Circumstances have dictated that I give serious consideration to where I can serve the best in the next 5 years. Seriously considering servitude has drawn me to consider the difference between servitude and slavery.
Servitude is not defined by whether one is paid for the service or not. To me, service is defined as an attitude. It is a choice to provide something to someone else.
Slavery also is not defined by whether one is paid for the labor or not. Slavery, too, is an attitude. It is the choice to expect someone else to take care of you. The essence of slavery is the same as the essence of entitlement.
The greatest freedom is the choice to serve and take care of your self under the great Blue Sky. Dr. Baker Fore
The most life determining words in the English language are, “What if…?
Those two words lead into the path of fear that will hold you back – OR lead to the realization of the dreams that follow.
If you repeatedly say things like “What IF I lose my job?” “What IF the economy fails?” “What IF my boss is mad at me?” Then your life will be filled with anxiety and you are likely to do very few of the things necessary to go where you want to go.
Instead, ask yourself questions like “What IF I get a new more rewarding job?” “What IF I learn a skill I always wanted to have?” “What IF my boss gives me a raise?” With that attitude you will find yourself advancing toward the goals you set.
Listen to your “What IFs”. They will determine the choices you make and the place you are putting your focus, is where you will end up going.
Use “What IF” to focus on where you want to go, and not on your fears. If you have a habit of choosing a “What IF… something bad happens,” learn to follow it by immediately asking “What IF that does not happen?” and “What IF something positive happens?”
Pretty soon you will find that the bad “What IF…” habit is broken.
What if today we enjoy the great Blue Sky all the way to a beautiful sunset?
Dr. Baker Fore
I watch the sun rise slowly from its appointed place and, as always, at the same pace. That and today’s chapter in proverbs gives me a sense of comfort and solidarity. Time and the sun only move in one direction, and at one pace.
Change in life usually slides through our lives like the shadows of clouds across a quiet lake. However, at times it seems to accelerate to the speed of a comet across the celestial sky. The changes in our society, culture and world will accelerate in the near future. If you have something solid to hold on to, the ride will be a lot more comfortable.
Faith in man and a culture will end in the same rubble as that culture.
Thank you, God, for the solidarity of the great Blue Sky. Baker Fore
I tried to teach my kids four facts about success. You can start with the first one easily then as you mature you develop the next one
The first thing is you have to have an attitude of gratitude. There is nothing that better to put a smile on your face and establish a positive attitude than counting your blessings every day and leaving the house with an attitude of gratitude.
Second – do something today. You have to maintain a sense of immediateness to do the right thing now. If you know what the right thing is do it today. If you don’t know, then find out today or at least make it a priority to try to find out today. Stay in the hunt, stay engaged and leave procrastination for the losers and critics. You will make mistakes. It is called learning not failing. They heard a thousand times, “If you snooze you lose, so stay awake because while you are sleeping I’m a creeping.”
Third – it is the fire of desire that warms your house. Once again they heard many times some simple clichés over and over. There is always a price. If you are going to play there is a price to pay. Anything worth having is worth working for so how bad do you want it. It is the strength of your desire that will take you higher.
Fourth – you have to believe it to receive it, but what you believe you will receive. If you have faith enough to move a mountain show up with a shovel. Then whether you believe you can or believe you can not you are going to be right. I can do all things with God who gives me my strength.
They are still the best four I know for a good year under the great Blue Sky.
Dr. Baker Fore
Would you want to have a large portion of toxic waste with your coffee every day? Probably not, but actually you do when you carry anger from yesterday or last year with you into the new day.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it stands than to anything on which it is poured.” Mahatma Gandhi
You can be angered by, and radically disapprove of, a person’s sick twisted behavior yet still forgive that person. You will never forget but after you forgive you can choose not to remember, thereby not holding on and experiencing the pain over and over. As a physician I can say with absolute certainty that the only way for a deep wound to heal is not by forgetting but by forgiving.
The freedom of forgiveness gives you the strength to overcome any obstacle. Even while hanging on a cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” When we hold on to our resentments and anger we have a difficult time seeing the blessings and beauty in our lives.
Forgiveness vastly expands the horizons of our world under the great Blue Sky.
Dr. Baker Fore
The most over used word today is Professional followed closely by Expert. Rarely do they actually apply. Most great things are accomplished by amateurs. However, they were amateurs with passion.
\Thomas Jefferson was neither a politician nor an author when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Ben Franklin had no degree in optics when he invented the bifocals. Charles Darwin was not even a PhD in Biology when he theorized evolution. Sigmund Freud M.D. did not even do a residency in psychiatry and he certainly was not Board Certified so he could not get hospital privileges today.
Whatever you set your mind to do, just go do it. That does not mean you will not face some opposition by non-productive Experts. Just remember, ”the tougher the opposition – the sweeter the victory.”
In fact, if I am not being criticized by somebody on a salary involved in “group think”, I think it must not be a strong enough idea.
Stop thinking you have to be a Certified Expert and start becoming an Amateur Winner in the New Year.
Dr. Baker Fore
From my second story window my pasture below is filled with cow tracks, tire tracks and muddy spots as the snow is melting. Across the creek in the distance the fields appears pristine, unmarked with mud, and solid white. Opportunities in the future appear to be as flawless, yet the one closest and in front of us is the one we will have to use today. I used to put off enjoying my today waiting for the perfect one to come along.
