And our first guest blogger...

Our first guest blogger is my "Almost Daughter In Law." It becomes official in October at Beaver Creek, Colorado. But for now she is just my dear friend. (You can find her own blog on my links to the left under "Laura.") Her name is "Laura" but she often goes by "Bella." Take it away, Bella...
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(disclaimer) Ron is busy...and I was asked to blog/ramble in his absence.

Recently I was being reminded of how much I miss taking undergrad classes. This is mostly because I recently started taking MBA courses and it has proven itself worthy of the debt it will surely cause me. During the 4 years of my undergrad degree I had the opportunity to take a lot of classes that allowed to become extremely introspective and a little more self aware than I had ever thought was allowed...or definitely needed. In my Interpersonal Communications class I shocked the professor who had assigned that we read a book called Discovering Your Strengths. After I read the book and took the 40 page personality test, it was calculated that my number one strength was "woo".....which is one of the rarest number one strengths to be assigned. Basically it just means that I "woo" people in to liking me, talking to me, getting me things...giving me more than passing grades for less than passing effort.

Perhaps the best piece of introspection that I ever got from one of these classes (that didn't inspire me to convince some other poor soul to do something ridiculous for me...just for the sake of taking my new "woo" for a test drive) was the topic of values in my Ethics class. Oddly enough the class was taught by the campus lawyer. I never let him forget the irony in that.... The truly ironic part was that he was actually very good at teaching us on the truth behind ethics and values. One of the most dynamic (yet simplistic) things that came out of that semester for me was him saying "Values are not by definition the things that we believe or show priority....or the things that we say we believe or say we show priority.....they are the things that we SHOW we believe and we GIVE priority to".

For some reason or the other that truth for me had never really felt so tangible. I had a long list of things I had labeled as "my values". Church, school, family, friends....blah blah blah. The values that would make me seem most normal....most inconspicuous....least controversial. No one wants to realize that the thing they feel they prioritize more than anything in their life is their Tivo...or their sleep schedule....or their money. Everyone believes that because they love their family or friends or their church....that it automatically becomes a value..... But where is the action? What makes it true?

Who wants to be the first one to say...."yes I believe that my Christianity is something I base all of my values on....yet I spend most if not all of my money before I can tithe...I waste all of my time on 'life' before I read the Word or pray....and I don't plan on giving up the fight for MY will even after I ask God to show me His...". I never thought of "values" as being such an action word....not just a state of mind. It's like saying "I'm so grateful I have the full use of my legs..." and then never getting out of a wheelchair. It's incredibly handicapping.

This wasn't really shocking to anyone else in my class....but for some reason it really took me by surprise. My values are more than a list I write down during some boring lecture. They are what I do with my day. They are how I choose to talk to people. They are how I interpret and apply the Word of God. I hope and pray I never find myself in that proverbial (and metaphorical) wheelchair....that state of mind when you realize you are nothing less than a fake....unbeknownst to even yourself.

I hope my values are a testament to my list....and that the list is NOT a testament to my ignorance.

Gods love, the LORD's grace and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you...
Bella