Comments on Men Who Lead Well: Easy Breathing with the Young Pirate

Nice one. This blog entry made me think of playin...

2011-11-02T09:25:47.167-07:00

Nice one.

This blog entry made me think of playing board games with the kids. Sometimes, it's easy to fall into the "get to the end of the game" trap or the "follow the rules" trap when really it's about spending the time along the way and making it enjoyable for them and having a laugh. That's it.
Brent Lee

Life is solving problems. When you have children,...

2011-10-26T07:59:09.306-07:00

Life is solving problems. When you have children, you make a commitment to care for them, keep them safe, teach them how to live and help them through hard times. That's what responsible parents do. However, in the rush and confusion of navigating through these challenges, there will come moments of pure joy. Cherish them. But remember, once we have children, we are no longer in this game for ourselves. As we make the tradeoffs, most of us will regret not smelling the flowers more often. Even the best of us will have some regrets in spite of successfully raising our own. But for the very fortunate among us, there are "do-overs". They're called grandchildren.

word habap!

2011-10-26T03:58:56.796-07:00

word habap!

Marcus, you've gone and made me cry. What a be...

2011-10-25T14:28:47.527-07:00

Marcus, you've gone and made me cry. What a beautiful moment with your son.

Tobias - a retired Air Force Colonel told me that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you make of it. For me, a long commute means that I finally have 2 hours a day alone when I can recite my French lessons. Life is what you make of it.

LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT! I don't know who ...

2011-10-21T02:34:29.133-07:00

LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT! I don't know who said it but it is kind of true. Sure there are things which you can not affect, but most things you can.
The difficulty in life is to notice the fun moments. They happen mostly every day, but it's hard to realize them. Mostly because time flies by so fast and the life from nowadays is very transient.
I'm very happy for you Marcus that you have such great moments with your kids and that you have the ability to notice them.
I always wonder how you notice these things during your day and how you convert them into this fine blog. I guess that's what makes you such a good writer and human.
T

Marcus, a very special moment not to be taken for ...

2011-10-20T20:48:11.340-07:00

Marcus, a very special moment not to be taken for granted, i have 2 children with autism where moments like that are few and far between which i share with all my family and friends on FB whether they want to hear it or not as it may be mundane to them, but is a significant event in our lives.
My family life is scheduled between therapies, meals, bath time, bed, all sorts of routines, just like any household but with sometimes dire consequences if one was to break from that.
Fun can sometimes be hard to find but one must look for it where they can or they risk becoming overwhelmed in seriousness, stress and possibly depression, which in many circumstances can be quite easy to dwell on the negatives and the lack of progress etc, but life is much easier when you slow down, don't look at life as a whole, break it up and appreciate the individual achievements or moments that come along.

This was my favorite so far.

2011-10-20T18:46:07.458-07:00

This was my favorite so far.

Great comments, folks. Thanks!

2011-10-19T20:51:01.062-07:00

Great comments, folks. Thanks!

Great reminder, Marcus. I tend to see life as duty...

2011-10-19T20:05:00.201-07:00

Great reminder, Marcus. I tend to see life as duty to be served, and therefore I appreciate the reminder to enjoy the daily miracles, ironies, and belly-laughs that it brings.
Strangely enough, the person who best reminds me to enjoy life and have fun is my pastor (who is also a great friend). You would have to show up on a Sunday morning sometime to truly understand...but we regularly have a lot of fun together, including at church.

The problem to be solved is the driving force by w...

2011-10-19T18:21:49.583-07:00

The problem to be solved is the driving force by which the journey is experienced. Even a wanderer has small but measurable destinations that keep the journey alive. That said, sometimes the most significant parts of the journey are not the destination but the moments along the road.

While making dinner last night, I had on a midweek college football game between two teams I could care less about. My 6 year old daughter asked me who I was rooting for and I told her I didn't care, then I asked her the same question. She replied, "I don't care either, I just like watching." The journey of our busy week found a nice little college football rest stop on a Tuesday night.

I have always purposed to see life, including rais...

2011-10-19T12:59:16.451-07:00

I have always purposed to see life, including raising kids, as a journey to be experienced and enjoyed. I remember someone saying to me when our first was little "It is so wonderful to see someone really enjoying her child". I thought the comment strange, didn't everyone enjoy their children. Sadly, not true. Life is saddest when it is a problem to be solved and I have been there, certainly. But, I'm going for that promise of "abundant life" and I think that is a journey to be experienced.
- Wendy

So many good thoughts here today. Thank you all. K...

2011-10-19T11:35:16.730-07:00

So many good thoughts here today. Thank you all. Keep up the good stuff!

My wife recently went back to work full-time so I ...

