The ease of self pity!

Everybody goes through difficult times in life and times when life just seems to be beating us down!  Take the two cats above, Popeye, the orange tabby, was brought into the clinic when he was only a few weeks old.  Found floating in a tree well with his sister after a storm and brought in for us to “take care of” whatever that entailed.  He was unconscious and his eyes were so infected that pus was running out of them.

It was a very busy morning at the clinic and we were prepping for a c section and I had one of the techs give them some SQ fluids with dextrose and a touch of penicillin and wrap them in a blanket in a heating pad.  I honestly didnt expect them to live.  When we got done with the c section they were actually starting to move.  We put them in a kennel, two blind kittens and gave them some milk and mushed up food.  They slowly started to eat over a few days and the female actually had one good eye but Popeyes eyes had been destroyed by the severe infection.

After a month or so we started letting them run around the clinic.  Popeye would follow his sister and he learned his way around the clinic.  He and his sister ran everywhere and he did fantastic.  We spayed and neutered the both and found the sister a home with some fantastic clients.  Popeye we knew we needed to keep because he had only ever known the clinic and he knew how to get around it.  Popeye has never felt sorry for himself!  He is probably our most friendliest cat and one would never guess that he couldnt see if they couldnt see his scarred up eyes.

Purr is the little grey kitten next to him.  She came in because she had been used as a chew toy between two dogs on the indian reservation.

This is what she looked like the first day she came into the clinic.  This was around the end of september.  Since that time she has undergone multiple surgeries to remove dead skin and try and get the wound closed.  The last one was about 2 weeks ago.  Through all of this she just purrs and loves and never feels sorry for herself!

It is so easy to start feeling sorry for ourselves!  I have been letting myself do this for quite some time.  The horse racing season started in Tucson a few weeks ago and I agreed to be the vet for them.  This means working 7 days a week for 10+ hours a day every day for now 6 weeks with no days off.   This will mean 47 days in a row with no breaks, no down time, no extra rest, just work work and work and more work and it is work.

I have been lamenting this fact and feeling extra tired and extra whiny for months now.   Yesterday I read a blog that I had been following for a month or so now about a young man who was an extreme outdoors man who had an accident and is now paralyzed.   (Click on the highlighted area above to read his blog.)   His post was about his dreams and how in them he could still walk and run and use his legs.  He wrote about how frustrated he was when he awoke and had his legs that did nothing and couldnt move on their own.

I left a comment, if I read a blog I always try to comment, about how I thought it was wonderful that he still dreamed he could walk because to me it meant that his subconscious hadnt given up.  He commented back  “Yes I’m not one for self-pity at all. I want to sometimes get so pissed off and shout from the rooftops and tell everyone how bad I have it, but I just tell myself to suck it up and deal with it. That being angry and jaded will do nothing to help my situation and that only I can help myself. And then I feel better…most of the time. -AB”  I spent the morning pondering on this statement!

Here is a man who has lost pretty much everything that he loved, he lost his joy and his living and his peace, everything!  He has every reason feel sorry for himself and be down and yet he isnt!  Who then am I, healthy and able to walk and make my own decisions to get myself into things, to whine and feel sorry for myself because I agreed to work!

Think about it, I bet you that 90% of people who get caught up in self pity and depression are in that state because of choices THEY made!   A bad marriage to someone they chose to get married to.  A bad decision at work that cost the their job.  A bad decision to get pregnant when they couldnt afford or emotionally support a child.  A bad decision to take a drug that they became addicted to!  A choice to not work hard enough in school to get into college.  A choice to lazy and not go and work even at a job that you dont want to do.  They are ALL choices that one makes!  The problem is that nobody wants to take responsibility for their bad choices!  Instead they want to feel sorry for themselves and blame someone else or the government or society or whomever!

Even if your life is hard and it is NOT your fault, what do you get by feeling sorry for yourself?  Is it doing anything for you?  Is being angry or jaded or full of self pity helping you in any way?   It has never ever helped me, only kept me down and full of self pity and bitterness and ruined my life!

We should get our eyes off ourselves and our problems and purpose to do something for someone else!  When we take the focus off of ourselves and set out to help others it is amazing how many people you will find who have life a heck of a lot worse than you and they arent complaining or bitching or feeling sorry for themselves!   I read a blog last week about a 25 yo beautiful young woman who is dying from cancer and yet she had the most beautiful video talking about hope and love and acceptance of what is happening!  Who am I to whine about having to work too many days in row!  I will at least be alive and still able to work!

