SYNONYMS AND NUANCES

SOLITUDE

Language gives us the ability to communicate to ourselves and others by thinking, talking, reading and writing.  Other species have some ability to communicate but none of them have language.  Once we learn a language, it becomes as automatic as breathing and we don’t give it much thought.  It’s been observed that the English language is difficult to learn because of all the subtle nuances of words and their understanding of both the sender and receiver.  I remember one brutal winter night in Kansas when we decided to prepare Chinese food for dinner.  When I volunteered to retrieve the Wok, our schnauzer immediately ran to the front door for her nightly walk!  That happens to us supposedly higher intelligence beings also.

I’ve spent some time pondering over the nuances of the words happiness and joy plus loneliness and solitude.  They could actually be considered as complete antonyms.  If you Google these words, you will likely find them in a Thesaurus listed under the category of synonyms or comparable words.  But in my experience, I consider it good human psychology to differentiate both pairs of supposed synonyms in the interest of good emotional health.

At any point in our lives, if we focus on happiness as a cure for loneliness we will be left with a futile search.  Loneliness focuses on the pain of being alone, so it’s not uncommon for folks to seek a cure in quick, temporary, external, worldly fixes.  Joy and solitude can be found in seeking internal peace through self-reflection and focusing on relationships and the pursuit of making the world around us better than we found it.

The challenges of life and seeking happiness can sometimes be compared to a merry-go-round that becomes increasingly faster and faster.  The dark depression of languishing in loneliness can slow life to a standstill.  Both can drain your energy until you take the initiative to jump off, immerse yourself in the joy of solitude and recharge.  

 

HAPPINESS IS LIKE A BUTTERFLY

RESTING BUTTERFLY I

RESTING BUTTERFLY II

If you Google “Happiness” on the internet, which is where I get a lot of my information these days, you will quickly find a quote which folks have used in various forms from Henry David Thoreau.  Thoreau has written that “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”

Different Native American tribes interpret butterflies in their own way, but generally, they're thought to represent change and transformation, comfort, hope and joy. 

 I remember chasing after Swallowtail butterflies on their annual migrations and just when you get close enough, they casually move along on the summer breeze.  I suspect there are childhood memories of many adults doing the same thing and learning the same lesson.  And if we’ve run the gauntlet of life on this planet for enough years, it’s very easy to relate that experience to the concept of happiness that also can be very elusive. 

Our culture considers the path to happiness strewn with all imaginable sorts of worldly stuff which the Mad Men of Madison Avenue subliminally and not so subliminally barrage us with over the course of almost every waking hour on the planet. One of Best Buy’s ads said it all; “I want it all and I want it now!”  We’re definitely an “instant gratification” society.  Don Draper of the 1960’s Mad Men advertising series wrapped things up neatly when he made a pitch to a CEO for their business; “What is happiness?  It’s the moment before we need more happiness.”  Advertisers and salespersons know that looking for happiness in all the wrong worldly places can be very short lived!

But if we simply go about our life following the greatest commandment which Jesus proclaimed of loving our creator and our brothers and sisters, the butterfly will glide in and sit on our shoulder.  We can experience a lasting happiness in life when we help someone who has no possibility of returning the favor.  If we do something for someone and expect something in return, we’re doing business!  This may bring a temporary happiness, but not the internal joy that has lasting power in our life.

We will face difficult circumstances in the course of a life that are beyond our control with one exception—how we respond.  And we should be careful not to confuse temporary, external circumstance, happiness with eternal, internal, joy that reveals which gods we worship in life.  We were created to be forever joyful which I consider to be a more informed extension of happiness that will dwell peacefully in our heart.

THE SPIRIT OF GIVING

The Spirit of Giving

When you generously give the gift of giving,

And expect nothing in return,

You’re not doing business,

But spreading Christmas joy at every turn.

And when we leave this world ,

For a better home some day,

Some of the things we’ll take with us,

Are joyful memories of things we gave away.

—Inspiration from The Christmas Coat

 

LIFE LESSONS

 

Field of Dreams, Jamestown, NC

I recently happened upon some parting thoughts by Donna Ashworth whom I do not know, but I related to many of her observations on a life well lived and it prompted me to consider a few of my own:

We are born three times:  the day of our first breath, the day we figure out why we were born and the day our spirit is homeward bound on our last breath. 

