New Year, New Beginnings

a moment here. You can pause this. You can't do that on the radio at night, but you can pause this podcast. Make yourself a lovely cup of hot Twinings tea. I'll wait for you. I'll be right here because I'm gonna do the same thing. I'm gonna make myself some English breakfast. It's one of my favorites. But we've got all sorts of delicious flavors of Twinings Tea. I have it in the studio, I have it in my kitchen. It's pretty much all that I drink. I'm not a

coffee drinker. I'm a tea drinker, and Twinings Tea is my favorite. All right, Now that we are here together on this podcast, I want to talk about the new year. A new year is upon us, and I want to talk about that. I want to talk about the fact that the older you get, the sillier it seems to

make resolutions when you're young. You're like, Okay, I'm gonna lose thirty pounds, I'm going to run a triathlon, participate in an iron Man, and uh, you know, by week two in January or week three in January, you're sitting on the couch eating a bag of potata chips. Because resolutions or a statement or a declaration of you know, the great things you're going to take on usually don't

result in lifelong changes. Instead of saying I'm going to lose thirty pounds or I'm going to enter a triathlon, why not say I'm going to make healthier eating choices. I'm gonna put down the potato chips and I'm going to pick up pomegranate when I'm at the store, or more apples or oranges. I got a whole case of fresh oranges from my friend Jim Ryan for Christmas. It's a tradition. He sends my family and my cases of oranges every holiday season, and I love eating fresh oranges.

I try to have at least one a day, and when I make healthier eating choices, then my body is happy and my heart is happy. So instead of making big um New Year's resolutions, maybe you should make healthier choices. Instead of saying I'm never drinking again, I'm not drinking again, I'm not getting drunk and getting stupid, say let's look at this and let's see if I have a problem

with alcohol. Instead of making foolish promises that aren't going to last, how about making healthy choices for a better you, a better life, a better future. A lot of people wrote into my website when we were talking about the new year, and I wanted to share some of the comments and my response to them. Heather Thomas says, I hope and pray to have a job soon. I've been unemployed from my full time job for a year and

my last tempt job since late summer. Times are tough to say the least, and without my husband working and the help of family, would be sinking faster than the Titanic. I'm praying to God the brings some welcome news and that I land a job. First off, Heather, I will pray along with you that that happens that you find a job. But I want to share a story with you, a true story. Anybody who is underemployed, unemployed, or underemployed.

I want to share this story with you, and I want to challenge you to let it really sink into your heart. It's a true story. Many many years ago, there was a mechanic whose family had moved. He had moved his family so that they could be closer to his mother in law. His wife missed her mama, and his wife wanted her parents to be able to help with the children. So he agreed, in order to bless his wife, to move to the town where his in

laws lived. That's love. But he left a good job as a mechanic and moved to this new town without a job. And he applied for jobs and didn't get hired. So one day he went to a garage where he saw three or four mechanics working, and he asked to speak with the manager and he said, may I work for for you? I would like to work for you. And the manager said, buddy, I'm not hiring. I'm I'm full up. I can't afford to hire somebody right now. And the mechanics said, no, I'm not asking you to

hire me. I'm asking you if I can work for you, you don't have to pay me. I'll sweep the garage, I'll clean up the oil spills, i'll open the doors, I'll greet the customers, and you don't have to pay me a dime. I'm just going crazy sitting at home and I need to do something with my time. And so the manager hired him. His name was Stewart. And the manager hired Stewart and the other mechanics of the garage heard about this and they laughed and they thought,

this guy is a fool. We're making good money and he's going to come down here and clean the floors for nothing. And sure enough, Stewart did just that. He was the first one to show up the next day. He was there before the paid employees, and he worked all day long. He cleaned the floors, he cleaned up the oil spills, he cleaned the men's tools. He asked their permission, and he oiled down all the tools and

cleaned them up and put them away neatly. And now the guys are really cutting up laughing at him, thinking what a fool. The Steward, is what a fool to work this hard, doing all the dirty work and not getting paid a time for it. But as the days went on that week, the managers saw in Stewart a humble heart and a willingness to work hard for nothing. And he also noticed how a couple of his employees

were really taking advantage of Stewart's hard work. They were slacking and letting Stewart do more and more work all the time, instead of just cleaning the floors and cleaning the tools. He was working on the car, as he was replacing the tires, he was fixing the engine, he was changing the oil, and the other guys, a couple of the other guys were all too happy to let Stewart do the work they were supposed to be doing, laughing at him all the time. Well, you can probably

guess what happened. It didn't take the manager long to realize that a couple of his employees were ungrateful and

lazy and willing to take advantage of others. And in just a few weeks he let those two men go who were not working, who were willing to take advantage to somebody, who were mocking someone's goodness, and he hired Stewart and in just a matter of months, Stuart's hard work really paid off and the manager was able to open another shop, and he made Stewart the manager over the other shop, and in time they became business partners

in their business through and grow. If you are unemployed and your board and you're going out of your mind, go volunteer. Go volunteer. Go to your local library and say, I'm not here to get paid, but I need to work. I need to stay busy, clean the parking lot, pick up trash. Go to your local school and apply to

be a volunteer. If you are an educator, if you're a teacher and you can't get your foot in the door, if you're a principal and you've been laid off and you can't get your foot in the door, go volunteer and prove how valuable you are. Not only will you feel better because you're being productive. Not only will you feel better because you're giving back to the community. You will feel better because you're using the gifts and the talents and the skills God gave you to enrich the world.

And you'll meet other people. And even though a door may not open there, you're probably going to meet somebody who recognizes your tenacity, who recognizes your character, and they will find you a position. And another thing, don't be prideful if you're looking for work. Don't be prideful. Don't tell yourself, well, I've got this education and this is beneath me, because guess what, if you need to make money, there are places that will hire you. They might not

be places that where your skill set is appreciated. You might have a college degree, you might have two or three college degrees. But if you need a job and the store at the corner is hiring for you to make coffee and Greek customers, take the job until the right job opens up, because again, you're going to feel better about yourself. You're gonna feel so much better about yourself.

If you're busy, if you're doing something, if you're can attributing, if you're making this world a better place, that should be your new year's resolution. To make this world a better place. To be kinder, to be more giving, more generous with your time and your energy and your love. Happy New Year's Welcome twenty seventeen. I'm excited about this new year. Everybody was complaining about sixteen. I had a great ten. I praise God for sixteen. My kids are healthy,

they're doing well in school. My adult children, most of them are doing really well, and most of them are making really good decisions. A few of them aren't, but I'm praying they change that around in twenty seventeen. So thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Thank you to the folks at Twinings Tea for sponsoring this podcast. If you are a tea drinker like I am, get yourself a big box of Twinings Tea and then enjoy

it all your on. You're listening to the Lilas So Down and Love some Wood with the b