Living Wisely
There’s truth to the idea that wisdom comes with the years. The following list of wisdom ideas comes from Regina Brett who is now ninety years old and lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
If you practice a tenth of this list you will do well. If you aim for all of them, you will live a truly blessed life and help to change the world. RB
By Regina Brett
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more.”
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t mess up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”.
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
Things Are Not as They Seem
Sometimes things are not as they seem. They appear to be one thing, but in reality they are something far different from how they project themselves.
The United States is currently facing two immense cultural battles that fit in this category of intended deception. What’s an “intended deception?”
That’s the dictionary meaning of a LIE. So what are some areas where we are being lied to–where things are not as they seem?
HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE
Seattle’s staunchly liberal newspaper, the Seattle Times, which is in business because it wasn’t as blatantly liberal as the now-defunct Seattle P.I., is in the forefront of pushing the acceptance of homosexual marriage in the state of Washington.
On November 3, Washingtonians will have the opportunity to REJECT Senate bill 5688 through Referendum 71 which would elevate homosexual marriages to equality with marriage through expanded domestic partnerships. On the support side, the Times has been running one-to-two articles a week for some time championing the homosexual cause. An October 4, 2009 front-page lead article on the issue was entitled “Stakes High in Fight over Gay Rights.” To their credit, the article fairly quoted people on both sides of this monumental 21st century debate.
The Times’ Opinion Page was another story. It’s lead editorial said, “The Times recommends Promote Families: Approve Referendum 71. The article went on to applaud homosexual “unions” with the following semantical posturing:
- They called homosexual-led “families” simply “ordinary people with ordinary family lives.”
- They said SB 5688 was about “equal treatment for all Washington residents going about their private lives.”
- They said their cause was about “responsible adults in committed relationships.”
- They said passage of the new law was about “loving couples–our relatives, friends, and neighbors–who own property,, operate businesses, and take care of their children.”
I think you get the idea. This is all about loving, committed, ordinary folks who, by the way, simply want to change the five thousand definition of marriage–and have the state pay for it in benefits.
But on this paramount issue of our lifetime, “things are not as they seem.”
Homosexual marriage is not about family, marriage, love, or commitment. It’s about using legal means to permanently change the moral code that undergirds our civilization. It’s about full acceptance and promotion of homosexual behaviour–which according to every religion on earth is immoral, unnatural, and destructive to people–both in this life and in the next.
For five millennia–and especially two thousand years of Western culture, wise civilizations have accepted the truthful premise that the only responsible form of sexual behavior, designed specifically by our Creator and Savior was between a man and a woman in a covenant relationship we call marriage. All other forms of sexual choice are immoral–and include fornication (sex by unmarried people), adultery (sex with some else’s spouse), homosexuality (men with men or women with women), pedophilia (adults with children), and bestiality (humans with animals).
Homosexuality is not singled out in this list. It is just one form of sexual perversion–“making crooked something that is straight”–which is where the words “pervert” and “straight” originate. The only difference in our world today is that it is the homosexuals who are demanding that civilization change its tried and tested moral code and allow them to be viewed as “normal.”
But homosexual behavior is not normal. It’s lowers your lifespan (to an average of 42 years), it is one of the most promiscuous forms of sexuality (four times that of heterosexual perversions), it doubles your chances of depression, it is often grossly ugly and vile in its forms, and in terms of a person’s relationship with God–separates them from his forgiveness and grace through a refusal to turn away from sexual sin. Never mind that homosexuals cannot produce children, and so they must get them from others–often breaking up real families when one of them comes “out of the closet.”
No, this issue is not about “loving, normal couples.” It is about permanently condoning and legalizing immoral behavior. And because I love people, I cannot accept the lies that will destroy people and our civilization in the name of tolerance.
That’s why I’m encouraging all Washingtonians to not accept this charade of fairness and decency and vote to REJECT Referendum 71.
GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE
The Obama administration is pushing radical legislation in our nation that would permanently alter the way health care is received and practiced in the United States. The progressives and their allies would have you believe that this issue is about:
- Compassionately providing health care for all American citizens.
- Cutting the costs of health care and not adding to the nation’s deficit.
- Providing better healthcare than the current system which is the best in the world.
- A right to qualitative healthcare that we all deserve and should demand.
- Not providing for abortions, giving coverage to illegal citizens, nor increasing rationing for health services.
- Not limiting benefits for Seniors via cuts in Medicare.
But again–when it comes to the truth about the health care bills now being voted on and discussed in the United States Congress, “things are not as they seem.”
Though I’m sure some well meaning people might believe the ideas listed above, the real force behind the move to government health care is the power to control–not the desire to provide. This health care debate is all about government power to squelch freedom in our beloved nation.
Here’s the plain and simple truth:
- Government run health care will decrease innovation and service and greatly multiply deficits.
- It will not be better than private care–it will enforce mediocrity on all.
