What makes you unique? Your fingerprint and your eyes, Your hair and your smile.
Your conversation, And your own brand of whimsy. Do you embrace these?
Bob Goff wrote today, “God made you this way On purpose, freckles and all.”
He had lots of spots – As a kid, lots of freckles. He was teased a lot.
His grandma told him “Those spots are angel kisses.” So be proud of them!
“Don’t tell anyone,” She cautioned him not to share – “Friends would be jealous!”
That very mean boy Who teased Bob, calling him Spot, Wilted his soft heart.
With grandma’s advice His insecurities left, Finding acceptance.
Accept uniqueness! Embrace how you’re different. Congratulations!
Love, JanBeek
P.S. Bob Goff puts this message at the end of each of his books:
CONNECT WITH BOB “Bob’s passion is people. He’d love to hear from you if you want to email him at info@bobgoff.com. You can also follow him on Instagram and X: @bobgoff. Here’s his cell phone number if you want to give him a call: (619)985-4747.”
In his book, Catching Whimsey, Bob Goff told about the time he and his wife, “Sweet Maria,” bought his father-in-law’s decrepit old wooden wagon. They bought it so they could restore it to mint condition. I related to Bob Goff’s story because I have friends who have an old wooden wagon in their yard. It has been a part of their family for two or three generations. They treasure it and have restored it to mint condition.
But, in the case of Bob & Maria Goff, after buying sandpaper and paint and nuts and bolts and the tools needed to get started on their immense reconstruction project, there was a huge storm. A hundred-foot tree fell on the wagon. Bob Goff wrote, “We had plenty of firewood that winter, about a hundred feet of tree and one priceless wagon’s worth.”
So what does this have to do with WHIMSEY? Well, ya gotta know Bob Goff! Whimsey is his favorite word!! And in his “Faith Step” at the bottom of the page, he cautions us, “Don’t let today’s challenges break you, and don’t live in fear that a tree might fall on you. Live a life so full of love and whimsey people will think you are made of the stuff.”
“Take genuine interest in other people… turn to the person next to you in the grocery store and ask what the highlight of their day has been… Your question … will probably be the highlight of their day.”
That quote is from Bob Goff’s Catching Whimsy, 365 Days of Possibility.
He challenges us with today’s action step:
“Engage the people around you with love and inexplicable curiosity today.”
Time with Saskia & Laszlo is so precious!
I need to be sure and practice “With-ness” with them. God sent them to us so we could really BE with one another.
Who are you going to really be with today? Bob Goff uses Galatians 6:10 to remind us of Jesus’ words to the people: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone.”
Let them know you are 100% with them … and curious about how life is going with them.
How is life going with you!?
My life is quite lovely. Kenny’s is, too. I hope yours is, also.
I need a break from negativity!! There is too much negativity in this world. It comes in many forms and bombards us from all corners of the globe.
If we let it, the negativity, the bad news, the wars and killings, the inequalities , the catastrophes that the daily news brings into our living rooms can make us really depressed. There’s so little we can do about it!
But…
… then there are people like Bob Goff!! He is doing something about a lot of things! Do you know his book, “Love Does”? Do you know his podcasts and his life’s work? He is one of my antidotes to negativity! His positivity is contagious!!
Do you tune in to his podcasts? https://www.bobgoff.com/listen They are guaranteed to silence the negativity around you – and replace it with hope and love, motivational ideas, and positive energy. Here’s today’s podcast news:
Bob is joined by Jason, the president of BrandHaven, about the heart and process behind the “He Gets Us” campaign. The campaign aims to increase the respect and relevance of Jesus in our culture by promoting unconditional love, radical forgiveness, and confounding peace. He emphasizes the importance of being a student of faith and focusing on the biography of Jesus. Listen in for a conversation that encourages us to be students of faith, cultivating a culture of love, forgiveness, and kindness.Learn more at hegetsus.com and follow along on social media, @hegetsus.
Bob Goff is one of those positive people who has no idea how wonderful he is! His Love Does organization builds schools, educates children in impoverished countries (especially girls where there were previously no opportunities for them to get an education), distributes food to the needy, etc. etc. His voice is a song of cheer. His chuckle will make you smile. His message will inspire you. Check him out and be prepared to let his whimsical ways lift your spirit and inspire your soul to spread positivity and love, encouragement and grace to everyone you encounter!
Posted back in 2014, “The Power of God’s Love” was my response to reading Bob Goff’s book, “Love Does.” In today’s world here in the USA, one day away from one of the most crucial national elections in our democracy’s history, this message definitely is worth reblogging!!
May this message touch your heart strings and help you share a message of UNITY with those you encounter this week!
My 2014 Post:
Your hands are God’s heartststrings on earth. The love of God is demonstrated by YOUR love.
