Wednesday; December 18

          There are certain days that tend to make me reflective and today is one of those days.  I have been around some people who have looked back on their lives and advocate that they wouldn’t change a thing about their lives.  When I hear that I am not sure whether to be envious or cynical.  Maybe I am too superficial, but there are several things I would have changed through the years.
1.  I would have made more of an effort not to worry.  I have wasted too many good days worrying about what might happen or concerned about what had happened.  I struggle with looking too much into the future and being too concerned about things I did that I couldn’t change.  I believe I do better about this today, but it is easy to lament too many yesterdays that I allowed slip through my fingers by being concerned about things I couldn’t control.
2.    I would have stopped and rested more.  I have gotten to do a lot of neat stuff, but there have been too many times I was too “busy” to take time to relax and enjoy what was around me.  Too often, I have been so involved in doing things that I missed out on enjoying life.  Yes, I am glad to be active, but I have to remember to appreciate the here-and-now.
3.  I would have been more open and less critical.  When I was younger, I tended to be pretty rigid in my thinking.  I don’t know that I ever got so involved in a personal conflict that it caused hate and bitterness, but I do believe there were times when I didn’t appreciate diverse people and divergent points of view that could have made me better.  I still believe in standards today, but I am learning to listen more and critique less.
          What would you have done differently in your life?  Remember, it’s never too late to change.
          Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more