Blog 3630 – 10.11.2025

Getting The Most Out Of Life

What is the secret to getting the most out of life? According to Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, it is maintaining an attitude of gratitude or in the words of another wise woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, it is living with the sure and certain awareness that, “We call it the present because it is a gift.”

Christians in the southeastern United States especially, where I was born, grew up and have spent most of this almost seventy-five year adventure, often when asked, “How are you?” reply, “I’m blessed.” They mean that as a testimony to their faith in the tribal god of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims in particular, yet most seem ignorant of what the word “Blessed” really means. The writer of the first gospel in the New Testament, who does not give his name, in what has been called “the sermon on the mount”chapters five through seven, has Jesus delivering to a large crowd lessons in living. The sermon begins with a list of beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek for the shall inherit the earth…etc.”

In one of the more modern versions of the Bible that I recall reading when I attended Bible College fifty years ago translated the word “blessed” as “happy.” People who claim to be blessed should act happy.

In a nutshell what makes for a happy or blessed life? It is all about one’s attitude. It is said that the same winds that blow one ship upon the rocks enables another ship to maneuver safely into the harbor. It is not the wind that determines the ship’s course, but the positioning or attitude of the sails.

What I believe to be the most important beatitude of all Mathew, or whoever actually wrote the first gospel, has Jesus fail to mention. The secret to getting the most out of life, to having a truly blessed of happy life might be expressed by the missing beatitude that two very wise women taught me:

“Blessed are they who maintain an attitude gratitude for they shall recognize and appreciate this glorious daily gift that we call the present.”

Don’t hurry, and don’t worry – Be happy!

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bWBw3vc0w8q3e5I5mmXTlH0X3a-bZh49/view?usp=drivesdk

Don’t Worry Be Happy