The field of today is my opportunity to build a snowman under the great Blue Sky.
Dr. Baker Fore
Author, Entrepreneur, Speaker
To think is natural to even the most limited mind. To form an opinion is natural.
Developing that opinion into a belief requires but repetition and occasional validation.
To act requires energy and some purpose or will therefore more difficult than believing.
Acting on ones beliefs is very difficult and requires courage.
Integrity requires acting on your own beliefs under the great Blue Sky.
Dr. Baker Fore
The Sun slips quietly into the skies
As tranquility from virtues rise
Laughter flows from our hearts with mirth
A King is born for Peace on earth
Dr. Baker Fore
The first year I was in practice I discovered to my shock and dismay what a terrible time some people have at Christmas. I had a lady over fifty that had lost her husband near Christmas. She came in every week after Thanksgiving with increasing symptoms of depression even though on an antidepressant. She seemed to be getting more exhausted and complained of not sleeping so I added sleeping pills. Then she came in asking for tranquilizers and the alarms in my head went off. When I asked if there was any danger in her taking an overdose she admitted the thought crossed her mind. I scheduled as the last patient the next day and told her we would talk more about her medication then. She had already talked to her pastor I knew and we had no psychologist or psychiatrist so I was buying time to try to decide what to do next. Obviously I was concerned so that night I called another more experienced friend who also was a family doctor. He was honest and not very encouraging when he reminded me there were more suicides around Christmas and New Years than other times in the year.
Five o’clock in my office and she was not there. I got in my pickup and drove to her house. She was not there. The house was empty and that reminded me her sister had lived with her after the husband died and then the sister had died last summer. I remembered her husband had a small place outside of town where he had liked to raise a few cows, hardly big enough to call a ranch but it did have a small house on it. When the hand that lived there answered my knock I found that she had not been out to the place in weeks. I went home with a sense of dread but not having any idea of what to do at that time. The next couple of days I asked other patients that were her friends if they had heard from her and they all were concerned they had not.
The next week I was returning from a house call and I saw her car in the drive way. I stopped and knocked on the door. My patient opened her door with a radiant smile on her face. The change was so profound that I did not know what to say. She said, “Oh my goodness I bet you wondered why I missed my appointment. Come in come in. I’ll get you a cup of coffee and have I got a story for you.” We went to the kitchen where a little girl and boy were using crayons on Christmas coloring books. She introduced me as her doctor but did not tell me their names. Then she told me her story.
“Dr. Fore I was absolutely at the end of my rope. My husband left me this house and I get a check big enough to live on but not big enough to move. I felt trapped and without my sister I had no family left. I was beyond caring whether I lived or died. I got in my car to go to your office and I just drove out of town and kept driving. I almost ran out of gas and filled up in a small town somewhere and I‘ll never even no where. I slept in my car and never got hungry or ate and I guess I went to bathroom somewhere but pretty much of a couple of days are gone and I just remember driving on long lonely roads. I talked to my dead husband and sister and I talked to my self a lot and I reckon I talked to God. I cried a lot at first then I just quit and it did not seem like anything was even worth crying over anymore. I parked on the town square in Santa Fe and just stated walking. In Santa Fe it was snowing. I really was not dressed for the weather but I did have a jacket on because it had been raining when I left here. When I started walking it was light but it got dark and I was really cold and I found myself standing in front of an old church. I went in and it was warm and I sat down just to rest for a minute. There was a crucifix on the wall up front and I looked at that man on that cross and said, “I don’t know why you have left me like this but I don’t care and what ever you want to do with me just do it and get it over with.” It was not a very nice prayer but there has never been one anymore sincere from a human heart. I just fell over on the pew and went to sleep. How long later I don’t know but when I woke up I felt better than I had felt in a long time. I sat there a minute and remembered where I was. Suddenly something moved on the pew a few feet from me. I looked into the face of a dirty little angel. Sister sat there holding her brothers hand. She had on a dirty dress, no coat or shoes and he had on just jeans and a tee shirt. I thought I was hallucinating until she shivered. I took them out of there and got us a room in the hotel. I took them to the Walmart that was still open and bought clothes, shoes, and coats. After a bath and meal we sat down and talked. They had been on their own for days but they have no memory of their names or where they came from. I took them to the DHS in Santa Fe and they were interviewed by social workers and a psychologist. The psychologist thinks they have some form of amnesia because of the trauma of their past. Basically they can not remember because the memories are so painful. They do not fit any description of any missing children they can find. The psychologist said they will probably have nightmares that may jog their memory, but the truth is they sleep like angels and seem to have only pleasant dreams. They have already taught me that no matter how bad we think we have it there are those with problems worse and the greatest gift we can have at Christmas is the ability to help others. I have never had a more blessed Christmas.”
She named them Angelina and Michael and raised them with love. No one ever has found their “real” names or where they came from. My patient says she knows, “They are Christmas miracles from a church in Santa Fe.”
Christmas comes at a cold time of year, colder for some folks than others. No matter how cold it seems remember, above the snow clouds there is always a great Blue Sky.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Dr. Baker Fore
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