Day 25 and I'm back after two years!

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

What a good time to come back. This was something I was trying to quote the other day, so not so odd that it would appear just at this moment in my life.

I'm part of a team of school bus drivers who are learning and teaching Positive Behavior Intervention and Solutions (PBIS) in synch with many of the Norman Public Schools. The bus drivers and monitors (and staff of NPS Transportation) have been in this program since the beginning of last school year. We use the acronym B.U.S.:

Be responsible.

Use safety.

Show respect.

So, with the beginning of a new school year next week, we had orientation this past week. The BUS team had the last half hour of training. What I had prepared for presentation was what I labelled: Pick Your Battle. I had planned to list a few violations to the published "Expectations" and have the audience choose which were MINOR and which were MAJOR. The point was that several "violations" fell into both categories, depending on the severity of the violation.

For example, we have a continuing battle over cell phones. The biggest issue I see with cell phones is the ringtones.

Minor: ringtone of subliminal music at a Level 2 (can be heard only by the people immediately to the left or right on the same seat).

Major: ringtone of an emergency siren at Level 4 (outside voice, yelling).

And to emphasize the point of picking your battle I was trying to remember this exact tip: 'In five years, will this matter?'

Well, that's how it applied to my life recently, but here's another outlook:

Any so-called crisis in your life: Stop! Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. If that doesn't calm you down to God-like peace then do it again.

And then ask yourself: 'In five years, will this matter?'

Okay? Okay.

Now I hope you do better than I did at trying to remember this. But then again, it's been two years since I last read it!

No excuse. The idea was still there. And now I have to commit myself to doing this in my life.

And be real. Where will you be in five years? Okay, will it matter?

Philippians 2:14: Do everything without grumbling or arguing.