Vignettes 5

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

We are aware of military and FBI rules of engagement. I believe these guidelines for life are worth considering and passing on to others:

1) Give people more than they expect - do it cheerfully (Super Spike).

2) Memorize your favorite poem.

3) Experience life! You should have to live before you can die. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have, nor sleep all you want.

4) When you say, "I love you," mean it.

5) When you say, "I’m sorry," look the person in the eye. Know that your relationships with loved ones are your most important accomplishments.

6) Believe in love at first sight, but don’t marry anyone you haven’t lived with and don’t know.

7) Life is a test. Promotion comes to those who take and pass each part. God will judge. No one else can take your test, nor be responsible for your failure.

8) Don’t laugh at dreams. People without them don’t have much (Almost Heaven).

9) You must play in order to win. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt, but it’s the only way to live life.

10) In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling. Speak in positive, not negative, terms.

11) Don’t judge people by their color, sex, nationality, size, faith, age, nor by their relatives.

12) Don’t kill anything you don’t have to.

13) Love something more than yourself. It is better to live for something than to die for it, but be willing to give your life for what truly matters to you.

14) Great love and great achievements involve great risk (worthy of incarceration).

15) Be hardheaded about your own beliefs without infringing on the right of others to believe as they will.

16) When you lose, remember the lesson.

17) Remember three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.

18) Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

19) When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

20) When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

21) Marry a person you love to talk to.

22) Spend some time alone, but remember you are never without God.

23) Open your mind to change, but don’t let go of what you know to be true in your heart.

24) Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. When you talk, tell the truth.

25) Read more Bible and watch less TV.

26) Live a good honorable life. When you’re older, you can think back and enjoy it a second time.

27) Laying down in the freeway is stupidity, not courage.

28) Do all you can to create a harmonious home. Bless your home and family against Satan.

29) In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the present issue, not what happened in the past.

30) Read between the lines. Don’t be overly gullible. Consider loyalty as honor.

31) Share your knowledge and skills. It’s a way to achieve immortality and enjoy what you’ve mastered.

32) Make it a point to secretly do something for someone as often as possible.

33) Pray. There’s immeasurable power in prayer - especially when it’s for someone else. Know when something is beyond your power to do.

34) Prioritize your day and don’t allow others to steal your time. Determine what is important to you and follow through to the end.

35) Mind your own business, but get involved when human rights are at risk.

36) Don’t live in the past; it’s not who you were, but who you are now.

37) Once a year, go somewhere you’ve never been before and take people you love with you.

38) If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others and store up treasure in heaven.

39) Remember, unanswered prayer is sometimes God’s best gift.

40) Rules are for the undisciplined. When you’re catching flak, you’re on target.

41) The best relationship is where your love is greater than your need for each other.

42) Judge success by what was surrendered in order to achieve it.

43) Your character is your destiny. Moral courage is greater than physical bravery.

44) Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

45) Remember the law of diminishing returns: you can try too hard. Apply the art of none striving.

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