"Gary-isms"
By Gary L. Clendenon
(Inspired by My Men's Group)
#1-10 (c) 2012 / #11-22 (c) 2017 / #23-30 (c) 2019 / #31-40 (c) 2020-21
1. Life is messy. Attempts to ignore, change, or not accept this truth will lead to insanity (1).
2. Life, because it is messy, is best lived with an extravagent, abundance of grace towards ourselves and everyone we encounter.
3. Perfection has already been achieved. Knowing this, we are free to be exactly who we are as we grow in wisdom and maturity.
4. Black-and-white living is safe and easy, but limiting. Adding “shades of gray” helps, but why not embrace and experience the full-rainbow-spectrum of beautiful, bold, bright, bodacious, bountiful colors life has to offer?
5. There is a god, and I am not it! I get to choose my “Higher Power”, but thousands of years of History have shown that choosing oneself as God doesn't end well.
6. Life is hard. God is good. Keeping these two truths separate can save one from a lot of confusion. (9)
7. It's easy to have expert answers when examining other people's problems. Be careful. Good intentions aside, often what we are really saying is “Here's some advice that I'm not using. Why don't you try it out?”
8. Love is the answer. I triple-dog-dare you to show me any eternal good that hate, arrogance, power, control, force, or domination have brought about. Without love, there is no good. Without love, what purpose has life?
9. You will love your neighbor as yourself. For your neighbor's sake, please learn to love yourself well!
10. When you are by yourself and feel lonely, it may very well be because you don't like the person you are with! [Pause for that to sink in] Yes, that's yourself, and the good news is that you can change that!
11. Cannabinoids are a nearly perfect solution for many, if not most, health problems! (The fibers of the plants are a nearly perfect solution for many industrial problems!) (2)
12. “Hell is a state of mind!” (Original quote: C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce)
13. “Hell is a Satanic plot!” (3)
14. GOD will use any means necessary to get a message through to us—even if it's a dumb ass—so . . . pay attention! Look for GOD everywhere! (4)
15. There is only one set of beliefs in the world that contain the story of a Creator who loved the people He created so much that He stooped so low as to become one of them just to show them how to live and love as He intended. True or not, it’s a story I find worth believing; for in all my life, I have heard no better, no greater, no more outrageous story of love than this! (5)
16. I played basketball for 30 years before I realized this powerful, yet simple fact: The reason I kept hitting the front of the rim is because that is where I was looking! . . . I know, life-changing, right!?
17. Five things you would be wise to fully take in if you truly wish to understand what is going on in the political world:
1. 1984, by George Orwell
2. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
3. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
4. Wag the Dog, 1997 movie
5. Enemy of the State, 1998 movie
18. Whether you push it 10 times or just once, the crosswalk light will still change at the same time—and no sooner!
19. Regarding the water in the glass, as a recovering “Misery Addict”, I have adopted the following affirmation to counter my default negative tendency: “I choose to view the world as a wonderful place of joy, beauty, and love.” (6)
20. The best way that I've found to maintain a state of True Peace and Serenity is to always forgive myself and others. The Hawaiians call this state “pono” and the process “Ho'oponopono”. (7)
21. A person who believes in no conspiracy theories does not understand the Nature nor Reality of the World.
22. GOD's Name is: “I AM”. It is the most powerful name in the Universe. (8) Therefore, we would be wise to think very carefully about what words we choose to use after the words “I am ____.” For with these words, in GOD’s Name, we create our Future!
23. If God is “Our Father”, then He must also be “Our Mother”. For both Adam and Eve were created in “the image of God”. Word!
24. The GOD of the Universe, Creator of Everything, has a poster on His wall that says, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If not, it wasn’t meant to be.” Ironically, this is also the answer to the question: “Why does a God of Love allow evil and suffering in the World?”