Growing old gracefully is the best revenge.  We know it’s inevitable so why try to live against the wind?  Everyone dies, but not everyone lives to the fullest.  Embrace life as the adventure that awaits us with every day’s challenges and joys.  Wouldn’t the world be so much brighter if we took the time to see a person’s soul and not their outward appearance?

Don’t burn daylight being concerned about other people’s opinion of you because they are quite probably more self-centered and less confident--and it was never about you anyway.  If you can’t be kind, learn to be quiet.

Only one man ever walked this planet in perfection.  He spent three years of intense teaching to show us how to live to strive for such an unreachable goal and left us with the beautiful concept of grace.  If someone cuts you off in traffic, let them go and cool your jets.  You never know what they are dealing with at the time and it’s probably best not to get in the middle of it.

Chasing happiness is elusive, as its reward is obtained from external stimuli like buying stuff and the effect wears off the second the price tags are removed.  But joy can be found internally, without the need for things of this world.

Many folks only see and comment on what others do wrong.  Surprise people by catching them doing something right and acknowledging it!  A simple handwritten “Thank You” note works wonders because so few people do it.

Just about anything we do in excess as we traverse this life is damaging.  Anything in moderation is preferable.  Replace stress and worry with joy and peace.  Many things in life are out of our control except one thing—our response.  Leave the rest to our Heavenly Father and try again in the morning.

We’re a curious human species.  We see in life what we look for in life.  If we look for negatives, we’ll find them and the same is true for positives.  A headline reading “dog bites man” won’t get our attention, but “man bites dog” will always do the trick.  “If it bleeds, it leads” is a mantra that has stood the test of time.

Always drink the good wine and use the good dishes.  Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Live a life that plans for the future, learns from the past, and fully embraces the present, for that is all we’re guaranteed and where life is played out. Try to leave your sphere of influence a little better than you found it and encourage others to help heal the brokenness.  One simple act of kindness trumps a thousand platitudes.

DESTINATION ADDICTION

 

Destination Addiction, Jamestown, NC

Beautiful weather this time of the year to avoid the fallacy of “destination addiction” seeking external happiness around the next bend, the next purchase, the next partner, etc. Add a little internal joy to your day and score a cold brew on a “trip to nowhere in particular” until the cup is empty while your cup runneth over.

AGING

DON'T LET THE OLD MAN IN

“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.   —Mark Twain

We measure our lives by the number of times we circle the sun, but there are many other metrics and observations that are more defining such as Mark Twain’s quote above.  My young grandson asked me why I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt as I sat next to him in the back seat.  I rarely sit there anymore and I simply forgot to put it on, so I replied “Because I’m an old person."  He paused and considered this and then matter-of-factly said through the unfiltered mind of a child, “You’re right”.  Don’t count on your looks as they won’t last the journey, but your sense of humor will only get better with age.

There’s an old saying that “Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.  Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.  You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”  Life is a never-ending adventure.  Clint Eastwood was asked by the singer/songwriter Toby Keith about the secret of his youthful vigor and he simply said “I get up every morning and don’t let the old man in.”  Our trips around the sun should have no bearing on our demeanor, in fact, how old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are this year?

Our spirits and our souls are eternal.  Our bodies are composed of the stardust of the Big Bang.  We do not walk the Earth, rather we are the Earth.  We see ourselves and most people as they appear in a mirror, but if we could see their soul instead, we would most assuredly see many of them youthfully different!  Inevitably leaving this earthly life need not be a daunting concern—not any more than a river entering the ocean.  We’re not lost in the vastness of the universe as our body returns to stardust, but our soul becomes part of the universe as love transcends death.    

Happiness in life is a transient result of external stimuli, but joy can be nurtured from within and is lasting.  Burning life hours in the pursuit of things of this life is fleeting and ultimately meaningless, but discovering the joy of receiving grace and eternal love is priceless.  And we’ve been given the free will to live life as we see fit.  We will all fall short as mortals, but the best advice is to live life as honorably and trustworthy as possible so that we can look back as we age and smile.

 

UNIQUELY ME

SOULFUL RADIANCE

UNIQUELY ME HAIKU

I am not this face;

I am the soul that’s within.

I’m uniquely me.

