Always learning

Sorry - no new pictures this week. It has been a bit crazy (when is it not...) but the weather has been fairly grey, so we didn't really take any pictures this week.

Well, it is good to have the election behind us. I know that about 46% of you are less than thrilled by the outcome and about 52% are pleased. Regardless of whether it went your way or not, have you prayed for our leaders this week - both the outgoing and incoming? It doesn't have to be much but every bit counts. Thanks.

One of the great things about life is that there is always something to learn and great people from which we can learn. Take our parents. My dad and mom are celebrating 50 years of marriage today! (Don't they look great!)

What a wonderful milestone and inspiration. Not to say that mom and dad are perfect - they would be the first to admit it. But they have learned, through good times and bad, to work at their marriage. They never gave up. They show that a marriage full of love, grace, forgiveness is a source of some of the greatest blessings in life. I am so proud of them. Well done Dad and Mom!
I have also learned something rather fundemental recently; something that I thought I had mastered over forty years ago. It is tying my shoes. Okay, so not the greatest revelation in life but interesting none the less. I have always tied my shoes using the "bunny ear" method. I still remember learning to tie my shoes watching the Romper Room show. I remember running into my parents bedroom and showing them! They were so loving - we could always run to them with something we discovered and they would patiently listen. If you are unfamiliar with the "bunny ears" method, the bow is made by taking two loops and tying them like a half-knot. Anyway, I have always suffered from shoelaces that come untied easily. I just thought it was the way life is - BUT I WAS WRONG! I had a colleague here at school tell me that the standard shoe knot (you know - single ear, wrap around and through) was a tighter and better knot than the old bunny ear method. So, I tried it. I did one shoe with the bunny ear and one with the standard. I went back and forth on which method was better - the knots still came untied. Then I had an epiphany - it wasn't the bunny ear verses the standard method at all: after all of these years that the reason for my loose knots was the dreaded Granny Knot! I was not tying a square knot Me! Ex-Boy Scout, Ex-shoe repairman, Ex-Army Staff Sargent, with a university Computer Science degree! I know - it is so hard to believe. By starting my bunny ears with a left-over-right tie instead of a right-over-left, I have graduated to the life of nary a loose shoe. I feel more complete in life. If my admission, as hard as it has been, helps just one other person to live a better life, then my work is done.

Another interesting thing that I have learned living here in Germany is about the german view of community service. At Rhein International Academy, we have hot lunches provided by the local meals-on-wheels organization. It is a secondary service they provide which works well for us. We get good, well rounded meals at a reasonable cost and the students LOVE anytime we have pasta. Our normal delivery guy is about 19-20 years old and he is performing his obligitory service in Germany. You see, every german national is required to serve two years after the equivalent of High School (there are three different types of high school, but I won't get into that). This service can either be in the military or in another form of service - working in a hospital, state-retirement facility, etc. They are paid (not sure how much) but it must be enough to live on. After two years of service, people are free to pursue university or other profession. I don't know how difficult this would be to implement in the U.S., but it seems to me that this type of service would be good for us as a nation. It might help us stop and think that there is a bigger good worth serving outside of ourselves. It is in many ways a secular version of a very Godly precept - to love and serve others. Something we don't always get right even as followers of Christ.

So, learn from your parents successes. Listen to your peers. Take what is good from others' examples. Look for God in others. Live well.