{"id":469,"date":"2012-05-04T05:55:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T05:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/?p=469"},"modified":"2012-05-02T00:44:52","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T00:44:52","slug":"my-life-to-live-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html","title":{"rendered":"My Life to Live Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My kids are always after me to play a game with them: Monopoly, Uno, Deal or No Deal, and lately even Blackjack. That\u2019s right. The preacher\u2019s kids play Blackjack. I figure they\u2019ll need those skills somewhere in the future.<\/p>\n

So in the spirit of my game-playing children, please play a game with me. You can play along right where you sit reading this paper. It\u2019s a brainteaser called the \u201cGame of Tens.\u201d Get your pencil and note pad ready, and answer the following questions:<\/p>\n

Name the ten wealthiest people in the world.<\/p>\n

Name the last ten Presidents of theUnited States.<\/p>\n

Name the last ten winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Name the last ten winners of Time <\/em>magazine\u2019s \u201cPerson of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Name the current ten companies at the top of the Fortune 500.<\/p>\n

So, how did you do? That bad, eh? But just in case someone answered them all without the assistance of Google, e-mail me. I\u2019d like to congratulate you. For the rest of us, however, try this second set of questions. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll do a little better:<\/p>\n

Name the ten most memorable experiences of your life.<\/p>\n

Name ten people whom you love.<\/p>\n

Name ten people who have an influence on your life.<\/p>\n

Name ten places you have visited that you will never forget.<\/p>\n

Name ten holidays or celebrations you have recorded in a photo album, on video, or on film.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGame of Tens\u201d has been around for years. Of course it has come in varied forms and with different names, but the crux of the thing has always been the same. Huge, world-shattering events are laid alongside the common and familiar.<\/p>\n

The lesson this game teaches, regardless of its variation, is always the same and always quite simple. The things that we think are so eternally important, many times, turn out to be nothing but dust. We don\u2019t remember them at all.<\/p>\n

And the things so common, so close to us we can no longer see them; those things so routine and ordinary, these turn out to be the most important things in our life.<\/p>\n

No, the events that have most shaped us aren\u2019t found on the front page of the newspaper or recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records<\/em>, but these events and people are recorded in our hearts. That makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

While his words have been adapted and often attributed to others, Don Herold wrote in the October 1953 edition of Reader’s Digest<\/em>, a piece entitled, \u201cIf I Had My Life to Live Over.\u201d He was in his mid-sixties at the time and had lived long enough to learn a few things.<\/p>\n

What he learned need not be lost on us. He wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I would relax. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I know of very few things that I would take seriously. I would be less hygienic. <\/em><\/p>\n

I would go more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.<\/em><\/p>\n

You see, I have been one of those people who live sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them \u2013 a lot more. I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter. <\/em><\/p>\n

If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people. I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun. I had a few of them, fortunately, and I figure it was they who kept me from going entirely to the dogs. <\/em><\/p>\n

I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I would shoot more paper wads. I would have more dogs. I would keep later hours. <\/em><\/p>\n

I’d have more sweethearts. I would fish more. I would go to more circuses. I would go to more dances. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I would be carefree as long as I could<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My kids are always after me to play a game with them: Monopoly, Uno, Deal or No Deal, and lately even Blackjack. That\u2019s right. The preacher\u2019s kids play Blackjack. I figure they\u2019ll need those skills somewhere in the future. So in the spirit of my game-playing children, please play a game with me. You can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,30],"tags":[135,32,136,134,33],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change","category-hope","tag-aging","tag-change-2","tag-don-herold","tag-life","tag-ronnie-mcbrayer"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Life to Live Over - Leaving Salem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Life to Live Over - Leaving Salem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My kids are always after me to play a game with them: Monopoly, Uno, Deal or No Deal, and lately even Blackjack. That\u2019s right. The preacher\u2019s kids play Blackjack. I figure they\u2019ll need those skills somewhere in the future. So in the spirit of my game-playing children, please play a game with me. You can…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leaving Salem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-04T05:55:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-02T00:44:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/files\/2012\/05\/ten-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ronniemcbrayer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My Life to Live Over - Leaving Salem","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My Life to Live Over - Leaving Salem","og_description":"My kids are always after me to play a game with them: Monopoly, Uno, Deal or No Deal, and lately even Blackjack. That\u2019s right. The preacher\u2019s kids play Blackjack. I figure they\u2019ll need those skills somewhere in the future. So in the spirit of my game-playing children, please play a game with me. You can…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html","og_site_name":"Leaving Salem","article_published_time":"2012-05-04T05:55:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-05-02T00:44:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/files\/2012\/05\/ten-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"ronniemcbrayer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html","name":"My Life to Live Over - Leaving Salem","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/files\/2012\/05\/ten-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2012-05-04T05:55:20+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-02T00:44:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/#\/schema\/person\/8d43dc9d6bc43a8f9e7f03adcb07e2d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/files\/2012\/05\/ten-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/files\/2012\/05\/ten-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/my-life-to-live-over.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My Life to Live Over"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/","name":"Leaving Salem","description":"Beliefnet Voices -- Leaving Salem","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/#\/schema\/person\/8d43dc9d6bc43a8f9e7f03adcb07e2d0","name":"ronniemcbrayer","description":"Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, blogger, and author. His books include \u201cLeaving Religion, Following Jesus\u201d and \u201cThe Jesus Tribe.\u201d Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ronniemcbrayer.me"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/author\/ronniemcbrayer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}