I spent this morning selecting and charging the cost of a replacement Samsung washing machine which brought me no joy whatsoever on this Juneteenth holiday.  As I haltingly inched my way through the Starbucks drive-thru in a vain attempt to improve my demeaner, the movement of a young teen boy caught my attention through the adjacent bushes of a nearby McDonalds.  He was meticulously gathering straw covers and other items that had been cast off by the clueless patrons that had gone before me.  The observation conjured up images of myself doing menial tasks in exchange for minimum pay until the day when I had amassed enough skills in my tool kit to command the means for purchasing household appliances.

I was young and relatively carefree of home mortgages, car payments, credit card debt and all the other accoutrements of life that money buys in exchange for our life hours.  We make good soldiers in those early years since we’re so starry-eyed and bullet proof.   But then the inevitable march of time catches up and we find memory wanes, our chest has lowered, muscle aches and pains arrive with more frequency, body hair disappears from obvious places and appears in too obvious places and our skin begins a gradual loosening process as character lines meander within our smiles.     

The actress Judi Dench has wryly observed some of the characteristics of aging as “Don’t prioritize your looks my friend, as they won’t last the journey.  Your capacity for living in the moment will blossom.  Your instinct for knowing what (and who) is worth your time will grow and flourish like ivy on a castle wall.  Prioritize the uniqueness that make you, you and the invisible magnet that draws in other like-minded souls to dance in your orbit.”

It's called growing old gracefully my friend and it’s a gift denied to many.  So, work on your soul within for that is timeless and where our ultimate destiny lies.  And best of all, soulful character lines are much more radiant than wrinkles.

 

LIFE’S PATH

Happiness Still Life, Jamestown, NC

Footprints in the Snow, KS

ONE MORE JOURNEY AROUND THE SUN

Life is a journey to be experienced full of adventure, love, hope and human kindness—not a destination as we follow our bliss.  And it’s also about the company that joins us along the way and walks beside us at every fork in our path.  Some enter for a reason, a season or a lifetime.  And some of the most challenging paths lead to the most satisfying moments.  Take the road less traveled at times to discover serendipity.  

 

We should always be looking forward and charting a path, but always testing the winds of fortune to find alternate routes.  Embrace change and the journey into the unknown because change is the only certainty and resistance is futile.  Triumphs encourage us and disappointments strengthen our resolve.  There may even be a few occasions when we need to turn around and walk it back.

 

Everyone’s path is different, so we must be wary of judging others.  If we take the time to walk their path for a while, we may find our judgement dissolving.  And if we’re paying attention to the challenges and the people we encounter, we’ll never lose if we don’t lose the lessons learned which help to develop our spiritual character.  That’s the human job description.  

 

Understand the difference between seeking temporary happiness and eternal joy.  Joy is found internally while happiness is based on external things.  Every waking day is a new creation and a new opportunity.  People that know you today as you have matured know a much different person than you were in the past.  Live life so that you can reflect on yours at any time and smile.  Enjoy the ride because paths were made for adventurous journeys!  

 

In the end, we keep only the good memories of our journey on a short leash and leave only footprints on the hearts of those we’ve loved to accompany along life’s path.

 

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

 

Joy of New Life, Jamestown, NC

We will face difficult circumstances in the course of a life that are beyond our control with one exception—how we respond.  

And we should be careful not to confuse temporary, external circumstance, happiness with eternal, internal, joy that reveals which gods we worship in life.  We were created to be forever joyful, not forever happy.  

Circumstances may contribute to happiness, but joy is a mindset.

Perhaps that is the elusive lesson of the story in the book of Job.  The use of hyperbole always makes an impression and this story may be just that regarding things of this life that bring happiness.  We live in a broken world where suffering is not always a penalty for wrongdoing and prosperity is not always a reward for goodness.  The rain falls on all fields.  But as long as we keep the good things of this world in perspective that bring us happiness and recognize that they are only a heartbeat away from being lost, we won’t miss out on the joy that can sustain us. 

 “What is happiness?  

It’s the moment before we need more happiness.”

