Life has so much to offer\u2014once you\u2019ve learned to deal with the monsters.<\/p>\n
This is a series\u00a0about getting the most out of life, about allowing God to work us through the tough spots, about thriving and not just surviving. It has its roots in the terrible death this year of my wife of 33 years\u2014but more on that later. For now, just the knowledge that we can find joy when stuff happens will suffice.<\/p>\n
\u2018Stuff Happens\u2019\u2014that\u2019s the Southern Baptist version of the classic bumper sticker. Sometimes we contribute to our problems and sometimes we don\u2019t\u2014stuff just happens, pretty much all the time. It is no wonder that we often get to the point when we look to the heavens and, in our loudest and whiniest voice, plead \u201cAw, c\u2019mon God, gimme a break!\u201d Hence the title at the top of this page.<\/p>\n
Whining. Been there, done that\u2026and will be there again. My goal in this series is to help you get through the \u2018stuff\u2019 of life, both large and small, with a minimum of whining and a maximum of joy. To live is to stumble, often tripping over our own feet\u2026and suffering the consequences. No surprise there: not only does stuff happen, but the consequences of stuff happen. After all, as that great theologian Lisa Simpson (Homer\u2019s daughter) put it, \u201cYou can\u2019t create a monster, then whine when it stomps on a few buildings.\u201d Talk about a Godly attitude! That\u2019s the kind of worldview that will help Lisa not just survive but thrive in The Simpsons universe\u2026and in ours.<\/p>\n
The wisdom of God is everywhere\u2014even on television. God talked through, Sharon, my wife\u2019s illness and her final death from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease. There was no cure and no treatment, and her last months were as bad as it gets. But she refused to be discouraged; instead, she spent those months encouraging me to live \u201chappily ever after\u201d {just like her favorite Hallmark movies) and actively reach out to our family and her \u201csister\/friend\u201d of more than half a century so that joy and changed lives would be her legacy.<\/p>\n
We go through life experiencing and creating monsters, problems and issues that range from small to large to galactic. Problems are part of the human condition\u2026.as is whining. And I\u2019m an expert on whining, as I grew up in a Jewish home in New York City where whining was a participatory sport. And now I\u2019m a born-again Christian on the faculty of the world\u2019s largest Evangelical university\u2026spending my days among professors, for many of whom whining has been elevated to an Olympic sport. People, religions, geography may change\u2014but whining is forever.<\/p>\n
For Sharon, no whining: She offered reassurance to those around her as she died and a glimpse of a God who is hope and joy and involved for good in our lives. You\u2019ll cry, you\u2019ll grieve, you\u2019ll be lonely, she said, but ultimately God will work her death for the good. You\u2019ll get through it\u2014good advice for just about every situation we face, from the loss of a lover to a paper cut. And so, in the room where she would spend her last months on this earth, she laid out ten promises that I would work to assist the loved ones she\u2019d leave behind to live spiritually and happily. These are promises that YOU can work to change your life. The ten promises that will be the foundation of the inspirational living covered by this column: Friendship, Faith, Joy, Unconditional Love, Hallmark, Health, Forgiveness, Perseverance, Proportion, and Patience. And as we explore the people and principles of these promises, we\u2019ll drop a few rules for living (inspired by another great theologian, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of the hit series NCIS; e.g. Rule #51\u2014Sometimes You\u2019re Wrong).<\/p>\n
Sharon\u2019s Promises are a foundation that anyone\u2014you, especially\u2014can stand on to live a life of joy. They work because they\u2019re a God thing, and because God and living is so much bigger and better and more spiritual than the religion and life that most of us experience. Even better than television\u2026umm, sometimes.<\/p>\n
What am I promising with this? Nothing less than happiness\u2014it\u2019s what He wants and we need.<\/p>\n
The takeaway: Read this and walk the path to joy\u2026despite the stuff that happens!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Life has so much to offer\u2014once you\u2019ve learned to deal with the monsters. This is a series\u00a0about getting the most out of life, about allowing God to work us through the tough spots, about thriving and not just surviving. It has its roots in the terrible death this year of my wife of 33 years\u2014but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\n