AAGR Living

AAGR Living
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 by Susan Lyttek

As you may have noticed, particularly if you have known me and my family for a while, or if you have been reading these posts more than a year, my son Karl and I like to be specific.

So much so, that all someone has to do is mention a generality at the dinner table and one or both of us will come up with the exceptions.

This frustrates Gary. If he has had a hard day or is tired or just craves some peace, the last thing he wants to hear are our “discussions”. (He calls them arguments, but neither Karl nor I see them that way. We have fun decoding the fine details together.) So he kept reinforcing, “as a general rule” when he made a statement to fend off our possible debates. He said is so much and so often that, with true government employee finesse, he turned it into the acronym: AAGR. (Pronounced Ag-ar with an emphasis on the final r.)

This solves communication in our family. All one of us has to do is grumble out AAGR and it releases tension and we know what we meant.

It got me thinking, AAGR is a good way of living for the most part. It explains how things usually are. Not how the ideal will be. Not how the worst can fall. No. It talks about the principles for a given situation and how they apply to most people. Or it talks about nature and how it interacts within its environment. Or it talks about God and his creation.

Most of the time.

Ongoing trends.

The usual, barring the exceptions.

If you think about it, the proverbs that occur both throughout the Bible and history are examples of these AAGR ideas. ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ or doing a job right the first time keeps you from having to redo it. ‘Eat such honey as is sufficient for you’ reminds you that overeating is not a good practice to get into.

We all know there will be times when the general rule does not fit or does not apply to us. That’s just the way life is. It is always changing. We grow, we move, we learn. These steps into our days and our futures often make the standard rule fall flat.

Often, but not always.

There are reasons the tried and true are the tried and true. They worked 200, 2000 and 2 years ago. If we treat others as our neighbors like we want to be treated, most neighbors will respond in kind and kindly. If we act in honor, we will garner respect. AAGR

The argumentative among us can find an exception. We can look to history or world affairs and say this instance or this trend in this country went against what you say. Earth gravity is a given unless you are in a zero-grav laboratory. Chaos will eventually result unless a creator is dropped in its midst to reestablish order.

The main problem with AAGR is that most of us find the AAGR we are looking for. If we look to see the world against us, those proofs will reveal themselves. If we look for God’s interaction in humanity, that’s what we’ll see.

Yes, the world is full of evils. AAGR. Yes, the world is God’s creation and he still works within it. AAGR.

Today, and any day I remember where to keep my eyes, let me make my AAGR Philippians 4:8 (NKJV). “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Because, then, as a general rule, my heart and mind will stay in the right place.

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