Writing from the midwest this day, a funny development occurred.\u00a0 It snowed.<\/p>\n
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It wasn\u2019t just a little snow.\u00a0 It was big…\u00a0 perhaps not \u201cbig\u201d to those living in the mountainous East or West, but here in the heart of America, it was big.\u00a0 \u201cBig\u201d equates to enough to make life stop (… and to impose upon many the dreaded fear of running out of a gallon of 2% milk).\u00a0<\/em> Yet contrary to popular belief, life stopping is good.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I know, I know.\u00a0 I hear you…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you not realize the plans this all messed up?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have things to do \u2014 <\/em>important<\/em><\/strong> things!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m frustrated… bored.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do what I need to do!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Exactly.\u00a0 Important things.\u00a0 Stuff we need<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I wonder sometimes, no less, if what we claim to be important is really, truly, somehow lesser…\u00a0 if we prioritize items and issues and activities that are lesser in value and wisdom than reality \u2014 than things of greater value \u2014 than things, so-to-speak, of a more enduring \u201cbottom line.\u201d\u00a0 An insightful friend of mine, who has bravely initiated a ministry designed to generously pour respect into the lives of men and women, often says, \u201cWe have to keep what\u2019s most important most important.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 But yet we don\u2019t.\u00a0 Society doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 We often get off track…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n … in our homes… in our hearts… in Washington… and in the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Washington many of those who contributed to the decades-old pattern of financial fragility are currently seeking to solve it.\u00a0 But to solve it, they would have to collectively, fairly-permanently agree to spend less money than they take in.\u00a0 In other words, with a national debt of over $16 trillion, reducing the debt by $2 trillion over 10 years \u2014 one of the current options on the table \u2014 will make little dent in the debt.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t solve the problem.\u00a0 Solving the problem is what\u2019s most important \u2014 not adhering to lobbyist groups that simply attempt to shout loudest for their special, special interest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Friends, hear me on this, please.\u00a0 With all due respect, congressmen from both parties and the President each have those special interests in the back of their minds; they have issues and entitlements which they have individually \u2014 and often partisanly \u2014 prioritized.\u00a0 As long as those interests maintain an entitled grip on a politician\u2019s motivation, the politicians collectively will not solve the fiscal problem.\u00a0 If they do not solve the problem, they are not keeping what\u2019s most important most important.\u00a0 And dare I suggest… if they are not keeping what\u2019s most important most important, they are not serving \u2014 at least the entire<\/em> country \u2014 well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s hard, however, to cast stones upon Washington when we maintain similar struggles in our own homes.\u00a0 In fact, at Christmas, especially, many of us also have prioritized things of lesser importance… like…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n … presents over people…<\/p>\n … things over relationships…<\/p>\n … materialism over the meaning of the day…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We all do it.\u00a0 We all struggle with keeping what\u2019s most important most important.\u00a0 And it matters not how brilliant nor intelligent nor worldly or wealthy we are; the struggle remains real.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And so sometimes, perhaps, in order to make us slow down \u2014 to make us pause and reflect upon what means most \u2014 we are given opportunity<\/em> \u2014 if we are humble enough to actually \u201cget it\u201d \u2014 to re-prioritize what\u2019s most important.\u00a0 Hence, sometimes, life stops.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes it even snows.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Respectfully,<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n Writing from the midwest this day, a funny development occurred.\u00a0 It snowed. It wasn\u2019t just a little snow.\u00a0 It was big…\u00a0 perhaps not \u201cbig\u201d to those living in the mountainous East or West, but here in the heart of America, it was big.\u00a0 \u201cBig\u201d equates to enough to make life stop (… and to … <\/p>\n