Life's Precious Synergies

Have you ever spent your time encouraging someone even though they never did the same for you? Have you ever done a job that deserved a lot of thanks only to find it was a "thankless" effort? Well, I have and it stinks but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes. What I've learned is to expect the unexpected and that not all people are as thankful for you as others may be -- and that's okay.

One of my college professors at ACU said, "Most people are too busy thinking about themselves to really think too in depth about anyone else." On any given occasion people are thinking about things like their job, or how tired they are, or what they are going to wear the next day, etc. Teenagers are found to be very self-conscious. They tend to "think about what other's (i.e., their peers) are thinking" such as, "Oh, I know everyone notices what I wear every day," and/or "Everyone sees me and wants to be me". Ah teenage years -- how I don't miss those vain days! Though difficult, it is really a treasure to find someone who takes some of their time to think of you...

When someone thinks of me, and shows me they are thankful for me, I realize the importance of holding on to them (not physically, just ideologically) -- Why would anyone want to let something so rare like that slip through their fingers anyway? We each spend so much time thinking about and dealing with our own lives that, when we actually do take the time to think of someone else or someone else takes their time to think of us, it becomes a truly precious thing. Six billion people are in this world right now who can easily turn away from us, never taking the time to know or care for us, but then there are those few people, called friends or family, who inevitably cross our paths and lend us their open arms -- NEVER throw them away! They are as precious as a rare gem -- more better a find than gold.

- Holly