This “insights and inspiration” piece is longer than usual, and I must admit it is my column sent to The News Observer, Blue Ridge, to be published January 14, 2011. The 40 points (edited slightly) came to me via e-mail on their way to someone else. At a time when I (and I believe others) need something firm to hold onto in this bitter cold and national tragedy, I share them with you in the setting of Proverbs 3:5-6. These are two very solid ‘life verses” that we should believe and practice every day. May the following insights and inspiration prove a blessing to you as the whole gamut of 40 suggestions for this New Year have already been highly beneficial to me. My husband is very ill. I am facing his death at any time. Thanks for your concern and prayers. God is with us, strengthening us. I am now having to apply to myself the advice I have given to others through the years. And I am practicing the “40 tenets ” (transcribed here) as I can, every day, every day, with God’s help! I hope you will read this long piece and be blessed as I have been while writing/forwarding it.
The south is in the grip of one of the bitterest cold spells we have experienced in quite awhile. “Deep Freeze” is the word on every tongue and the experience of everyone in a broad geographic area. Even in Middle Georgia where I live, schools are closed and travel is at a minimum. Wintry temperatures nip and bite. This condition covers most of our nation as the Weather Channel becomes a popular tune-in site for many. And amidst the cold spell is the shocking tragedy in Tucson, Arizona when gunman Jared Loughner, age 22, went on rampage killing six people and wounding thirteen others on January 8. This has a nation in shock that such a thing could happen here. Violence is too common, too devastating. And on the usual day for Georgia’s governor’s inauguration, January 10, 2011, the weather curtailed many of the plans that had carefully been laid for Governor Nathan Deal’s big day as his term as 82nd Governor of Georgia was launched amidst the bitter cold and travel curtailments.
Somehow, life goes on, despite setbacks. Here I want to share with you a bit of wisdom, the author of which I cannot cite, because it came to me with no byline. But it has to do with some good New Year’s Resolutions, which, if taken seriously, could affect positively the four areas of living under which the forty points are listed: Health, Personality, Society and Life. I share these points here, edited slightly from the way they came to me via internet, and wishing I could give credit where credit is due to the person compiling them:
“Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3-E’s: Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to pray. Prayer touches God and allows God to touch us.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2010. Choose what you read wisely.
8. Sit in silence at least ten minutes each day.
9. Sleep seven hours in twenty-four. The body needs restorative sleep.
10. Take a 10 to 30 minutes walk each day, and while you walk, smile.
“Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is about.
12. Don’t entertain negative thoughts about things you can’t control. Invest in the positive present.
13. Don’t overdo; keep within your physical, mental and emotional limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.
15. Don’t waste precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have what you need; don’t want more.
18. Forget issues of the past; forgive and try not to harbor ill feelings.
19. Life is short; don’t spend any portion of it hating others.
20. Make peace with your past. Don’t let it spoil your present and future.
21. You are in charge of your happiness—not someone else.
22. Realize that life is a school. You can learn much from mistakes and achievements.
23. Smile and laugh more. Fewer muscles are worked with smiles than frowns!
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree (agreeably)!
25. Don’t engage in every argument to which you are invited.
“Society:
26. Call family members often; good family relationships are very important.
27. Each day give something good to others expecting nothing in return.
28. Spend time with people over 70 and under six.
29. Forgive. Don’t carry grudges and hard feelings (weighty baggage you don’t need).
30. Aim to make at least three people smile every day.
31. What other people think of you is none of your business.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you’re sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.
“Life:
33. Always seek to do right!
34. Rid yourself of anything not useful, beautiful or joyful!
35. Remember: God heals everything. Seek Him in all you do.
36. However good or bad a situation, it will change.
37. Believe that the best is yet to come!
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank God for life!
39. No matter how you feel, if possible, get up, dress up, and show up!
40. Your innermost being seeks happiness. So be happy. It is a mind-set.”
(-Anonymous. Sent to me by Don Byers, on its way from someone else, to others. Edited by Ethelene Dyer Jones)
If you like this “Handbook for 2011” pass it on to others, as I have done to you. Clip and post it in a handy place as a reference as you proceed through this New Year. And remember the truth of this statement: “Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” Come through the “deep freeze” safely. Pray for the tragedy and those involved in it in Tucson, even the perpetrator of the heinous crime, and his parents who are suffering. Pray for our nation and its leaders, our state and its leaders, our county and city—and each other! Selah!
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, January 12, 2010