I just finished a New York Times bestseller by Bob Goff titled “Love Does.” My granddaughter loaned it to me at Christmas time with the highest of compliments: “I know you’ll enjoy this book, Grammy. I want you to read it and be sure to return it to me when I see you in February. I have other friends I want to loan it to, also.”
How wonderful that she knew this book would resonate with me. Chapter by chapter my husband and I enjoyed the book more than you can imagine. We vowed to read a chapter a day. There are 31 chapters. Some days we couldn’t put it down.
In 20 days we were finished with the book and now we are going back to reread some sections and internalize the messages. You will want to do the same. Here are a few excerpts:
“…make a difference by getting to the ‘do’ part of faith…love is never stationary…love doesn’t just keep thinking about it…Simply put, love does.”
“The world can make you think that love can be picked up at a garage sale or enveloped in a Hallmark card. But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence.”
“What I’ve noticed… is that almost every time I type in the word love, it gets changed to live. It’s a kind of reminder to me… Fully loving and fully living are not only synonymous but the kind of life that Jesus invited us to be part of…”
So, I am off to be fully loving and fully living today. I will put God’s love into action today by sharing it with friends and looking for ways to live the way Bob Goff does. The subtitle on the cover of his book says, “Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World.” I want to be secretly incredible today. Don’t you?
Love Does. I like that title. It’s my walking orders. The power of God’s love is in your hands and mine. Let’s go DO God’s love today.
You with me?
If you are in the USA, be sure you have made your voice heard by casting your ballot.
God loves us… God loves you… I love you! Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
“You know it, deep down- you’re not made for ordinary. Your life is meant to be an adventure, fueled by grace and inspired by big dreams to make the world a better place. But, stuff gets in the way. Whether it’s people who tell you to be practical, a version of a faith that keeps you small, or a few bruises that take you out along the way– we all have a longing to break out of the status quo and get after the life we’re meant to live.” – Bob Goff
That quote came from one of my favorite people in the world, Bob Goff, author of “Love Does.” He has a new website:
I may look like those bruises took me out along the way with that eyelid swollen and the bruise running down my cheek, but I am far from “taken out!” Instead I am thinking this is an “extraordinary” bruise from an “extraordinary bang” and I am blessed not to have suffered a concussion! My knock on the head is not stopping me from planning some extraordinary days ahead!
Likewise, the fires in CA and the flooding on the east coast and the hurricanes in Haiti and the war-torn people in Afghanistan may have stopped some people from feeling like they are living the “life we’re meant to live,” but such catastrophes cause us to also to thank God for our survival. They cause us to evaluate what’s ordinary and what’s extraordinary – what’s essential and what’s fluff.
Don’t look down and say, “Poor me!” Instead, look up, and thank God for the blessings that are still yours! That’s what I am trying to do today as I put a hot compress on that goose egg that still sits on my forehead – and plan for an extraordinary trip to England to meet our blogging friends, Derrick & Jackie in person, and to travel on to Switzerland to see our daughter and her family there. We haven’t been able to do that since COVID raised its ugly head. Waaay too long between visits with our DollyWolly!
As Bob Goff said, “Life is too short to just go through the motions.” Embrace the extraordinary! Be extraordinarily positive! Look at the bruises and the challenges – and remember, “whether its the people who tell you to be practical, a version of a faith that keeps you small, or a few bruises that … along the way,” they don’t have to pull you down. They don’t have to keep your dreams small. As Bob Goff says on his website and in his books, “Dream Big!”
Smile the bruises away. Ignore those who put you in a box. Embrace the faith that makes you extraordinary!
What are you planning for your future that will keep you living those “Dream Big” ideas? Whatever it is, keep leaning on the One who answers your prayers!
The Fire Update in CA
Our son and his wife in CA still are safe from the Caldron Fire. They still are housing a family of 8 children and their mom who were evacuated from their home. They are living an extraordinary life right now, buoyed by all our prayers.
Our granddaughter in S. Lake Tahoe and her husband, Faith and Kyle, who were evacuated from their home, still are safely relocated for now in southern CA with their other grandparents. Today they received the gift of passes to visit Disneyland. It’s Kyle’s first visit there to the “Happiest Place on Earth.” The fire took a right turn just a mile from their house. Only God can control the wind! Answered prayers have saved their neighborhood. What an extraordinary God we have!
Continue to pray for extraordinary bravery and safety for our fire fighters.
Faith & Kyle
Please continue to pray for Faith and Kyle and their neighborhood… and for Ty & Monika and their big hearts which are open to such Christ-like help for their friends.
Monika and Ty – an extraordinary couple
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
See ya tomorrow(God willing)
Stay tuned! And continue to be the extraordinary person God created you to be!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could really embrace and LIVE that sense of equality our constitution espouses?
Where do you find places where world-wide peace is the major goal? How is it expressed?