Thank you Arash and Abigail and many others for being a bright and amazing light in this world full of self pity!

 

Do you know who you struggle against?

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Ephesians 6:12

 

I have blogged on this verse several times but it is such an important and prevalent scripture for so many circumstances that it bears further writings and ponderances on!  Too many christians do not fully understand the spiritual battle that goes on in the heavens!  There is so much bickering and uncomfortableness in regards to the spiritual realm that most just choose to ignore it and therefore give the enemy power over them because of their ignorance!   Right here Paul tells us in very plain language that we do NOT battle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces!  Its a big deal!  And you need to educate yourself on how to pray so as to best fight these battles!

Zac has a special calling on his life.   I do not know what it is, I only know that when David first came into our lives he said that when he prayed for Zac that he felt like God had something very important for him to do.  He said more than any person he had ever prayed for, he felt this when he prayed for Zac.   I know that Zac is a prayer warrior.  When he prays he just knows what to pray and there is such earnestness in it.  Because of whatever his calling is, the enemy fights against him hard!

Monday when David picked him up from school and they were in the car, Zac pulled out his bible.  David looked at him and asked him if he kept his bible in his backpack.   Zac replied, “Yeah… In case things get stressful.”  Zac is six and he has a pretty firm grasp on the importance of the bible in his life.  Do you carry a bible with you for when things get stressful?  Is your first thought, I need to go and get my bible?   Zac has this special calling and God is preparing him for it.

The next day Zac came home and he was different.  He was a bit sullen and quiet and when I asked him for a hug he turned away.  Now Zac is my sensitive one, he is tender and caring and he almost always will hug me and tell me he loves me but tuesday he wouldnt.  He didnt want to come to me when I called him and he was noisy and disruptive during bible and prayer time.  I had to physically hold him next to me.  When we were done I told him I loved him and he just stayed quiet.  I finally asked him if he loved me and he yelled, “I dont know!”   I let  him go and he took off to his room.  Generally I give them about ten minutes and I go check on them and then I lay with Zac until he goes to sleep.  This has been our pattern for as long as we have lived in the house and he always wants me to be with him.  If I dont come in in time he will usually come to my room.  He didnt come that night and was asleep when I checked on him about 30 mins later.

Wednesday morning he was the same way.  He wouldnt come in and hug me and didnt want me to hug him.  There was something about his attitude that was off from what it generally is.  I couldnt put my finger on it and by the time he got home his attitude was terrible.  It wasnt like he was going around destroying things it was more he was distant and so unloving which is completely the opposite of what he usually is.  At bible time he wouldnt leave Emma alone and I went and got the wooden spoon.  As soon as I got up he started to say he was sorry and that he would be a good boy and crying.

I didnt want to spank him because he was so upset but I had to!   You cant threaten and then not follow through especially if they know that they have been bad.  It was so hard and I swatted him a few times.  He was very very upset and crying in a way that I hadnt heard him cry before.  It was heart wrenching!    I sent Emma to her room and asked David if he would go in there and pray with her and I tried to figure out what was going on with my son!  He pulled a blanket over his head and he was screaming into it this wounded cry.  It took me what felt like an eternity to get him to calm down and he turned and clung to me!

I just held him and stroked his head and told him how much I loved him.  When he had stopped crying and settled down some I asked him if there was something going on at school?  Something had to going on somewhere for his behavior to be so drastically altered.  He started telling me about how he had gotten in trouble in music for not knowing the answer to a question and there was some kind of issue from him playing soccer.  Zac hates getting into trouble but this behavior was more than just that.   After talking about it he had settled down and I asked him if he wanted to pray and he said yes.  He said a great prayer and I prayed and asked him if he wanted to sleep in mammas bed to which he responded yes.

As he lay there I put on some Jesus music and he settled down and went to sleep.  My heart was troubled because I knew that I had completely missed the boat on my dealing with him over the past few days.   He was under spiritual attack!  And I, instead of praying with him and seeking coverage and help from God, had sent him away by himself to a room where the enemy had him and he didnt have his usual Jesus music and mamma love covering and the enemy sank his claws into him deeper and deeper.

We get so caught up sometimes in the horizontal part of life that we forget about the spiritual part which is way bigger than the world part!  Yes there are times when Zac is just pushing to see how far he can go and times when he is bad and times when he is disrespectful but this was a different attitude than usual.  This was a demonic attack against him and I failed to realize it.  It is going to happen!  The more you intercede for your child and the more they come to the realization of God and the importance of God and His word, the more they will be attacked by the enemy!

