Life's Lessons

My mom used to say that we learn something every day during our lives. I evidently took that to heart, because here I am, still in college.  I think she was talking about life lessons, though.  Those little nuggets of wisdom that come with age and experience.  I had one of those this past weekend.

Apparently, I need to stop posting facebook statuses about the weather. In the first place, I'm in the minority--I actually like winter. This is considered not cool by the summer-lovin' people I am surrounded by. In the second place, I can, at times, have a dry wit that not many people get. Truly, only a handful of people "get" me (and you know who you are).  So I made a sarcastic comment about the weather being too hot Saturday afternoon because it was warm enough in my car that I could have used the AC.  I didn't, mind you.  I just could have. Anyway, it started a string of comments that made me roll my eyes in disbelief.  I was being sarcastic.  Well, I was trying to.  It didn't go over well, and I finally deleted the whole post.  

Lesson learned: there is freedom of speech, but there are consequences that come with that freedom. We have to learn to weigh our need to be funny, or vent, or express ourselves against those consequences.  I realized that the image I had projected was not a positive one, even though I was trying to be funny. The scripture came to mind:

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8,9 (NLT)

So I need to stop and ask myself:  Is it good?  Is it necessary?  Will it cause friction or ill feelings if I mean it in jest but someone takes it seriously? I'm not saying I shouldn't joke about stuff.  In no way do I mean to imply that it was wrong to make a wisecrack.  I'm just saying, for me, that particular joke at that time wasn't prudent. 

In other news:  Homework.  That is what I have done all evening, not only tonight, but last night, and a lot of the weekend we just had.  This is my reason for being late on my blog posting this week.  I have deadlines to meet! It will all be over soon, though.  Only these 2 classes and then 2 classes this fall, then I graduate!  I'm closing in on a lifelong goal.

Now that's a positive note!  I think I'll end on that.