Today I’m pleased to welcome Donna Maclean, my sister-in-law and the author of All I Need to Know about Life I Learned from my Bible.
I Learned from my Bible,
by Donna MacLean
When I asked Donna what prompted her to write the piece, she said:
In 1988 Robert Fulghum published his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden (Villard Books). His concept soon produced numerous parodies based on pets, movies, TV shows, video games and, my favorite, jigsaw puzzles. As recently as 2014, parodies of All I Need to Know appeared based on Little Golden Books, event planners and pizza.
I admire the creativity of a well-crafted parody, and I wanted to create one that conveyed meaningful life principles from the Bible. Some of my items are themselves parodies of well-known proverbs or sayings.
Beginning in 1995, I submitted this parody to periodicals as a filler and sold it several times. It’s nice to read something I wrote so long ago and hear my mind saying, “yes!”
All I Need to Know about Life
I Learned from my Bible
by Donna MacLean
Miracles happen. . . Matthew 9:22
Somebody loves me. . . Psalm 139
I am not alone. . . Deuteronomy 31:6
The majority isn’t always right. . . 1 Samuel 8:19
Wonderful things happen in dungeons. . . Daniel 6:22
Death is only skin deep. . . 1 Corinthians 15:54
Poverty is temporary and so is wealth. . . Genesis 39:2
He who dies with the most toys loses the most toys. . . Luke 16:25
You can always go home again. . . Luke 15:20
Things may look a lot better in three days. . . Luke 24:1-6
Donna MacLean’s writing has appeared in Moody Monthly and other Christian publications. Originally from Chicago, Donna served as a missionary in DRC (formerly Zaire) and Taiwan, and recently moved from Idaho to Seattle to be close to two of her four children, and two of her seven grandchildren.
Thank you very much, Donna, for letting me share your writing with my readers!
Posted on November 17, 2015
Norma Nill 
Clever parody, Donna. Lovely photos. Very nice layout, Norma.
Thanks for your encouraging feedback, Judy! I think the photo of Donna is lovely, too, as well as fun.
When I take an idea from another poet and make it my own, I call it po-jacking. I think this piece is great. God gives the inspiration from many sources in the world around us.
Thanks for commenting and for sharing your ingenious term, “po-jacking,” Carolyn!
My favorite part is ‘wonderful things happen in dungeons”. When I first read it, I was thinking of Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned in Philippi and they were singing hymns with all the prisoners listening when God released them through an earthquake. Then I saw the reference to Daniel and remembered the lions. And how about Peter in the prison awaiting trial before Herod. Or Joseph! Wonderful blog!
I share your enthusiasm for the part about dungeons, Laurie. Thanks for commenting.
This is so clever and so true! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Glad you liked Donna’s parody, Anita!