Wisdom Archives - Page 42 of 49

On a Wing and a Prayer

March 3, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 1 comment

Have you ever made it home on a wing and a prayer?

Your airplane starts shaking.
You see smoke from one wing.
The fasten seatbelt light comes on.
The captain says he will have to make an emergency landing.
You begin to pray.

On a wing and a prayer applies to more than airplanes.

However, it first described damaged planes. According to The Phrase Finder, the expression began during World War II. It means “in poor condition but just managing to get the job done.”

The song “On a Wing and a Prayer,” written in 1943, described a damaged warplane barely able to return to base. The movie Wing and a Prayer followed in 1944.

On a wing and a prayer offers hope.

Whatever becomes damaged in our lives can still be used. Like the World War II pilots:

We use the resources we have.
We pray for God’s direction in how to use them.
We finish our task.

We all face difficulties. We all have scars, whether seen or unseen. Those scars remind us we can heal and grow stronger from our experiences.

“Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me! For in you I have taken shelter. In the shadow of your wings I take shelter until trouble passes” (Psalm 57:1 NET).

Thank you to Debbie Tapscott for both the suggested expression and the photo.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

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Haste Makes Waste

February 24, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Speed works well on a race track but can cause problems other places. My parents and grandparents often said haste makes waste.

A few people can complete tasks quickly and well. Most of us need to take our time. A slow but steady pace usually means a safer and better outcome.

When we rush, we waste time and effort.

We may have to repeat our task, because we did not do it right the first time.

Think about the potential problems.

Lives injured or lost when we drive too fast
Tests failed when we rush our answers
Money wasted when we invest in get-rich-quick schemes

Who wants:

A doctor who won’t take time to answer questions?
An attorney who skips reading the evidence for a trial?
A cook who serves food before it’s done?

As John Wooden said, “If you do not have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?”

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5 NIV).

Special thanks to Lisa Despain for the photo.

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Watch Your Back

February 17, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 0 Comment

Teachers in self-defense classes tell us “Watch your back.”

We don’t have eyes in the back of our heads, so how do we do that? We watch our backs by:

Avoiding danger
Verifying information
Preparing for problems

With electronics, we watch our backs by backing up our information.

If you want to keep it, back it up. Computers, smart phones, tablets, and other devices fail for several reasons.

Age
Malware
Theft
Accidents

Without backup, I would have recently lost all my documents and photos. Trust me; that’s one of a writer’s worst nightmares. I was thankful I had backed up my information more than one way. Pay attention to the warning, better safe than sorry.

Caring adults watch the backs of children.

Randi and Callie enjoy playing at the beach. So do their parents. Yet, Mom and Dad constantly watch the girls’ backs.

They protect them.
They guide them.
They set the right example – the footprints – for the girls to follow.

Watch your back. Watch the backs of others.

Follow the right footprints.

“Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you’” (Matthew 24:4 NIV).

Thanks to Shannan Posey for the photo and Laurel Blevins for the suggestion.

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Puppy Love

February 10, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Puppy Love 1 Puppies are cute, sweet, and make us smile. The same is true for puppy love — children or young people falling in love. We smile at puppy love, but we know it seldom lasts.

The problem: Puppy love depends on emotions alone — how do I feel?

If you make me feel good, I love you.
If you make me feel bad, I don’t love you.
If we have fun, I love you.
If we don’t have fun, I don’t love you.

As a result, young people may fall in and out of love several times.

Sadly many adults define love the same way.

The trouble with that thinking:

Good feelings come and go.
Life is not always fun.

True love – lasting love – means much more.

I choose to love you.
I commit my life to you.
I will do what is best for you.

That does not mean love is blind. It does mean:

I accept that no one is perfect.
I will work with you on our disagreements.
I love you, even when I don’t like you or your actions.

In any relationship we sometimes feel on top of the world. Other times we feel like we are in a valley. True love says, “I will walk with you wherever the journey takes us.”

Love is a choice. Love is a verb.

Note: If abuse occurs in a relationship, seek help and protection immediately.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

What do you think true love means? Please comment.

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Bucket List

February 3, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Do you have a bucket list — a list of things you want to do before you die?

I checked riding in a hot air balloon off my list over a year ago.

People have talked about bucket lists for years. However, the expression became more popular after 2007’s The Bucket List movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

The two men in the movie met when they became hospital roommates. Doctors told both they were dying. They had very different backgrounds and personalities. Yet, they began a worldwide adventure together. As they completed each activity on their bucket list, they marked it off.

In one of my favorite scenes from that movie, Morgan Freeman urges Jack Nicholson to find his joy.

Have you found your joy?

Do you know what gives your life purpose?

Our bucket lists may differ. Our circumstances may change. Our need for joy remains the same.

Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 TLB).

What’s on your bucket list?

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Kick the Bucket

January 27, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

"Wild Bill" Hickok, Mt. Moriah Cemetery "Boot Hill" — “Wild Bill” Hickok, Mt. Moriah Cemetery “Boot Hill”

The literal meaning of kick the bucket sounds harmless. However, the idiom fills many people with fear.