—Don Draper, Mad Men

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS

Hour of Splendor in the Grass, Emporia, KS

I’ve spent the better part of the past four weeks editing all the stored material stuff, documents and photos that my wife Karen and I had accumulated and held onto for the better part of our lives.  It was an emotional roller coaster at times which is why it has taken me this long to finally tackle the job.  But what better time to do this than during a fading pandemic as I am scheduled to receive my two Covid-19 vaccine shots in the next four weeks.

As I neared completion of the project which involved many trips to donate useful but unneeded objects and the casting off of literally hundreds of pounds of no longer useful paperwork, one long-dormant poem surfaced in my mind—the classic Ode of William Wordsworth’s Intimations of Immortality and the more recognized segment known as Splendor in the Grass.  This is the poem we hear Natalie Wood recite in the 1961 movie of the same name.

The Ode begins with recollections of the divine vision of youth:

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

the earth, and every common sight,

to me did seem

apparelled in celestial light,

the glory and the freshness of a dream.”

 

This is followed by a discussion of death, loss of innocence and even loss of the divine sensed in nature.  And as we near the end of the Ode, we see how a youth’s incomprehension of mortality allows us to see what is unseen by more worldly adults.  But the adult imagination and ability to ponder the future allows us to intimate immortality:

“Though nothing can bring back the hour

of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower:

We will grieve not, rather find

strength in what remains behind.”

 

The poem concludes that in spite of the trials and tribulations of adulthood, we can return to our understanding of youth:

“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,

thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,

to me the meanest flower that blows can give

thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

LETTING GO

Clutter, Jamestown, NC

Trophies, Jamestown, NC

Many of us are now spending more time at home than we would probably want to admit due to the 2020 Corona pandemic.  And although it’s been taxing on a society that has always enjoyed the freedom of movement, that’s the best plan right now until a vaccine is widely administered.  As a consequence, this “home alone” time has forced me to finally tackle the burgeoning storage room we had built over the garage, since basements aren’t practical in the Carolinas.

Our family transferred here from the Kansas City area where full basements are common.  And they become great accumulators of all sorts of material items, like the excess we thought we wanted to keep from my mother-in law’s house as one little example.  Much of our other material baggage is on us, however!  And businesses like Containers-R-Us only make it more efficient to stash away material possessions that never see the light of day again as we use our home like a storage unit!  Not to mention that we live in a consumer-driven culture where we are bombarded by messages like “we want it and we want it now!”

There’s a lot of reasons we hold onto things, primarily procrastination.  Guilty as charged!  Other good excuses include time is precious, we’re sentimental creatures, possibly needing something later, waiting for other family members to decide on items, waiting for winter weather when you’re forced inside, etc.  But possessions can become an anchor on our life that demand time, space and attention.  We had a saying at work that “the time it takes to finish a task is directly proportional to the time available.”  And I believe its corollary is “the amount of stuff that accumulates in a house is directly proportional to the space available” --like storage rooms and walk-in closets.  Documents are another challenge and the most tedious, as they must be examined piece by piece and then possibly shredded.

Our focus needs to be on reasons for letting go of possessions.  I don’t even attempt to sell things because I’ve been blessed with being born in America, having a loving and supportive family, applying myself to education (after a life lesson start), and working hard at a profession that was growing and ripe with opportunity.  And I’ve learned that it’s much easier and fulfilling to part with possessions if I know they can be useful to others.

Marie Kondo has gained fame for leading the way of letting go by asking one simple question when handling material possessions: “Does this spark joy in my life?”  If not, you won’t start liking something you haven’t used in at least a year.  And there’s the old 80/20 rule that applies to so many things in life like clothing, household items, etc.--we only use 20% of the things in our possession 80% of the time.  George Carlin famously defined a house as “a pile of stuff with a roof over it.”  A home is where love lives.  It’s good to pause life now and again to affirm we abide in a home.

And finally, I really got off to a good start in letting go by texting a photograph of some trophies to my daughter Beth in Chicago and asking if she wanted to keep or discard them?  She replied “I’ve managed to find success without trophies.”  

There is great satisfaction in applying ourselves to be successful and charitable as long as we remain mindful of treating worldly possessions as trophies.  