2011-10-19T10:36:44.892-07:00

My wife recently went back to work full-time so I took over the morning gig: waking, dressing, making breakfast and school lunches and getting them to the bust stop and dropped off at day care. At first I thought it was going to be a major inconvenience and another series of deadlines and added stress, but I've come to enjoy that morning time because we all make it fun. We goof around in the kitchen, singing songs, cracking jokes, doing silly dances. My kids provide me with a venue to act like a kid myself and I try to soak up as much of it as I can every single day!

Another great post, Marcus - keep 'em coming and cherish those quiet moments just as much as the silly ones!

While we do have to balance a hundred different th...

2011-10-19T10:23:31.774-07:00

While we do have to balance a hundred different things in our lives to make life work, Marcus, those golden times are like quicksilver. As a mother of two grown children, I look back and wish I could have just one "normal" day back with them when they were little. I call them "Do Over Days". Those are the precious days that we “do” over & over again in our memory. How many of those moments or days do we miss when we lose the perspective of what is important? Very often, I am a Martha. She was highly irritated when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus when he visited and she was stuck in the kitchen with KP duty. Lots of people to feed & of course, it had to be perfect. No help from that selfish sister! I can see the petulant & harried look on her martyred face when she tattled on Mary to the Lord. He cut her down to size when he looked at her and said, “Martha, Martha,” you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” In other words, "Chill, Martha. Go in there and slap some sandwiches together & come join us". While we cannot shirk the responsibilities & mechanics of living, we must find ways to capture and memorialize the “better” moments that make life worth living.
Marcus, stay very close to that old brown overstuffed chair. From there, “Do Over Days” will abound. We all need to find such a chair.

Marcus, what a beautiful moment with your son. He ...

2011-10-19T08:54:48.965-07:00

Marcus, what a beautiful moment with your son. He will remember that, just as you will. I agree wholeheartedly that this life journey is to be savored every step of the way - good, bad and heartbreaking. If we only complain along the way, we miss those quiet moments with our heavenly Father when we just want to lean in ... and He lets us.

Unfortunately, I spend most of my time looking at ...

2011-10-19T07:45:57.818-07:00

Unfortunately, I spend most of my time looking at life as a journey to a destination. So much of my activities and thoughts are with the mindset, "Just get there. Buckle down, gird up, and push through." My head's down, teeth gritted, and mind focused - but I can miss so much of the joy of the journey. And the destination is never...what you think it will be or as fulfilling. Not that the trip was pointless, but feels different than I thought it would.

And thanks so much for starting this blog - I can tell we would be friends.

Great question, Marcus! I think life is a combinat...

2011-10-19T07:36:14.153-07:00

Great question, Marcus! I think life is a combination, a journey to be enjoyed with problems all along the way. Problems and happiness are not mutually exclusive. To me, accepting that life includes a never ending stream of problems means putting them in perspective and realizing that none of them are insurmountable. You can't let the problems define your happiness in the short term or in the long run.

Each day there's something that can bring happiness, contentment or at least a momentary smile...whether it's humor, beauty, kindness, love or something else, even simply thinking that things could be worse. Cumulatively, these snipits of positive moments make the journey enjoyable.

2011-10-19T07:10:06.687-07:00

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Marcus, I'm really liking your new blog. It&#...

2011-10-18T16:52:40.886-07:00

Marcus, I'm really liking your new blog. It's a thinking man's blog. We need more of those.

And this post was an especially good one. I find myself going through periods of stress and always trying to look ahead to the next fun or enjoyable time, rather than endeavoring to find the fun, or maybe more appropriately, joy, in the moment...whether that be with my wife, kids, job ...whatever.

I met a guy the other day who said he honestly wakes up every morning looking forward to going to work! I thought, "Wow! How rare, and cool, is that?!"

I've always seen myself as an "enjoying the journey" type but this is another good reminder to stop and look for the fun in an "everyday" way!

Thanks for the great blog! Keep it up!

Bob

Marcus, that is extremely special. What a moment ...

2011-10-18T16:05:02.377-07:00

Marcus, that is extremely special. What a moment and Im glad you got to experience that moment, in light of the comment too. I think I'm too simple to experience life any other way than it is pretty fun. On a side note, your last comment so much reminded me of somethign GK Chesterton said that i have to quote it, "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." hope that's the way we might look at life a bit more. Here's to the adventures bro.

In my very limited experience (I mean, 23 years is...

2011-10-18T14:41:14.890-07:00

In my very limited experience (I mean, 23 years is not much), life's full of responsibilities and "fun" just catches up occasionally. I'd be hard pressed to believe it can be scheduled and it can certainly not be demanded. But it does tend to pop up if you stop to smell the roses...