PONDERING CHILDREN AND COMPASSION

Sometimes, I look at the kids in my life and think they must be the coolest kids on the planet. The most darling precious little people. I find myself wondering how everyone doesn’t notice just how completely fantastic they are. Then, I think about the pictures of children hanging on someone else’s wall and realize, they feel exactly the same way about those children, even though they go completely, for the most part, unnoticed by me. And then the real epiphany begins as I realize that however much I love my own children and no matter how cool I think my friends’ kids or my nephews are, God looks at each one of us as if we are the most fantastic creation ever. He loves us all so much that we cannot even begin to get it. We get a little hint of it when we love up our own kids but, really, we have no idea.

I think that as an American I begin to feel a certain feeling of entitlement. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are a given in this country. These are man made promises not God’s promises. He promises a great life after this one not IN this one. But that does not mean that he does not love us and WANT us to be happy. We want our children to be happy but we do not always give them what they think will make them happy.

It saddens me to watch my little one grow up in a world that does not really accept her for her fabulous differences. She does not fit into the “norm” so certain children, usually girls, look down their noses at her and whisper. She takes it like a trooper and really seems to be the happiest kid in the world but I wonder how much of it really gets to her. I have to let her go through it because it will make her a stronger, more compassionate adult. And, frankly, she will be a much more interesting adult than all the clones trying to be accepted by each other.

I think that when we go through tough times, as children as well as adults, God looks at us and because he loves us so much is saddened but he knows that when we get through it we will be stronger, more compassionate and frankly, more interesting than we would be otherwise.

Being Recession Proof

One of my favorite classes during my Junior year of Highschool- that would be more years back than I care to remember- was Economics. Not HOME Economics- just plain old economics. You know, where you learn to balance a checkbook and how to think about money. Well, there are a couple of things that I learned in that class that have really stuck with me over the years. One- using a credit card to purchase something you cannot afford is stupid. I knew that to keep a credit card on hand “just in case” would probably be too much of a temptation for me so that was not a good idea either. So, needless to say, credit card debt has never been a financial problem of mine. Not having enough money in general has always been my main complaint. The second thing I learned is that during the Great Depression there were a few industries that were unaffected by the nations economic state. Those have always been in the back of my mind any time I was thinking about “what I want to be when I grow up.” Incidentally, I still have not figured out that one.

The two “recession proof” industries that really stuck in my head were the medical and the entertainment industries. I ruled out both of those areas to find my career in. As I thought about the idea of recession proofing my life I began wondering if there are other industries that are safe in the face of the oncoming recession. After a 5 minute check of the internet I found a couple others- vices (cigarettes, booze, etc) and food. I wonder if I am the only one worried about this kind of thing right now… doubt it.