THE ADVENTURE OF OPENING DOORS

Opening the Door, Jamestown, NC

“I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.” --Joseph Campbell

My two-year old grandson was visiting this Easter weekend and quickly discovered the pass-through door between the kitchen and dining room.  He immediately became fascinated with the ability to turn the door knob and move between the rooms to new adventures and imaginings.  He’s a naturally curious little guy which will serve him well in future life and the door provided endless play time in coming and going.  First, he drove his lighted fire truck through the matrix into new dimensions and then wheeled his tow truck into the portal to new adventures.  Soon he was beckoning his parents and Papa to open the door at his request or opening the door for them as they politely knocked on the other side to obtain entrance into his world.

Joseph Campbell has also written that "people say what we're all seeking is the meaning of life...I think what we're seeking is the experience of being alive."  There’s no better model of behavior for being alive than to experience the life of a two-year old at play.  There are no filters to edit out the most basic wonders of the world around us that we can no longer see or appreciate.  There is no bias or fear of giving strangers a high five if our family has introduced us.  An empty container, a cardboard box, a small fallen tree branch or an everyday door can be the source of endless entertainment when the imagination is engaged.  Having someone whose voice you recognize that is knocking on the other side makes for great fun when you open the door and find them waiting to greet you.

A famous painting exists of a prominent closed door with Jesus standing outside knocking. The subtle focal point of the painting is that the door does not have a door knob on the outside.  It’s the best example I can think of that illustrates the concept of free will which we all have been endowed with to either invite him into our lives or to shut him out.  But I believe that if we follow our bliss and freely open the door, we will encounter joy in life and experience the priceless adventure of being alive forever! 

DECLUTTER AND SPARK JOY IN THE NEW YEAR

Minimalism, Jamestown, NC

As we turn our planners over to another new year, I’ve always noticed an underlying sense of mild anxiety whenever I have been so busy and focused on a project deadline that clutter has invasively entered into my life.  That goes for both the mental and environmental elements that shape daily life.  And many of us always seem to find that rectifying this situation is a very responsible and priority item on our New Year’s resolutions list.  Then life happens all over again as we blast off on yet another trip around the sun!

As I was preparing the house for holiday guests, I found all manner of clutter that had accumulated around my life in the form of an excess of magazines, books, unnoticed canned goods past their expiration dates, household accessories that had reproduced in the dark hours of the night, clothing articles hanging innocently inside a walk in space which had not been selected in over a year ( and some that had their seams taken in overnight by woodland elves named calories), dust bunnies that were producing offspring faster than their mortal namesakes, bedding and bath textiles that had been replaced by fresher linens but retained on unvisited shelves, unfiled paperwork in my office that rose to new heights of unorganized stacks, etc.  There’s no need to even mention the storage room and the garage space, although I had methodically carted off numerous items to charitable groups all year.  But apparently its been observed that drinking and priming has deleterious consequences that manifest themselves on your doorstep in the form of those ubiquitous Amazon boxes that occasionally attract those pesky porch pirates.

Unbeknownst to me, all of this clutter had crept into my life generating this undercurrent of unconscious uneasiness.  Fortunately, clutter is one of the easiest life stressors to fix!  The attributes of Minimalism focus on simplicity, clarity, and singleness that motivates us to intentionally retain those things that bring joy to our being and enables us to release all the other things that do not.  It clarifies our vision to see the deceit of our consumer culture and opens up the possibility of redirecting our attention to nurturing relationships and our very own souls.  Jesus taught that we should not store up treasures on earth but in heaven, for where our treasures reside, there our heart will be also.  This eternal truth also applies to how we spend our time.

The Japanese traditional culture of Zen philosophy centers on simplicity.  Their principle of Ma refers to empty or open space and reduces everything down to just the essentials.  Marie Kondo has made an international name for herself with her method of decluttering and organizing which she has dubbed “KonMari”.  She promotes only keeping those things that “spark joy” in our lives.  And joy trumps life stressors every single time!       

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

God's Peace, Greensboro, NC

A Toddler's Joy, Greensboro, NC

I wrote a blog titled The Message about a spiritual moment that occurred just over ten years ago which my wife of forty years and I experienced at a relatively small garden park here in North Carolina.  Strolling through the park was a nice break from the rigors of fighting breast cancer and we both had come to terms with the reality of our mortal existence.  Karen had finished the rigors of an experimental cancer drug which she had volunteered to take in the interest of a miracle cure and research for future patients after the cancer had metastasized.  She remarked that she didn’t have the strength to walk far, so we rested on a park bench near a blooming Magnolia tree.  The July weather was perfect for forcing open the beautiful white blooms and the early morning dappled light filtered through the delicate petals. 

