Longevity

I grew up working to help pay for my college education. Whenever I had a job, starting when I was in elementary school and working as a looper on a tobacco harvester, I was expected to save most of what I earned to help with school.
From looping I went on to get my water safety instructor rating, and my cpr rating and life-guarded and taught swimming lessons to children and adults.
These years of having worked at a military pool, with strict rules for safety and cleanliness, come into play when I am “guarding” the little ones swimming in my own backyard pool. They are not supposed to run, or hide under big flotation devices. They are not allowed to go in the deep end unless I am watching. I will let them play in the shallow end if I am weeding in the back yard where I can see them however.
Recently Damon has learned how to do flips on a gymnastic type mat. He is quite good actually and is small and light on his feet. One day when he showed me something without telling me what he was going to do, he did a flip on the ground where there was no mat under him and he hurt himself. Once I realized that he was learning to do flips, I explained that it was necessary to do them with a mat underneath and he agreed.
Then later in the day, when he was out in the pool and asked me to watch him “dive”, he did another flip off the side of the pool.
My life-guarding instincts kicked in and I was so grateful that he jumped out far enough to not hit the side of the pool. Again I explained that we do not have a diving board and that his feet can slip on the side so that it is not a good idea. He looked disappointed that I would not let him do it again, but I really felt like it was not safe.
In the meantime, he was practicing doing flips in the water and was getting really good at it.
I went out of town for two weeks to see my mom and when I got back, Damon again wanted to show me a “Dive”, which turned out to be a flip.
My daughter was there watching and she seemed unperturbed by his dive as if I had never had a rule that flips were not allowed. My husband walked into the house and no one would explain to me how my “standards” were being ignored.
I have to say I was not very happy about this…and I said to my daughter that “I spent many years of my life as a lifeguard keeping kids safe and that my rules were there for good reasons” . My daughter just listened.
When no one around us seems to be listening to us, or seems to care what we think, that is when I talk to God. I call it prayer.
“God” I said, “what the hell is wrong with these people…Don’t they know that letting this kid do flips on the side of the pool is dangerous”????
I was surprised by what God said back to me. God said “this is my child” “I am watching him”.
That is when I realized that if I really believed God was running the universe, and the climate, and the birds and the flowers, then I should be able to trust that God had put this little boy with parents that were taking good care of him and that I did not have to micromanage that situation. I had made a valid point, but ultimately, his parents were in charge and I trusted God and I trusted his parents.
So I called the next morning and apologized to my daughter. I do trust God and I do trust his direction. The enforcement of Laws that do not take into account individual circumstances, and the environment at that time, are useless. I did not want to be enforcing a rule that perhaps was not applicable to this particular child in this particular circumstance and I was going to trust my daughter and her husband.
What a relief to let go of feeling like it was all up to me…the safety and well being of this child.
I think that this happens to all of us in many ways.
For example, I met a lady while at my mothers, who was living in a home with someone she was not married to. The individual listed at her address had purchased more than 183 properties, and seemed to be linked with ideologies that were communist, comparing Chinese youth to American youth and saying that the cultures and opportunities for growth and entrepreneurship were equal and very similar in both countries.

The parameters for this person’s belief systems seemed to be shaped, according to their bio., by the World Economic Forum, the EU, and the UN and their “one world government” plans. I wondered why was this person buying up so many properties
This SEEMED like something that needed to be addressed, the same way that I thought that Damon doing flips needed to be addressed.

But I decided to take the “Trust God” approach. I realized that in trusting and having faith in God, it is good to value the youth in all countries. (even though the youth in China have been reduced due to forced abortions for years). I was grateful that China had removed the limitations of one child per family. And I trusted that the true nature of people, governed by God is good and not evil.
I had lunch while I was there with my sister and a friend of hers and my mom, a woman whose family still lives in China… and life in China according to her, is nothing like life in the United States. But I knew that God, GOOD, was the one governing force over all the different countries of the world and not the UN or any global government.
For me, the easiest analogy is to compare people to the “lilies of the field” like the bible says. God makes all the flowers and perhaps some are roses and some are daisies and some are lilies, and some are hydrangeas and some are violets. Just like there flowers which cannot take a lot of sun and need more water, while others thrive in the desert, likewise, there are people who live in specific global locations for a reason and would not thrive in another environment. We may all be flowers but we are not all the same.

There is no one climate or government that can effectively provide for all the peoples of the world. That is why we trust God to do this. What might benefit one flower would hurt another. And the one world government, trying to micromanage climate or the peoples of the world, was like me trying to micromanage Damon in all the circumstances he might encounter. It just will not fly.
I was grateful to be able to tell my mother that instead of worrying about what these neighbors might be doing to we could individually focus on the good of the youth in our country, and work to uphold the political party that she feels like is helping the economy, preventing injustice, promoting honesty and integrity and protecting our freedoms…by voting in person and making sure that voting is valid, by volunteering or being a judge at the polling places, making sure elections are fair and ensuring that ballot stuffing using mail in ballots or mules is not happening. My mom is still involved in this way and her positive approach and the views of many more just like her, is very commendable and will indeed be effective. The will of the people is to be free, as God intended.

My mom is older than ninety, and she has been participating in a huge study that is a health initiative and my mom said that they send her pages of forms every year. She recently received a jar opener and a sleep mask, as a gift to thank her for participating every year since the 90’s.

My mom said that they ask her questions like “can you still tie your shoes”. She said that she not only drives her own car but she does her own hair, and shops and gets her own meals ready, plus she takes meals to others, and still walks every day, and does her own laundry and housework and gardening. She goes to church religiously. She said that she wrote this on her last questionnaire on the health initiative and then told me that she feels like this questionnaire leaves out the most important thing in her “longevity” which is her devotion to God and her spirituality.
I agree with her self analysis.
Those worried about climate and opting for one world government are like those who can’t see the forest for the trees, (cannot see the light for the “degrees”) lol. Longevity of a person, or a planet for that matter, is not determined by that which is seen that seems “safe” humanly, but by that which is unseen and requires faith.
But that is them and this is us…and we CAN see that God is directing our path and I am so grateful.