If you can’t find five minutes, can you spare one or two?
9/28–Can You Spare A Minute?
–9/28
One afternoon, a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from a lofty branch. “Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought. Taking a couple of steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. The fox tried again but still failed to reach them. Finally, giving up, the fox turned his nose up and said, “They’re probably sour anyway,” and walked away.
Moral of the story: It’s easy to despise what you can’t have.
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Fear has a way of whispering, “What if you fail?” But faith counters with, “What if you fly?” Every great achievement in life begins with one act of courage. Courage is not the absence of fear—it’s moving forward in spite of it.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
Courage in the Everyday
Courage doesn’t always look like slaying giants or climbing mountains. Sometimes it’s:
Saying “yes” to a new opportunity. Speaking truth when silence feels safer. Choosing forgiveness when bitterness would be easier. Taking the first step when the path isn’t clear.
Each act of courage chips away at fear and builds confidence.
A Story to Remember
A young boy stood trembling before a piano recital. His hands shook, his heart raced, and fear told him to sit down. But he remembered his teacher’s words: “Courage is pressing the first key.” So he sat, pressed one note, then another, and soon he was playing the entire song. The audience erupted in applause—not because he was flawless, but because he was brave enough to begin.
Sometimes, courage is just pressing the first key in your own life.
Reflection
What step have you been afraid to take lately? If fear weren’t in the picture, what would you do today?
Prayer
“Lord, fill my heart with courage. Help me to step forward even when I feel weak. Remind me that You go before me and stand beside me, and that with You, I can do all things. Amen.”
✅ Takeaway: Don’t let fear write your story. Take the step, press the key, make the call. Courage opens the door to God’s best for your life.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Humor:
T h e Rev. Billy Graham tells of a time early in his career when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him.
Dr. Graham thanked him and said, “If vou’ll come lo the Baptist church this evening, you can bear me telling everyone how to get to heaven.”
“I don’t think I’ll he there.” the boy said. “You don’t even know your way to the post office.”
If you can’t find five minutes, can you spare one or two?
9/27–Can You Spare A Minute?
The Right Perspective
A landscape artist does not always stand at an arm’s length from his canvas. He must not limit his attention to the isolated details of what he is doing. Occasionally he steps back to view his work from a distance. He needs to see how his thousands of small brushstrokes fit together to produce an overall result.
Likewise, our perspective on life is much improved if sometime we can step back and see it whole. We can become so occupied with its daily brushstrokes that we have no real perception of the whole scene we are painting on the canvas of the ongoing years. Our attentions can be so consumed by the requirements of daily living that we have little awareness of the dimensions and directions of life itself.
Step back from the canvas a little, and try to see the picture whole. Look beyond the varied episodes of our daily doings and see the glory of it all. Look beyond the brushstrokes to see the art which the brushstrokes have made-and are making. “But we all… beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18).
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We live in a world that wants everything instantly. Fast food, instant messages, same-day delivery. Yet some of the most meaningful things in life—character, wisdom, relationships, spiritual growth—cannot be rushed. They require patience.
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” — James 1:4
Patience Builds Strength
Patience is not weakness; it’s quiet strength. It’s the ability to wait without complaining, to endure without giving up, and to trust that the process has a purpose. While impatience drains us, patience develops us.
Think of a seed. You can’t rush it to grow by pulling on the stem—it must be watered, nurtured, and given time. In the same way, our goals and dreams unfold in seasons.
The Waiting Room of Life
Sometimes God places us in the “waiting room.” Not because He’s forgotten us, but because He’s preparing us. Waiting builds faith muscles, sharpens our focus, and teaches us to rely on Him rather than our own timetable.
Patience with ourselves helps us keep moving forward, even after mistakes. Patience with others builds stronger relationships. Patience with God’s timing leads to blessings we could never have imagined.
