There are two partners that go hand in hand that leave a lasting positive impression. When these two grace a home and community there is joy, an obvious sense of refuge, a "Welcome Home" flows upon opening the door and your arrival.
As these two abundantly abound in the lives of people they leave a trace of cheer, hope, positive expectation and concern that calls to return as often as you can to their presence. One cannot help but be drawn where these two are allowed to be in control.
I am talking about Praise and Thankfulness.
Some may think these two are passé' or out of date. Some may think that they allow too much laxity and shallowness. Oh, but "some" have missed the power that these two radiate.
PRAISE - that simple power to encourage another. This is not merely the response of passing the salt and pepper at a table this is an example of what's in the heart, mind and character of the one saying it.
THANKFULNESS - that trait of gratitude that seasons life. When allowed to flow it is the seasoning of a conversation that I personally guaranty you will want more and more.
Let these two train you, coach you, possess you, own you, rule you and you will find yourself pleased with yourself and life in general.
This week we will have but one day set aside called Thanksgiving. Some we'll make it an emphasis for a day or so and it might even stretch out for the week. But I'm telling you when you have Praise and Thankfulness as a major part of your daily life you will feast for the year.
I have heard these two in action here in Chillicothe Ohio for it is a trait of our community at large. We, a proud part of the region where people cling to our guns and religion, say grace before a meal. We hold the door for those we respect. We work hard and give thanks for our abilities. We hunt and we are thankful for the bounty. We believe in people and the God who made us. We expect the best out of ourselves and we give the best of ourselves to others.
There are many reasons for living here in Chillicothe Ohio but two of the best are these community traits - Praise and Thankfulness. We don’t have a monopoly on these but I can tell you if you lived here you’d find them part of our culture and we refuse to let them go out of style.
Let me invite you to give these two a little more control over your life and you will understand how powerful they really are.
CATCH THE VISION OF POSSIBILITIES
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
"Promoting Possibilities"
We’ve all driven through neighborhoods and cities where there is historic significance. Some communities have that sense of renewed vision and vitality. The streets, sidewalks and homes capture one’s attention. The value of the homes increase with each passing year and even those who live there seem to possess an attractive quality. The shops and stores that grace these areas invite all to stop and browse. One could say that these neighborhoods and communities reflect pride. These are the communities that attract living-wage employers and a higher standard of living for the families. This is that which proclaims to all the vision that promotes possibilities.
We’ve also driven through those areas where the dynamic of significance has been lost. Regardless of the history of the area we feel uneasy, unsafe and find ourselves locking our car doors while wasting no time continuing onto our destination. It is like the neighborhood and the community itself has lost their desire to succeed. Unfortunately, once desire has dimmed, the light of hope is lost, the taste of pride grows stale and a depressive cloud settles. The unpainted buildings proclaim the sense of despair housed inside the community itself and becomes what is seen on the outside. It is so tragic what is forced to be seen by all who pass. Empty worn out, neglected hollow shelled buildings can become a plague upon a downtown and neighborhood. Robbed of care and vitality they are left to crumble into irreparability. It sadly can be said that these areas have lost their vision of possessing or promoting possibilities.
What is it that causes some neighborhoods and communities to maintain or renew their vitality? What causes people to see beyond the passing of time and empowers them towards promoting possibilities?
I believe it is desire, vision and the refusal to accept less than the best.
Chillicothe, Ohio is my hometown and I know I am not alone believing great things for her. Our historic significance is alive and aching to be honored. This First Capitol of Ohio has stood proudly since before Statehood in 1803. The historic Majestic Theater on Second Street has continued in operation since 1853. The historic buildings of our downtown cry out to be used and filled with commerce and activity. Our historic downtown is soon going through revitalization along with the expected Carlisle and Howson building restoration. The significance of after-business-hour eateries and shops in our historic downtown along with ample parking will show the vision of our city leaders for which our founding fathers would be proud.
Show me a community that takes purposeful pride and action in her downtown and I will show you a people who possess that which is Promoting Possibilities.
