A local radio station has a “daily dose of kindness” where they report on a “feel good” story. Why? Perhaps they are changing the narrative. News production always seems to cover the negatives that you need something to balance that slide into the pit by tossing in a few kind stories to balance the moment.
Some take vitamins and probably don’t need to (just a commentary), but for some, this is their standard for living a well-balanced life.
For the first time, I subscribed to the Old Farmers Almanac. Why? I’ve never read their book and thought I could get some direction around my little ranchette should I plant something this year. I get a daily email. Hmmm… I need to rethink this bundling of stories and ideas and question if I need this much information.
Garrison Keillor produced his Daily Poetry Almanac on NPR until they canceled him. I received a curated dose of news surrounding poetry, writers, and product – he always shared good history about the medium, and I learned a lot.
I’ve made a daily dose of scripture to become a thinking platform. It doesn’t happen every day, but most of the time, a new scripture pops up on my phone widgets, and I spend some minutes reading and studying. Today, it was:
For bodily exercise profits a little,
but godliness is profitable for all things,
having promise of the life that now is
and of that which is to come.
(1 Timothy 4:8 NKJV)
As I’ve said for years, don’t read just one verse. What comes before it, what happens after it, and suddenly you have the bigger picture of instruction or story. This scripture study paused my morning for 30 minutes as I studied and thought about Paul’s instruction.
Perhaps you remember the time of the old TV test pattern. Remember, there was a time when even television executives stepped away from their empires. Well, not any longer. As one writer puts it, “1,000 channels and nothing is on…” But as kids, we sat and watched this pattern until it became the Morning News and Hog Futures report (just kidding) by Dewey Compton.
I know someone who will not say a word until their first cup of coffee. Hmmm. When did they create that habit?
Well, here’s looking at you kid…
Here’s my thought today.
True commitment to anything will be seen in the time spent, dollars invested, and personal sacrifice. Those things tell the real story. ~Jay Jones
Your daily dose, or habit, says a lot about who you are and who you are becoming. Do you need tobacco products that have a guarantee to kill you? Do I need eight cups of coffee, or should I change my habit and focus on a quality first cup? Hmmm. A daily dose of pour-over, here I come!
Does what go around really come around again?
Daily vitamins may be necessary, but having a better diet is probably sufficient. Listening to negative news needs to be overwhelmed by doses of kindness. Where do you find yours?
As Paul wrote to Timothy, daily exercise has less profit than godliness – that produces a wider range of structure that makes your life better.
It’s never too late to create a new dose of life to make your remaining years better.