I am late getting this list together because I initially did not want to do such a list. However several friends here have encouraged me to do it so I have put a list together. I am still not sure what I think about it because I find any list necessarily has to leave important things out, and will change over time. In any case, this is my list for the end of 2008.
1. I am a retired, liberal, Protestant Christian pastor who feels no need to defend either God or Christ, but rather strive to understand what God expects of me and to live accordingly.
2. The love of my life is my wife, Sue. I cannot imagine life without her.
3. The passion of my life is motorcycling, and in particular, touring on motorcycles. My current medical problems which began last March make the latter impossible.
4. I am not adjusting as well as I would like to my new medical issues. Because my problems are rare there is no “cure” but some people do achieve remission for which I hope.
5. I turned 70 this week and it feels no different than did 69.
6. I am a recovering alcoholic with over 19 years sobriety. I am not, however, cured.
7. Treating people with respect and civility is at the core of my values.
8. OS is both a fun thing and a useful therapy in keeping my mind off my troubles and keeping it on others. I have found that the social aspects of OS are more important to me than the writing.
9. I have never had much interest in acquiring worldly possessions.
10. Helping others is something I do not find a burden, but rather an honor and a pleasure.
11. I like kudos as much as the next person and my ego can be wounded, but only by the betrayal of friends and never by the words of strangers.
12. I do not suffer fools lightly, but will not judge them quickly either.
13. Since I believe that eternal life begins when one truly professes his/her faith, then I also believe that believers already are experiencing eternal life and should appreciate it.
14. I do not know what is the future of people of other faiths or no faith. It has been enough effort to try to practice my own faith with some humility and grace, and therefore I respect others who are trying to find their own spiritual paths.
15. I hold four college degrees and I have lived several distinct periods of my life, including as a public servant, a businessman and a clergyman.
16. In each period of my life others have considered me to be an “expert” because of my education and my positions in organizations, but I have never made any such claim for myself. I judge my worth to others by whether or not what I do or say is helpful to them.
17. I find that seeking perfection in anything is a goal to strive for, and one that can never be achieved. The pleasure is in the striving, not in the arriving.
18. I believe that humans are not wired to know all that there is to know in any given subject that we study, and that therefore we ought to recognize that truth when we think that we are certain about something about which others have differing opinions.
19. I believe, therefore, in mystery, and believe that we are far too unimpressed with mystery and far too eager to explain it away. This creates anxious and unhappy people who are striving constantly to fix things that aren’t broken, they simply are as they are.
20. Love, hope and charity are not idle words but are the essence of a positive human experience.
21. There is no value in dwelling for long periods at what might have been. We need to own our past and make amends where warranted, but then put it on a shelf and move on.
22. Only fools believe that they do not make mistakes or know so perfectly what is right that they feel they are obligated to tell others how to live. It is work enough for one lifetime to try to live one life well.
23. God must have infinite patience with us to see what we have done to his creation and how we have treated his creatures, including each other, and still love us.
24. I have a long list of questions that I wish to discuss with God when I see him face to face but I believe that they will seem petty then and I won’t ask them.
25. I strive for a life well lived which means to accept what I cannot control and to lean upon God in trust even in periods of doubt. It has nothing to do with conventional ideas of accumulating earthly wealth or success.
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It seems to me that this is a problem both in the religious and secular worlds. On one side religious fundamentalists want to have everything explained and boiled down into various "doctrines." On the other side many secularists believe that only scientific explanations are valid, and that whatever can't be demonstrated by science doesn't exist.
Reading through your list it seems to me that you have arrived at a life marked by kindness, humility, and an acceptance of your own and others' limitations. And that's no small thing. Thanks for posting.
#6. Wow, kudos my friend!
#8 Same here . . :)
#19. You said it better than I ever could!
#23 Here, here!
An amazing and insightful list about you . . . and I am humbled by it. Thank you!!!!!
Monte
I started to comment on your list, but it started to look like it would be too long. What I would like to say first, is Happy Birthday. I agree with so many points on your list it seems useless to comment on all of them, so I'll just say, me too! HNY to You and Sue!
Thanks for this, Monte.
And...Happy Belated Birthday Sir!!
Affectionately,
G
Monte
Whenever I wonder if the next step I take here on OS is the right one your support and that of the others who have decided to befriend me here lays my indecision to rest. I am grateful and will continue to lift each of you in my prayers and in my support of your good efforts here.
