(Something of a “life lessons year in review,” in no certain order. I’d love to hear yours. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.)
1. How awesome your cancer surgeon is.
2. How nice people can be, even when you wish they would just hate you.
3. How God provides, even sometimes for fools.
4. The sun really does come out tomorrow.
5. How to spell “aneurysm.”
6. Life goes on, with you or without you.
7. Contrary to the words to the MASH theme, suicide is NOT painless.
8. Failure doesn’t stop people from loving you.
9. Rejection does not come with a cocoon to wrap you away for a while.
10. Nobody is more committed to your success than you are.
11. Self-righteousness sucks.
12. Self-pity sucks more.
13. Neither hindsight nor foresight are 20/20, but they are both still worth the look.
14. Praying for your enemies may not help them all that much, but it does help you.
15. The immense value of having an advocate when you need one.
16. If you think you deserve God’s help, you’re wrong. If you think that God won’t help you because you don’t deserve it, you’re wrong again.
17. If you’re not feeling God’s unconditional love for you, maybe it’s because you aren’t loving Him unconditionally.
18. Life does not come furnished with a “fast-forward” or “rewind” button. But you do hit “pause” every once in a while, whether you want to or not.
19. God will even use the blindness of men to fulfill a greater purpose.
20. If you could perform your way into acceptance, you wouldn’t need a Savior.
21. Doves still sing, even in the rain.
22. When something just doesn’t seem right – in a nation, an organization, or a life – there are two places to look for answers: (1) What face(s) keep appearing in all the “crime scenes,” but aren’t “suspects?” and (2) Where is the money going? Who wants it? Who controls it? How do people act about it?
23. Broken hearts break hearts.
24. Don’t set or sink your heart into anything you are seeing today. Whatever you see, feel, or are experiencing will change… regardless of how permanent it appears.
25. How massive the words “always” and “never” are. Sent from the heart of the Lord, they serve as powerful promises or warnings. But tossed around by feeling, foilable people, they can be tools of defeat, destruction, rage or despair.
26. Diligence always pays benefits – some intended, others unintended.
27. The tremendous usefulness that comes from being able to comfort someone with the words, “I’ve been there.”
28. Self-leadership is the precursor to all other forms of influence.
29. The incredible worth of a true, tested friend.
30. Tough teachers who care are far more valuable than easy teachers who set out just to please.
31. The life-changing power of hearing someone say, “Thank you.”