A few years ago, I read that everything you need to know about life you learn in the first grade. It was a long list of do’s and don’ts.

This morning, I was thinking that everything I needed to know about the Christian life I learned in the first grade from the Dominican nuns at St. Peter Church in Reserve. The Catechism we studied told it all in the first two questions.

The first question was: “Who made you?” “God made me” was the answer. The second question was: “Why did God make you?” The answer: “To love and serve Him.”

As a 6-year-old, I was innocent and had a desire to be the godly person I was created to be.

Today, as I remember those early years, I’m reminded that God’s Word says you have to become as a little child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the first grade, I was ready, if called, to enter the Kingdom, but as a teenager, I allowed the cares and what I thought was the excitement of the world to cause me to forget my purpose in life.

I later served in the Navy, got married to a godly young lady, had four children and practiced my religion, hearing about Jesus, but never knowing Him.

In 1980, I had a spiritual experience and asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life.

Over the last 30 years, I’ve made an attempt to love and serve Him but have fallen short many times. The years that I was more excited about the secular world have had a lasting effect on my life.

At 75 years old, I’m still battling many character defects. I have trouble loving people that I don’t like, I get angry, I’m judgmental, I like to be in control, to name a few.

As I was writing this article, Jeanne was reading a devotional and interrupted me and said, “Listen to this! We have to overlook the faults of others and overcome our own.”

God always gives us what we need when we need it. I needed to hear that and concentrate on becoming like I was in the first grade.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.