I walked over to the blooms to photograph various stages of life and in the process came upon a blossom that must have just opened that morning.  I returned to the bench where we both marveled at its flawless beauty and found a calming peace in its message for us.  It was a message that sustained us for those final fifteen days which followed in the hospital.  The memory of that day and the special place the garden park held for me remained in my heart but I did not return to the park again until last Christmas week. 

My visiting son-in-law and I drove to the garden park while my daughter met a friend for breakfast.  Our primary mission was to entertain and exercise my almost two-year old grandson in a space that was conducive to fresh air and open pathways.  And this park was ideal for such a venture!  He was actively enjoying all the circuitous walkways and it was all that we could do to keep up with him as he exuberantly ran through the park.  The Magnolia tree was still standing, but there were no blooms in late December.  However, we twice passed a tall serene black man in a black overcoat that walked by with a smile that indicated he was observing and enjoying the young toddler’s zest for life as much as we were embracing it.  When I said “Good Morning” with each passing, he only made eye contact and slowly smiled, but his demeanor was unmistakably different from the other strangers we met that day.  And that enigmatic smile has remained with me.

I’ve often mused that although Karen has not been physically present to experience the joy of our grandson, somehow there may be some means for her spirit to do so.  I have the confidence that we will all meet again in a beautiful forever and that promise is certainly enough, but I also know that the magnolia was conveying a message not of words, but of an image of our creator in all that is good.  And I also believe that he uses messengers such as winged butterflies and worldly looking beings to let us know that all is well—especially at Christmastime.        

THE MESSENGERS

 

Holy Family and Angels, 

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Israel

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2017

Our adult bible class is currently studying a new series by Adam Hamilton on Faithful: Christmas through the Eyes of Joseph.  The Christmas story primarily unfolds with Mary and the virgin birth of baby Jesus.  We don’t give Joseph much attention, but as Hamilton notes, “God’s plan for the redemption of the world depended on one man’s willingness to raise a child who was not his own.”  Some scholars think that Joseph may have been much older than Mary and it could be possible that he may have even died before Jesus’s three-year ministry which is why the writers of the New Testament don’t have much more to say about him.

There are many accounts of angels visiting humans either in person or in dreams.  Angel is a derivation of the Greek word Angelos, meaning messenger.  Mary was visited by an angel to announce her pregnancy.  Joseph received four critical messages from an angel in his dreams.  The phrase “Don’t be afraid” is one of the most recorded messages in the Bible and was the opening phrase for many celestial conversations with human beings.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that the angel’s presence scares the wits out of us human beings, but many times they are comforting words for someone in distress.  That certainly was the case of the holy family that was presented with the awesome charge to raise God’s son! 

Renaissance painters and others have long depicted angels with wings, primarily to denote their spiritual nature.  Hamilton reminds us that the writer of Hebrews challenges us to welcome guests into our lives, for some folks have entertained angels without knowing it.  We’d probably notice it if they arrived at our doorstep with wings though!  We too can be instruments of God’s purposes and be seen as angels in the eyes of others.  We too can sometimes be the recipients of the good works of angels on earth when seemingly regular folks give us a helping hand in our time of need.  God generally works through others like me and you these days. 

I personally encountered a man with snow white hair years ago when I was alone outside our church attempting to finish a mission project while in the middle of completing an annual budget for my job.  He appeared out of nowhere on a cold late winter’s day, helped me gain entrance to the building and then vanished.  The next day I described the man to our senior pastor but he did not recognize him.  Later reflections on the encounter still leaves me wondering about his appearance and persona.

Later I had a short conversation with a man whose father died suddenly when he was a boy on the family farm.  He was understandably distraught and walked out into a nearby tobacco field.  Then he was suddenly met by a being that calmly told him not to be afraid and that everything would be OK.  These words of comfort and assurance immediately gave the young boy a sense of warm peacefulness and he went on to enjoy a successful career in business later in life.

Hamilton concludes his message by stating that “As we look for joy during Christmas, we can often find it in being an angel for someone else.  We experience joy when we take our eyes off our situation and focus on blessing, building up, encouraging, or serving others.”

