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James Goodrich's avatar

The Bright Side

There is much to be said about where our attitude leads us. We’ve all faced situations we thought could bury us. The loss of a loved one, a sickness, an injury, the loss of a job, someone walks out on us. Running a business has certainly had its ups and downs. Landing jobs, losing jobs, gaining customers, losing customers, employees come and employees go. If I believed every negative change would have buried me I would have been out of business decades ago.

When the going gets tough the tough gets going. If we think positive, some of our toughest times made us resilient, more committed, it helped to make us who we are today. If we get bitter and lose our enthusiasm we will allow the difficulties of life to bury us, they can keep us from our God given destiny.

Find the positive message in every event instead of always seeing the negative. Shake off the dirt and step up. The difference between being buried or being planted is like the magic in a seed. A seed can sit comfortably on a shelf for years and never reach its full potential. If you were able to ask the seed what it would prefer, it would probably choose to be left alone, I’m fine here on the shelf. But when the seed is planted, covered with dirt, in that dark and lonely place, it begins to germinate. The pressure of all that heavy dirt doesn’t stop that seed from growing. It pushes itself out of the ground and starts producing beautiful flowers or fruit. Notice when you plant a seed it doesn’t come up and just give you another seed. It doesn’t come up equal. It grows into a beautiful producing plant. Much like a plant, a person, with all of the pressures of life, blossoms into just what God had meant us to be. The pressures of life are not an end, but are a beginning.

I heard this story of a farmer who had an old mule that had fallen into an empty well, the well was about 40 or 50 feet deep. The farmer was so disappointed he really loved that old mule. When he surveyed the situation he realized it was almost impossible to rescue him. The well was very narrow and the mule was crammed at the bottom. He figured the mule was probably already seriously injured.

As much as he didn’t want to he decided the mule nor the well was worth saving so he was just going to fill the well in with dirt and bury the old mule. He called some friends to help and they began to shovel the dirt in, one shovel at a time.

When that old mule felt that dirt hit his back he realized what they were doing. Instead of wallowing in self pity, thinking to bad for me, the mule decided every time he felt the dirt hit his back he would shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up. Time after time no matter how he felt, no matter how tired he got he’d shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up. Finally after hours of doing this he was able to step over the wall of the well and walk out triumphantly to freedom.

What’s interesting is the dirt that was meant to bury him actually saved his life. So when you feel the dirt hit your back, when life treats you unfair, when you go through disappointment, don’t let it bury you, shake it off and step up. The same dirt that’s trying to bury you can be the very dirt God will use to promote you. Your attitude should be I may be down but I’m not staying down. This difficulty may have been meant to destroy me, it may have been meant to harm me but I know better, God’s going to use it to my advantage. He’s going to use it to increase me.

Know the only difference between a hard rock of carbon and a priceless diamond is the amount of pressure that it’s endured. How we handle adversity can make or break us. Keep pressing forward with a smile on your face. You know that God is in complete control. So do the right thing even though the wrong thing is happening. Instead of complaining declare a victory. This problem didn’t come to stay it came to pass. I have all the strength for everything I need. When you do that the seed of victory will begin to release and you will blossom into the fullness of what God made you to be.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

J.Goodrich

Deanna L Holmes's avatar

Wow, James, very insightful. What does not kill us makes us stronger.

25 years ago when my business was only in its 5th year, one of my clients hired an evil person to run the practice. This woman was awful. After having to deal with her for 2 months I made the decision to fire the client even though it cost me 14K per month in revenue. The lead physician begged me to keep working with them, but I explained that my stress level was not worth the money, and good luck with her moving forward. He also rented two small offices to two neuropsychologists who I also worked for. The moved out of the practice around the same time I terminated my contract. I asked the younger psychologist what she thought of the new hire and she claimed that she was a paranoid schizophrenic and should be on medication. When I asked the same question of the older more seasoned psychologist, she said, I just think she is a bitch! Either way, I learned that my health was more important than money. I have continued to fire any clients who create too much stress.

Sheila Barkofske's avatar

Very interesting. So 3 people had the same take, makes you wonder what the doctor that hired her saw.

