On this my birthday, I would like to reflect on a few things I have learned in these 79 years.
- Relationships are to be valued as more important than possessions.
- Learn to genuinely love all people.
- We are far more indebted to those who have gone before us than we can ever imagine. Be thankful for all of them.
- Our decisions, actions and manner of life will affect people negatively or positively long after we are gone. The butterfly effect is real.
- My failures, sins, foibles, are greater in my own eyes than the “great sins” of others. So, the older I get the more things I find, for which I need to repent.
- It is more important to truly listen and hear a person than to say something great to them.
- We don’t know near as much as we think we know, learn humility about your own opinions.
- Learn to laugh at yourself.
- Don’t let your emotions blind you to the facts.
- Let good memories outweigh the bad.
- We can’t change the past and the future is yet to be. Live your life now, in this moment, and learn to be truly present in the present.
- We cannot control what other people do, say or think, so, let it go.
- Forgive as you have been forgiven. Show the same mercy the Father has shown you.
- Be generous.
- Be gentle, kind, courteous and respectful to everyone.
- Keep Jesus’ story central to your own story; it will give your story significance and your story will become a part of His-story, that is, what He is doing in the world.
- Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, as long as you can. (John Wesley).
- Life goes by too fast. The older you get the faster it goes.
- In growing old you learn that it takes the same kind of perseverance and commitment to finish the race that it did to start it.
- Know this! Confess this! “By the grace of God I am what I am.” I Corinthians 15:10a
- I expect that the same love, grace and mercy that has drawn me to the Father will be the very love, grace and mercy I will meet at the end of the way.
H. Lamar Smith, August 12, 2021