What is different about each of us I celebrate, but what we have in common on this wonderful journey called life is the key to developing and nurturing each of us to find our own way with courage and conviction.
Monte
Monte
Dan the Man is turning 70 on 1/27. Since I am 12 years younger than he, it has been helpful to be married to someone who lives, like you, knowing that seeking to do ones best is also something that can be improved upon. It's only on game shows that there is a final answer.
Happy Birthday dear man, may you recover from your illness and be riding again soon.
Much affection from your Australian buddy, bless you for being you, Bill
Being a day in front of America it's now half an hour before 2009. so Happy New Year from here too!
"Only fools believe that they do not make mistakes or know so perfectly what is right that they feel they are obligated to tell others how to live."
I'd like to that that quote engraved in stone, or at least writ large at the top of many web pages filled with "advice."
Thank you for being my friend, and a happy new year to you and Sue.
10 and 17: Are spot on.
19: I am constantly amazed at people who think mysteries need to be explained. I once took stop-action photographs of a hummingbird as it fed on a flower. Science can tell me the mechanics of the bird's wings ... but it can't tell me why or how the bird exists. Or how successive generations of monarch butterflies know how to migrate across an entire continent. I accept them as a wonder, and they are a pleasure because of that.
And just a whole lot of other things I'd like to debate with you sometime over a coffee. This isn't the time.
Happy birthday, and I hope you can get back in the saddle again. Soon.
#24 - "Upon entering the gates of Heaven, all will be revealed to you."
Best of health and happiness to you in 2009.
Will be a finer o9er! :) xoxo
Susanne: Sue is 16.5 years younger than I am and we celebrated our 25th anniversary this year. So love can top age differences every time. All we have to do is remember that.
Bill, my friend down under, I believe that your New Years count down is already over but my best wishes on this New Year and blessings to you and yours.
Happy New Year to you also, COS. I too am very happy that you are my friend. The very best to you and yours.
Monte
Hey, b1, thanks for reading and commenting. If it is ever possible I would be delighted to sit and talk over a cuppa. Not so much debate, because I don't do that much any more, but just discuss and see where we agree and can agree to disagree. I am convinced that many differences disappear when reasonable people discuss not only their ideas and positions, but also how they arrived at them. Happy New Year. And keep seeing the mystery in hummingbirds and butterflies, and all God's creatures great and small. Wait. That is the title of that vets book, isn't it? See. You really can't have an original thought these days. ;-)
dbd: thanks. Well, you and several others were pushing on me pretty hard so I caved in. I will be interested in how each of would modify our lists, or, more likely, add to them in, say, 6 months.
Monte
Jason: Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate it. I am always happy when you have the time from those travels of yours to dip into OS and visit friends. It is much appreciated that I am one of those you visit. I thought the comments on that last post of yours were nothing short of amazing. I never saw so many people who responded working so hard to out credential each other and in the process shed so little light on a subject they obviously felt strongly about. I believe that if I have to start flaunting my degrees to get a point across then I have likely just missed the point.
Have a wonderful 2009 and I pray for many blessings on you in this new year.
Monte
Monte
No, I am not trying to keep my medical issues a secret but I also don't want people to think that I am under any illusion that my issues are any worse than and certainly not as bad as other people right here on OS who struggle with chronic issues.
Perhaps since so many friends have asked I should just post about it one time. I haven't decided on that. I'll send you a PM with some basic information.
Blessings,
Monte
I really liked that one - it validates the neurotic perfectionist and workaholic in all of us - except that we all enjoy the work and the milestones we discover along the road to perfection.
RE: # 20: Charity is after all, one of the most overlooked and undervalued of the virtues. It's almost as if the full significance of the word is lost on most, owing to their general lack of empathy - just to spite the Golden Rule.
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Wonderful to see you back out here and commenting again. I have missed your posts but know that you have had your hands full the last month or so. Hope all that work was productive.
Take care, friend.
Monte
I think when go to God that we might not need to ask those questions because we will be living in the moment, rather than the past.
I don't think I will want to ask God those three thousand or so questions I have sworn that I will want to ask him, 2999 of which I have already forgotten. But I still have that big question about why my golf swing never generated any power. ;-)
Monte
Monte