Deanna L Holmes's avatar

It wasn't boobs, but I often wondered if she had something on him from a previous job. His entire staff skedaddled.

Sheila Barkofske's avatar

Wasn’t that Joseph’s message? ‘You meant it for evil, God meant it for good’. Love the parable.

53rd Chapter's avatar

Yes, James, the fire tempers the steel and purifies the gold.

ComeQuicklyLord's avatar

Indeed James!

HAPPY SUNDAY!

VictorDianne Watson's avatar

Love your wise words, James. Thank you.

Carol j's avatar

Wow, James! What an incredible message today! My favorite of yours ever! The seed, the donkey & of course, the diamond! Utterly inspiring! We just need to keep going on no matter what, huh? Trusting God is SO key! It's always amazing how everything just "seems" to work out.. virtually BETTER than originally thought of! Have experienced this too many times to count! I ask God for help even with what I consider the silliest, tiniest things. Am beyond grateful that He doesn't see them as too "silly" or "tiny" for Him! In fact, I believe He rather enjoys the "ask". Amen! Have a blessed Sunday!

LB (Little Birdie)'s avatar

Once again, the deed lives within the story and the story brings forth the deed for all of us, if we are receptive. You plant beautiful seeds here James.

Ana González's avatar

James, you do great honor to your surname.

You're GOOD & RICH‼️🙏

James Goodrich's avatar

Thank You Ana hope things are well with you and your family!!

DrV's avatar

Bravo for a beautiful Sunday morning, wise, inspirational post. Thank you.

Jennifer Beebe's avatar

Thanks James for this wonderful message! God is so good and knowing Him makes all the difference! ✝️💟✝️💟

Barbara Lekowicz's avatar

James, you did it again! Such words of wisdom for us to ponder!

Barbara Charis's avatar

Thanks for all your inspirational words. My father taught me to box, when I was about ten, even though I was a girl. What he said to me was "No matter how many times you get knocked down, always coming up with swinging." I have been knocked down and gone through many dire circumstances in life, but I never gave up.. My mantra in high school was Rudyard Kipling's poem, IF. It was inspirational, too..

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Sorta liked the,trans hammerhead one and how it emphasizes the phonyness of the movement

Patricia GR's avatar

The Romance Novel Dog headline should be: "I don't always eat bones, but when I do I make sure they are genuine beef." :)

Diana Thompson's avatar

That's definitely a sexy looking dog! 😉

And I'm a cat person.

Thomas A Braun RPh's avatar

Flock the Government! Best laugh in weeks! Lindsey cartoons are creating the view that her actions were criminal and not mental derangement caused by a combination of PPD and use of SSRI's.

James Lord's avatar

If dogs had romance novels, he'd be on the cover.

He was bred for it. His name is Fabio. He barks with an Italian accent. Drives'em wild.

Deanna L Holmes's avatar

My favorite one today is the ungrateful dead, with the dry comment, well shit!

Ana González's avatar

That meme about racism being alive when people realize that you support 45/47, really resonated.

I've been called a white supremacist by my own son‼️‼️

Now that's a pain that won't go away‼️

😭😢😭

Deanna L Holmes's avatar

I recently played in a Republican fundraiser golf tournament with other fellow republicans. One democrat lady made a snarky comment about the tournament. I responded with, we all have our opinions but I do not like losing friends to political discussions. She then said, well I hate war. I replied, who doesn't. Too bad democrats funded the Iranians, now it has to be dealt with.

Barbara Lekowicz's avatar

Ana, been there. Still there. 😢

Dennis Alter's avatar

enjoyed your comments re the Moderna grift. You are a rare beacon of factual writing plus confidence in your readers to understand

David Poe's avatar

Toxic masculinity is a supposed issue, maybe a manufactured one, but to me a guy guilty of toxic masculinity is just a masculine guy who’s a jerk. He should stop being a jerk, but not stop being masculine. (Why is there not a crisis of toxic femininity? Inquiring minds want to know.) One wonders if the problem is that masculine traits just aren't useful to the ruling class, until they are.

