| Boy Scout Troop 7 Scoutmaster Notes |
| Boy Scout Troop 7 |
| Jayhawk Area Council |
| Troop 7 scouts and scouters, I thougth I would use this space to put some of my scoutmaster minutes that I have said at the end of the troop meetings. I enjoy my moment to get everyone to stop and reflect a moment! :) Chad Sidesinger Troop 7 Scoutmaster Scoutmaster Minute 5/1/06 IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS : We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation,or when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with...and remember that time waits for no one. So, stop waiting --until your car or home is paid off --until you get a new car or home --until your kids leave the house --until you go back to school --until you lose ten pounds --until you gain ten pounds --until you finish school --until you get a divorce --until you get married --until you have kids --until you retire --until summer --until spring --until winter --until fall --until you die There is no better time than RIGHT NOW to be happy. Happiness is a JOURNEY, not a destination. So -- work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching. ~author unknown~ Scoutmaster Minute 3/6/06 The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 cups of coffee... When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar...and the 2 cups of coffee... A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, " I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things-your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions-things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal." Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend." Scoutmaster Minute 2/20/06 Worth Considering A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, go together to visit their Alma Mater and the reunion was hosted by an old lecturer of theirs. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guest coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, some rather plain and some quite expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain, cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other’s cups.” “Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn’t change.” “Sometimes, by concentration only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.” Scoutmaster Minute 2/13/06 Your life is a camera. Don’t live it with the lens cap on. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! Here is a list titled, “In love with quotes!” We are a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do, will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, will never…never forget it. Love, like death, changes everything. You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. Forget love, I’d rather fall in chocolate. And my favorite quote from an article that Mark Hood wrote in the Topeka Capital-Journal published November 21, 2005 & part of a former Scoutmaster Minute: “When you act out of love, you never loose: If love doesn’t work, try love anyway!” Scoutmaster Minute 1/23/06 My scout master minute tonight is titled “Still Persevering”. Persevere is to be persistent, refusing to stop. Earning your Eagle award requires a lot of perseverance. Let me read what other have said about “still persevering.” It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. -Charles F. Kettering Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. -Author Unknown Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. -William James Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. -Author Unknown Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. -Christopher Morley And my favorite: I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. -Author Unknown Scoutmaster Minute 1/2/06 How many of you have made a wish before you blew out the candles on your birthday cake? If you tell someone what your wish was, does that mean that it wont come true? Now that it is 2006, how many of you have made New Years resolutions? If you tell someone your New Years resolution, does that mean that it wont come true? The end of every year is a great time to stop and reflect about what you did the previous year and to ponder what you can do in the up coming year to make it better. It is a great time to make a New Years resolution. You’re New Years resolution should be a goal; something that you want to do to make yourself a better person. It should be something that you would like to accomplish. Your New Years resolution in scouting might be to go on more campouts, to reach another rank advancement, to perform more service time, or to help younger scouts learn new scout skills. My New Years resolution comes from an odd source. Last night I was watching an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition with Ty Pennington. On the show they took a small 100-year-old farmhouse, where 8 people were living including 4 adopted children, tore it down and made them a new house. In the master bedroom they had a fireplace that had some special words on the fireplace mantel. Those words are my New Years resolution for 2006 and hopefully, for the rest of my life. Those five simple words were, “Live, Love, Laugh, Be Happy.” May we all have a great 2006! Older Scoutmaster Minutes! |
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