Useful tips - September

This entry in my blog simply consists of a number of things I have learnt this month in a very busy, roller-coaster ride of a September. There's been so much happening, my mind is reeling. You may like to reflect on the following words of wisdom, which is where I am at the moment... all of these could be individual blog entries but while I'm out most nights this month on SA business it's probably enough just to get them down before I forget them!

• Whenever the man from The Salvation Army calls on your door for a donation for the Annual Appeal, it's always inconvenient. 11am, 3 in the afternoon, 7.30 at night, all times are wrong.
• Some people just don't want callers. They have double-glazing, no doorbell, letterbox sealed up with tape or even stuffed with paper. What if I wanted to send them a love letter?
• They say you can be lonely even in a crowded room. I've found that to be true. Perhaps everyone's really there behind you, but you can't see 'em, cos you're facing the other way...
• If you don't show an interest in people, you're accused of being too 'distant'; when you do, you're accused of being a stalker. You can't win...
• "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14.
• It's interesting when someone makes a major change in their life, and when you talk to them they continually assure you that they're happier now. Are we seeking happiness, or God's will? Are these the one and the same? (Perhaps they're simply trying to find an easier path - and therefore should read the previous bullet point).
• Committees take minutes and waste hours.
• Remember the iceberg principle: it's a known fact that only one-third of an iceberg is visible - hence the reason the Titanic went down. Applying this principle to life, and mine in particular, we see that two thirds of anything therefore is unseen and can't be planned for. Hence why life gets a bit hectic...
• I'm assured that I'm where God wants me to be right now. I can't disagree with the logic. What I often want to know is 'why'....
• A diamond is formed under intense pressure, but what is produced is beautiful.
• I'm sick and tired of 'knee-jerk' reactions. I just wish the jerks themselves would get down on their knees...
• Lord, who made the lion and the lamb/You decreed I should be what I am/Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan/If I were a wealthy man? (from Fiddler On The Roof, song written by Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick)
• What if the answer to the last question is 'yes'?
• Sometimes, no matter how long you spend on a job, it's not enough...
• Sorry is the most overused word in the world - probably because so many say it and don't mean it. There really needs to be a word for 'sorry and I won't let it happen again'. It's sad, so sad/It's a sad, sad situation/And it's getting more and more absurd/ It's sad, so sad/Why can't we talk it over/Oh it seems to me/That sorry seems to be the hardest word. (Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Bernie Taupin)