To many people think that a demonic attack has to be some sort of possession but it doesnt!!  That is a lie from the enemy to get you to not realize how he works.  His demons are always on the prowl looking for ways to trip you up, to lead you into temptation, to throw thoughts into your head, to make you weak!  He doesnt care if it is a kid or an adult, he is looking to ruin the life of every single christian!  He doesnt play fair!  He hated you and he will do everything to get you to fall into sin and to fail and to let him rule in your life!

This is why every single christian needs to be in the word of God, needs to be going to a church that God goes to, needs to be in fellowship with other believers, needs to be in prayer, needs to place God first and put on the whole armor of God!  You cant fight the enemy if you dont know how he fights!   I cant be a spiritual covering over Zac during an attack if I am not on my knees and in prayer and really seeking to find out what is wrong with him!  If I had just chalked it up to him being disrespectful and needing more beatings than I would have continued to let the enemy play with him and make him miserable!

You are your childrens covering, you need to be read up and fed up on the word so you can fight for them!  This world is going downhill fast and the only chance your children have is for you to know who you are fighting and be armed and ready to go to battle for them!  Dont let the false psychology of the world get you to thinking it is your childs mind that is struggling, it is the enemies hand in your childs mind that is causing them to struggle!  Are you willing to fight for them?!

 

 

 

Integrity, where has it gone?

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need”.  Ephesians 4:28

What is integrity?  If someone asked you if you had it, what would you say?  Do you know its definition?   Do you have it?  Do you even care to have it?  Do you strive for it?

The dictionary defines it as -

in·teg·ri·ty/inˈtegritē/

Noun:	The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. The state of being whole and undivided: “territorial integrity”.
Synonyms:	honesty – probity – entirety – rectitude – wholeness

The quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, moral uprightness, where have these qualities gone?  Where is integrity in America?  Why is it that it has become so easy for us to lie and steal from those around us and those we work for?!   Everybody says they have integrity but their ability to be honest about it is non existent!  Integrity takes humility and we Americans are way too prideful for that!  It is never our fault,we rationalize our lying and stealing because we figure we deserve what we are taking, we say we are honest with one side of our mouth and then lie without a thought out the other side!

It seems today that no one wants to actually work to earn their pay check.  No, they want you to pay them and then maybe if they feel like they will work.  When I was a kid I and had a job, I worked and I worked 7 days a week and I didnt go out and do any fun stuff because I had a job.  I was raised that my job was to be my first priority outside of some family emergency.  Today, nobody seems to put their job before their life.   If they want to do something they expect their employer to just deal with it.  Really?  I bust my ass for years in school and afterwards in order to build a business and to give you a job and I am made to feel like I owe you?  What in the world has happened to this country?!

I dont have very many employees and because of that we are all very close, all of them I would consider friends.  Dont get me wrong, I know I am far from the best boss but I try very hard to be a good boss.  I dont go around yelling and screaming about all the stuff that isnt being done, that could or should be done, that wasnt done because they had something “better” to do.  I do occasionally raise my voice when everything has built up and overflowed but honestly it isnt as much as it should be.  And yet I have someone or someones who steals cash from me on a regular basis.  They take it from the cash drawer, they take it from our “special needs” fund, they take it from the stash in my office managers locked office.  Somehow, for some reason, one or more of these people who I call friend thinks it is no big deal to take $20 or $40 or $80 whenever they need it.  Where has integrity gone?

Not only do they take money but they take medicine and dog food and who knows what else and they obviously dont feel very bad about it because they keep doing it.  I just spent several thousand dollars upgrading my security system in the clinic not because Im worried about someone outside breaking in but so that I can keep track of my “friends” who work for me!  Why?!

Why should I have to do that?  Why cant I be a good boss and expect my employees to be good employees?  What has happened to integrity in America?  What ever happened to working for the wage that you agreed to work for?  If you said you would work for that then why do you feel you need to steal from me?  Why does my office manager now have to watch the cameras on the ipad that I had to buy her to keep track of what is going on with my “friends” that work for me?

Yep, Im frustrated and irritated and upset and yes it is almost that time of month but dammit!  Where has integrity gone in America?  Why can a spade not be a spade and a honest hours of work done for the pay that one agreed to work for?   It is no wonder this country is headed down the economic ladder fast!  We are a lazy and untrustworthy people who dont know how to work!