In addition to poets like Dwight Roth, I love folks like Bob Goff, author of “Love Does.” He wrote:
“Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s go do that together.” ― Bob Goff
Bob Goff’s books, “Love Does,” and “Everybody, Always” spell out in clear terms how the “love with actions and in truth” can make such a impact on your own peace – and can matter to the world at large. Check them out, if you have not read them already.
“Jesus talked to His friends a lot about how we should identify ourselves. He said it wouldn’t be what we said we believed or all the good we hoped to do someday. Nope, He said we would identify ourselves simply by how we loved people. It’s tempting to think there is more to it, but there’s not. Love isn’t something we fall into; love is someone we become.” ― Bob Goff, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People
That’s the only way we can work toward world peace… One person, one act, one decision at a time.
It’s not really pride that is my motivator… It is gratitude and love and a faith that runs deep in my soul. Thank You, God, for Your many blessings. Thank you for Your love. I pray that everyone in the world can feel it.
Thank you for the joy and peace that are mine. May they radiate through me. May I generously shine them on all I meet.
I can embrace the reality Of dreams yet to fulfill, Knowing God is ever faithful When I’m living in His will.
As Bob Goff says, “Dream Big!”
I can embrace the coming year With prayers for those in need – And reach out to serve the hurting With generosity – release the greed!
I embrace the coming decade And hope to live rightly through it. I embrace the coming vaccine – It’ll be effective – we always knew it.
We knew that this pandemic Could not stay with us forever. There are too many blessed people Out there who are creative and so clever.
But I am not waiting for the shot To stop the misery and relieve the pain. I embrace the fact that LOVE Is what will make us whole again!
So, PEACE, my dear WP friends, I send you the best medicine of all For the end of this misery-filled year: A smile, a virtual hug, a word of grace, an answer to your call.
Just like Bob Goff, Love Does, He puts his cell phone number on his book covers. Call on me … and I will answer every time: (406) 599-9678
HappyNewYear! Big Embraces to you, With Love, JanBeek
“Ambitions don’t flow from the quantity of our ideas or our uninterrupted drive; they gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.” Bob Goff
Taking a “genuine interest in others” is what Love Does!
Sometimes we wonder what we can do to make the world a better place. We want to help, but we don’t know how. Let me share an idea that works for me:
Bob Goff’s “Love Does” is an organization devoted to making the world a better place through education of people in places where schools did not exist before they came. Bob Goff wrote a “runaway New York Time’s best seller” book titled, Love Does. In it he spelled out his philosophy of DOING LOVE. Since its publication in 2012, I don’t know how many thousands of copies have been sold … but it is a whole lot!! And Bob’s LOVE DOES organization has raised millions to help thousands of children and adults in Uganda, India, Iraq, Iran, and Somalia have a better life.
In his quote this week on his FaceBook page, Bob talks about the courage to step out in faith:
May 7 at 9:35 AM ·
"Sometimes God asks us to step out (or through).
We don’t know what we’ll see
until we go through the deluge.
It’s scary to step into the unknown,
but it’s also where we find Jesus;
and wherever we find Jesus,
we find life.
Fear calls out our doubts;
God calls out our names."
Bob Goff
Helping to educate people from birth on … helping parents learn better parenting skills… helping to provide nourishment for the soul, the body, the spirit… that’s what Love Does! They built “Restore Leadership Academy” and sponsor the education of future leaders in Uganda.
May 10, 2018 · On average in the states, it costs about $20,000 a year for college tuition. In Uganda through Restore Leadership Academy, it costs $700. Our college-aged interns here at Love Does have created a campaign to help fund our Launch students!! Visit lovedoes.org/launch to sponsor a student! Sponsor a student today or make a one-time donation and receive a bag of wildflower seeds and a cool sticker in the mail to help “Plant the Seeds of Education!” #LaunchUganda#LoveDoes#HappyG… See More— in Uganda.
Through Love Does, help moms be better moms – and help children not only survive, but thrive.
There are many ways in your own neighborhood as well as around the world to show your love and compassion and to make the world a better place. We don’t need to sit at home and feel helpless in this COVID-19 world. We can reach out and let our love “gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.”
I donate a small amount monthly to this organization. It comes directly out of my retirement check. Not enough that I even notice it! But, if each person who heard about Love Does did the same thing, together our offerings can change lives! Lives of all ages… lives in many parts of the world. Here are a couple of darling children in Somalia who are being helped through Love Does donations.
How adorable are these two little friends in the baby home? We love watching these kiddos grow up here! To learn more about what we’re doing in Somalia, visit lovedoes.org/Somalia
I pray you and I will visibly gush with kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.
BOTTOM LINE: LOVE DOES! Try it!
See ya tomorrow. Have a Beautiful Sunday. {{{Hugs}}} from JanBeek