Merry Christmas 2017

HAPPINESS

Mad Men, Purple Clover

One of those seemingly eternal truths that I think I’ve finally discovered after living and struggling to the official age of social security retirement benefits is that there is a profound difference between happiness and joy in life. On the surface, they seem to be compatible synonyms. In fact, the Webster Thesaurus lists joyous as the first synonym of happy. Perhaps I'm just parsing words. So, what’s the big deal? Well, for one thing, I think you could also consider these two words as complete antonyms. Our culture considers the path to happiness strewn with all imaginable sorts of worldly stuff which the Mad Men of Madison Avenue subliminally and not so subliminally barrage us with over the course of almost every waking hour on the planet. Best Buy’s latest motto says it all; “I want it all and I want it now”! We’re definitely an “instant gratification” society.

We wish each other a "Happy Birthday" and a "Happy New Year". We close our writings with "Have a nice day", appended by a happy face icon. We expect to be happy and when life doesn't follow the script of a typical TV sitcom, we get depressed because it's not supposed to be like that--or is it? Our American culture has more wealth and stuff than any society that ever walked the planet and we’re not very happy. Maybe we need more joy in our lives. We were not created for perpetual happiness. Happiness is temporary, lasting 30 seconds to an hour or two, because it is based on external circumstances, like buying stuff. When one of the richest men on the planet at the turn of the century was asked “How much is enough?”, he answered, “Just a little bit more." The richest man in the annals of human history, King Solomon, opened his book of Ecclesiastes with the observation that everything is "Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

We oftentimes reach a crossroads in life where our material demands and our spiritual growth are intersecting! We should be mindful of where we find ourselves spending our time. That reveals where our heart resides. And that reveals what gods we worship in life, bringing us either temporary happiness or eternal joy.

THE SHEPHERDS’ FIELD

Shepherds' Field Angel, Chapel of the Angels, Beit Sahur, Israel
Shepherd and Flock, Qumran, Israel
Announcement Mural, Chapel of the Angels, Beit Sahur, Israel

There is more than enough war and hate all over the world today. Man’s legendary inhumanity to man ever seems to have no limit. I don’t remember a time during this advent season of expectation when violence was so prevalent. I don’t recall a time when the world was more in need of the promise of Christmas. The people of the world are more consumed with fear than possibly any time in this generation. The world is in more need of a message of peace and hope than any time in this generation.

There is a field just east of Bethlehem in this war ravaged region that is the hallowed ground of a momentous announcement. It is where an angel of the Lord and a heavenly host of angels announced the arrival of a Savior for the world. Isaiah prophesied that this child would lead the wolf to live with the lamb. It’s important to note that this message was not delivered to nobles and religious leaders, but to one of the lowest classes of the time—shepherds who were watching over their flocks on one very significant starry night. These men were not encumbered with the political and economic biases and filters that would have scrambled the angel’s message. The world of that generation was filled with hate and war and the people of the region were anxiously awaiting a warrior king to bring peace to their lives. The angel told the shepherds not to be afraid for he was announcing good news for all men. And then a host of angels sang:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

As I walked this land earlier this year, I couldn’t help but wonder why we still had not achieved that peace that was promised over two thousand years ago. As an adult, the Savior gave men a simple formula for peace—love God and love your neighbor. The lambs these shepherds were raising were quite possibly those used in the nearby temple for blood sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. The Lamb of God who entered the world that day became the substitute for these blood sacrifices by shedding his own blood for us. And He left mankind with a way of living through his teachings and model that can restore peace in the world.

In this beginning of the twenty first century, God’s people need to rally around life change, peace, joy, love, hope and action to fulfill our Heavenly Father’s expectation for all humanity. People at the birth of Christ and people today expect him to save us from our enemies, but he came to deliver all of us from ourselves. A provocative newspaper headline after the San Bernardino massacre declares that “God isn’t going to fix this” while mocking politicians who were praying for those directly affected. No, the majority of suffering in this world is caused by other human beings who have the free will for good or evil, but God will help us bring good out of any bad situation.

And on that fateful night we were sent an ally to walk with us as we exercise our free will to do something actionable about the hate and darkness in the world we were given stewardship over. Darkness and hate were not eliminated that night in this field, but light and love were sent to checkmate them.

