Where have all the flowers gone...

Where have all the flowers gone? For those of you who don’t know, those are lyrics from a sad song. They come to mind because I’m a little sad today myself. I had to say goodbye to someone that I cared for like a son and had invested in. No, they didn’t die, but they did move away.

It’s probably not a good day to post…I mean…I don’t want to depress anyone or cause people to feel sorry for me. There’s no value in that. On the other hand, one of the benefits of anonymous blogging is that you can be honest with the way you are feeling. Today I am feeling depressed. I’ll get over it, though. Tomorrow is a new day.

The real battle...

Eph 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (NIV)

I’ve often pondered this scripture and find it to be very challenging. If, for instance, you are being mistreated…you might look at the one who is mistreating you as someone that is being influenced or controlled by outside forces. With this interpretation, one might feel compassion instead of loathing toward the one that is mistreating you. One might be more likely to forgive them, and possibly even pray for them and/or do good to them. This is, of course, what Jesus commanded (Luke 6:27). On the other hand, you may choose to blame the individual through whom the trial comes and fail the spiritual test/challenge completely.

For you see, it would appear that the real battle is ultimately an inner one. No matter that the fiery darts appear to originate from a physical form. The object (flesh and blood) that introduces the struggle is not the culprit per se, only a vehicle that imparts the spiritual challenge. Whether you win or lose this battle depends on the choices you make during the struggle. If someone makes you angry, what is your typical response? Quite likely, your first reaction will be visceral….a desire to defend, protect, retaliate. We can do so in numerous ways. We may do so outwardly and directly, as in face to face confrontations. Or, we may do so inwardly, as in private conscious justifications. Our anger may even be turned inward and manifest itself in depression. If, though, we can see these conflicts for what they are…spiritual battles that present choices…whether to hate and retaliate in some way…or love and forgive…we have a chance to really win the battle that counts.

Online and all alone...

Well, I have a blog and it’s online.  I’m the only one who apparently knows it’s online at this point, though.  I've built websites before and I'm familiar with the whole search engine and exposure routine.  For me, at this point, the questions become…are my opinions, perspectives, and thoughts worth the trouble of attempting to gain an audience?  And what exactly would my motive be for doing so?  To help other people?  To entertain?  To (hopefully) be encouraged/affirmed?  I do know that initially I wanted an unencumbered (anonymous) outlet for my thoughts.  I also know that I was interested in feedback.  Hmmm.  Sounds like I need something.  Probably the same thing everyone else needs, huh?

Magnificence and horror...

Some of my observations can be a little intense. I mean…as I mentioned in a previous post, this is a fantastic universe we live in. My goodness…the magnitude of its glory is beyond comprehension. The diversity of life is mind boggling. Our little pea brains really cannot fathom it. And yet we are here. We can take a stroll through Yosemite Valley and be awestruck by the sheer beauty. We can stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon and be stunned. We can watch a tornado wreck havoc and be humbled by its power. We can look up into the sky at night and feel both great and insignificant at the same time as the expanse of it takes our breath away. We can peer up at the sun and be amazed that this apparent ball of fire hangs there and gives light and heat to this planet, and without which there would be no life on earth. But at the same time we are pondering the magnitude and glory of creation…millions of things are being eaten alive. There is drama here….as well as glory.  The point in all this is that though life is wonderful in ways, it is also a life of uncertainty and should elicit a degree of fear and respect from those privileged to be part of it.

Hidden motives...

Hidden motives. Do each of us have motives that even we aren’t completely aware of and don’t grasp? Does our ‘base nature’ have it’s own agenda, and does it work underneath of our conscious thoughts? What would make up our base nature? Selfishness? Dominance? Survival? Pride? If these are some of the traits of this base nature….just how ugly is it? Yikes! Do we have a monster within? Is our job here on planet earth to attempt to contain it? Surely we fight against it each day. Can we ever win, or is this base nature just a sparring partner…one through which we can exercise our conscious will and possibly become stronger? Does this base nature ever die while we are in this body? Is this base nature integral with the body and are we the soul that cohabitates with it? What do you think the ultimate purpose of such a plan might be?

The slings and the arrows...

Well, it’s another day in this fantastic universe and it’s almost time to head out the door to work. Soon, the challenges will begin! Am I up to it? I just never know. Some days I seem like Superman, and the slings and the arrows just bounce off. Other days, they make it through and find their mark and leave wounds. Sometimes the pain of those wounds cause me to throw an arrow or two. It’s the arrows that I throw that seem to hurt me more, though.

It's all good?

In our day and age, you hear people say “it’s all good”. But it’s not all good. Hate isn’t good. Murder isn’t good. Suicide isn’t good. Incest isn’t good. Heroin addiction isn’t good. Car accidents aren’t good. There are too many things to list that aren’t good. So, in that, we have determined that everything that happens to us, or around us…isn’t necessarily good.

Sometimes how we handle the things that happen to us or around us isn’t good either. We can become bitter, we can seek vengeance, we can hate, we can become apathetic, we can lose hope, we can lose faith, etc. There are too many things to list here as well.

So, how are we to view and understand life?

On the one hand, we aren’t in complete control of our destiny. Someone could crash into our car and it be totally their fault. We could end up maimed for life, and be totally innocent. Or, we could be born into a family that has lousy genes…and suffer with a disease that we had absolutely no choice about. We could be born handicapped, etc. Again the list could go on and on.

Though we don’t have complete control over what we go through in life, we do have choices in how we respond to our experiences. As noted above, we can do so negatively…by becoming bitter, etc. Or, we can do our best to choose a positive perspective. What a challenge!

We can speculate about things until the cows come home. For instance, we could say that by being maimed in a car accident that left us paralyzed, we were given an opportunity to trust God more…since we could no longer care for ourselves. After all, God is in the business of shaping souls…and what in the world do we know about that? Maybe in heaven we will find we made great progress in some soul developmental department because of that challenge here? Maybe those people that suffer the most here, and do so gracefully, will be higher up the ladder in heaven? That makes some sense to me. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily make it true….or false.

Something else that makes sense is that in this world, love feels better than hate and joy feels better than bitterness. So, from a logical perspective, choosing a positive attitude makes better sense for our own well being. Bitterness is ugly and hurts the person that is bitter. Hate does the same thing. Who wants that? That’s like punishing ourselves. We may already feel like we are being punished, why take over the job?

Hopefully, though, we don’t feel like we are being punished because I really don’t think that’s it. Though life is not ‘all good’, it can be an exciting and challenging adventure. After all, we get to be awake and alive…in a fantastic universe.