Top 10 life lessons that have gotten me this far…so far...

Top 10 life lessons that have gotten me this far…so far.

I like ‘top 10’ articles.  They make me want to read the article. I mean, at least start to read the article. But at least I want to start. So at any rate, here are the top 10 things I have learned in life to date. I will put them in number order from one to ten, but they are certainly not in a particular order:

1) When shopping for gifts, buy something you would buy yourself.  That is especially cool if you are a really cool person who likes cool stuff.  If you are not an especially sharp dresser or cool person, you better just ask the gift recipient what they want.

2) Pray.  And when you pray, do so expecting a deeper relationship with Christ.  Pray for others, pray for yourself.

3)  Try your best to right a wrong.  My Parents told me that back in their day when someone got saved, became a Christian, they would go through the community telling people; and apologizing to those they hurt. What a novel idea huh?  Not everyone will allow you to right a wrong with them, but at least you tried.

4)  Know you faults.  Contrary to popular belief, we all have them.  We will never be perfect, but we should strive to be better every day. 

5)  Choose your friends wisely.  No one is perfect, so there is no perfect friend, but you know what you will and will not accept.  You should know when people are trying to handle you and when they have their best interests at heart not yours.  Take your time getting to know people. They will eventually show their true colors.  After all, our nature is our nature.

6)  Be kind.  There is no need to look down your nose at people.  Everyone on this planet is on a journey. Everyone has or will go through at least one very difficult period in their life.  When you run into the eye rollers and haters, smile and keep it moving.  I read a meme recently that said ‘don’t try to win over the haters, you are not the jerk whisperer’. Just be kind.

7)  Love your family and friends with all your heart.  Tell them you love them and show them you love them.  Learn their love language and use it.       

8)  Choose your battles.  Not every argument is worth winning.  In fact, not every argument is worth the argument. 

9)  Don’t hate people. Calling people names and miss-treating others based on their race, creed or color is just wrong.  No matter what you call a person, no matter what you were taught about whole groups of people, at the end of the day, we are all human beings.

10) Travel.  I am convinced that when you travel, you are less likely to hate and more likely to understand.

This is by no means a final list, in fact I may post a few more top ten lists throughout the year.  In fact, let me post one more, a little transparency:

11)  Life is short so I tend to think way down the road, over the hill, and around the corner.  In other words, I am a die-hard planner and that drives me crazy about me sometimes, never mind the people in my life.  I wish I had done that when I was much younger though, but I am doing it now.  So it drives me nuts, but I think it’s good, all at the same time. Go figure.  

            Peace!