Sunday, December 27, 2009

I Recommend Pleasant

As the year comes to a close, another year just around the corner; we talked about goals for personal growth. Some folks get hung up on the attitude that unfulfilled goals equate to failures; instead the idea is to make progress, regardless of whether or not the goal is in fact attained.

Many areas of personal growth were brought up; more effective time spent on scripture study, prayer, physical improvement, intellectual and social skills. We could all strive to be better in each area and find ourselves better off for having done so.

During the Sunday School lesson I was tempted to add a comment; but thought better of it since I didn’t want to destroy a perfectly well stated truism which would have fit the “social skills” segment as presented. It was a quote from the movie, Harvey, with James Stewart playing the lead role as Elwood P. Dowd.

Elwood P. Dowd: Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” – she always called me Elwood – “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

If you haven’t had the chance to sit back and enjoy that movie in a while, there are many worth while lessons contained in this light hearted romp. We could all use a Harvey, a chance to learn social graces.


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