my mottos

So I have three mottos for life. So far.

1. The first I adopted while in high school, prompted by classic rock. Stick it to the man. It's not very deep, but it is fun.

2. This next motto I took directly from Alex and Brett over at the Rebelution. Do hard things. They have a great description of the philosophy, but my take on it is this. We have the ability to do anything in the world; God has created us for amazing purposes. He sees our lives in entirety; sees the accomplishments of which we are capable.

Diatribe time. Ok. So I've heard it millions of times. "Everything just came together, so I knew it was God's will." And, "Nothing was working out, so I knew it wasn't God's will." My response is: Why would the Almighty use easiness to reveal his will? This makes no sense. When has he ever done this? I hear mature Christians using this rhetoric, but I reject it.

3. My third motto comes from an unlikely source. I usually don't like Steve Martin, not because I object to his comedy, but because his face looks like he's perpetually sucking on limes. Yet because of his mastery of different types of art, and his rocky road to stardom, others respect him. And their respect is good enough for me. Be so good they can't ignore you. This one is the material of commencement speeches. It's simple, so people can tell others later what you said. And it's concise, so the relatives don't doze. I mean, if someone asked you to define success, could you come up with something this good?


My post-resolutions goal is to focus on these things now. Much more important than tracking spending.