Why don't we all just go back to being men and women? Masculinity is just what you get with normal boys and men, it's the way they are constructed. The toxic masculinity thing implies that normal masculinity is not normal but is an aberration, using the term just naturally implies that that masculinity itself is bad, a sort of word game to confuse normalcy with bad behavior, thereby besmirching normal male behavior.

Femininity is likewise just what you get with normal girls and women. It's not called toxic, but there does seem to be a war against it as well since women are made to feel abnormal just for wanting to act like normal women.. They must go into the workplace like men and Prove Themselves. (One wonders if a major reason for the feminist movement was just to increase the amount of income tax collected, and maybe to destroy the family as an institution.)

https://drp314.substack.com/p/copy-masculinity-dont-leave-home

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Well, when SCOTUS cannot define what is a woman, what is a guy to do?

David Poe's avatar

Charge he/she/it with toxic masculinity.

Jane Tracy's avatar

All of these are great! I once upon a time read romance novels and yep, that handsome dog would definitely be on the cover!😂😂

Belloc's avatar
6hEdited

Being funny takes us a fair about of work!

That's exactly what I thought as I was scrolling through them! The time it took to curate this list.

My favorite is the Rubio meme. Ironically, his wife was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader and every time I see the Miami Dolphins at home I think of my sister's father-in-law John who died of a turbo cancer after getting the shots. His beautiful wife Irene followed a few years later of a turbo cancer (brain).

And the Remy TX video is haaaa-larious as a Texan. The only part Remy got wrong is all the Californians that have moved to Austin have turned it into a mini Cali. Never cared for Austin since the people were so arrogant. Now it's 1000 times worse because they are mean, arrogant and run a nanny state deep 🔵 city. 🤦‍♀️

And I don't know if anyone gets this in Michigan for instance because they went to U of M, but the people that go to UT Austin act like they are at Cal or Stanford. I automatically got in to both UT and A@M due for being in the 3 per cent of my graduating high school class (now that's not bragging that's telling you the public high school I went to was abominable). I never considered myself that smart and then I got to a competitive liberal arts college and thought ... WOW I'm REALLY not that smart. 😅

Point being ...UT Austin Alum.....your school sucks. It's just the low tuition that makes it so popular. If someone from U of M wants to brag, I take no issue with that.

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Actually our beloved gov has induced 2 more west coast businesses to move to the Austin area. He has single handedly turned the I35 corridor from solid red in '16 to purple going on blue today. And now he is worried about muslim influence here with no clue how that has come about.

MrsMc's avatar

I mostly like him but he should have stopped with all that Tech wooing years ago. I know it is (perhaps) good for jobs though. He is being exposed for his Muslim influence, and lack of Sharia Law foresight. He has banned a couple things but we need codified into law. You, Michael, and I were sure hoping Chip Roy would become our next Attorney General (sad face) . I somehow got on the list for Paxton's Patriots who asked me to do door knocking (yikes) but I am compelled to help somehow. Im hoping many Texans will feel compelled to get out and volunteer and actually do it (me hoping I will actually do it!) kenpaxton.com (starts off with asking for donation of course.

Belloc's avatar

MrsMc- I have given too many donations to Paxton and I asked the last caller how I volunteer and he just blew me off. So if I go to his website it will actually give me information on volunteering?

And yes Abbott's 2 largest donors are Pakistani immigrant doctors so he's playing both sides of the fence. Election is coming up so he wrote that letter to SOT Duffy to investigate IAH and DFW for their ablution facilities/mini mosques on federal property (airports).

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Has also appointed 5 born, raised and trained in India to our State Med. Board...the board that censured Dr. Bowden and got fined a bunchfor doing so.

Belloc's avatar

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Shocker (not).

MrsMc's avatar

Yes, x out of the donation beg, and the website appears with tabs. Click on the tab that says "Paxton's Patriots" fill out the little form. There is very nice state volunteer coordinator who will call you or email you. He is trying to find a coordinator here in Austin - for door knocking, phone calling and event attendance checking people in, all he talked to me about was knocking on doors. I told him i never answer my door, I would try but I will not go alone.

Belloc's avatar

Too bad I'm in Houston. We could go together.

MrsMc's avatar

the only conservative friends I have moved out of Austin to smaller towns.

