Laughing at Life

Maybe I’m just one of those people that is wired to laugh at life, or maybe I’ve chosen to.  I don’t know, but to me, life is more funny than devastating.  Yeah, we all have our problems, but finding humor in the midst of them sure makes the down times go by faster.   After all, everything including life, is temporary so why stress over it? 

I remember when I was a teenager, there was this show called Homefront which I think starred Kyle Chandler ( I thought he ROCKED!).  The theme song was that one that says, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative and latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr. In-between.“  Such a cool perspective, huh?  Apparently, it impacted me because I still remember it all these years later.  Another great song that influenced my attitude was ”Life is just a bowl of cherries. Don’t take it serious, life’s too mysterious.  You work, you save, you worry so, but you can’t take it all when you go.  Life is just a bowl of cherries, so live and laugh at it all.”  That was the song of some commercial years and years ago.  lol see what the media has done to me!?  Something positive for once!

So, when I’m going through a particularly bad time, I think about these lyrics and remind myself that though what I feel is very real, it too will pass.  It helps to keep things in perspective.  It also helps to have good friends and family around to make you laugh.  If you don’t have funny friends, you could always watch something like the Soup or the Best Week Ever.  You just can’t stay bummed out after watching those!!  Or think about the time you weren’t paying attention and walked right into the telephone pole and leveled yourself.  Or the time you had toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe and never noticed until that important meeting was over.  Or the time you went to work with two different colored shoes because you go dressed in the dark.  It can’t be just me?!!!

So, here’s my advice.  Don’t sweat the small things in life.  I doubt 25 years after your death, you’ll be remembered as “the person who didn’t pay their taxes on time in July of 1983.”  Hopefully, your legacy will be something more positive like “the one who made a difference in the community” or “the one who always dared to try something new” or ”the one who enjoyed life to the fullest.” 

Lucky you! You get to choose.

“Love is a Verb”

“Don’t marry someone you can live with.  Marry someone you can’t live without.”  I heard that quote recently while watching a documentary on Toby Mac (who rocks, by the way).  It really struck me because I see so many people in unhappy relationships.  I mean, every relationship has its issues, but some relationships are so bad that it makes me wonder what brought them together in the first place.  Even more, I wonder why they stay together. 

 

I work with a lot of very cool teens and hear all their love woes.  I feel for them because they are at a place in life where they want to fit in and feel accepted by another of the opposite sex.  So much so that they compromise their “selves” to be pleasing and gain the affection they’re looking for. One teen told me her boyfriend gets mad and hits her sometimes.  She doesn’t see that as totally wrong.  Several girls have boyfriends who call them nasty, and I mean nasty, names.  One teen boy’s girlfriend cheated on him on several occasions, and he’s ok with taking her back.  Can you see the problem here??

 

The lack of self-respect is amazing.  Unfortunately, that carries over into adulthood sometimes.  Wouldn’t it be great if people were taught when they are young that they are valuable and should be treated with care?  They are valuable even if the cutest guy or girl in school doesn’t give them a glance.  Valuable even if their grades aren’t perfect or they aren’t the best at their sport.  Valuable if they are overweight, wear glasses or have bad teeth.  Most importantly, they should never settle for anyone who thinks otherwise.

 

We are valuable because we were created for a purpose.  Your Creator thought so.  Just read Psalm 139!  That purpose is not so you can be someone’s physical or verbal punching bag.  The person you choose to spend your life with should honor you and cherish you.  They should encourage you to press on when you’re hurt or scared, and comfort you when you’re down.  In other words, their love should be more than words.  As DC Talk noted in one of their songs “Love is a Verb” yes, an action.

 

1 Corinthians 13:4 says “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”  And, before you can find such an amazing love with another person, you must learn to love yourself and know YOU are worthy of love just the way you are.

 God thinks so.

Independence Month

Hey America,

Happy Independence Month!  Are you still feeling oppressed by the battles in your life that you just can’t conquer?  It’s about time to get sick of that and do something about it, don’t you think?  Whatever it is you’re battling, you can overcome it!  How?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  By deciding what it is you want and then stopping at nothing to get it.  REFUSE to live this way any longer!  Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Make a written commitment, your own personal Declaration of Independence. 

2. Post your commitment somewhere where you’ll see it constantly, like the fridge or the bathroom mirror.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?

3.  Make a list of goals with reasonable time frames to accomplish them.  Enlist some help if you need to.  A person nicely motivating you will help you press on when you don’t feel like it anymore.

4.  Schedule time in each day to work on your goals.  Treat the time you schedule like it was an important appointment and don’t miss it. 

5.  When you reach a goal, write down the date and reward yourself for a job well done. 

When you look back on all you’ve accomplished, you’ll be able to enjoy a sense of pride.  You might also see that what you thought would take you months to finish only took weeks.