There comes a time in everybody's life when transformational or transitional moments come. They take you from one point of conscious awareness to another entirely. You're suddenly shaken from the ho-hum existence of 'just living' when you're truly woken from your spiritual slumber.

I recall a time when I was driving back from University (College) having failed one of those bewildering computerised human biology exams -- one where you regret going back and changing your answer because you had the answer right in the first place! Well, as chance would have it, I turned on the car radio as I travelled home and the 'Sunscreen Song' came on. (The song is titled, "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen.")

I was immediately taken with the timeless wisdom of the song. It awakened me spiritually!

I was only recently reminded of it, when a dear one in my family passed away suddenly. It reminded me to, "[not] worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. the real troubles in your life are actually things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday." We can never tell when our lives will be turned upside down and suddenly we're at the mercy of God -- or anybody else who might change the course of our lives in the blink of an eye. We do not have the control over our own lives we think we do! This is precisely why we should never take for granted the things we do in life -- but we do, we always do!

It reminded me to not "waste [my] time on jealousy; sometimes [I'm] ahead, sometimes [I'm] behind... the race is long, and in the end, it's only with [myself]." How often do we waste our effort and energy thinking badly of others due to the personal feelings of inadequacy we'd be better off addressing within ourselves? It is human instinct to envy. When we understand this, investing the rest of our lives in resisting the instinct via re-training the mind is a worthwhile endeavour.

Anyone with knee troubles will love the advice the Sunscreen Song gives: "Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone." And we do. We think that just because we have our health and a capable body we can abuse it and not care for it. Wrong. We'll see. Hammering our knees will lead to problems. We should revise our running and aggressive stair-climbing routines, not to mention ride our bikes wisely. Knees, like backs, like hips, eyes, hearing, fingers, and toes, are severely missed if we lose them.

As adults, most of us get the opportunity to get to know our parents. We get the advice, "Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good." But, how often do we take our parents for granted? The loss of a parent or grandparent suddenly means they are there no more -- there's no return to that state of relationship. It might seem obvious, but we hardly ever treat death as permanent. Siblings again, perhaps we fought with them; we need them more and more the older we get.

"Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders...

"Respect your elders."

There's nothing new. A.W. Tozer once said, "There's nothing new since Adam." And he's entirely correct; everything is re-badged, much to eternal torment of teens and young people who forever think they're original and 'cool.' Let's face it, in essence, our times (our natures) are no different really to the generation before or the generation to come -- the environment changes but "the script sounds the same to me," to paraphrase Mr. McPhisto -- a.k.a. Bono of U2 during their 1993/4 Zooropa tour. At our core, we are no more or no less noble than any other generation in history.

"Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth."

Advice. We all need it and we all invest in it. Our lives go horribly wrong at times when we don't seek it or take it. Advice, again, is not new. The same schemes produce it. Advisors may think they're original but really they're not. They're conservative or aggressive, prudent or bold, and many, many forms in between. Sure, the environment changes, particularly the legislative, socio-political, and economic environments, but the forms of advice are essentially the same.

The suggestion is that we ensure we carefully consider whose advice we seek, but ensure we do take it (patiently) when it's given. We're the final judges. Even if the advice (in our estimation) is wrong for us, and we choose not to accept it, we got the opportunity to assess options -- that's the blessing of advice; it's the process that's most important.

Copyright © 2008, S.J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Steve Wickham is a safety and health professional (BSc) and a qualified lay Christian minister (GradDipDiv). His key passion is work / life balance and re-creating value for living, and an exploration of the person within us.