Health, Wealth and Happiness

There’s a lady that says that many of our problems are due to the past issues with our ancestors….Now usually I would then put up my right hand and say whatever, but I could see that she was sincere, believing what she was saying.  Many problems, she thought involved our dead grandparents, for example and they continured to desire to connect with us from the grave.  Of course too, she could facilitate that.

That’s where I jumped off the bus.

But knowing all that, and wondering how much of me, and my life would my dead grandma approve of, I started thinking.  I mean we have approval or lack of, from our peers, our co-workers, our loved ones.  Do we seek approval from our spouses and main influencers?  God approves or disapproves of our lives, and his word (Bible)certainly spells out judgment on behaviors and our hearts.

We can pick up the Bible and read how great men in history; David, Solomon, Paul,   and yep, Jesus were in real life.  We choose, whether consciously or not, to emulate them (hopefully not all their actions) or not.  I know we have heard WWJD. What would Jesus do.  Sometimes think that, but that’s not easy to apply in EVERY situation.

What if, in situations where we are pondering which move to make, we could get an immediate reaction from Jesus, or a text message, maybe.  Or, just a stinkeye from Grandma, or even that angelic smile which I guess would be an indication of approval.  That would be cool.

Some of you may not understand stinkeye.  It seems to be ingrained in Hawaiian culture and lingo.  Famous stinkeyes;  John Belushi in Animal House.  (Although his was that mischevious varietey that told us that some really good parts of the movie were upcoming.)  The Rock does a mean stinkeye.  Once that stinkeye comes out, you’d better drop that folding chair and move away quickly.  Or you’re going to get it.

My dad did a few stinkeyes in my past.  I knew I was in trouble when the stinkeye came out.

My wife informs me that I roll out a stinkeye every one in a while.

There’s a wonderful short film “Fishbowl” done by a Hawaiian lady who died before it was even released.  It uses stinkeye in the context of kids at school and in their social development.  It’s cute, and funny as the characters deal with acceptance and lack of acceptance in their grade school experience.  It lets you peek into the world of ‘country’ Hawaiians and the language too.  I highly recommend it if you can find it.

But stinkeye as a sort of guide for life?  I don’t know.  I mean, I can’t even picture either of my dead grandmas giving me stinkeye.