Emerging Courageous Newsletter 49 
Marilyn Dixon Pfanstiel, Editor
Jan.28, 2004

***Message for Today: "I'm Bored"
My 10 year old grandson repeatedly says "I'm bored." I keep telling him that he doesn't have to be. I suggest that he can create something interesting to do. Sometimes we give our children and grandchildren so many things (because we didn't have them when we were growing up and we don't want them "deprived") that they don't appreciate what they have. Growing up in the depression, we had few toys of our own. My prized possession was my bicycle (I had one my entire life) and then next came my baseball bat, ball and glove. Then we did have a few board games we played together as a family...Monopoly and Scrabble. There were decks of  playing cards that various companies had advertising on that my grandmother use to say she could play 100 games with. If we really wanted to learn something, we could go read the family's prized possession Mom talked Dad into splurged on, the encyclopedia, or we could ride our bikes to the library and borrow some books. My Dad regularly brought home scrap paper from work that had printing on one side and I could draw on the other side of the paper to my hearts content . We learned to be inventive and creative with what little resources we had. Learning to entertain ourselves never left us "bored". I hope this generation will find their own resources and not "have to be entertained" all the time. Marilyn

*The idea for Today's Message came after reading Ronnie's story "Enjoying the Journey" that he is sharing with Emerging Courageous Online Magazine next month. Thanks Ronnie. Marilyn

**Excerpts from Ronnie's article: "A Jewish proverb declares, "To be bored is an insult to God who made us!" To be bored is to not be enjoying the journey. The bumper sticker that announces, "I’d rather be fishing," identifies another who is not enjoying the journey…Life is a divine gift, an opportunity for each child of God to grow through experiences not available in any other place or by any other means." 
*Look for the rest of Ronnie's story "Enjoying the Journey" in the Feb. issue of Emerging Courageous Online Magazine. http://www.geocities.com/emergingcourageous/stories/Feb2004/journey.htm

***Thoughts worth sharing:  

*"The tragic thing is that so many live their entire lives in illusion." www.MountainWings.com 

***Be Inspired reading Quotes about Courage:
http://www.geocities.com/emergingcourageous/quotes.htm

***From the Mailbag:

* Regarding Newsletter 48 "Living with Enthusiasm":

*"Yep, me too!  Go for it! " Brian Jett

*"'Enthusiasm' is the Anglicised version of two Greek words, 'en theos' which mean "having God inside." It is the state of those who are filled with the divine fire of the Holy Ghost…It is the only way to live, provided that it is the inspired enthusiasm of the holy life and not the abandonment of dissolution." Ronnie Bray