December 27, 2015

On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of One who so clearly perceived His mission and so fully manifested faith, love, forgiveness and service that a couple billion people call Him the Christ, Son of God.  Today, I think that Jesus might say, “I welcome celebration of my birth, particularly the sharing of love and joy with family and friends.  But, more important, I could use a little help here.”

May Christmas be a time when we ask ourselves, “What is my mission?  How might I better fulfill it?  How well do I manifest faith, love, forgiveness, and service?"

Power

Much is said about empowerment of oneself and others. 
Today I realized that I prefer to have power when it is convenient; that is, when I find I am able, or can easily become able, to influence something in a way that is important to me. 
Then I realized that I'm not so keen on empowerment, even for profoundly important uses, when it is difficult or costly in time or comfort to achieve. The question becomes, "How willing am I to work, to experience discomfort, to develop and to use my talents, my power?"  
<I say I will work for joy.>  I choose to do so when the work is hard, the cost is high, the frustrations many, and the joy requires a sense of humor.

Imagining trouble and loss

Getting up, walking the dog, going to work, working, going home, an evening of NewsHour, some fun, some chores, going up and down stairs, going to bed, to sleep.  Same tomorrow.  It is easy - and tempting - to imagine more exciting things to do and places to be.  
It's not so easy - but much more important - to imagine being deprived of one's present degree of health and abilities, one's comforts - shelter, enough food, clean running water, a warm bed; one's freedoms, reputation, job and  opportunities; and the health and lives of friends and family members.  Such imagining is much more important than easy fantasies because from imagining trouble and loss naturally flow greater peace where one is, more gratitude for what one has and an increase in the desire to help others, from which we derive self-worth.

Reality check #5

In one of my favorite books, The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck wrote, "the only way to be assured of being loved is to be a person worthy of love."  To God, I suppose, everyone is worthy of love without effort.  I'd call that grace - whether love without effort comes from God or a person.  
But I think Dr. Peck is right as to sustained human love.  To be worthy of love requires the commitment to live as best we can see to live and the effort to ask whether we are doing that.
Today, how willing am I to live the best life I can see to live?  How willing am I to grow?  How willing am I to extend myself for the sake of this relationship?  For the sake of this family, organization, community or society?  And ultimately for my own health and peace of mind?

Writing one's life story

Each person is an author, writing his or her life story one sentence - one choice - at a time.