WISE SAYINGS, IMPORTANT LESSONS AND ONE REALLY GOOD THING

Old wise sayings:

Experience is something you don't get until after you need it.

Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

Always remember you're unique just like everyone else.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and have their shoes.

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Don't squat with your spurs on.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

Some days you are the bug. Some days you are the windshield.

Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

Duct tape is like the force: It has a light side and a dark side, and it hold the universe together.

Experience is the sinking feeling you have made this mistake before.

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones? They still are.

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Cocoon: A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. The man sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. This ensured that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its Freudian from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly.

I asked for Strength, and God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom, and God gave me Problems to solve.

I asked for Prosperity, and God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for Courage, and God gave me Danger to overcome.

I asked for Love, and God gave me Troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors, and God gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed.

May your path be bright and full of light everywhere you go.

And I pray your feet will never stumble out of God's plan.

May the desires of your heart come true, and may you experience Peace in everything you do.

May Goodness, Kindness and Mercy come your way.

And, may you gain Wisdom and grow in the Lord every day. -- Author Unknown

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First most-important lesson: During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

Second important lesson: Always remember those who serve you.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By now, many people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied." The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

Third important lesson: The obstacle in our path.

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the road clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been.

The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand: Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

Fourth important lesson: Giving when it counts.

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?"

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor. He thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

You see, understanding and attitude, after all, are everything.

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The One Good Thing: According to Josef Pieper, love is a way of saying to someone, "It's good that you exist. It's good that you are in this world." Without a doubt, Lee Ezell, the mother of Family Research Council's Julie Makimaa would say these words about her daughter. Julie was conceived as a result of rape, but Lee decided to let Julie be adopted rather than aborting her. Julie grew up in a loving Christian home. After her marriage and the birth of her daughter, she searched for her birth mother. After establishing a telephone relationship, they arranged a meeting at a hotel in the Washington, D.C., area. Julie's husband Bob's first words to Lee were: "I want to thank you for not aborting Julie. I don't know what my life would be like without her and my daughter, Casey."

FRC hosted a lunch in the Capitol recently for congressional staff members during which Julie told her story and presented arguments against aborting children conceived through rape or incest. Julie asked her listeners to examine what they think about children conceived in rape or incest and open themselves to considering the experience of the people who actually go through these difficulties. She cited statistics from the experience of over 100 women who were assaulted which showed that 75 percent of them carried to term, and the majority of those raised the child.

Julie openly admitted that women who conceive through a rape and decide to go through with the pregnancy face doubt and emotional pain during the pregnancy, but she said they later testify to the love they have for their child, "the one good thing" that came from the experience. She says we have to ask ourselves what is best for the woman in the long run. It so happens that this turns out to be what is best for the child as well.

Julie Makimaa is one of the authors of FRC's booklet "The Hard Cases' of Abortion: A Pro-life Response." If you have been wondering about these issues and want to read firsthand accounts of women who faced pregnancies from rape or incest and their reflections on the decisions they made, please order this booklet by calling 1-800-225-4008 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time. -- Washington Update

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Time really does fly. Ten years ago on June 4, 1990 ... the SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN switched from afternoon delivery to morning delivery of the newspaper. Seems like yesterday.

~Gary Rust is president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.