A Thought-Provoking Sunday Stealing

I'm joining in with Bev and the gang of thieves at Sunday Stealing today.  Our hostess, Bev, has this to say:

Hi! I'm your host Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

From Thought-Provoking Questions

1. Is it more important to love or be loved?  As one who believes the Bible is the true and unfailing Word of God, I believe both are important. We have the most perfect love of all in that God first loved us. Then He tells us to love others as we love ourselves. To me that means we have to love ourselves first so we know how to love others. And of course the loving of others is very important. Jesus certainly stressed and repeated it enough to make that clear. I guess, ultimately, I'd have to say loving others is the most important. We need to do that even if we never receive love from anyone else other than God (though His love should be more than enough).

2. If you had the chance to go back in time and change one thing would you do it?  No. Who knows how the present might be altered by changing that one thing? It makes me think of Garth Brooks' song The Dance, when he sings "I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would go, because I could have missed the pain, but then I'd have missed the dance."

3. If a doctor gave you five years to live, what would you try to accomplish?  I'd get my affairs in order, spend as much time as I could with my family, and just fill every minute with as much living and loving as I could.

4. What is the difference between innocence and ignorance?  Not a lot if you go by the dictionary definitions. They are synonyms meaning a lack of knowledge. Most people seem to think of innocence meaning a lack of any cunning or forethought and ignorance as somehow being willful in intent.

 

5. What is the simplest truth you can express in words?  Jesus loves you.

6. What gives your life meaning?  My faith and relationship with God, my family, and my work.

7. Can there be happiness without sadness?  Pleasure without pain?  Peace without war?  I suppose there certainly could be, but how would we recognize it? Without something to compare it to, how would we know we were happy, pain-free, or at peace?

8. What’s the one thing you’d like others to remember about you at the end of your life?  That I loved as much as I could, showed kindness, and forgiveness.

9. Is there such a thing as perfect?  Not here on earth. Perfection is found in heaven, in God and Jesus Christ.

10. What do you love most about yourself?  I am very forgiving.

11. Is it more important to do what you love or to love what you are doing?  If you love what you're doing...aren't you doing what you love?

12. What do you imagine yourself doing ten years from now?  I'd like to think I'll be retired and enjoying my family and friends, but who knows. Tomorrow isn't promised. 

13. What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget? I'll always remember the older business man who sat by me on a flight from Florida to PA when my son was a baby. He was so kind...putting my carry-on in the overhead compartment and getting it down, buying me a soda and offering to buy a snack. He was just very watchful over us, like a father or grandfather. I appreciated it so much and it made the flight a lot easier. 

 

14. To what degree have you controlled the course your life has taken?  I've definitely made a few major choices that have determined my course, but there have been times when I've felt I had no control over what was going on.

15. If you looked into the heart of your enemy, what do you think you would find that is different from what is in your own heart?  The absence of the love of God.