Belloc's avatar
5hEdited

Yes Gov Newsome...the other oh so devout "Catholic" related to Nancy Pelosi. He and his grifting wife make me 🤢.

BUT Besent did an excellent job of humiliating him if that's possible.

https://youtu.be/Jce4aLmUz2Y?is=Og6tqcN8YoZ3obRn

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Was referring to the gov of Texas.

Belloc's avatar

Apologies. I didn't get enough sleep and I'm trying to multitask. 🤣

Also, Paramount studios is moving to TX via Abbott as is Eli Lilly and Bayer to Houston. Both are beginning to build multi million dollar manufacturing facilities here. I have always been surprised that more pharmas didn't do business in Houston since they like to place their HQ near shipping channels/water.

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Houston now the largest or 2nd largest muslim population in Texas. Wonder how that affects business interests?

Belloc's avatar
4hEdited

I've noticed. It's scary. Dallas is first. There are now more mosques in Houston than Protestant Churches. I'm Catholic and we still have way more Catholic parishes. But they won't stop. A qtr of these mosques are run by terrorist imams.

I see women in full Muslim garb everywhere. I pray for the end of the Islamification of the United States daily. I put this at Biden's feet. A Dearborn pastor just called out city council in Dearborn at a meeting. It was beautiful.

VictorDianne Watson's avatar

I’m a U of M grad, as are my 2 sons, and I’m sick of what the liberals have done to that university.

SR Miller's avatar

But not all is lost - you still have Hillsdale

Belloc's avatar

Even though you have Hillsdale graduates on the Dearborn City council who won't denounce sharia law. All of these people backing the Muslims don't realize they will eventually be killed or converted eventually.

They make their political career a false idol or god and accept the money the Muslims are throwing at them for their Islamic agenda...well eventually that rabid dog is going to bite them. It's so short sited on their part.

Belloc's avatar

I will say the academic rigor at U of M is impressive. So Texas A@M has more breadth of academic programs than UT. UT Austin only got a medical school a few years back and it's kinda of a joke. They have no vet school like A@M, A@M's med school was started in 89 and it's legit and even when you go to UT's website they only offer basic majors like English, Chemistry etc. At U of M and Texas A@M you can major in biomedical sciences or microbiology.

The school is just like the city... arrogant as heck for no justifiable reason.

The first year my nephew was there he created a LinkedIn profile and his opening statement was ridiculous. It was a mission statement for everything woke including the queer community even tho he's hetero. He learned once he graduated that crap wasn't gonna fly in the business world and changed everything.

David Poe's avatar

The academic mind as found in much of academia is subject to the seductive appeal of utopian fantasies. After all, if only they, the hyper intelligent, were in charge they could make all of those nasty little difficulties of life go away. And who better than them? They looked around and didn't see anyone better; and their arrogance allows them to dismiss the ideas and petty concerns of others. Oh well, pride cometh before a fall. Its' not as much of an issue with those engaged in serious academic work, designing bridges or performing surgery for instance, but mostly with those who essentially debate for a living, with maybe a little teaching thrown in.

Belloc's avatar

Well said David! Well said. 👏👏👏

The ivory tower full of marxists always telling us they are going to solve society's problems, only to train marxist mini mes to go out into the world and suck the life out of everyone.

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

UT has about 1/2 dozen med schools..the ones in Galveston and Dallas the oldest and,were the best

Belloc's avatar
4hEdited

They aren't UT Austin. My sisters got accepted to UT Houston (now McGovern) and interviewed at the rest.

There are 5 total but only one with UT Austin, to which I was referring Michael.

UT Houston, San Antonio, Galveston, UT Dallas (Southwestern) and finally Austin added a baby school.

And no UTMB Galveston has never been considered the best. In the 90s they called it Galvetraz and were thinking of closing it down it was so bad. It has since resurrected it's reputation but it has NEVER been considered to be anywhere close to Southwestern. UT Houston (McGovern) is usually second to Southwestern.

Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Suspect I go back a,bit further than you. When I moved here only 3 med schools in the state Baylor UT SW and U T Galveston.

Belloc's avatar

Yup. I have a friend who is PhD in Neuroscience and used to be on faculty at UT Austin. She called it baby medical school and confirmed it was a joke.

