I picked up Chinese food for dinner last night for my sister-in-law and myself.  I didn’t open my fortune cookie until this morning and that is the message it contained.  The funny thing about it is that I once heard, “Do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life”.  I am doing just that and I have to say that I really enjoy my job and the people that I work with.

iron wil

I saw this quote today and I think that ie make much better sense than small people talk about people; however, I think it should actually be . . .

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people whine.

iron wil

“The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for.” (Mere Christianity, pgs. 205 – 206)

I think that to many Christians don’t understand this concept properly.  They don’t , even myself, realize that the process of perfection is a lifetime pursuit.  One that may be rather bumpy for some and smoother for others.  Each of us as Mr. Lewis points out has our own challenges and troubles that we must face to become more like the Savior Jesus Christ.  Or maybe the reality is that we are to impatient and struggle with our own imperfections everyday that we forget to ‘forgive and forget’ and let people change and grow; instead we judge and criticize and probably stunt the spiritual growth of the person we attack.

I have to admit that I find myself OFTEN, daily and hourly, reminding myself that my boy is only 3 and that he doesn’t understand things the way a 25yr. old might.  He doesn’t have the experience nor knowledge to be able to act the way I may want him to.  This is the problem with many, they want certain behaviors from others that is not possible because it has not been learned.  I would venture to suggest that, including myself, we must be more tollerant towards EVERY person we interact with; granted that in time some with prove & disprove themselves of our confidence and trust.

I do find it interesting that people are more critical, myself included, of family than of long-time friends.  We can be even more critical of co-workers and other associates.  Our imperfections abound!  Yet, the council still stands that we can be perfect and inherit all that the FATHER hath. (Romans 8:16-17)

wil becker
2009.05.14

“There is one further point about the virtues that ought to be noticed. There is a difference between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man. Someone who is not a good tennis player may now and then make a good shot. What you mean by a good player is the man whose eye and muscles and nerves have been so trained by making innumerable good shots that they can now be relied on. They have a certain tone or quality which is there even when he is not playing, just as a mathematician’s mind has a certain habit and outlook which is there even when he is not doing mathematics. In the same way a man who perseveres in doing just actions gets in the end a certain quality of character. Now it is that quality rather than the particular actions which we mean when we talk of a ‘virtue’.

This distinction is important for the following reason. If we thought only of the particular actions we might encourage three wrong ideas.

(1) We might think that, provided you did the right thing, it did not matter how or why you did it–whether you did it willingly or unwillingly, sulkily or cheerfully, through fear of public opinion or for its own sake. But the truth is that right actions done for the wrong reason do not help to build the internal quality or character called a ‘virtue,’ and it is this quality or character that really matters. (If the bad tennis player hits very hard, not because he sees that a very hard stroke is required, but because he has lost his temper, his stroke might possibly, by luck, help him to win that particular game; but it will not be helping him to become a reliable player.)

(2) We might think that God wanted simply obedience to a set of rules: whereas He really wants people of a particular sort.

(3) We might think that the ‘virtues’ were necessary only for this present life–that in the other world we could stop being just because there is nothing to quarrel about and stop being brave because there is no danger. Now it is quite true that there will probably be no occasion for just or courageous acts in the next world, but there will be every occasion for being the sort of people that we can become only as the result of doing such acts here. The point is not that God will refuse you admission to His eternal world if you have not got certain qualities of character: the point is that if people have not got at least the beginnings of those qualities inside them, then no possible external conditions could make a ‘Heaven’ for them–that is, could make them happy with the deep, strong, unshakable kind of happiness God intends for us.”

My point, simply put, is this.  We better ourselves, families, communities, and nations by making the changes to improve ourselves.  Now, this is not an easy thing to do & it requires years of work to make great improvements.

I have a temper and since the age of 12, I have been working on it.  I still blow up, but the frequency of how often I get angry keeps decreasing.  I am not perfect, please, don’t think that I am.  My wife and family could tell you all about my flaws . . . yet my focus is that each person can change.  It has to be over a lifetime.

I once heard a quote that I loved immediately, “beautiful old people are a work or art”.

wil becker
2009.04.14