The other day I was spending some wonderful time with Flossie, my eight-year-old daughter.
We were having a rather philosophical discussion and I said, “Perhaps this is heaven right here. Perhaps heaven is a choice.”
“This can’t be heaven,” Flossie retorted. “If I fall off Cookie, I’ll hurt myself. In heaven you couldn’t hurt yourself.”
“Maybe,” I replied.
I continued to ponder it; in a world where there was no failure, no pain, no challenge, where’s the fun, I thought?
Maybe we need that to appreciate the good.
Or maybe that’s a silly belief that’s instilled in us.
Perhaps Flossie is right…
In arguments, we often want to be right. But being right is not the same as being wise.
One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that we’re falling behind. That someone else is ahead.
As a young man I associated strength with force; louder voices, sharper opinions, firm lines in the sand.
There’s a strange kind of pride we’ve developed in being exhausted. But even lions, the king of the jungle, rest.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have ambition.
We sometimes believe strength means self-sufficiency — that being independent means being isolated.