What has happened to integrity in America?!  I know my issues are nothing compared to what larger companies and business deal with everyday.  One reads in the paper or sees on the TV or finds on the internet about how unfair this or that or the next thing is for Joe Q Public!  Women pop out babies like candy and expect the government and ultimately those of us that actually work, to pay for them!  The more they pop out the more money they get!   People get paid more to be unemployed then they do to work, it is no wonder that nobody wants to work!

I drove by a guy on the street holding sign saying he needed food.  I give him $20 and then I look over at the girl just a few feet away from him who is twirling a sign and I think, WOW, I just gave that guy who is doing nothing but waiting for handouts more money than that girl will get paid in 3 hours of actually working.  Not that one shouldnt help those in need but if she can twirl a sign, why cant he?  I remember a few years ago some kid on the sidewalk who was begging for money while he played on his iphone!!  Seriously, what has happened to integrity in America?

Everybody is against the illegal immigrants and living in arizona I know the damage that they can do but I also know that they are the only ones who arent afraid to work!  You wont see that guy on the corner asking for a handout going down to the onion field to hand pick onions!   How many of you are willing to go out in 110+ heat and roof a house?  I have been there and done that and it isnt pleasant but I was raised to work regardless of how horrible it was!  What about using IUDs on women who are on welfare after one baby since they obviously cant afford to be having children?  I love my kids but I only had two because I know they arent cheap!

Obama wants to make healthcare so that everybody can have it, how about if we make it so everybody has to go and get a job first and then maybe we can think about handing out healthcare.  Not that people dont need healthcare but why cant they get it the same way I do?  By paying for it!  Why not make laws limiting the amount of money that someone can sue a doctor who is “practicing” medicine, in case you didnt know that is what it is called,  a practice, so that the doctors could then lower their prices because they would not have to spend a gazillion dollars on malpractice?!

What has happened to integrity in America?!  Why is it that one feels they have to lock their car to go into the local veterinary office?  Why is it that instead of turning in someones wallet it seems like whoever found it goes by the finders keepers, losers weepers policy?  Why is it that instead of going down to pay for your gym membership so your card works, you just stand at the door and until someone lets you?   Why cant we go to work and work and go home and go to bed and get up the next morning and do it all over again because that is what this country was founded on, HARD WORK!

Life Lessons- Knowing it all

It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit

that you don’t know all the answers.

~ John P. Loughrane

When I was younger, heck, even when I was older, I thought I knew everything!  It was my way or the highway, I was right and everybody who didnt agree with me was wrong.  Believe me, anyone who knows me is nodding their heads off right now.

Over the last few years I have made a very conscious effort to step back and at least entertain the idea that I might not know the answer or I might be wrong or that there might be a better way or different way of getting the same results.  It isnt easy!  I like being right as do most of us.  It take great humility and strength to be honest enough with oneself to admit that maybe one doesnt know it all or maybe one isnt right!

I have tried very hard to learn this lesson and get my head wrapped around it completely.   If we are honest with ourselves there are many times when we dont know an answer and we just make something up or act like we do to save face!  Why?  PRIDE!

Stop for a few minutes and think about it, does it really matter?  Is the world going to change because you dont know?  Is that person you are trying to impress really worth the effort?   What is going to happen if you say you dont know?  NOTHING!  In fact they will probably respect you more if you admit it and if they dont, they arent worth your time anyway!

I have clients that come in everyday and spew stuff that they read on the computer or that their friend told them or that fell out of the sky on top of them and I KNOW that they have no real idea about what they are talking about.  They think because they read something that they know but what you read on line does not replace the lifetime of experience that I have in the field of veterinary medicine.  In the end it makes me think less of them because it is obvious that they are pretending to know more than they actually do.

Here is the thing, if you dont know, it does not take very long for that to become very clear to those around you that do know.  When you are trying to act like you know something that you dont, you end up looking not very smart at all!  You get the opposite of what you are wanting!

Its ok to not know everything.  Its ok to say, I have no clue.  Its ok to not be involved in every conversation that goes on.  If you keep your mouth shut you might actually learn something.

Life Lessons-Opinions

We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of

those we don’t care for.

~ Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

It never ceases to amaze me how much we get caught up in caring about what other people, especially people we dont like, think about us.   I am as guilty of this as the next person.  I say all the time that i dont care what people think or say and sometimes it is true but often times, in the back of my head and heart, i do care!

You see, we all want to be liked for who we are!    In fact, i think the more we deny it, the more we actually care!  Im not saying that it is necessarily a bad thing but it could be if it causes us to do things or try to be something that we are not!  You see, often times it is the good in us that they dont like and that is why they dont care for us.  The only way for someone to bring you down is if you are higher on the pole than they are.

