Lesson

Well, here's the question: what's it about? Work? Do you work to pay bills? Then sleep. Make bills. Work to Pay bills, Sleep. Repeat endlessly. Do you feel like you're living if you throw in an occasional party, milestone, or vacation? Is it 'he who dies with the most toys wins?' Wins what? Unless you win eternal life then all the striving in this life is for nothing. So are you willing to sacrifice your life so that your kids can live off the fruit of your labor? Can that be it? The meaning of existence? Does that mean that the ultimate purpose is to have offspring who can afford to be lazy? Can it be that simple? That foolish? Is this time, the year 2006, the culmination of all the dreams and efforts of our ancestors? Has all of history struggled toward this moment - all the scientific study, all the wars, all the hopes and prayers led to the lives we are experiencing? And now that we stand here, enlightened, the crown of creation - what have we learned? Much? Nothing?

Step back. I believe the world has gone mad. I don't have to provide examples because you can think of several right now without any trouble at all. Chaos increases and joy seems to have vanished. Now more than ever we need to look toward the hills from whence cometh our help. Friend, mankind can only succeed if when you grab my tunic, instead of pulling it back, I hand you my robe as well. We can only survive if when you slap my face, I turn my head so you can slap the other side. "Pick up your cross and follow Me", my Master said. But it is not one simple journey. It is a new journey every day, every hour. If I, if you, my Brother and my Sister, if we cannot learn love in this lifetime then not only do we perish but our world perishes with us. If Christians who strive to do the will of God cannot be the light of Christ to a seeking, dying world then there will be no salt and no light. Your Spirit-inspired word might be the only thing between your fellow man and despair. One sentence, one word, one encouraging smile. One man does not win a war. But one man might turn the tide of a battle. And battles fought well do turn the course of a conflict. Let our willingness win one for the Lord in 2006. Pick up that cross anew and follow into battle the Lord Who promises victory through humility and love. Learn love.

In Christ,

Ki

Aren't You Tired of Loving Your Own Disease?

Well, aren't you? I'm not a saint. I'm a sinner. But I've found a way to live life without all the crap to drag me down. It's like taking a heavy, wet coat off when you come into the warm house. It's like climbing up out of a dank, deep well. I'm working through it. I'm listening. I don't know all the answers. But I know this one.

Forgive the oversimplification but we all get hurt in life. Nobody escapes. We get our toes stepped on, our bubbles popped, our feelings hurt, maybe even our noses punched, maybe worse. We get our hearts broken. And not just once. Some of us maybe even deserve some of the stuff that happens to us. Most of us just get taken once in a while, get blindsided by someone working through their own troubles, get stuff taken out on us when we're innocent. But remember how you couldn't get away with anything when you were a kid - because the parents (or grown ups) were watching? Dad is watching. It's going to be alright. It really is. He's got your back.

Most of the battle is against ourselves. Most of the hurt - we cause it ourselves because we're so sure we screwed everything up so we must deserve it. When stuff happens to you - well maybe it doesn't have anything to do with you not being smart enough or good enough to avoid it. Quit punishing yourself. Because you punish everybody else around you by weighing yourself down with yesterday's hurts. You're no good to yourself that way and you're sure not doing the world any good. And Babe, the world sure needs you to start doing some good. And if nobody loves you maybe you're just not seeing who does. Quit being so morbid. Remember being a kid - when work and money and relationships didn't matter? You could get excited by seeing a deer in the woods or getting an ice cream cone or get lost in a book. Life was good with simple stuff. Lighten up. It can be that way. You can rejoice. Try it.

What if you just walked away from whatever it is that's got you by the neck? I mean really. It's not impossible. You got there, right? You can go somewhere else. Drop it. Let it go. Even if it's grown up all around and through you like a vine - you can still get away. God is God - there's nothing He can't do. He can wither that thing that you think has got you in a stranglehold. Drugs, obsessions, self-destruction. Just look up out of that well. All you've got to do is ask Him. You won't feel any tingle or fire but you will be free. Every day you will make progress out of that hole. Just ask Him, man. Ask Him.

Aren't you tired of living in pain just because it's familiar?

Ki

February

I once read that more people die in February than in any other month of the year. If this is true - and I'm certainly not sure that it is - then it might be out of sheer desperation. Winter can be so long and dreary. The season of deepest gloom. Yet I remember stopping in late summer and just drinking in the sound of the crickets singing at night. I remember saying "In the winter I dream about this wonderful sound" and not just the sound, but the sweetness of the air and the soft caress of nightime breezes when even heartache seems soothed and life seems possible again. Summer will come. For now, let me contemplate, let me enjoy this season of pause, the lack of sounds, colors and scents. Like a neutral palette, let me gather thoughts of color and anticipate how the Lord will paint the new year for me. Spring will burst into life with joy and if You are willing, Lord - so will I. So will I.

I love You,

MME