Some more birthday

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So many thoughts

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As a young 21 - 22 year old senior in college, I drove around in my VW Golf, with a sign taped onto the glove box that said  "YOU ARE IN CONTROL."  Well, my fiance, soon to be husband, used to tease me and tell me that I needed to give birth to a "litter."  He was of the view that I had the same Type A personality that a cat has.  In his experience, cats mellowed out after they had their first litter.  This is not scientific mind you, just anecdotal.   I didn't mellow out any time soon, as I am sure the 4 step-children we had custody of within the first 6 months of our marriage can attest to.  I didn't mellow out for a long, long time.  Too long, in fact.  Bless those 4 beautiful children who had to endure my obsession to control them.  Not to be misunderstood, there were A LOT of things that we needed to get a handle on and control was the only way to go about it.  But I took farther than was necessary or healthy.  "Li...
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Measuring Success and Failures

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How do we measure success and failure? Grades A, B, C, D or F? Pass/fail. High scores on video games? The bigger number on a scoreboard at a sporting event? What about college entrance exam scores, admissions to prestigious universities. Am I successful if I have a lot of stuff?  A lot of money? The list goes on and on. How is success or failure measured in relationships? Is it as simple as good or bad? Is it based on how much contention, or how little contention? Divorce? Respect? Love? Do positive emotions have to be reciprocal to be considered a success? Does any of this resonate? How do we measure success as a parent? Successful children? What does that look like? Is there a reasonable measurement? Is it the same for everyone? Is there such a thing as religious success or failure? How would I be able to tell? Can someone measure it for me? Can I measure it for you? Can it be measured now, or do I have to wait until I die? Will “judgment day” show my success or failure?...
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On symbolism

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Symbolism uses one thing (or idea) to represent another thing (or idea). There is always “this” that stands in the place of “that.” The value of the symbol is in teaching about “that” by employing “this” as a teaching tool. .. In temple or religious symbolism, the “this” used has no real value, but “that” holds eternal value. If an unbelieving person obtains access to “this” temple or religious symbol, and then fails to understand its relationship to “that” which is spiritual or eternal, they have nothing of value. Likewise, when the symbol this has no meaning for those who believe in the spiritual or eternal (temple), then it fails to have any value for the believer as well. .. God frequently uses symbols to teach His highest truths. Christ used parables to teach about that by using the familiar to substitute as a representation. He explained that this was to prevent those who were unworthy of the symbol from comprehending the truths. Seeing, they "see not"...
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