The Second

Be careful what you ask for you just might get it .   For many years this has functioned as a warning against frivolous prayer, against treating God as a butler.   Persistence in such requests may invite, rather, a painful object lesson.   But none of these calculations interfered with my decision, soon followed by the action, to ask God regularly to help me be an ordinary person.   My life has had many voices saying that “ordinary” is the way to go.   The message did not connect.   It’s not that I am extraordinary, but that “ordinary” has operated as a term of disdain.   A litany of enticements beckon:   Success, meaning, impact, “make a difference,” “fulfill your potential,” on and on and on.   Naturally this meant that I needed to make everything around me better, and be better than others.   The results?   Failure by an impossible standard.   Bitterness.   Frustration.   A scary enticement to disengage, to ce...

I’ve got values but I don’t know how or why!  (The Seeker, by The Who) On a personal level, I make assessments of others, quickly, using two characteristics:      1a.   Is he arrogant?      2a.   Does he show contempt for others? An affirmative to either puts a person on my “don’t trust” list.  Of course, with time, a person could earn trust.  The positive characteristics need to appear:      1b.   Does he have humble behavior?      2b.   Do his words and his behavior respect others? This takes more time because a quick answer to either is unavailable.  Instead a consistent track record must emerge.  Not a perfect record, just consistent. This approach has worked fairly well, and has also been a useful check on my own behavior.  At some point I realized that these core values ultimately have grown out of my f...