The Wisdom of Youth

Do I feel hammered when I'm nailed by someone's honesty or do I accept that person's good advice?

     While I would love to be able to say that I am always able to accept someone's good advice, it wouldn't be true. I have faults, this I accept. The trouble comes when I forget that and believe myself to be some kind of altruistic, faultless person. It isn't true. I'm just as bad, if not worse, than a lot of other people. I make snap judgments, let my temper get away from me, say the wrong things to people. I make mistakes, and I become embarrassed when someone else catches me on it and says something. I get mad, which makes the situation worse. I clam up, which does nothing for the situation, either. I have to make a serious attempt to not do those kinds of things.

     When someone nails you with their honesty, look at it like a blessing. It's an opportunity to become someone better than who you currently are.

When to Say When

In my eagerness to make friends, I sometimes go overboard by...

talking too much. I tend to run off at the mouth and I also tend to believe that people care about my opinion more than they do. When I get nervous, I talk incessantly. I find this to be problematic because people sometimes can't get a word in themselves. I have to remind myself to let others talk and to not let my opinion run wild in the room.

Remember to let others speak and you might learn a little something from them. I have. Later.

Getting a Tune-Up

My heart needs to be cleaned and repaired from the damage caused by...

Where to begin... I've done a lot of bad things in my life, from drugs/alcohol abuse to physically damaging other people. Even though I've turned around and turned away from those kinds of things, I still deal with the thoughts of wanting to do them today. I have anger issues, I know this. However, since having Cerena three years ago, I've made a concentrated effort to control my anger. I don't want her to see me as an angry person. I want her to know that I love her and that I care for her. My heart needs to be cleaned and repaired from the damage of my past life. My family is not the greatest, but whose is? I want my own little family, that of my wife, my daughter, and I, to be better than the one I had growing up.

We all have baggage that we carry. Whether it is caused by things of our own doing, or things others have done to us, we still carry it. We need to ask God, our heartmaker, to heal us and repair us from this damage. Take care to do this, and life will get better. I promise. Later.

Gift and Giver

I need a spirit of generosity and a willingness to give when it comes to...

My wife and daughter. I find myself so often wanting to only do my own things and not the things they want me to do with them. I need to get over that and offer so much more of my time to them. They deserve it. I love them both and should be far more willing to give of myself to them as a result. Again, they deserve it and I am going to give it. It's time to take away the toys I constantly play with and start giving my attention where it belongs, to my family.

Remember, your loved ones don't always need you to give them any more than your time. All the gifts in the world cannot make up for the time that's wasted when we only pursue selfish endeavors. Give your time and you won't be disappointed.

Measured Words (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

Am I wise enough to limit what I say to what I really know?

Being a high school teacher, I spend the entire day, every day, talking. I have to speak in front of students every hour of my workday. Whenever I find myself saying whatever comes to mind and not thinking about my words, I wind up saying something that I wish I wouldn't have. Whether it is something that puts a kid down or something about another teacher, whatever, I end up wishing I'd kept my mouth shut. Luckily, I haven't been called to the carpet about it yet, but I hope I've learned my lesson without that happening. Kids will repeat everything you say to them, and usually at the most inopportune moment. I have to remember that and I try to measure my words as a result.

In your life, make sure that you're measuring your words and not just saying what you think. Just because you can say something, doesn't mean you should. Take care of your words and you won't have to explain them to anyone. Later.

Bending Your Ear

Whom do I need to attend to today with a sharpened or bent ear?

Yesterday was a hard day for my wife and I. We both had meetings and commitments that we had to attend to that caused us to leave our daughter at her preschool for a total of 12 1/2 hours. That caused my wife a great deal of grief because she feels that we were, in essence, neglecting Cerena and that is exactly what we don't want to do. However, we have to attend to our other commitments, so we just have to make a concentrated effort to not do this again.
I want to be a good father for Cerena. I want to make the effort to be there for everything she does and goes through. We (Cheryl and I) just have to do what we can right now to get out of debt and that will free up a lot of time and resources to do things as a family and make sure that Cerena knows both parents, not just one or the other.
I'm also a teacher, so I know that there is a good chance that I may have to "attend" to my students with a sharpened or bent ear. So many of them are looking for someone to listen to them and to understand what they are going through. I may not always understand, but I've been through so much myself that I have an idea of how to deal with all sorts of problems. I just want to be someone that students can look up to, not just obey out of fear of discipline.
Remember, no matter what job you're in, people will look up to or at you and will notice what you do and how you act. Wouldn't you rather be someone to be like than someone to avoid becoming like? You may say that you don't want that pressure, but that is not always your choice. Be someone to look up, not away from. Later.

What Makes a Man

Do I spend too much of my time working or thinking about work, causing my family to suffer?

I honestly spend as little time as possible thinking about work after the day is done. Unfortunately, my wife and I have made some poor financial decisions that we are now attempting to rectify. To do this, we are having to work at extra duties as much as possible so that we can make the extra money to pay off our debt. The upside is that we will be debt-free in three years and able to live without running up any more debt after that.

Anyway, back to the question at hand. When I got married, I was in the Marines. I had to spend quite a bit of time away from home, whether it was on deployment somewhere or in the field on base. I missed my wife something fierce and we decided that we weren't going to have any children while I was active duty. Now that we have our daughter, I want to spend as much time with her and her mom as I can. For that reason, I try to separate myself from work as often as I can. Being teachers, my wife and I have really good schedules that make time for us to spend together easier to come by.

Remember, time with your loved ones and your family is precious. You can't make it up, no matter how much money you have or how hard you try. There is a saying that goes, "No man was ever on his deathbed saying I wish I had spent more time working." Keep that in mind when you're trying to make the decision whether to work the overtime or go to dinner with your family. Later.

Welcome to a new blog

Hey there, my name is Gary and I decided to start yet another blog to share my thoughts and devotionals with the world. I know that there are a number of people out there who will not care that I do this, but this is not for them. I do this because the public nature of blogging means that I will feel a little pressure to make sure that I commit to the things I say I will. The very fact that even one other person may read them and will know my struggles means that I will want to hold true to what I say I will do. Thank you to anyone who cares to check this out. Please, please, please leave comments to let me know what you think and to also let me know if you are struggling with anything I can pray for. Thanks again.