I’ve been having some interesting thoughts recently about kindness and honesty. I really like nice people and I try to be nice myself. Those people make you feel good and happy.
I mean, who doesn’t like a good compliment now and then?
But, I only want a compliment if I’m deserving of it. I don’t want to know that I look good, or spoke well, or rode a section really well if I didn’t. I only want honest comments.
And I don’t think that means that if somebody is looking like they’ve gained weight that you tell him that or if his new jacket is ugly. But if it’s not an overly nice jacket then don’t compliment him.
But it’s also a fine line between building somebody up and tearing them down. I know for myself, I like good compliments. But I only want to hear that the meal I made was exceptional if it really, truly was. If it could use more body, tell me. If it was too creamy, tell me. But if it was the most amazing thing you’ve eaten, definitely, tell me!
A lot of people go through life trying their hardest to gain as much as they can. And I’m one of those people–I think it’s a good thing. But a lot of people are also content to listen to and believe everything the “experts” tell them.
But who is an “expert”?
Are you an expert just because you have a Phd? No, I would say you’re an expert in one very specific area.
Should you teach something just because you have some experience? No, just because you have experienced something doesn’t mean you can teach it.
Just a few thoughts I’ve come with after the last week of school…
Well the flight is booked to Belgium for Dec 18. My mom is flying out right before Worlds and then we’re flying home Feb 6. Oooweee!!!! I’m excited!!!
Just thought I’d take some orders for Dugasts and/or Challenges. Any takers? Just let me know what you want and we can work out the money stuff…. I can just tell you it’s a lot cheaper than buying them here!
Poul Mark, my boss, spoke really well at church yesterday! It’s not too often that I take the time to actually go to the person and say they spoke really well, but I did this time. It was really good. The best ones are those things that you’ve heard many times before and you know, but you just need to hear it another way for it to hit home again.
He was talking about money. Our society has an excess of money and an excess of stuff. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t really like money and/or stuff. To varying degrees, but it just goes to show how pervasive greed (I’m not sure if that’s quite the right word…) is. It’s kind of funny, because as I’ve gotten to know Poul I’ve known him to be the guy who loves to buy stuff. Almost every time he comes back from Costco, he has something new. I love that about him, because I love my stuff too. Anyway, something we can work on…
I think the major points I took away are being content. Being content with what you have. My examples are my family, Brittani, good food, good coffee, riding my bike, a nice sunset, a nice warm rainfall with a cup of tea, hiking in the snow… and the list goes on. Remember to take the time in these REAL things and just be content.
The other point I took away was not thinking or worrying about money and the provision of your needs. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t need money at all to function in our society, you do. But how do you look at it? Does it consume your whole life, all your thoughts? Does it affect those around you and other things in your life? We don’t need to worry about the provision of our needs if we just give everything up to God. So don’t worry; just give it all up to God. You may not get everything you want, but that won’t satisfy you nearly as much anyway!
I think that’s about all… I’ll have to listen to it again if it gets on the website and see if there is something I missed, but that sounds good.
Suppose, for example, that my neighbor Joan thinks she is the only one who should be permitted to park in front of her house — on the street, the public street. When she sees a visitor of mine parking there, Joan pounds on my front door. I open it and she releases her expletive-laced threats about the police and my insensitivities. On one hand, I authentically want to smack her all the way back to her own yard. On the other hand, I authentically want to keep my anger from getting the best of me. My goal is sincere, even though in the moment I struggle to fulfill it.
Lewis says I should act lovingly toward Joan. In doing so, not only will I build community in the short run, but, over time, I will actually grow into the love that I’m pretending to have.
I just thought it was really interesting and something we could all use.Insuadibilis
“They are posting bulletins about me.” A bulletin is like a survey. “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.”
Megan was sobbing hysterically. Tina was furious that she had not signed off.
Once Tina returned home she rushed into the basement where the computer was. Tina was shocked at the vulgar language her daughter was firing back at people.
“I am so aggravated at you for doing this!” she told Megan.
Megan ran from the computer and left, but not without first telling Tina, “You’re supposed to be my mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!”
On the stairway leading to her second-story bedroom, Megan ran into her father, Ron.
“I grabbed her as she tried to go by,” Ron says. “She told me that some kids were saying horrible stuff about her and she didn’t understand why. I told her it’s OK. I told her that they obviously don’t know her. And that it would be fine.”
Megan went to her room and Ron went downstairs to the kitchen, where he and Tina talked about what had happened, the MySpace account, and made dinner.
Twenty minutes later, Tina suddenly froze in mid-sentence.
“I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room and she had hung herself in the closet.”
Megan Taylor Meier died the next day, three weeks before her 14th birthday.
According to police reports and witness accounts, a fake MySpace account was set up, with the ultimate result of ridiculing an 8th grade student. She thought she was talking to to nice young boy who was interested in her. According to police records quoted, it appears the fake account was set up and monitored by the mother of another junior high girl with whom Megan had a falling out.
Read the whole story here… It’s just absolutely terrible!
The boys had a great time camping in Jasper this weekend. After a great ride and a little bit of work, we headed out of Edmonton around 4:30. We got to the campsite around 8, where we were very efficient… Dad set up, I cooked, and Mike got firewood and water. Then we sat around the fire having fun and talking until 11:30.
The next morning we got up around 8:30 and doddled through the morning. Ate breakfast, sat around the fire, made some lunch, then eventually we got ready to go. My dad thought it was a good idea to go to information to see how much snow was around. There was a tiny little bit in the campsite, but nothing really worth mentioning. Unfortunately information didn’t know much, but he had just sent some other people up to Bald Hills, the hike we wanted to go. So we went for it and got on the trail around noon. It is a decent fire road, but 3.2 km in, my directions said to take the steeper trail to the left. It looked snowy and steep, but that’s what we’re supposed to do. We had also done this in 40 minutes and that felt a little fast. Anyways, the trail was really snowy and we weren’t even really sure if we were on the trail… We kept going as there was footsteps and a couple snowboard paths.
Eventually, we started getting into some real snowdrifts, and without proper gear we decided to stop, eat, and head back down. Going back down was a ton of fun. We were just falling and making sure our feet were under us. It took us about a quarter the time to get down than it did to get up. Whoa!
For dinner we had one of the best pasta sauces I think I’ve ever made! I was quite impressed with myself.
The next hike was up to Christine Lake. There was a bunch more snow and I was a little weary. But my dad said the worst that was going to happen was we would get a little wet. No big deal. So we went out. This trail was much more interesting and the terrain was absolutely gorgeous! Wow! We didn’t spend much time sitting and eating our lunch as the wind was nice and chilly. But it was a good couple-hour hike to end our trip.
The drive home was uneventful and it was great weekend! Hopefully I can do it again sometime…
Every time I hear a truck go by outside I get excited and hope it's the UPS truck with my @van_dessel GNTs... but alas, not yet ........................................ 10 hours ago
First September I'm not going back to school... starting to sink in and it feels kind of weird ........................................ 10 hours ago