A Short Story
A man once grew frustrated because his bamboo plant seemed lifeless for years. No matter how much he watered and cared for it, nothing showed above ground. But in the fifth year, the bamboo suddenly shot up more than 80 feet in just weeks! All that time, it had been growing strong roots unseen. Likewise, your patience today is preparing unseen roots for tomorrow’s breakthrough.
Reflection Questions
Where in your life do you need to replace impatience with trust? How can you remind yourself that growth is happening, even if you can’t see it yet?
Prayer
“Lord, give me the strength to wait well. Help me trust that every delay is not denial, but preparation. Teach me to be patient with myself, with others, and with Your perfect timing. Amen.”
✅ Takeaway: Patience is not passive—it’s powerful. Wait with faith, work with diligence, and trust that in due season, your harvest will come.
Life moves fast, and before we know it, another day is gone. One of the greatest lessons we can learn is that time is a gift, not a guarantee. Too often we put things off until “tomorrow,” forgetting that tomorrow is never promised.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12
The Power of Today
Every dream, every goal, every relationship is built on what you choose to do today. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is uncertain—but today is in your hands. Waiting for the perfect time is a trap. The perfect time is now.
Think about it: one small decision today can shift the entire direction of your life. One phone call can heal a relationship. One choice to forgive can free your heart. One step toward your dream can set momentum in motion.
Small Steps, Big Results
Don’t underestimate the power of small actions.
Five minutes of reading adds up to wisdom. A short prayer adds peace to your spirit. A kind word to a stranger may brighten their whole day.
The harvest is in the daily planting, not in waiting for the “someday” season.
A Story to Remember
There was once a man who dreamed of writing a book but always delayed it until life was “less busy.” Ten years passed, and the book never left his heart. Looking back, he said, “If I had just written one page a day, I’d have written several books by now.” The lesson? One page a day is better than one excuse a year.
Reflection
What have you been waiting for the “right time” to do? If you started with just 10 minutes today, where could you be by the end of this month?
A Simple Prayer
“Lord, thank You for the gift of today. Help me use it wisely, not waste it. Show me the small steps I can take right now, and give me courage to act before the day slips away. Amen.”
✅ Takeaway: Stop waiting. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can—today.
Mark 10-21,22. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Conceive of your mind as a surface of a body of water and see how nearly quiet you can make it so that there is not a ripple
Story:
9/26–STATISTICS AND STUFF
The “Coronary and Ulcer Club” lists the following rules for members…
1. Your job comes first. Forget everything else.
2. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are fine times to be working at the office. There will be nobody else there to bother you.
3. Always have your briefcase with you when not at your desk. This provides an opportunity to review completely all the troubles and worries of the day.
4. Never say “no” to a request. Always say “yes.”
5. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees, etc.
6. All forms of recreation are a waste of time.
7. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the entire load yourself.
8. If your work calls for traveling, work all day and travel at night to keep that appointment you made for eight the next morning.
9. No matter how many jobs you already are doing, remember you always can take on more.
Bits & Pieces, January 7, 1993, pp. 9-10.
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And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Humor:
Do Not Ring Doorbell Unless You Are Publishers Clearing House
If you can’t find five minutes, can you spare one or two?
–9/26–This is something that everyone needs, to be able to navigate the storms of life. Because no matter who you are you will have them. Concerning natural storms, they come up in everyone’s life no matter who you are or where you are at.
Storms just have a way of finding us no matter where we are at. It does matter if it’s not a good time or if we are ready. There are no exemptions!
The wise thing to do then, is to be ready. After all storms are always lurking and it is unwise not to prepare for them.
I have heard that you are either in a storm or you just came from a storm or you’re about to go into a storm. So, that’s all the time. We cannot afford to ignore the storms!
It is absolutely necessary that we learn to navigate the Storms!! When the media announces the approaching of storms, if you choose to ignore the warnings then you have to suffer the consequences. We would do everything we could to make sure we, along with our family and love ones, would be safe and prepared.
How many reading this feel as though you still have hope?
Excerpt From “How To Navigate Life’s Storms” By J D Canter Available in Kindle Amazon:
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