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That’s One Way to Get Cross Country
I spent the last half of the 90s living in Grand Marais, and as I’ve mentioned before on this blog my family regularly returns. One of the things I’ve done regularly up north is cross country skiing, the cousins would pass down equipment, or we’d borrow equipment from my grandparents lodge. I’ve never been stellar at it, but between being with family, exercising and the beautiful location, it’s a real treat. My family usually stays as a group to encourage each other and we discover new trails together. I like that its a good challenge. #crosscountry
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On the Road Again
Road trips require a lot of patience. Something I’m not usually as good at. But family road trips in the past have led to some great experiences, so I think having that in mind helps. My family still enjoys heading to Grand Marais for holidays/various weekends. The trip is long but the trip provides many beautiful views, various experiences. Road trips mean you get a chance to slow down in life even though you’re probably speeding down the highway. See with road trips you can know what the wait will bring and that the wait is valuable. This is different from other times where you have to practice patience in…
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Checking My List, Twice
Some people are arguing for not buying as much at Christmas, saying there’s a lot of gifts that go without much use after the holiday. I get this but here’s my solution, go a little more practical with your requests so family will at least have an idea of what to buy if they insist, or encourage kids (of any age) to be thinking about what they may want for a little larger portion of the year. Lately I’ve been asking for home items, and add-ons/accessories for items I already own. Then there’s the giving side of things. I always ask my family what they want and if its specific,…
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Give Grace
This is hard. Grace is something we all can receive through Christ but its something that can be very hard to share with others in return. My suspicion is the primary element that makes this hard is because it often feels unfair to us. We don’t want to forgive some for something they did wrong. Grace requires us to forgive and let grudges go. Even then its that later one that is truley gut wrenching because we want to be able to make up for past actions or hold things against people in our own favors. Grace can be hard to give, but because God has given it to us,…
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Income Upping the Ante
If you make a lot you’ll spend accordingly. That’s an observation made on the Praxis podcast “Forward Tilt”. It means that you’ll up your standard of living according to what you currently make, even if it isn’t sustainable. Its hard for me to see so many other people my age going on various trips, out to eat all the time, or buying designer items. That being said, I remind myself that what they’re used to at 23 or so will predictably only grow over time, and become more expensive habits. That and I don’t need the latest handbag, I’ve already been to another continent, and homecooking is usually better for you…
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Do you Love to Win or Hate to Lose?
I was challenged the other night by a friend with this question that he said he had heard in an interview. I’ll admit I thought about it for a minute, but when he mentioned his answer it almost immediately made sense. He said he loves to win, because this mentality helps him appreciate the little victories. It also helps him with the rejection he gets as a salesman. I want to have this mentality more. It means seeing the small victories in life and keeping a more positive attitude overall. Loving winning means you’re striving for a better goal, and you’ll be more likely to see the good progress along the…
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Generally a Bad Option
I try not to generalize. Its quite often not very fair to people. Generalizing not only usually involves making a lot of assumptions but also judging people based on a few key elements. Generalizing can often paint a more extreme version of a person, good or bad. Whether you start seeing someone through rose-colored glasses, or a negative outlook, it’s not good. This is because it’s not the whole truth. Seeing a real (because an actor’s characters don’t count, but the actor does) person as something else is a bit of a lie. Also if you lump someone with a whole group you leave out what makes a person unique…
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Cold Turkey
Quitting things is hard even if its tiny habits like looking at your phone in bed, or eating candy. I imagine that a lot of people wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s been helpful to me in the past, that is, quitting something cold turkey. The ideas is that by quitting it completely is that you don’t have leeway to over do your limits, and that you can realize stark differences in your habits/lifestyle with certain changes. The first time I can remember trying it with food was with a mediocre snack cake, it was something my family kept in the pantry and we all liked it too much. So one day I…
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What’s Behind the Tradition
I went to senior high Sunday school with my youth group student’s this morning. We actually watched a film made for kids much younger but it had some very helpful elements for explaining the traditions we have at Christmas. First off was explaining the name Christmas, this comes from early, mostly Catholic, churches celebrating Christ’s Mass which celebrated Christ’s birth, Christmas simply combines the two words. As for the chopped down tree in your house, that comes from a German tradition where people had been worshipping a maple tree, but then Christian missionaries where able to convert them and then encouraged them to use the fir tree as a symbol…
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White Elephant
Everyone who’s been to a white elephant party knows that although the gifts aren’t always intrinsically valuable, the funniness/goofiness/oddness of the gifts makes the experience of the exchange valuable, and often times people find value in things other people don’t. Mind you some gifts at these kinds of exchanges are still quite dumb, or useless. It really goes back to the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, and “value is in the eye of the beholder”. Preferences are different between different people, and I believe this game challenges what value can be to a certain extent. People are unique obviously and so are their senses of humor, and their…
