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“My grandfather used to tell me… ‘Life is wonderful, but it is really really hard.’” ~XL…Walk Good. 28all. Eya. *JB, MM, PB* The Warm-Up: “This world will make you second-guess your first mind / Remember when it was your first day, the first time? / It couldn’t have come at a worst place or worst time / And you remember that low voice with that rehearsed line / Just repeatin’… / Do your thing, child (Do your thing, child) …” ~Chance the Rapper, Child of God The Core: “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” ~C.S. Lewis “In a great relationship, no one is trying to change the other, both are trying to better themselves.” ~Orange Book “When life doesn’t give you what you want, you question yourself, you get better, you try again. It’s that simple.” ~Orange Book “Those who desire instant wealth are easy to manipulate. Those who desire instant fame are easiest to manipulate.” ~Kunal Shah “The exact aspects of you some rejected will be the very things the right one celebrates. Keep being yourself.” ~Dr. Thema Bryant “I don’t want to learn anything the ‘hard way.’ I use others’ success as guideposts and failures as cautionary tales.” ~Jarrid Tingle “Writing on the Internet is a cheat code for making friends because you attract the kinds of curious people that are so hard to meet in the real world.” ~David Perell “Love like an 80 year old. Relax like a 60 year old. Work like a 40 year old. Lift like a 30 year old. Explore like a 20 year old. Play like a 10 year old.” ~Eric Jorgenson “All growth requires loss. A loss of your old values, your old behaviors, your old loves, your old identity. Therefore, growth sometimes has a component of grief to it.” ~Mark Manson “Interest rates are like gravity on valuations. If interest rates are nothing, values can be almost infinite. If interest rates are extremely high, that’s a huge gravitational pull on values.” ~Warren Buffet “To break your generational curses, you have to forgive your parents, love and re-parent your inner wounded child and unlearn your own toxic patterns by being honest with yourself about how much you participate in your own suffering.” ~@MindTendencies2 “In school, you are graded on every test—even if it’s your weakest subject. In life, you can choose the tests you take—even if they always play to your strengths. Maintain a baseline so your weak areas don’t hold you back, but design your life so you are graded on your strengths.” ~James Clear, 3-2-1 “People rewrite the story of their lives not only with words but also with new actions. Suffering is evil, but it can serve as a bridge to others in pain. After loss, many people make a moral leap: I may never understand what happened, but I can be more understanding toward others. When people see themselves behaving more compassionately, orienting their lives toward goodness instead of happiness, they revise their self-image and regain a sense of meaning.” ~David Brooks, Some People Turn Suffering Into Wisdom “I am my mother’s son. She was happy, positive, and very smart. Always smiling. Bold and fierce. She never told us what to do, but because of her we knew what to do. She knew what my brothers and I needed, at every point in our lives. She taught us we could do anything. She fueled our creativity, curiosity, and desire to learn, experiment, and pursue our passions. She taught us to respect all people but choose wisely the ones we spend our time with. To share and to love and take care of each other.” ~Michael Dell, Play Nice But Win “If God feels distant to you right now, you’re not alone. All of us, no matter how mature in our faith, have moments when we think, ‘God, I wish you would give me a sign right now. I feel uneasy. I don’t feel at rest.’ These feelings are not sinful. They’re completely human and normal. And I’ve learned that a lot of times God uses distance in our feelings to call us deeper in our faith. You want to know the one good thing about going through a dark season? You start to appreciate the light when it comes. And if you’re like me, I know what it’s like to have weeks and weeks where it’s harder to rejoice. So, when you find a reason to be grateful, grab on tight. Try to recognize today that God’s still with you. And when God feels distant, He isn’t. He’s just calling you deeper.” ~Steven Furtick Last Set: “So this book, this record of a poor black father’s appeal, is what any dying daddy might say to his son. More than anything, I want readers to reconsider the capacity of our fathers’ hearts. Many of them were handed so little, yet we expected so much. They gave more than they had, but less than we needed. They were burdened with a notion of manhood that destroyed so many sons’ lives; but they didn’t know another notion to teach. In the end, many destroyed themselves, too.” ~Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me Food For Thought: It was one of those human moments. I was scrolling through Spotify, looking for the latest episode of a certain podcast. Then I somehow got to Chance the Rapper. Then I stumbled upon his latest track: Child of God. The song pierced me. The lyrics. His cadence. Some of the messages. I’ve been listening to it on repeat multiple times ever since… “The boat don’t sink, the show don’t stop / The weapons form, the load don’t drop / The boat gon’ rock, the foes gon’ plot / The rolls don’t switch, the photo crop / The motto is ‘The more those hate, the more doors prop’ / Open, the prince of Heaven was tempted / Told that he wasn’t who he was, and they meant it / Never was there a path better cemented / So what they gon’ say when you at the Olympics or tryna attempt it?” :: We appreciate your readership. You can learn more about the MML here. To the extent someone felt compelled to spread the love and this was forwarded to you, you can sign up for the newsletter here.
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