Think about the people that dont care for you and yet in the back of your mind, you want them to like you or respect you?  Why is it that they dont like you?  Is it really worth changing who you are to make someone who is miserable feel better and like you?  Are you doing them any good or just lowering yourself to their standards?

I am going to purpose to do more good and to not worry about the opinion of those who dont care for me!  When i start to change or when i think about changing something to appease them, im going to stop and think about it and decide if it is really worth it!  I can pretty much guarantee that it never will be!  Im going to use their poor opinion of me to strive that much harder to be a better person than they are!  Let them hate, in the end, i will win and so can you!

Life Lessons-Sacrifice

Self-sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive.

Dolores E. Mcguire

A few weeks ago i was thinking about how tired i was.  I started to think about things i could cut out of my life that werent really necessary.  What was i doing that i didnt have to do?  What things were using time and energy and why was i doing it?

As i started down the list i found that i was making rationalizations for everything that i did.  My “sacrifices” fulfilled a need within me and i didnt really want to give them up.   Take bb.com for instance, the reason i got up every morning at 4 was so i had time to write a morning devotional.  I have done it for over 2 years.  Now my rationalization was that i was doing something for God in writing the devotionals so i should stay but the fact of the matter was that i was there  more for myself, the attention that i got and the information that i gave and blah blah blah, it was pretty much all for me!

How often do we get caught up in something that started out as obedience to what God asked us to do or doing something to help out but it eventually becomes something that we are doing for ourselves.  Attention like the thanks we get; having everybody think that we are awesome and great; playing the martyr;  being the “best” wife or the most “outstanding” soccer mom.   We start out with one reason but continue because we are “receiving” attention for it and face it, we all want attention!

Im not saying that it is necessarily a horrible thing but often times we let other necessary things in our life slide because we are spreading ourselves out too thin doing things that are satisfying our need for some attention.  Marriages suffer, children act out because they want attention, you are too exhausted to do anything and your overall life isnt that enjoyable.

I challenge you to be honest with yourself and your extra activities that you think or feel like you have to do.   Do you really have to do them or are you doing them because of the attention that you get from doing it?  Is it really worth it?  I can tell you from experience that most of the time when i have given all of myself to something, when i stopped,  i was soon forgotten as the next person stepped up to take my place.  I gave and yes i got attention but there was no loyalty and in the end it wasnt worth it!

 

Life Lessons-Time

Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.
~ Harvey MacKay

How many times do you say “if only i had the time!” I would do this if I had the time. Im going to do that when i find the time. When i get time im going to do blah blah blah. How often do you ever find that time? How much time do you dedicate to trying to find that time?

We often throw the word time out there like it is a commodity. Something that we have to find or buy or have. But stop for a few minutes, take the time, to really think about time! It is free and we get to use it however we want. What are you using your time for? What do you want to find time to do but have not?

I was thinking this weekend about all the stuff that i had to do and where was i going to find the time! I realized how much stuff i do that i dont really need to do! How much time i waste on things that arent truly necessary to anything or anyone other than myself! For instance, time on the computer or for some, time spent watching TV. I stopped watching TV 4 years ago. I remember one night laying in bed exhausted and struggling to stay awake to watch some reality TV show. It dawned on me what a waste of time it was! I was exhausted, i needed sleep and yet i was not doing it because of some stupid show that had absolutely no impact on my life other than it was interesting! Which would be more productive, a pointless TV show or sleeping an extra hour?! Sleep won!

It frustrates me when people say they dont have the time to work out or be healthy! I work 10+ hours most days and for several years was a single mom of two young children. It wasnt easy but i found the time to go and work out! I didnt do a lot of things that i would have liked to have done so that i could have the time to go and workout. In the two and a half hours i have been back in the gym my workouts average between 30-45mins. thats it! I dont waste my time in the gym any more than i waste it watching TV! I want something that is more important! If you really want to look better and be healthier, you will stop making excuses and give up some TV or computer time and head to the gym or out for a walk or buy a jump rope or doing lunges up and down your living room or crunches using the couch! There are many ways to get into shape that only take you and a small amount of your time!

What we choose to spend our time doing is our choice! Certainly there is work and other things that have to be done but there are many things that we choose to do with our time. We choose to be on the internet! We choose to watch TV. We choose to do church things. We choose how much we do for others. Our time is our choice!

The next time you are wondering where you are going to find the time to do something stop and look at the things that you are currently doing with your time! Make a priority list! What is important? What is for fun? What is necessary for work? What is really just a waste of time? What is only for yourself? What is for others? Stop and really think about it!

