Saturday, May 19, 2007

Life is fair

I am once again in the waiting area of my Honda dealer, getting an oil change. I really do love that I am able to take care of so many different things while they work on my car.

I've been thinking about something I read recently. The statement was "Life is Fair." Would you agree or disagree with this?

Personally, I would agree. I do believe that life is fair. Some of us succeed in areas that others may not, and vice versa. Some of us are able to obtain or achieve certain things,and others will obtain different things that we will never attain. One thing that I have said pretty often, which can be grouped in with the Life is Fair concept is, "There are all different kinds of lives." Another one of my favorite things to say to people is, "I have never wanted anyone else's life because the only thing I know for sure is what I have. I have no idea what other people are actually dealing with behind their own closed doors." And that's despite what show they may be putting on for the world.

Now, I know that some people would immediately go to examples of homeless people or the chronically ill and challenge me. They might feel that life is, in fact, not fair.

Your thoughts? My opinion is only one of many, I am certain.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Random Odds and Ends, part 9

I am in the mood for some out of town guests. I know that may sound weird, but when I was celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom yesterday she was telling me that her neighbors across the street were entertaining a couple who was visiting from out of town. Also, my friend Cathi is visiting some friends of hers right now for a few days in New York.

The thought of it just appeals to me right now. I guess I feel like I have been the out of town guest enough times and I would like to have out of town guests come see me for a few days. LC and Darryl coming down for one night from Connecticut do not count. I’m talking about me taking a couple of days off from work and showing someone the sights of Philadelphia and New Jersey. I have no idea who these out of town guests will be, but we’ll see who comes my way.

E told me that on Mother’s Day his father does not go out with them to celebrate--that the day is a day for him and his brother to focus on their mom. Then the same thing happens on Father’s Day—no mom allowed. In my family, the three of us go out on both days to celebrate. I guess it’s just a matter of what you’re used to, but heck, if it wasn’t for my dad my mom wouldn’t be a mother! He deserves to be there too!

Oh, I have all of the sudden started doing Tae Bo. How far behind the times am I, like, 10 years? Frankly, I don’t care how outdated it may be, it kicks my butt and that is exactly what I need right now.

As much as I hate the heat, I do like this time of year in a way—everybody starts to get a little color, everyone starts to wear cute shoes, and it’s good to see people out and about.

Jarred called on Saturday—his first week at work went well, he is excited for the challenge. Things are really no different for us with him moving an hour and fifteen minutes away, that’s for sure—he called me from a Target up where he is now wanting me to weigh in on what kind of hand lotion, tissues, water filters, etc, he should buy!

I made plans to meet up with a girlfriend of mine from college in June—I haven’t seen Judy in MANY years, so we are meeting in New Brunswick (the very scene of the crime, so to speak) for lunch.

I was invited to the ordination of a man I know (he went to Rutgers too, although I didn’t know him until after graduation, but do remember him from Rutgers) who is becoming a transitional deacon (one of the steps on the way to becoming a priest). The ordination is no more than 10 minutes from my house, so it would be a real shame not to go—I consider it a blessing to be able to be there to support him on such a day! (Remember—greater care of one another!) Please keep Pat in your prayers.

Hope you are all well. I am, glory to God.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Where God wants us (or doesn't!)

I feel very strongly that sometimes God does not want us somewhere and He will do whatever it takes to keep us from getting from Point A to Point B.

Now, I also know that He gives us free will to make decisions and He will allow us to sometimes make the wrong decisions to somehow bring about a greater good at a later time. Any of us can look at our own lives and see examples of situations where we have made decisions, taken actions, or said things that were wrong for us or bad, but as smoke clears and time passes we see how we may have been able to grow or change from the “wrong” decision.

But other times, God will do whatever He needs to do to keep you from a situation He doesn’t want you in. A case in point for me was last night, I think. A friend of mine had invited me to an event up in the Howell/Lakewood area. It’s about 45-50 minutes from where I live on a good day. I wanted to show support for this event and I hadn’t seen this friend or many of the others who may have been there in a long time.

It’s important to note I have been to Howell/Lakewood dozens if not hundreds of times in my life for various events. I have driven past the location where this event was going to be held and thought I knew the stretch of Route 9 where the place was located.

Can I tell you I drove up and down a many-mile-long stretch of Route 9 three times looking for the place and never found it? I text-messaged the event organizer to try to get a landmark, but the event already started, so heard nothing in reply.

Then I thought that maybe I simply wasn’t supposed to be there that day. It was now dark, the event had been going on for 45 minutes, and would it even have been worth it to find the place at that point? I just felt like I was being led away from the place and back toward home. Then I saw a sign for Route 70, which I can take right back to near my neck of the woods. That’s exactly what I did. Driving home I thought about it. Maybe there would have been someone there I didn’t want to see. Maybe I would have felt out of place or uncomfortable.

Who knows? God knows. I wasn’t mad driving home. I wasn’t annoyed that I “wasted” gas and had spent over 2.5 hours in my car for “nothing.” I just trusted God enough to lead me home.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

What if YOU moved and nobody cared?

So, as you all know from the previous post, Jarred is moving away, possibly forever, in a few short days. I am surprised by the way some of the people we mutually know are handling his relocation, namely, they aren’t acknowledging the fact that he’s leaving.

Now, I’m a reasonable person and I can understand this to a degree, Jarred hasn’t been “around” much in the past few years, and some people may feel slighted that he sent out a mass e-mail to a large group of people announcing the relocation because he didn’t get the chance to call everyone personally in such a short period of time, but is that a reason to not make sure you send someone off with the appropriate well wishes? (Remember, although I found out about this a couple weeks ago, I was told via a text message, not exactly the most personal method of communication, but I indeed survived.)

The whole thing makes me think.

What if we all walked around and treated people only the way they treated us? What a sad world we would live in if no one was willing to ever be the bigger person or rise above or make an extra effort. What if all anyone did was punish each other—I won’t call you because you didn’t call me—I won’t help you because you didn’t help me, and so on.

Or wait, do we not need to think about this too much because this is already exactly the very world we live in?

Come on, be the bigger person. Pick up the phone.