Tuesday, January 24, 2012

top 5 tuesday: lessons learned

Today's Top 5 Tuesday post is somewhat personal. Just be forewarned...

Have you ever looked back on your life to see different lessons that you've learned and how you learned them? Be they important life lessons that you learn from your parents, or embarassing I-told-you-so lessons that you had to learn the hard way, they all have a part in shaping us into who we are. Today, I thought I might muse on 5 lessons that I've learned in my many 27 moons...

1. Procrastination never pays off. I learned this lesson the hard way. Mostly when my parents required that I wash, dry and put away all of my laundry before I was able to go do stuff with friends or *cough* school field trips. I remember one time of waiting to do my laundry until the last minute and I ran out of time. No school field trip for me. But this particular time also learned me my second life lesson...

2. Never take the easy way out. It never pays off. Because I hadn't learned the don't procrastinate lesson yet, I was scrambling to get my laundry done before I could go somewhere. I decided there would be no harm in taking my still damp clothes out of the dryer, folding them and putting them away. See? Laundry done. Except, it was summertime. And later that night my room started to reek of mildew. Needless to say I was soon caught. The easy way out SO did not pay off. Nor did it smell good.

3. Trust your gut. Ah, this is a hard one to learn as I'm still learning it. That knawing feeling in the back of your mind about the relationship that you're in? Pay attention. That sense of urgency you have to call someone or avoid someone? Those strong feelings of uneasiness around a particular person or about going somewhere? Take heed. You should always trust your gut. I'm learning to trust mine more because it's not ever failed me. Well, except whenever I eat too much Taco Bell...but I digress.

4. Season friends vs. Reason friends. I've learned that there are two main types of friends: season friends and reason friends. The season friends are in your life for a period of time and then life happens or moves happen and you drift away. They had a season in your life and you were able to learn and grow in that friendship until you could learn no more. Then there are reason friends. These are the friends that are perpetually in your life for a reason. Hopefully, good reasons, but nevertheless, they have one. Perhaps they are the reason you go to church or the reason you met your spouse. Perhaps, they are in your life as your voice of reason. Neither type is wrong or bad and both are necessary throughout the course of life.

5. Sometimes God speaks through songs. Though this seems like a no brainer for me, being a singer, sometimes it takes God practically beating a song into my head for me to get it. Lately, I can't even get through the worship time at church without becoming emotional and overwhelmed at the message that God is telling me through song. My personal worship times are often even stronger than my personal prayer times. I like to think of them as musical prayers anyway. Lately, God has really been ministering to me through these two songs, if you're interested at all. First. Second.

What are some life lessons that you've learned?

3 comments:

  1. I think you're a reason friend for me and the reason is you make me more stylish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! (To Jill's comment.)

    I am so glad we are reason friends.

    Lessons I've learned:
    -Some things that say "Dry Clean Only" really mean dry clean only. I ruined my beautiful curtains by not following that rule. : (
    -Humility is always the point. (Being humble ALWAYS is the best route.)
    -Do not say things that you know you ought not say.
    -Do not expect perfection from yourself or others. Be willing to give grace when others mess up and accept it when you do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've had tons of season friends and very few reason friends. My very best friends in the whole world are my husband and my mom.

    I had a sweatshirt that mildewed in the drawer. It was super thick material and I didn't realize it wasn't dry. I had to throw it out:(

    A big lesson I've learned:
    -Before you have kids don't talk about how you think kids should be raised/disciplined/potty trained, etc. You will have to eat your words someday! :)

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me SO happy! Go ahead...make my day. ;)

SEARCH THIS BLOG