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

GREEN PASTURES & QUIET WATERS

Green Pastures & Blue Waters, Central Flint Hills, KS

Most of us understand which comfort foods can give us consolation in times of stress such as warm garlic mashed potatoes, chocolate anything, cool vanilla ice cream, etc. But many of these comfort foods can ultimately cause their own type of stress for our bodies. Fortunately, there’s also an abundance of zero calorie comfort words in the Bible that can provide an immeasurable amount of stress reduction in our lives and they’re actually good for our soul.

The opening lines of Psalm 23 written by King David are perhaps the ultimate classic comfort Word. David’s youth as a shepherd helped to verbalize the meditative image of our Creator leading us through a beautiful pastoral scene beside quiet waters and green pastures. We know that the shepherd used his staff to protect his flock from harm’s way and that image also gives us comfort. David’s inspired words assure us that if we follow in the true path of our good shepherd, goodness and love will be with us and we will dwell with Him forever after fearlessly walking through the darkest valley. We’re promised that His Light will brighten our path to help us walk without stumbling along the way.

In Philippians 4 the apostle Paul assures us that we should not be anxious about anything. If we present our requests to God, He will give us peace. Paul reminds us that Emanuel is always with us, He is in control of the overall destiny of this world, and our own ultimate destiny has been secured to provide us with the ultimate joy in life. There are many times in life where circumstances are beyond our control, with the exception on one thing--our response to them. Paul reminds us that this one thing can be to turn our concern over to our Creator and trust in Him to be with us as we walk through the unknown dark valley, one day at a time, until we emerge out into the soft white Light of still green pastures and quiet blue waters.

THE GIFT OF GIVING

Anyway, Mother Teresa

The time was 1897, not all that long removed from the devastating War Between the States. It was a time when hope and faith were waning in this country as a minister’s son, Francis Church, was still reassembling his life as a war correspondent at the New York Sun newspaper. With the Christmas season on the horizon, his editor handed Francis a letter from a young eight year old girl named Virginia O’Hanlon questioning if there is a Santa Claus. His reply remains the most memorable in editorial history as Francis drew deep into the depths of his faith to find a suitable reply that resonates with people even today. He wrote that he exists “as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy…Ah Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding”.

We too can find the lasting joy in giving to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s a relative bargain compared to the money people spend on pursuing the fleeting happiness found in material things. And that’s the true power of giving—when the gift is given with love, generosity and devotion it is returned tenfold in the form of blessings of lasting joy and an enriched life. Jesus taught us in John 8:12 that He is the Light of the World and if we follow Him, we won’t have to walk in darkness, because we will have the ultimate gift of light that leads to life!

DOG YEARS

Happy, Happy, Happy, Chicago, IL

I recently read a short story about a family with a six year old son that had just euthanized their terminally ill dog. The parents took the young child along for a teaching moment life lesson. However, as sometimes happens, they were the ones who benefited from their son’s “wiser than his years” observation. As they were pondering why dogs don’t live as long as we humans, the little boy offered up his opinion. He observed that we humans are born to learn how to live a good life and love one another. Since dogs are already born with that ability, they simply don’t need to live as long. You know what? That actually makes a lot of sense!

A dog wakes up each morning with the attitude that “I’m gonna live life to the fullest--so far, so good”! No matter how you treat a dog, he’s always exceedingly happy to see you when you return home. I’ve never met a dog that didn’t enjoy a good road trip; preferably with his nose sticking out the window sniffing all the good smells of mother earth as the wind rapidly flaps his ears. A brisk walk is a close second in terms of pure dog joy. There’s nothing like venturing out into the world with your trusty life friend and making your mark along the way—and I mean all along the way. When you encounter someone they know and trust, a dog will spontaneously break out into an unpretentious dance of life with shaking and tail wagging that won’t end until the petting stops.

And when the day is done or maybe it’s just the beginning of a long weekend, a dog will curl right up with you for a much needed, stress relieving, satisfying nap. If life has been less than bearable, a dog will sit silently beside you and intently listen to your every complaint and concern. He’ll join you in a quiet prayer for peace and goodwill and intently look you in the eyes when you’re reflecting on life with that classic expression which says, “That is so profound. I would have never thought of that”!