Catch the Vision of Possibilities
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
We’ve also driven through those areas where the dynamic of significance has been lost. Regardless of the history of the area we feel uneasy, unsafe and find ourselves locking our car doors while wasting no time continuing onto our destination. It is like the neighborhood and the community itself has lost their desire to succeed. Unfortunately, once desire has dimmed, the light of hope is lost, the taste of pride grows stale and a depressive cloud settles. The unpainted buildings proclaim the sense of despair housed inside the community itself and becomes what is seen on the outside. It is so tragic what is forced to be seen by all who pass. Empty worn out, neglected hollow shelled buildings can become a plague upon a downtown and neighborhood. Robbed of care and vitality they are left to crumble into irreparability. It sadly can be said that these areas have lost their vision of possessing or promoting possibilities.
What is it that causes some neighborhoods and communities to maintain or renew their vitality? What causes people to see beyond the passing of time and empowers them towards promoting possibilities?
I believe it is desire, vision and the refusal to accept less than the best.
Chillicothe, Ohio is my hometown and I know I am not alone believing great things for her. Our historic significance is alive and aching to be honored. This First Capitol of Ohio has stood proudly since before Statehood in 1803. The historic Majestic Theater on Second Street has continued in operation since 1853. The historic buildings of our downtown cry out to be used and filled with commerce and activity. Our historic downtown is soon going through revitalization along with the expected Carlisle and Howson building restoration. The significance of after-business-hour eateries and shops in our historic downtown along with ample parking will show the vision of our city leaders for which our founding fathers would be proud.
Show me a community that takes purposeful pride and action in her downtown and I will show you a people who possess that which is Promoting Possibilities.
Catch the Vision of Possibilities
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
Monday, November 9, 2009
Coming to Grips with the Shooting at Fort Hood
As a Soldier I am still trying to come to grips with the shooting at Fort Hood last week. My military career is spread over the last four decades which means I served with individuals completing their 30 year career from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and every conflict since. I was raised just south of Kent Ohio and was hitch-hiking back to Fort Bragg, NC, in full dress uniform four hours after the Kent State shooting. I have seen the horrors of war in Iraq up close and personal working in a Combat Support Hospital and had the opportunity to speak with those who wounded and injured from war. The rigors of military life have left their disabling effects on my body and I now live within those physical limitations. For the last three months I have been “tapped” to be a presenter at the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program to speak to Soldier who just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. My son is scheduled to return home from Iraq before Christmas. On the civilian side of life I am mental health professional and an ordained clergy. As I said, I am still trying to come to grips with the shooting at Fort Hood last week.
An event like this sends shockwaves through the military soul. Regardless of the public opinion on the war these are still our military and this is just not supposed to happen. For those of us who have served and those of us still in uniform our mind struggles to grasp that one of our own could have done this wicked deed. It becomes even more horrifying when it was someone who we, the military Soldier, trusted to share and help heal our own psychological wounds. Often those in the news are faceless statistics but to many of us in the Army it wasn’t this time.
Two of my personal friends, fellow Soldiers, were among those who were in the building. They too are mental health professionals and as I write this due to restrictions I have not heard from them. But I can tell you that the families of those killed, the wounded and their families and those who witnessed this event need your prayers. Our Army family needs your prayers too.
Sometimes, we become too lax, we become too complacent, we become too focused on our own opinions and agendas. Yet, an event like this brings the news close to us and we must re-evaluate our own lives and just how fragile life and society is on a daily basis.
We, in the military will adjust, adapt and overcome, that is our motto. We will come up with better security and better screening measures. We will listen with more in-depth understanding and insights. Meantime, we will heal by prayer and confession. This is the only way I know to come to grips with the shooting at Fort Hood last week.
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
An event like this sends shockwaves through the military soul. Regardless of the public opinion on the war these are still our military and this is just not supposed to happen. For those of us who have served and those of us still in uniform our mind struggles to grasp that one of our own could have done this wicked deed. It becomes even more horrifying when it was someone who we, the military Soldier, trusted to share and help heal our own psychological wounds. Often those in the news are faceless statistics but to many of us in the Army it wasn’t this time.
