A father pushed his infant son in a baby carriage down the sidewalk. The baby was crying. A passerby noticed that the baby was crying loudly. The father kept saying, ‘Settle down Ferdinand.’ When the passerby came close to the father and crying baby…he said that Ferdinand was a beautiful baby and that he seemed a bit upset. The father replied, ‘I am Ferdinand.’

Fall causes me to ‘Settle down Ferdinand’ and enjoy God’s gifts. The rollercoaster of day-to-day tasks and trivia can be overwhelming. ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they toil not, neither do they spin. Any yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’

When you have a good idea…a moment of inspiration…and you feel that you are Sisyphus with his rock…turn the corner and share your idea with a fellow human who cares about what you are saying. Friendships and alliances are not formed in a vice.

Keep your accounts on your thumbnail and owe no man. As the hyper-excited young man told me one day on the sidewalk outside Downs Furniture Store, ‘Moderation Is The Key,’ in a loud and bombastic manner.

Leave whom you meet feeling better about themselves.

Love the unlovable.

See everything through the eyes of a child…