When we kick the bucket, we die.

Kick the bucket may have started when hanging was a common method of execution. Sometimes criminals stood on a bucket while the rope went around their necks. Another person then kicked the bucket out from under their feet.

Many people rather not talk about death.

Perhaps that’s why we use so many idioms instead:

Push up daisies
Bite the dust
Croak
Pass away
Depart this life
Meet our Maker
Go to our reward
Fade away
Breathe our last
Laid to rest

We have many more, but you get the idea.

We avoid a hard truth by the words we choose.

Notice how western movies describe death. Like “Wild Bill” Hickok, cowboys are laid to rest with their boots on and their heads pointed west. Whatever the words, they remain graveyard dead.

Death is a natural part of life.

As Dr. L. Nelson Bell said “Only those who are prepared to die are really prepared to live.”

If we prepare to meet our Maker, we need not fear.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (1 Corinthians 15:55 and Philippians 1:21 NET).

Next week we will look at the related but more popular expression, bucket list.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

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Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

January 20, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 1 comment

Are you a chief cook and bottle washer?

In your home?
At work?
In your club?
In other organizations?

If you answer yes to the following questions, you qualify.

Are you in charge of almost everything?
Do you complete most of the work yourself?
Are your tasks important but routine?
Do you often wish for more help?

We can easily complain if we have the role of chief cook and bottle washer. Perhaps, however, we need to look at our responsibilities a different way.

Think about people whose health will not allow them to work.
Express gratitude for our abilities.
Thank those whose help we receive.
Train others to perform similar tasks.
Request help when we need it. People are willing to help more often than we realize.

For all those chief cook and bottle washers out there, thank you. For everyone else, lend those special people a helping hand.

“Blessings on you if I return and find you faithfully doing your work” (Matthew 24:46 TLB).

Thank you to Brad Montgomery for the photo of sweet Savannah, a chief cook and bottle washer in training. Thank you to Rebecca Stafford, a longtime chief cook and bottle washer, for suggesting this expression.

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Music to My Ears

January 13, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

Rain on a tin roof sounds like music to my ears. So do waterfalls and ocean waves. Water from each of those refreshes the earth. Their sounds refresh my soul.

What sounds like music to your ears?

• A child’s laughter?
• A teacher’s praise?
• A loved one’s voice?

Like beautiful music, they fill us with joy.

If we long for those sounds, why don’t we create them more often?

• Give a child or adult a reason to laugh.
• Praise others when they do well.
• Speak words of love.

At the same time, let’s avoid harmful sounds.

• Abusive language and actions
• Gossip
• Words of hatred

In a world filled with negatives, let’s offer something positive. May our words, actions, and attitudes fill the hearts of everyone we meet with the sound of music.

“I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin” (Psalm 39:1 NIV).

What sounds like music to your ears? Please comment below.

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Fair to Middling

January 6, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

I love Midway Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. Like the name suggests, it sits in the middle of the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins. However, it definitely is not fair to middling. It:

Steams, spews, and stinks
Changes constantly
Never disappoints its visitors.

Unlike Midway Geyser Basin, when we say we are fair to middling, we mean:

I’m not wonderful.
I’m not bad.
I’m in the middle of those two feelings.

Nothing horrible happens. Nothing great happens. We live, but little more.

Who wants to live like that?

Of course, we all have those days, but we hope they don’t last long.

We want to feel well. We want to wake each day ready to jump out of bed and go.

Often we get this fair to middling feeling because we fail to give life our all. We hold back because we fear failure. Yet, we all fail.

The greatest baseball players have more strikes than homeruns.
The greatest actors frequently forget their lines.
The greatest teachers occasionally have to say, “I don’t know.”

Let’s give life our best. Let’s not rob ourselves of opportunities and adventure. Living every day for all it is worth does not mean constant activity. It does mean squeezing every possible benefit from that day. That may mean staying busy as a bee. It may also mean taking a nice long rest.

Regardless of our circumstances, let’s move beyond fair to middling. Let’s choose to live a full life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

Special thanks to Judith Coopy for suggesting this expression.

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Empty Nest

December 30, 2014 Diana Derringer Comments 0 Comment

This empty nest was once a happy home for a mama bird and her babies. They lived in the gutter on one corner of our front porch.

We first saw the nest after the mama bird had laid her eggs. We left the nest until the eggs hatched and the baby birds flew away. Mama bird also left once her nest was empty.

That’s the way nature works. Before birth and soon after, children need extra care. As they grow stronger, they do more on our own. They learn how to survive without their parents.

How to work
How to get along with others
How to take care of their daily needs
How to have fun

Eventually most children fly away – they leave home to begin a new life.

When children leave home, parents have an empty nest. They must also begin a new stage in life. While everyone may enjoy visits, they know life moves forward. To be most effective, parents must move forward too.

Each life stage is different. Each life stage is good.

“Even the birds find a home there, and the swallow builds a nest, where she can protect her young near your altars, O LORD who rules over all, my king and my God” (Psalm 84:3 NET).

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

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