25. Think your life boring, mundane, or uninteresting? Remember that all interesting and exciting stories are just the highlights of other people’s otherwise boring, mundane, and uninteresting lives. The highlights of your life told well will be miraculous story after story of GOD’s loving intervention! (10)
26. Since Love is the answer (see Gary-ism #8), then why isn’t teaching “Love” the primary focus in our schools and in our churches. If Love is so important, then shouldn’t there be classes and sermons and weekend seminars and weekly groups in our schools and churches all teaching us how to Love! (11)
27. I believe that since Love is the answer (see Gary-ism #8), then then the greatest songs in the world are “Love songs”. Have you ever listened to a love song as if GOD were singing of His/Her Love for you and believed it? Wow! And then try singing one back! (Doing this changed my life!)
28. “No, I’m not picking my nose! I’m cleaning my air filter.” ;)
29. I have learned over the years that being “right” and making others “wrong” does not lead to loving relationships. (12)
30. It’s been said that we live in the “Information Age”. I am convinced that we have passed through that into the “Dis-information Age”! (c) 2020
31. Saying that "Truth" is relative is no more truer than saying Natural or Scientific Laws are relative. What is relative is one's understanding of "Truth". (c) 2011 (Deep Thoughts #86)
32. All you have to do to be lost . . . is nothing! (c) 1980’s
33. If you must compare yourself to someone else, always choose someone less fortunate than you. (c) 2020 (13)
34. As I've aged, I've gone from agile to fragile! On the eve of my 60th birthday, August 17, 2020.
35. From my English Teaching days: "Writing works best when you don't write a sentence longer than you can properly punctuate!"
36. Regarding "Racism": We completely get off on the wrong foot when the color we use to label those with darker skin is the same color used in symbolism, culture, and religion to refer to evil! I propose we all start off on a much better footing by calling those with darker skins "chocolates". Seriously, who doesn't love chocolate? (14)
37. "As the stop light warns us of an upcoming change in our journey, so the gradual change of the leaves on trees—from green, to yellow, and then to red—is nature's signal to humanity that summer has come to an end." ~ September 26, 2009 (Deep Thought #637)
38. GOD’s plan for our lives is the original GPS navigation system. GOD’s Planning System (G.P.S.) has an ideal “Plan A” for our lives and He recommends that route to us. When we get off course, there is no limit to GOD’s ability to continue to re-route our journeys. He always says, “No worries. I’ll get you there, and in the best possible way!”
39. I define “Evangelism” as the message of the Angel (evANGELism): “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) I say, “If there ain’t no joy in what we share, then it’s not true evangelism!”
Footnotes:
1. Just to be clear, by “Insanity”, I mean “Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.”
2. I don't endorse smoking of Cannabis.
3. For an excellent biblical description of Hell, see Rob Bell's book: Love Wins. Or, here’s the Best Short Sermon video I’ve seen: https://youtu.be/1jQynly53yY
4. See: Numbers 22:28, Luke 19:40.
5. This is the “Short Version” of “My Creed”
6. Affirmation from Quantum Techniques (https://www.quantumtechniques.com/what-quantum-techniques)
7. Ho'oponopono is best done daily. For more on this process, (http://www.huna.com/process-of-hooponopono/)
8. God's Hebrew Name has been considered so holy and sacred that many won't speak it.
9. First 3 words of M. Scott Peck’s excellent book The Road Less Traveled are “Life is difficult”. Peck calls this “one of the greatest truths”! (“Life is hard. God is good.” was also inspired by Pam Thum’s beautiful song!)
10. Inspired by “Deep Thoughts #42” (See Facebook https://www.facebook.com/notes/gary-l-clendenon/deep-thoughts-42-remember-that-42-is-the-answer-to-the-question-what-is-the-mean/437212151214/ )
11. I do know of an awesome weekend seminar that teaches “Love”. If you are interested, contact me or visit http://foundations1.com/
12. I am most grateful to the Foundations Seminars for their very direct teaching of this principle. (See #11)
13. After I came up with this, I found this: “Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow humans. It then appears that we are among the privileged.” ~ Helen Keller
14. The flip side of this coin is we also need to re-frame the name we use to label lighter skinned folk with a color not naturally associated with purity, goodness, and holiness! I propose that we call those with lighter skin “Vanillas”.
15. This high standard of “Love your enemies” was set by Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:43-48).
