, she's 3. I don't know why she says a lot of things.

After we entered the water she said to me, "I'm going to go under water and I'm going to be fine." So, she did. And, she was fine.

Imagine ... at 3 years of age, she is not only setting (and accomplishing) her goals, she also understands the power of positive self talk.

So, I have a goal that I've been working on, and probably need to do a lot more positive self talk to accomplish. Starting right now, I'm going to assure myself that "I'm going to be fine." And, I'm going to accomplish my goal.

How about you?

What if?

Do you have someone in your life who just knows exactly how to "push your buttons?" Someone who makes you a little crazy? I do.

But, last night I had a thought. We've all heard the saying "What would Jesus do?" Great saying. But, what if you learned that the person who makes you the most crazy was the best friend to Jesus? Would it change the way you treat the person?

What if?