Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Do your best, and be a little better than you are. Gordon B. Hinckley
We read a book and it resonates with us, we might even think we got this. We can remember some of the talking points and we use them to impress everyone with our new outlook on life. It might be easy to impress a few people and even ourselves for a while, but does our life reflect the philosophy we are parroting? This is what catches up many people. Living up to the advice we give is hard, but trying to impress others is easy.
How many of us when we listen to people speak, especially those that preach to us about how we should change our lives, be more environmentally conscious, be more virtuous, generous, or have more of a heart for the poor and downtrodden would like to take a peek in their lives and see how they measure up using their own yardstick?
It’s a good question, how do we measure up using our own yardstick? Are we able to meet the expectations we expect of others? I recently heard someone talking about someone’s child being, “So rude” and I questioned if their own children were so much better when the short time I spent with the child she was well-mannered, easy to be with, interested in what was going on, and contributing to the conversation in an intelligent way. I’m thinking what a nice young lady she’s growing up to be. I wonder are we looking at the same child. Of course, the time I spent with her was short and she could be on her best behavior, but kids can’t be expected to only be on their best behavior to be a good kid. We might be setting the bar too high and then no one is good enough.
We can get into conversations we don’t see eye to eye on, but we aren’t even having the same conversation. That happened between my son and husband at dinner the other night. I said, “You aren’t talking about the same thing.” This happens at my house all the time, and between my husband and me, often. Is this something we’ve developed over the years so we aren’t having, “Me too” conversations?
There is nothing wrong with making a good impression in fact it is encouraged but it is a letdown when we meet someone, we are so impressed with their ideas, what we think their life is about, and then we find out their life is more of a train-wreck than our own.
You’ve got one job, and that is to get better. Derrick Rose
There is no one that has more theories about relationships, marriages, or raising children than those who are on the sidelines instead of in the trenches. Wayne Dyer said he had theories about raising children, until he had children, and then he had children but no theories.
I had a neighbor when we first moved in who called himself a fancy gardener. I took it as a poke at my attempts at gardening, but he never planted one tree, shrub, or flower all the while he lived in the house. My yard is not a work of art but the backyard is full of trees and shrubs. I’m not happy with how my front garden looks except perhaps for brief moments in the spring. It is a labor of love that doesn’t get enough labor, but hope springs eternal, and I have high hopes that one day it will become what I envision.
No matter what yardstick we use to judge ourselves we will find ourselves coming up short of our expectations. Wouldn’t it be sad if we were all we thought we could be, because what would we do for the rest of our lives if we had nothing left to learn, nothing left to do and aspire to, and nothing to improve? Life is growth and I think we need to find ways to grow and develop until the end of our lives, if we are to be happy, and be a blessing to ourselves and other people.
Seeking pleasure and happiness is not a good way to live our lives because many of the things that we must get through, to look back on our lives with pride, did not bring us happiness at the time. Some of the things we’ve done to feel pleasure and fleeting happiness do not fill us with pride when we look back on them. Life is about choices and the better our choices, the better our lives will be, and some of the hardest choices give us the best lives. Will our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren be proud of the person we became? I think that is a measure to aspire to.
Aspire not to have more, but to be more. Oscar Romero
Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference. Denzel Washington
If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third, place. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
