Been a while.

With a new book in the works (for there is always a new book in the works) editing has taken over my free time.

What this leaves is scraps of time, like pieces of bread, unworthy of your time, your clicks, your thumbs up. So I will make this brief.

“Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 NET

This the premise, turn around now if you took a wrong turn. 

Where this road goes is nowhere but within, you get to indulge a little self-idolatry here. Not the kind you want, but even an anti-hero gets to have a movie every now and then.  

This one is obvious, or at least should be. Yet, somehow what gets lost in translation is our part in the matter. What have we done, or not done, to allow ourselves to get stuck in such debacle? Why are we forever caught in this limbo of things being good to not good enough, satisfied to discontent, struggling so much with each of these concepts that they simply blurred together into this overall feeling of unhappiness? 

I guess first and foremost, what is happiness to you? If it is living here and now and getting what you want, what you think is best for you, don't you realize you'd be dead by now? Do you not see that what we've thought is best throughout life tends to be the thing that keeps us more focused on superficial and therefore kills us slowly? Maybe we don't want to see the truth, but thank the body's subconscious ability to pass out or the digestive tract's knack for knowing how to vomit, because if it would have been up to us, again, we'd be dead. 

Secondly, happiness here, doesn't mean happiness overall. What makes you happy now might be cake, only to hate yourself later (overeating, feeling sleepy, unmotivated  etc). What makes you happy now shouldn't even rely on a thing, a person, a place, but it can be your choice without any "additions." 

This isn't happiness,
but pleasure. They are different. 

I'm literally in a basement right now, stomach kind of hurts, kind of hungry, a little uneasy with a full week of work lingering, and yet, I couldn't be any happier. There is no money, accolades, or pleasure that could make this moment any better than what it is. I have my faith in God and He provides my needs, this faith takes all pressure off of me to do so and I am thankful for that, because by now if it isn't clear, I would have messed this up. 

Again we sit, on the bottom of a see saw, wondering why this thing doesn't work. We've pushed everyone away and yet we sit here, complaining, upset, all the while people come by asking if we need any help. We turn them away. This is what we are doing to avoid or losing the literal meaning of, "being kind, compassionate, forgiving" because oh yea, the Guy who made it all happen, literally the creator of the Universe, forgave us for our ignorance, stupidity, our outright defiant temper tantrums the world justified as appropriate. 

We are weak, He is strong. Literally every kid knows this lyric from one of the most popular kid's Sunday school songs, "Jesus Loves Me." Not, Jesus kind of likes me a little bit, or Jesus wants me to do this, this, and this. But that he "Loves." We are demanded to love others like we have been loved, giving up the hate, the anger, the resentment, the feelings that we struggle with feeling. 

We think we know what is best for us, yet we hurt ourselves more than anyone. 

Look again at the verse, it is simple, and it leads to a simple life. Practice letting it go, a message from Disney a few years back that was taken from the first self-help book that helped by way of giving up the self, the Bible. 

God Bless. 

I did write a self-help book that I suck at promoting, however, notice more and more the culture of body image obsessions getting taken to unhealthy levels. Maybe just check it out, or, give a gift to someone who may benefit, or just hit me up about it, see if there is any more information or resources I can help with. Click Here.