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Day 17 of 40

My sister has this catch phrase that we like to use when we're together it's "radical acceptance." I kind of like it, it comes in very handy when dealing with people, especially people that enjoy arguing for sport. I'm not talking about debaters that are intrigued by conversation and draw people out with their ability to discuss just about anything with a passion, I like those folks very much, they're fun. No I'm talking about people who take disagreeable to the next level and live a life of cantankerous yelling. I have to use radical acceptance much like George Costanza's father would say "Serenity now!" on Seinfeld. 
I recently came to realize a few things about radical acceptance. I have to use it towards myself, too. In Romans, Paul asks us to leave in peace with people, in as much as it depends upon ourselves. Well, I can't make peace with some folks. They are always going to see the worst in me and assume that I'm out to make them look bad or that I believe the worst about them. Radical acceptance means that I don't have to keep pursuing worldly avenues to make peace with some people. I can turn to God and give it to him. I can get to an end of myself and not reach where I wanted to be. I have to accept that. And not accept it in that tricky "Oh you'll get pregnant as soon as you stop trying or adopt" way that people use to comfort the childless (just so you know, if you say that to women, you should stop, immediately and maybe apologize to the ladies you've said it to), but really fully accept that things are broken, they're unfixable, and you have nothing further you can do about it. 
I haven't made it to acceptance yet, but I'm aware of where I'd one day like to be in regards to it. And that's enough for now.

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