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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

TechnoBoy and I were talking about happiness the other day, and he made an interesting comment to the effect of, “If I were born a prince, then my life would be perfect.”

I disagreed, explaining that while there are advantages to being a prince such as being wealthy, having people who will clean your room for you, and so on, there are also huge disadvantages. For example, the intense public scrutiny, continual invasions of privacy, and expectations of perfection at all times.

Out of the ensuing conversation came 3 rules that Hubby and I live by. Below are the conclusions we draw from those rules.

  1. There is no such thing as a perfect life.
  2. Hold lightly to the good things.
  3. Blessings are undeserved.

It’s not every day that wisdom comes rolling off my tongue (more frequently it’s direction or correction), so I thought I’d write this down while it’s still in my memory.

You’re welcome.

We do not live in a one-dimensional world. There cannot be up without down, wide without narrow, good without evil, or happiness without sadness. God just didn’t create it that way. In fact, He promised that all of us would face difficulty and sadness in life.

I can choose to fight that and spend my time raging against the injustices as they come. But what good will that do? If I spent my life raging, wouldn’t I effectively be throwing an 80 year temper tantrum? Would that stop evil or wrong or even unfairness in the world?

Nope.

I accept that bad things will happen. I accept that no matter what life I could be born into, there would be parts of it to dislike.

Right along with that: if I’m going to enjoy the blessings that come my way, it’s only fair to deal with the difficulties as gracefully as possible.

I believe that this life…the one I have been given…can be one in which I find happiness. I believe that I was uniquely created to live this particular life. One of the ways I can show my thankfulness for such a wonderful existence is to live it being the best person I can be.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want their children to be truly happy.

Image courtesy of LawPrieR via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.