really learn the lessons from the things I have written

Jesus Did It

In many ways this is what Jesus did, and did He know how to piss off the comfortable.

There was the whole thing about performing miracles on the Sabbath, breaking with social convention and actually spending time with the poor, lame, and prostitutes, and calling those in authority into question. He also called into question the prevailing thought of the day that God handed out worldly riches to the righteous (sounds a lot like modern suburbia).

Now that I have set this goal up for myself I am curious to see how I do it. After all, I am starting a business, want it to succeed, love to travel, and enjoy many of the finer things in life.

Perhpas toning down the taunts directed to the intolerant and moronic would help keep me focused better. This should be an interesting journey.

There are times in life when we feel as if we are just drifting over empty fields without a purpose, without direction. Our instinct tells us we should be doing more but without sore muscles or calluses we have no way to really know how many seeds we have already planted. Then, one day, green shoots appear, burst through the mud, reminding us of all of the work that we have done, and how much we will reap.

Sometimes in order to move forward we have to stop looking back, move away from the known and comfortable, all we have to do is keep moving on, even if we feel uncomfortable, vulnerable again, you may never feel ready to move on, but you have to, because that’s how we grow, and growing is what it’s all about.

“The relationships we have with the world are largely determined by the relationship we have with ourselves.”
- Greg Anderson

We’ve all run into that person, you know the one, always in a bad mood, ready to burst the mood of everyone around them, a master of schadenfreude. If we take a moment to step back and look at the situation as objectively as possible, it’s quite obvious that they are unhappy with their own life. Of course the more they project their displeasure onto others the more others react negatively, or worse for them, not at all, fulfilling that circle of poor relationships that starts with the self.

Conceit travels in the same circles as schadenfreude, for in that false sense of being the center of everything, the world is keenly aware that no one is the center of it all. The perception of the self is false, as is the relationship one has with themself, and no one likes a phony, save for phony friends.

I wrote this on my blog months ago – so why have I not learned from what I wrote – argh !

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Often those of us with the greatest desire to make a difference feel as if we are not doing enough. Life, friends, family, work, they are all obstacles that prevent us from doing the things we feel we must do.

I find this passage from Galatians to be most reassuring in times like these. Even God seems to understand that the opportunity to make a difference doesn’t always present itself conveniently.

Failure doesn’t have to be final, it can be a speedbump on our journey, a chance to slow down and really examine all that is around us, then continue on the journey, toward success.