U of H now has a medical school and Sam Houston State has a DO school.

MrsMc's avatar

UT Med School of Galveston hopefully is still great. I love seeing a UT Medical School Galveston diploma.

Sheila Barkofske's avatar

Forget the lawyers, as in the Shakespearean line, ‘k*ll all the academics’

Belloc's avatar

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Touche.

SR Miller's avatar

Sheila, before you hang yourself on that line, do yourself a favor and read the entire passage about "…killing all the lawyers…" it doesn’t mean what you think it means. You’re not alone - until I had the ignominious distinction of earning my own personal J.D., I, too, thought it meant something it didn’t. Unfortunately, I don’t think the majority of today’s academics would merit Shakespear’s acclaim.

Sheila Barkofske's avatar

Actually I did know that - that it doesn’t mean what you would think, but, as you implied, it fits the mood.

Science is Political 2.0's avatar

So the news just said that a FLOCK camera helped track down and car jacking in Florida..

right. what happened to good old detective work.. ? NO I am always against Flock

Louise Vogel's avatar

It’s possible that the Lindsay Clancy murders are really an indictment of our prescription drug culture & the way we practice medicine today. And this mindblowing tragedy is an opportunity to focus some attention on that process, so if it was causative it need not happen again. I say this based on personal experience. I had a major deadline to meet & I was overwhelmingly fatigued with Q Fever. I asked my long-standing wholistic MD if he could drug me so I could stay with it. He gave me a minimal starter dose of a common stimulant. After taking it for 2 days, it occurred to me how nifty it would be to drive off a high bridge at 70mph. I stopped the drug before it got nifty enough to die for. Took 3 days to detox. I understand that this woman who killed her babies was on multiple drugs over time. Let me say that I’m the most un-suicidal person you’ll ever meet, & were I on the jury I’d want to know if it were she or the drugs that killed her children. And if it was the drugs, then our medical industry - I say “industry” rather than “practice” because that’s what it’s become - then our medical industry needs to be indicted.

Jean's avatar

Good Morning! What a choice, on point selection today!

Flock - yes. Driving along our beltway, I observed the familiar shapes, still in wraps, hanging above the fast lanes. Of course as a deep blue state, one should expect that.

Thank heavens someones are pushing men towards masculinity these days!

Liberal White Woman- a plague on all our houses. May they fail - please! Seems pretty hopeless to strive for them to come to their senses.

Dad Clancy as the cause of Lindsay's unthinkable act. Imo, no matter his involvement or not, this incredible evil can't be justified.

The five horsepersons - YES!

TEXAS! Yes, providing Paxton and other real Rs are elected.

True, Fauci didnt act alone. And they won't be stopping their efforts if he's somehow put away.

I take it that that's one of your pups!!! Beware indeed!

Nice day! Enjoy.

ComeQuicklyLord's avatar

THE ENEMIES WITHIN

The democrats are planning impeachments, while supporting Democratic Socialists AND Islamist Jihadist—listen carefully to what these Islamists are saying, and you will agree they are Jihadists on American soil.

NEVER FORGET—WE FOFGOT!

9/11 supposedly United America. We went to war, flags were on cars, bridges, etc., and people supposedly flocked to churches, but once the “fear” was gone, they left church, took down their flags down, and Bush brought in millions of Islamists, and the flow has not stopped.

Dearborn Michigan is 54% Muslim with mosques blasting their hideous call to prayer five times a day OVER non-Muslims. The Mayor and City Council laughed at a pastor who asked them to deny Sharia Law—they refused. This is not a one-off, the Islamic invasion is real and happening all over America, even in small country towns that you would never think they would plant a mosque, because of “Christian” influence, but there they are, to subvert our nation’s Republic, destroy Christianity, and enslave Americans under their political ideology dressed up as a religion.

Wherever Islam is, people and cultures decline—their own nations produce nothing but misery for their own people and neighbors—and they are here multiplying rapidly.

Congress and States need to step up and protect us from the DSA and Islamic invasion—some states are passing anti-Sharia laws, that ban Sharia courts which undermine State laws and the Constitution.

Be as wise as serpents, but gentle as doves—most of all—do something.