At time of year when families get together for turkey, potatoes and those awful cranberries, we often need to be reminded of gifts we have in our lives. When I say gifts, I don't mean bags with streamers hanging off of them; I don't mean glitter-ridden, wrapped boxes either. And I certainly don't mean the score you brought home last year from Macy's Black Friday sale.
I mean life. The life(s) that are in your life. Not lives. Life(s). One of the many definitions in our dictionary under the word life, defines it as 'the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual.' Well, we all have people who exist in our lives. That's not a new development. What we have few of, is people that bring life to our lives; People that bring light to areas of darkness; People who won't walk the path for you, but show you the clearing through the forest to get there; And people that pick you up when you've fallen down. Each of us have an amount of people in our lives that do that for us. It doesn't matter how many you have, only that you do.
A friend of mine once said, 'It doesn't matter how much wealth you have or had; but rather how many people showed up at your funeral. That says what kind of a person you were.' I don't truly believe in this statement, but it does hold some validity. Are you more likely to be remembered as an asshole? Or, are you more likely to be remembered as the person who'd do anything for anyone, regardless of personal benefit? You choose. Because at the end of the day, it's your actions that people judge you from, and your own conscience that you have to go to bed with.
I present a challenge to my readers. I wouldn't normally do this, but I'm in the spirit of Thanksgiving, so deal with it. I challenge you to do something uncharacteristically nice for someone. It can be a random someone, friend, wife, husband, family, etc. No monetary gifts. Just a simple act of kindness. Why? Because you DON'T have to; Because it's NOT required; Because everyone needs a little life brought into their life once in a while. Gives them hope. Reason. Even humility. Once you've completed the challenge, you must post what you did here on the blog, or on my Facebook post about it.
When you're sitting around at the family tables passing around that nasty cranberry sauce, think about that. Think about those that have brought life to your life, and wonder to yourself about how to pay them back for it.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
~Jonathon
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanksforgiving Life
At time of year when families get together for turkey, potatoes and those awful cranberries, we often need to be reminded of gifts we have in our lives. When I say gifts, I don't mean bags with streamers hanging off of them; I don't mean glitter-ridden, wrapped boxes either. And I certainly don't mean the score you brought home last year from Macy's Black Friday sale.
I mean life. The life(s) that are in your life. Not lives. Life(s). One of the many definitions in our dictionary under the word life, defines it as 'the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual.' Well, we all have people who exist in our lives. That's not a new development. What we have few of, is people that bring life to our lives; People that bring light to areas of darkness; People who won't walk the path for you, but show you the clearing through the forest to get there; And people that pick you up when you've fallen down. Each of us have an amount of people in our lives that do that for us. It doesn't matter how many you have, only that you do.
A friend of mine once said, 'It doesn't matter how much wealth you have or had; but rather how many people showed up at your funeral. That says what kind of a person you were.' I don't truly believe in this statement, but it does hold some validity. Are you more likely to be remembered as an asshole? Or, are you more likely to be remembered as the person who'd do anything for anyone, regardless of personal benefit? You choose. Because at the end of the day, it's your actions that people judge you from, and your own conscience that you have to go to bed with.
I present a challenge to my readers. I wouldn't normally do this, but I'm in the spirit of Thanksgiving, so deal with it. I challenge you to do something uncharacteristically nice for someone. It can be a random someone, friend, wife, husband, family, etc. No monetary gifts. Just a simple act of kindness. Why? Because you DON'T have to; Because it's NOT required; Because everyone needs a little life brought into their life once in a while. Gives them hope. Reason. Even humility. Once you've completed the challenge, you must post what you did here on the blog, or on my Facebook post about it.
When you're sitting around at the family tables passing around that nasty cranberry sauce, think about that. Think about those that have brought life to your life, and wonder to yourself about how to pay them back for it.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
~Jonathon
I mean life. The life(s) that are in your life. Not lives. Life(s). One of the many definitions in our dictionary under the word life, defines it as 'the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual.' Well, we all have people who exist in our lives. That's not a new development. What we have few of, is people that bring life to our lives; People that bring light to areas of darkness; People who won't walk the path for you, but show you the clearing through the forest to get there; And people that pick you up when you've fallen down. Each of us have an amount of people in our lives that do that for us. It doesn't matter how many you have, only that you do.
A friend of mine once said, 'It doesn't matter how much wealth you have or had; but rather how many people showed up at your funeral. That says what kind of a person you were.' I don't truly believe in this statement, but it does hold some validity. Are you more likely to be remembered as an asshole? Or, are you more likely to be remembered as the person who'd do anything for anyone, regardless of personal benefit? You choose. Because at the end of the day, it's your actions that people judge you from, and your own conscience that you have to go to bed with.
I present a challenge to my readers. I wouldn't normally do this, but I'm in the spirit of Thanksgiving, so deal with it. I challenge you to do something uncharacteristically nice for someone. It can be a random someone, friend, wife, husband, family, etc. No monetary gifts. Just a simple act of kindness. Why? Because you DON'T have to; Because it's NOT required; Because everyone needs a little life brought into their life once in a while. Gives them hope. Reason. Even humility. Once you've completed the challenge, you must post what you did here on the blog, or on my Facebook post about it.
When you're sitting around at the family tables passing around that nasty cranberry sauce, think about that. Think about those that have brought life to your life, and wonder to yourself about how to pay them back for it.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
~Jonathon
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