2.2

Things my parents taught me:

• Say you're sorry, even if you are pretty sure you didn't do anything wrong. Their feelings are more important than your pride.
• You can't expect everyone to live up to the standards you hold yourself to. 
• Family is family, no matter what.
• God created everything and said it was good. So it was. Satan has tried to corrupt everything so there is a bad version of every good thing. God tries to protect us by showing us good vs. bad...it's up to us to listen to Him. 
• If there is only one piece of food left on the plate you offer it to everyone else before snatching it up for yourself. 
• Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity until they prove otherwise...then they still get to be treated with love and grace and mercy because that's what God did/does for us. 
• Sometimes if you want something done you're going to have to get off your duff and do it yourself. 
• Pay the smallest bills off first then work your way up to the big ones. <-- Seriously, though.
• Give generously and without ulterior motives, agenda, or with expectations of anything in return (including simple gratitude).
• Always be gracious when someone is generous toward you.
• Check everything against the Bible.
• Have the faith to ask God for the big things, have faith to trust God with the answer, and have faith to praise Him either way.
• Constant negativity pushes people away.
• Being honest and truthful is a virtue. Being hurtful with your honesty and truthfulness is not. (Seriously. I can't stand it when someone uses "I'm an honest person" as an excuse to be hateful.)
• We're all in this together so let's help each other out.
• Respect people who have lived longer than you. Listen to them. They have experience and stories that you can learn from. 
• Wisdom and intelligence are both incredibly important. They are also incredibly dependent on each other to work properly.
• Never stake your happiness on a person. We are all fallible and will inevitably disappoint each other. There has only ever been One who will never fail us and that is Christ.

I might add to this list if I think of more...