Two of my personal friends, fellow Soldiers, were among those who were in the building. They too are mental health professionals and as I write this due to restrictions I have not heard from them. But I can tell you that the families of those killed, the wounded and their families and those who witnessed this event need your prayers. Our Army family needs your prayers too.
Sometimes, we become too lax, we become too complacent, we become too focused on our own opinions and agendas. Yet, an event like this brings the news close to us and we must re-evaluate our own lives and just how fragile life and society is on a daily basis.
We, in the military will adjust, adapt and overcome, that is our motto. We will come up with better security and better screening measures. We will listen with more in-depth understanding and insights. Meantime, we will heal by prayer and confession. This is the only way I know to come to grips with the shooting at Fort Hood last week.
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Stand Tall and Proud with Possibilities
Stand Tall and Proud with Possibilities
The trees will continue to stand silent and proud against the harsh approaching winter as a mute witness to their strength. This is like an unwritten testimony of my hometown.
There are some people and places that just radiate. You may not be able to put it into words but there is something about them that pulls you to them. You can’t help but want to get close to them and have your life reflect what possesses them. I feel this way about my hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio.
Now, there may be some in other areas of the State and Country who may cast a mocking glance at this rural setting 50 miles south of Columbus, Ohio. Some may call this rural small city strong willed and opinionated but I call them empowered with resilience and possessed with a sheer determination to succeed and improve. I see it daily on the faces and hear it in the conversations around me. Here lives that fiber, that ingredient that bonds a society together that makes things move forward. It is that which demands more from themselves and those who claim to come to serve. It isn’t merely a fad of conversational style or a shallow passing tone it is the very core of who we are and who makes up this region. My hometown is filled with a strong work ethic and religious conviction that was and is the lifeblood of what made America. I have found it invigorating and challenging! Yet, regardless of what it is called, it has proven time and time again to have risen from the ashes of conflict, disappointment and/or setback like a Phoenix with majestic dignity. Like the trees and mountains on the eastern horizon we’ve stood through many seasons. Each season passes and we find ourselves standing taller and prouder than before.
Chillicothe, Ohio possesses the kind of inner self reliance that just radiates. As I review the history of this region I find it is as much a part of our historic DNA as the trees and mountains that grace our horizon. We are a proud part of that region known to cling to our religion and guns as these have reinforced our faith and our resilience. Like the trees around us, regardless the season, we continue to stand tall with the determination to succeed.
Catch the Vision of Possibilities
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
The trees will continue to stand silent and proud against the harsh approaching winter as a mute witness to their strength. This is like an unwritten testimony of my hometown.
There are some people and places that just radiate. You may not be able to put it into words but there is something about them that pulls you to them. You can’t help but want to get close to them and have your life reflect what possesses them. I feel this way about my hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio.
Now, there may be some in other areas of the State and Country who may cast a mocking glance at this rural setting 50 miles south of Columbus, Ohio. Some may call this rural small city strong willed and opinionated but I call them empowered with resilience and possessed with a sheer determination to succeed and improve. I see it daily on the faces and hear it in the conversations around me. Here lives that fiber, that ingredient that bonds a society together that makes things move forward. It is that which demands more from themselves and those who claim to come to serve. It isn’t merely a fad of conversational style or a shallow passing tone it is the very core of who we are and who makes up this region. My hometown is filled with a strong work ethic and religious conviction that was and is the lifeblood of what made America. I have found it invigorating and challenging! Yet, regardless of what it is called, it has proven time and time again to have risen from the ashes of conflict, disappointment and/or setback like a Phoenix with majestic dignity. Like the trees and mountains on the eastern horizon we’ve stood through many seasons. Each season passes and we find ourselves standing taller and prouder than before.
Chillicothe, Ohio possesses the kind of inner self reliance that just radiates. As I review the history of this region I find it is as much a part of our historic DNA as the trees and mountains that grace our horizon. We are a proud part of that region known to cling to our religion and guns as these have reinforced our faith and our resilience. Like the trees around us, regardless the season, we continue to stand tall with the determination to succeed.
Catch the Vision of Possibilities
H. R. Grimm
chillicothetalks@gmail.com
http://www.chillicothetalks.com/
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