Lessons Life has Taught Me . . .

Life would be so much easier if we could be born smart and not have to make so many mistakes along the way.   However, that was not the plan and I am grateful for all of the lessons my life has taught me through the years . . .  even if some of them did come a bit late.  They do say better late than never.   I'm holding to that!

Life isn't fair.   I think I learned that one very early on.  Rich people get richer.  Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.  The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.   God is no respecter of persons, and there is no such thing as a charmed life.  Sometimes you get all the broken crayons and sometimes the only crayon you can get your hands on is the black one.  It doesn't really matter.   Bloom wherever you are planted.  Make the most of every situation.   Find the silver lining.  There is always, always, always some good to be taken from every situation if you choose to look for it and find it.  Life may not be fair, but remaining positive makes all the difference in the world.  Nothing every got better by moaning about it.  Trust in the light at the end of the tunnel.  Know that it is always, always there.




Don't bear grudges.   Get over it.  Hate no-one.    This type of behavior only ever hurts one person and that is yourself.   The person who you are bearing a grudge towards, or are busy hating, seldom if ever knows or even cares how you feel about them.  What a waste of time and energy . . . and purpose.   Revenge is not sweet.  Christ taught us to love our enemies.  A few years ago when I was home for my mother's cancer op, my cousin was singing at their church on Mother's Day evening.  As mom was still in the hospital I went to the concert and took my daughter Eileen, her husband and their friend along with me.   What a great time we had.   Just before the concert started, my ex husband's wife . . .  the step mom . . .  came in and proceeded to sit right behing me.  When I told my son afterwards, he wondered that I could enjoy the evening, and weren't the hackles on my neck up.  I told him, I wasn't going to let her spoil anything more for me than she already had and that it probably bothered her more when things like this didn't bother me, than it did if they had.  (If that makes sense.)   Was I entirely comfortable with her sitting right behind me.  In all truth, no . . .  but I wasn't going to let her ruin what was to me a lovely evening.   Sometimes in life you just have to be the bigger person.





Life isn't about winning every argument,  always coming out on top or even about winning at all.  Sometimes you just have to agree to disagree . . .  or give someone else the chance to shine.   People are entitled to their own opinions and they don't always have to jive with yours!  Not winning doesn't make you a loser.  The only thing that matters is that you did your best and had a good time trying.  We should be able to rejoice in the successes of others without feeling like we have lost out in some way.  Being a sore loser only makes you look and feel bad.   It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.




It's okay to cry sometimes.   Tears are like a healing balm.  It does not make you weak to feel sad or to mourn.  It makes you human.   Crying with a friend, is a gift to that person and to yourself . . .  empathy and sympathy, are both good things.  A problem or a sorrow shared is a problem or a sorrow halved.   Know that God counts every tear.




People make mistakes and are human.  We all make mistakes and are human.   Don't carry your past into your future like an anchor around your neck.  Make amends and move on.  Make peace with your mistakes.    Learn from them, and then put them aside.    There was only ever one perfect person who lived on the earth and He was crucified.   His sacrifice paid for our mistakes and short comings.  Accept that.   Go and sin no more.   Know that though your sins be as scarlet, He will wash them as white as snow.  Trust in that and carry the past no more.  Be at peace.   Let Him pick you up, dust you off and carry you when you feel like you just can't carry yourself.  Forgive others.  Always.  No matter what.




Don't waste your todays in waiting for better tomorrows.  Be happy now.   Love now.   Try now.   Today can still be very good, even if tomorrow might be better.   Don't worry about things you have no control over and hand the rest over to God.  Just as you shouldn't live in the past and let it ruin your todays, you must learn to be content in the now.  Joy comes when you learn to love what you already have.  There is no sin in wanting to better yourself . . . wanting to better yourself or your circumstances is a good thing . . .  but not at the expense of today.  Use those special dishes you save only for celebrations.   Wear that dress.   Burn those candles.   Today IS a special occasion, even if it seems mundane . . .  this day will never come again.  Make the most of it that you can.




Know that you are in charge of your own happiness and your own destiny.  Nobody else is.  Don't compare your life to the lives of others.   You only see what they want you to see.    You have nothing to fear except for fear itself.  Aim and reach for the stars and then believe you can and will touch them.  The only failure in life is in not trying.  Believe in miracles.  Believe in yourself and in the power of your dreams.  If you want to be a painter, paint.  If you want to be a writer, write.   If you want to bake cakes, bake cakes.  Live each and every day of your life and make the most of them.  If you have any doubts at all  . . . just don't . . .  don't do it, don't think it, don't go there, don't listen, don't watch . . .  just don't  . . .




Stay out of debt.  It is an anchor around the neck and it limits your life and your potential.    If you can't pay for something outright, it's not worth having.  Save up for the things you want.   They will mean more to you when you finally get them.   Don't keep anything that you don't love or can't use.  Don't buy anything that you don't love or can't use.   There are only a few things worth going into debt for.   Education and a home.  Both are investments in your future and can make the difference between having a comfortable old age and not having a comfortable old age.  When you are young, you think you will never get old.   You WILL get old, and if you haven't prepared for it, you WILL wish that you had.




Make the most of what you have while you still have it.   Walk far and walk often.   Sing like nobody is listening.   Dance like nobody is watching.  Laugh.  Cry.  Buy some red shoes and then wear them. Paint your toenails green, or purple or pink.  Put that bathing suit on and go swimming.    Make each day worth remembering.   Don't spend it watching other people live their lives.   Stay active.  Do things.  LIVE.  LOVE.  LAUGH.




Above all . . .  love.  Love.   LOVE.  Love God.  Love Self.   Love Others.  If all of your thoughts and actions  and days are embroidered with love and with service and with care  . . . . your life will be a good one, a full one, a meaningful one.  A life that mattered.  Be generous.  Be kind.  Be honest in all of your dealings.  Be strong . . . in body, in mind, in character.

Never lose hope or lose faith.  In yourself.  In others.  In God.   Especially in God.  Pray often and pray with sincerity and faith.  Know that prayers are always answered.  Maybe not the way we expect them to be, maybe not when we want them to be . . .   and maybe not with the answers we want . . .  but always to our own good.   I think it was a Garth Brooks song which said that some of God's best answers to prayer are seemingly unanswered prayers.  Trust in His goodness and in His love for you.




I have developed a cough.   Blah . . . probably being in the hospital on Friday.   They say that if you want to get sick, go to the hospital! haha

We were able to get in touch with our landlord yesterday and he was as flabberghasted at the letter as we were.   At the end of the day it is his father's house.   He spoke to his sister and then called us back.  Supposedly the letter is for us to take to the council and then the council will make up the difference.   He is living in cloud cuckoo land.  That is not how it works.   We already get the maximum in housing benefit that we are entitled to.  If our landlord puts up our rent we are just supposed to suck it up and live with it, or move to somewhere cheaper if we can find it.  IF being the key word here.   WE will take the letter to the council and then they can write the landlords and tell them they are living in cloud cuckoo land, or maybe the council can find us a cheaper place to live.   Here's hoping. ☺  Things will work out.   They always do.

 

Cooking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Strawberry Buttermilk Bundt Cake.

Have a wonderful Sabbath.  I can't believe that tomorrow is the first of June!  Don't forget . . .

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And I do too!!