- There is no right to healthcare–only to life (they can’t murder you), to liberty (they can’t enslave you), and to happiness or property (they can’t heavily tax you.) Everything else is a privilege and differs among human beings due to their gifts, choices, and circumstances in life.
- The bills being considered will include abortion (they say it’s just a medical procedure), provide for illegals (it’s all about votes!), and will lead to rationing (there aren’t enough doctors who will remain at their posts).
- The only way the government option (control) will work is to sqeeze $500 billion dollars out of Medicare.
The essence of this debate is not about health. It’s tyranny versus liberty, control versus choice, government further perverting its role from being rightful protector of God given rights to assuming the role of God in “providing” an all powerful Nanny State to its slaves, er, citizens.
There’s that word perversion again. Perverting marriage and perverting government’s role in our lives.
Things are not as they seem.
I pray to God that our eyes will be opened.
If You Liked the FEMA Trailers, You’ll Really Like Domestic Partnerships
The following article by Pastor Joe Fuiten of Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington gives an interesting slant on the subject of Domestic Partnerships or Homosexual Marriage. If you are not convinced by 5000 years of history, religion, or logic that marriage should not be changed, then maybe this stunningly simple yet elegant argument may help you. It reminds me of the wise words of President Ronald Reagan: “Government is not the answer to our problems; government is the problem.”
May these words speak to your heart and help you understand why you must vote to REJECT Washington State Senate bill 5688 on November 3. RB
By Joe Fuiten
I was on vacation recently in God’s great creation in the deserts and mountains of Oregon and Washington. I had time to reflect on what God had made as opposed to what the government makes. I wrote this little parable about what I might hear from people around the state. I imagined these conversations to reflect what people must be thinking about this proposed domestic partnership law that they are calling “everything but marriage.”
Parables of Government “Fixes”
Rancher’s Wisdom …
My first stop is at a ranch in Ellensberg. I ask the rancher if he understands the legislature’s attempt to fix marriage. He says, “When a rancher fixes a bull we call the outcome a steer. When government fixes marriage we call the outcome domestic partnership. I’m voting “Reject.”
Sensible Realtor …
I asked a real estate broker from Richland is she understood the issue of domestic partnerships and how she intended to vote. She said, “People can’t get a loan to buy a new house and even if they could, there is nobody there to buy their old house. When the government fixed the economy we started choking on a $1.8 trillion deficit for just this year. With the government trying to “fix” marriage we will choke on domestic partnerships.” She will be voting “Reject” on domestic partnerships.
Fisherman’s Woes …
I was camping on Nason Creek near Lake Wenatchee so I wandered nearby to find out where my camping neighbor was on this. As I came up I could see that he had one of those shiny new “green” cars. When I commented on it he said he had traded in his old gas-guzzling pickup during the cash for clunkers program. He only had a small tent because that was all he could get in his new car. He stood there a little unhappily with his red polo shirt neatly tucked into his pressed jeans unfolding his telescoping fishing pole. He said “We do this God’s way or the Government’s way. Consider the difference. In God’s way, I am looking at this beautiful pristine brook lined with magnificent trees. I look up the creek and see the tree covered mountains in the distance. God is so extravagant that he left the river running all night and it lulled me to sleep.
In the Government’s way I have here my $24 freshwater fishing permit. Hanging from the mirror of my “green” car is my authorization paper to have a vehicle out here. For the last two hours I have been reading my 144 page rule book put out by fish and wildlife department. My fishing line is topped off with a barbless hook. After two hours I finally discovered the Government closed God’s beautiful creek here year round. It’s the same with your question. God’s way is marriage. The government’s way is domestic partnership. That’s why I will be voting “Reject” on domestic partnerships.”
Simply Redneck …
After going upstream I found a redneck walking around in his wife-beater t-shirt. I asked where he stood. I think he said “The government is full of domestic partnership,” or something like that.
My little reflections are probably not a scientific sample but it does appear that people understand they need to vote “Reject” if they don’t want domestic partnerships.
Religious conservatives make up somewhere between 35-42% of Washington’s electorate by my estimate. By ourselves, we don’t win anything. However, we could win based on the way people are thinking about government. We could have a whole section of people willing to vote along with religious conservatives.
If you like FEMA Trailers …
The government effort toward domestic partnerships feels a lot like FEMA. Domestic partnerships are government manufactured homes. You can live in a FEMA trailer if you want, but it falls far short of what God has in mind and it should not be the ideal toward which we strive.
On a spending spree …
A lot of people don’t think the government has done very well in fixing the economy. The budget deficit and wild spending spree are evidence of that.
The Fanny and Freddie Mess …
They don’t think the government has done very well in fixing the mortgage mess. Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are evidence for that.
Given the multiple disasters of government they really don’t trust the government to fix marriage, which is why they will vote “Reject” on domestic partnerships.
If you combine the religious conservatives with those who are distrusting government there may be a majority who will vote to reject domestic partnerships. It comes down to a choice between God’s way or the Government’s way. If you prefer God’s way you will vote “REJECT.”