TIM PAYNE

Birthday Spankings?

Jadon is turning 4 years old today. Seriously. 4. It’s hard to believe it’s already been 4 years since he made the escape. He doesn’t seem a day older than 3 years and 364 days. It’s an exciting day with all kind of fun and traditions, but one tradition I’ve never understood is that of birthday spankings.

What exactly is the point of spanking someone on his birthday? Where did that weird little ritual begin? On one of the happiest days of a child’s year, we choose to perform an act that, on every other day of the year, is used as a form of punishment. What a weird, mixed message. Are birthday spankings actually supposed to convince the person having a birthday to stop getting older? Has it ever worked? It’s like we get more frustrated with their aging every year, so every year we add on another spanking. You could make a killing if you could figure out a way to administer birthday spankings in such a way that it would actually convince a person to stop aging.

At what point should birthday spankings cease? Don’t you eventually have to admit that it’s a lost cause and realize that no amount of spankings are going to keep someone from getting older? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be giving birthday spankings to 93 year old people – partly because I’d probably be sore the next day (some form of tennis/spanking elbow) and partly because that’s just weird.

Just Add Water

Found this amazing toy at Dollar Tree…steak, seafood, and growing whales – they have it all! Gotta love the instructions on this thing. Anything that instructs “Amazing Fun” is okay by me.

Delicious Dollar Deals

Who says you can’t put together a fancy meal on a budget? Just head to your local Dollar Tree store for steak, shrimp, and salmon. You’ll be the envy of all your friends…until they take a bite of the steak, shrimp, and salmon and realize that it was way overpriced.

Super Special School Supplies

Saw this at Wal-Mart the other day. Surely that can’t be right, can it? 3 bucks for a single page school supply list? The only explanation I can think of is that they are printed on unfurled unicorn horns with octopus ink.

Possibilities & Potential

Is there anything that has more potential than a blank sheet of paper?

Before a crease is ever folded, before a line is ever drawn, before a letter is ever written…there is no limit to what a blank sheet of paper can be used for.

The same sheet of paper that an artist’s masterpiece is drawn on could have just as easily been used as makeshift toilet paper. The same sheet of paper that was made into beautiful origami could have just as easily been made into a paper football. The same sheet of paper that contains the words of Christ could just as easily have been used for Hitler’s to-do list.

Every sheet of paper starts out as a blank canvas that can be used to convey whatever message a person wants. The difference between books, art, and anything else has nothing to do with the piece of paper. It has everything to do with the person holding the pen. With every stroke of the pen the message becomes more clear. Where once there were limitless possibilities, there is now a distinct message being formed. With each word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph that is written the message becomes more clear and focused. The blank sheet of paper that was once so clean and new, so full of possibilities and potential, gradually watches that newness and potential fade away as it is consumed by the ink of the pen and the words of the author. When the pen is finally laid down, there is no more potential…there is only the message that is conveyed by the way the ink was placed on the paper.

What’s true of paper is true of life as well. Every day is a blank sheet of paper in the notebook of our life. When we first wake up in the morning, our day has unlimited potential. We can send whatever message we desire with the decisions that we make and the actions that we take. Our decisions, words, and actions define the message that we send each day. At the end of the day, if you don’t like what was was written on the page, don’t blame it on other people or circumstances. You are the one putting pen to paper. If there is a page in your life that you are not happy with, consider it a rough draft and start over the next day. We all have days where the ink skips and smudges. We all have days where we are unable to get across the message that we want. We all have days where we would like nothing more than to rip that page out, tear it to shreds, light it on fire, and flush it down the toilet. Unfortunately, that is not an option. What’s done is done. Don’t obsess over things in the past. Focus on the present and look forward to the future. After all, tomorrow is a blank page with unlimited potential.