Life is hard. That doesn't mean it can't be awesome. What it does mean, is that you have to fight for everything in life worth having. Your friends, your family, your career and anything else that is important is not easy to hold on to. Think about it this way, is it really that hard to be out of shape? Is it that hard to lie? Is it hard to sleep late? No, it isn't. It is hard to be in great shape. Sometimes it can be really hard to be honest and getting up early every day can be a challenge.
You can have all the things you want in life by fighting for it. All the beautiful things on this earth have to be fought for and protected, that's why we have societies who fight to protect the rain forests and national parks. As if being beautiful wasn't enough. Relationships are the same way. Your relationships with your spouse, your kids,or your friends all require work. If you stop calling or spending time with them the relationship will wither. They are all worth fighting for. There is a direct correlation between the time you spend with those who mean a lot to you and the quality of that relationship.
I see a lot as a teacher. One of the saddest things I see at school, are kids who have no direction at home. They feel like they aren't worth anything because no one fights for them. I know times are tough and people are struggling with the basic needs of life but, it's not to much to ask to spend an hour a day with your kids. It goes back to what I said earlier, it's a lot easier to sit on the couch and watch tv than it is to get up and invest an hour of your life in your kids. No matter what anyone says, it is always worth it. You will get more out of that time than you would watching tv. This is why we have a generation of kids being raised by the Jersey Shore and Kim Kardashian (it's really depressing that those people have the same right to vote as I do.).
What happened to the Jews when they left Egypt? They wandered in the desert for forty years, but did they have to? No, they had a choice. They could have fought. The people they were facing were bigger than they were and had big walls around their cities, but they could have at least fought for what they want. Don't wander around and waste your life because you're afraid to fight. Start picking small battles, learn to tell yourself no (more on this later), and win your life back. Save a little money, drink water, eat grilled instead of fired chicken or spend some time with someone important. All these things are worth the fight.
One of the worst things you can do in the middle of a struggle is to think about how hard it is. Like I said, life is hard. That's just understood, like you at the beginning of an imperative sentence (I think that's right). Don't judge it, just put your head down and keep fighting. If you believe what you're doing matters, then it does. You just have to understand that it is going to be hard. But if it is hard, then it is definitely worth the fight.
God Bless,
Seth
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
It's been a while
So it has been a long time since I last posted anything on here. A really big thing happened since I last blogged. My wife and I had our son this summer. Now we have two beautiful babies. Needless to say, I may have put some other things in front of this blog and that is alright with me. So far, this year I have accomplished a lot of goals. I have grown in leaps and bounds in my faith which was a major concern of mine. I feel like I am a better dad and husband. I have almost kept pace with my one book a month goal. I wish I could have kept this blog up weekly, but I didn't. I do think now I can commit to writing once a week or maybe more.
One of my favorite movies is "Man on Fire". I've seen it probably 10 times. If you haven't seen it you should....like now. The reason I love it so much is that the character played by Denzel Washington starts out as a guy with no purpose in life and ends up giving the title of the movie some real justice. I have a picture behind my desk of Creasy (Denzel) pointing a gun at someone and behind him is an explosion, which he caused with a rocket launcher(awesome right!?). I don't have this picture because of the gun or the explosion, I have it because of the look on his face. You see him and you know nothing is getting in his way. This kind of reminds me of how Jesus set his face like flint and headed to Jerusalem. These two men had that in common, while they used different methods, nothing got in their way. Focused on one objective and nothing else. Imagine if we lived our lives like this. If we never let the petty small stuff get in our way, what could we do? If we never sat in front of the tv or wasted time on the internet. I'm not saying it's all bad, but just imagine of we "set our face like flint" and just got all the things done in life that were truly important. Whatever your dreams may be, if you cut out all the stuff that gets in the way, you will come a lot closer to getting them. Make a list, now. You have one life on this earth and we, especially in America, have really missed the mark on what is important. I saw a quote on twitter the other day that really hit me hard. It goes like this:
People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. Lives are in shambles because we do the opposite.
Just think about this scenario. The doctor tells you that you have 6 months left on this earth."Hopefully, your next thought is not....I really need to get those sunglasses I've always wanted or I need more stuff. Most of us would want to spend the bulk of our time with the people in our life who mean the most to us. You would probably LIVE a lot differently and some of us would truly live for the first time.We need to shift our focus from things back to people.Go have an adventure with someone you love. Do some things you never thought you would. I've had so many things in this life, but none of them really ever made me happy. When I think of the times I have truly been happy, it always involves my wife, my kids, my parents, my friends, or my students. A couple was visiting Europe and they came upon a rabbi who had nothing. They asked him,"Rabbi where are all your things?" the rabbi asks "Where are yours?" to which they replied, "but we're just passing through." and he said "so am I." True story. We're just passing through this life, make it count.
If there any suggestions for topics to write about please feel free to comment.
Follow me on twitter@ Sward005
One of my favorite movies is "Man on Fire". I've seen it probably 10 times. If you haven't seen it you should....like now. The reason I love it so much is that the character played by Denzel Washington starts out as a guy with no purpose in life and ends up giving the title of the movie some real justice. I have a picture behind my desk of Creasy (Denzel) pointing a gun at someone and behind him is an explosion, which he caused with a rocket launcher(awesome right!?). I don't have this picture because of the gun or the explosion, I have it because of the look on his face. You see him and you know nothing is getting in his way. This kind of reminds me of how Jesus set his face like flint and headed to Jerusalem. These two men had that in common, while they used different methods, nothing got in their way. Focused on one objective and nothing else. Imagine if we lived our lives like this. If we never let the petty small stuff get in our way, what could we do? If we never sat in front of the tv or wasted time on the internet. I'm not saying it's all bad, but just imagine of we "set our face like flint" and just got all the things done in life that were truly important. Whatever your dreams may be, if you cut out all the stuff that gets in the way, you will come a lot closer to getting them. Make a list, now. You have one life on this earth and we, especially in America, have really missed the mark on what is important. I saw a quote on twitter the other day that really hit me hard. It goes like this:
People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. Lives are in shambles because we do the opposite.
Just think about this scenario. The doctor tells you that you have 6 months left on this earth."Hopefully, your next thought is not....I really need to get those sunglasses I've always wanted or I need more stuff. Most of us would want to spend the bulk of our time with the people in our life who mean the most to us. You would probably LIVE a lot differently and some of us would truly live for the first time.We need to shift our focus from things back to people.Go have an adventure with someone you love. Do some things you never thought you would. I've had so many things in this life, but none of them really ever made me happy. When I think of the times I have truly been happy, it always involves my wife, my kids, my parents, my friends, or my students. A couple was visiting Europe and they came upon a rabbi who had nothing. They asked him,"Rabbi where are all your things?" the rabbi asks "Where are yours?" to which they replied, "but we're just passing through." and he said "so am I." True story. We're just passing through this life, make it count.
If there any suggestions for topics to write about please feel free to comment.
Follow me on twitter@ Sward005
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