Profoundly Loved & A Good Fence

I'd like to take a moment to thank Moriah Peters from Home on the Erie Canal for nominating me for the Profoundly Loved tag.  Below are Moriah's questions and my answers.    

1. Tell me about someone you love, and why.

I love my family. They are special and wonderful people.

2. What is one thing you do that makes you feel like "I could do this forever" when you do it?

Playing chess and bughouse. It's a good thing there aren't tournaments every day. If I could play in them every day, I'm sure I'd improve. I also might lose my sanity...but anyone who has ever watched medical commercials knows that every good thing has side effects.

3. What do you love about yourself?

First of all, my ability to think of a witty response to (almost) any question, and second, my incalculably great humility.

4. What advice would you give to someone who doesn't believe she/he is beautiful?

Beauty is relative, and strongly affected by the cultural experiences of the beholder. Here in the U.S. people get a good tan to look beautiful. When my grandmother lived in Thailand, she used whitening makeup to look pale, because that was thought beautiful in her culture (she would know; she was a beautician).

Here's an ad from a newspaper many years ago. Now freckles (which I'm blessed with) are just acceptable here, but in some parts of South America, freckles are considered both beautiful and exotic because few people have them.  Beauty standards are very different from one culture to the next and from one decade to the next. If one person or culture doesn't appreciate your beauty, another will.  And, of course, a beautiful heart is most important.

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God,

 an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.."  --2 Corinthians 5:1

5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about confidence?

The song, “Troubles may come from time to time, but I don't care, I'm not the worrying kind, for I've got confidence, God is going to see me through.  No matter what the case may be, He's going to fix it for me.”

6. If you were your own daughter, what advice would you give yourself?

A lively faith in God and a hearty sense of humor will see you through anything. Don't be afraid to be different.  Think for yourself, live free, and don't make excuses.

7. A verse, poem, sonnet, ancient-old proverb that inspires you to love yourself and others?

"Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 

and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." --Luke 10:27  

"He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good."  --Proverbs 19:8

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