Prioritize and use your time for what you want to! Stop making excuse for not having the time to do things! We all have the same amount of time, how we use it is where some succeed and others fail!

Life Lessons-Character

Distance tests a horse’s strength. Time reveals a person’s character.
~ Chinese Proverbs

Have you ever met someone in person or online and thought, wow, this seems like a pretty cool person. It seems like everybody loves them and thinks pretty highly of who they are and what they know. Then the longer you know them or are exposed to them, the more you start to realize that they arent all that everybody thinks they are or says that they are. The more time that goes by, the more their true character is revealed!

Todays world is a whole heck of a lot different than what it was 50 years ago. It used to be that everybody worked hard and they earned respect by being a better person than those around them at whatever they did. They might not have been perfect but they didnt claim to be either. They did what they did, they worked hard at it and then they went home and took care of whatever needed to be done there. Things arent that way anymore!

With the ease of the internet, people can pretend to be anybody they want! They can find information with a few strokes of the keyboard and google! They can sit behind the computer and act like they are something that they arent! The worst thing about it is that after a few months or years, they actually believe that they are the faux guru that they play! But are they? When things get hard or dont go their way, how do they respond?

It doesnt matter what you say you are or who you pretend to be, who you are when time goes by and things get tough, that is you! That is your true character! Mr Faux Guru on the internet but when pushed over time they melt down and go off and ramble around in circles and try and prove themselves but instead they reveal a complete lack of character that undermines any knowledge that they might have! Time reveals the true character of a person! As the days and weeks and months go by, how one responds, how one deals with disappointments, how one handles adversity, that is what you truly are, that is the character that is you!

What is time revealing about your character? Are you true to yourself and those around you? When difficult times come and things get rough, who is going to be left by your side? People who are making something of themselves or people who just talk about it? Is time going to reveal you to be a man or woman of character or will it reveal that you had no character to begin with? All the alleged knowledge and ability means nothing if one has no character to back it up!

Life Lessons- “IF”

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

Rupyard Kipling

I had to memorize this some time in my past, in high school probably. I love it! It has been tumbling around in my little brain for several weeks now and i think it has great points and is something that we should be teaching our children and encouraging them to live it!

Life Lessons-Lies

A lie has speed, but Truth has endurance ~ Edgar J. Mohn

It is easy to lie. Think about it for a few minutes, a lie seemingly covers so much and makes things so much easier, right? You dont have to try and explain anything, you dont have to admit you might be wrong, you dont have to be embarrassed, you dont have to accept responsibility. But what do you think it does in the long run?

Have you ever thought of what it does to your inside scaffolding? What does lying do to your foundation? Over years and years are you able to stand the winds that come or is your life built by so much falsehood that it falls apart?

It never ceases to amaze me at what people think they will gain by telling lies especially when it involves other people. Why do people lie about other people? To make them look better? To try and tear someone else down all the while weakening their own integrity? To be brittle wood that will be consumed by their own fire of lies?

After a few years of sitting back and watching the people who spread lies i have decided that they do it because they are too lazy or too immature or too dumb to get what the person they are spreading lies about has! They are all about the drama and keeping it stirred up so the attention is on them more so than on the person they are lying about. It reminds me of grade school children, look at me, look at me, im better, my daddy can beat up your daddy, im faster, better, smarter!

My son is 6 and in kindergarten and he is always trying to one up his buddies. The desire for attention and to be perceived as the best is so strong! As a small or young child, it is kind of funny to listen to them and watch them argue back and forth. The problem comes when they dont out grow it!

When one has to tell lies to make themselves look or sound better it is like a fast spreading wildfire! The problem is that the wildfire always runs out of resources to burn or it gets put out with enough water! It might take a day or a month or a year but it eventually gets put out as people either lose interest or the truth is revealed!

Truth always wins over a lie! The truth has endurance! The truth might be slower but it always catches up and overcomes the lie! Often leaving the liar looking blackened and ugly!

I have learned that when someone has to get their side of the story out, there is going to be a lot of lying going on! If one has to make others look bad to make themselves look better, there is a going to be a lot of lying going on! If one is always starting drama and stirring up hatred, there is going to be a lot of lying going on!

The next time you see a fire or you become the object of someone elses fire of lies do not try and fight fire with fire but rather let the truth be the water that puts it out! When you add fire to the flame it just consumes you both! Might as well let them burn themselves while you sit back and watch!