January, 2020
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“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.” ~Ronald Reagan
A good friend of mine forwarded this email from Phil Clemens and I thought it was a great way to start the year: It is a new year and a new decade. Ronald Reagan has some great advice as we enter this new decade. Let’s break it down. |
Live simply! Today many of us live extremely complex lives. We are surrounded by all kinds of distractions and have almost no margin in our lives. Reagan’s advice is easy to hear, hard to do. Commit to intentionally taking some of the complexities out of life and live more simply. It’s amazing when we can build margin in life how much more fun life really is.
Love generously! Do you restrict your love to only a few? When we learn to love generously, we can love everyone - even those who are very different than us. In today’s polarized society, we often limit our love to those who think and act like we do. In fact, many don’t even tolerate those who don’t think like they do. Reagan’s advice is one he personally applied in his own life. Many of his political opponents clearly did not like him. He loved them anyhow. Let’s learn from his example.
Care deeply! For most of us we have difficulty caring for others (we just don’t have the time). Reagan reminds us not only to care but take it to a deeper level - care deeply. When we learn to care deeply for others, it makes the entire world a better place. Caring deeply means that we take time to really care. Care can only happen when we pause long enough to find out the needs of others. When we focus on other’s needs - we are lifted up.
Speak kindly! In the 21st century speaking kindly isn’t something most of the world is trying to do. In fact, many of us do the exact opposite - we speak harshly or in a nasty fashion. Reagan encourages us to do just the opposite - speak kindly. Speaking kindly means that you intentionally look for good in others and not how you can “knock them down.” How much better our world would be if we all would learn to speak kindly.
His final advice - leave the rest to God! Reagan is reminding us that if we act almost just the opposite of the natural way - in reality act the way God does - by living simply, loving generously, caring deeply and speaking kindly we can just leave the rest to God because it will be a world that accepts others for who they are and loves others unconditionally.
John Maxwell in his book Ethics 101 reminds us to not do just the golden rule (do unto others as you want done unto you) but apply the platinum rule – “treat others better than they deserve.” It’s just another way of saying what our quote from Reagan says.
As we begin this year make a New Year’s resolution to “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.” Don’t ask others to do this until you commit to do it first and keep doing it even if other don’t follow.
Growing in Christ Together,
Love generously! Do you restrict your love to only a few? When we learn to love generously, we can love everyone - even those who are very different than us. In today’s polarized society, we often limit our love to those who think and act like we do. In fact, many don’t even tolerate those who don’t think like they do. Reagan’s advice is one he personally applied in his own life. Many of his political opponents clearly did not like him. He loved them anyhow. Let’s learn from his example.
Care deeply! For most of us we have difficulty caring for others (we just don’t have the time). Reagan reminds us not only to care but take it to a deeper level - care deeply. When we learn to care deeply for others, it makes the entire world a better place. Caring deeply means that we take time to really care. Care can only happen when we pause long enough to find out the needs of others. When we focus on other’s needs - we are lifted up.
Speak kindly! In the 21st century speaking kindly isn’t something most of the world is trying to do. In fact, many of us do the exact opposite - we speak harshly or in a nasty fashion. Reagan encourages us to do just the opposite - speak kindly. Speaking kindly means that you intentionally look for good in others and not how you can “knock them down.” How much better our world would be if we all would learn to speak kindly.
His final advice - leave the rest to God! Reagan is reminding us that if we act almost just the opposite of the natural way - in reality act the way God does - by living simply, loving generously, caring deeply and speaking kindly we can just leave the rest to God because it will be a world that accepts others for who they are and loves others unconditionally.
John Maxwell in his book Ethics 101 reminds us to not do just the golden rule (do unto others as you want done unto you) but apply the platinum rule – “treat others better than they deserve.” It’s just another way of saying what our quote from Reagan says.
As we begin this year make a New Year’s resolution to “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.” Don’t ask others to do this until you commit to do it first and keep doing it even if other don’t follow.
Growing in Christ Together,
Dr. Russ Cadle, President
Friendship Ministries
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