...Life...

Trials/endings - struggles/solutions - love/hate - war/peace - lost/found - high/low - here/gone - heartache/joy - emptiness/fullness - hunger/fullness - missing/complete - shallow/over-flowing - questions/answers...isn't all of that what life is about?

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I'm starting to learn more and more about myself. My tongue gets me in alot of trouble and I speak before I think. Some days my mouth is independent from my brain I do believe. I react instead of being still and I talk instead of shutting up! I mope around instead of finding the glimmer of hope and I'm always trying to figure out what I need to learn...how about you? How do you live life?

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I can remember when my babies were, well, babies and I would wish so badly that they had come with a manual so I would have a clue what to do with them. I often feel that way with my marriage even though we have been married for 17 years I am still at loss many, many days. And life, yeah, I wouldn't mind an instruction booklet for that one too. Oh wait, I've got one...check this out...

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Seize life!

Eat bread with gusto,

Drink wine with a robust heart.

Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!

Dress festively every morning.

Don't skimp on colors and scarves.

Relish life with the spouse you love

Each and every day of your precarious life.

Each day is God's gift.

It's all you get in exchange

For the hard work of staying alive.

Make the most of each one!

Whatever turns up, grab it and do it.

And heartily!

This is your last and only chance at it,

For there's neither work to do nor thoughts to think

In the company of the dead, where you're most certainly headed...
...The race is not always to the swift,

Nor the battle to the strong,

Nor satisfaction to the wise,

Nor riches to the smart,

Nor grace to the learned.

Sooner or later bad luck hits us all.

No one can predict misfortune.

Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds in a trap,

So men and women are caught

By accidents evil and sudden.

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I like that! Pretty much answers any question that I can come up with about life. Want to know where I found that? In THE MANUAL...Ecclesiastes 9:7-12 (MSG). That's right! Friends, we walk around and wish more than anything we had instructions on this thing we call life and I don't know about you, but even when I'm studying the word I somehow fail to apply it to my life, to my daily situations, to my sin, to my happiness. I think to myself well that sure worked for them but I seem to loose the translation of how it works for me. Hmmm...Life...