Recently there has been a list going around on Facebook of “32 rules to teach your sons.” I’m not sure of their origin or who compiled them, but I wanted to share my 10 favorites here, that can apply to anyone.
More could be added; it’s not exhaustive by any means, but each of these made me think, which is a good thing! I’m resisting the temptation to dig more into each one, but for starters, here’s the list.
1.Write down your dreams.
2. Don’t enter a pool by the stairs.
3. When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
4. Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be.
5. Return a borrowed car with a full tank of gas.
6. Be like a duck: calm on the surface and paddling like crazy underneath.
7. After writing an angry email or text, read it carefully. Then delete it.
8. Give credit. Take the blame.
9. Write your own eulogy. Never stop revising.
10. REFUSE to just be ordinary!
The duck image stuck with me though. Maintaining our calm, no matter what happens. A parallel though in some ways flipped analogy describes the ocean in a storm: raging waves, howling winds, crashing thunder sliced by bolts of lighting, but below the surface is a deep calm and quiet.
I think that serenity, that calm and quiet base, is something that we have to form, and then defend. Only when we have that can we go through life as mature and resilient individuals, ready to weather the storm on the surface, when our calm beneath is fixed on God, the source of peace.
I love that image of the still depths in the heart beneath the storms that disturb the surface of life… I think St. Therese writes of that, and I hope to live with a heart anchored in deep peace!
The duck analogy reminds me of another quote which is something like, “Act as if everything depended on you, and pray as if everything depended on God.” God calls us to responsibility with our freedom like true adults, and to a total dependence on His power, like the true children we are of our heavenly Father!
I love “Don’t enter a pool by the stairs.” A.) That’s just sound advice for any boy spending his day poolside, but B.) it applies to so many aspects of life. If you’re going to do something, jump in! Commit and make it happen!
[…] few days ago I posted a list of 10 rules for life. Many of them merit a whole article for thought, bu this one stood out to me in a particular […]