REFLECTIONS

            LIFE IS REALLY SIMPLE,
                         BUT WE INSIST ON MAKING IT COMPLICATED.
                                                                   Confucius

     This time of year many people become better than their normal selves and give living a little extra shot.  This is good because there are so many who believe they are better than they are and act it.  There has to be some readjustment and a little grounding reset now and then.
      There are many friends that are planning get together with their families and friends and this is a good thing.  But there are many this time of year that have difficulty getting through the season for one reason or another.  Maybe it was their own fault or circumstances beyond their control.
     I am looking out at a winter scene that is picture postcard like.  As I do every time I look out of the window here on the hill, I am thankful for what we have that so many do not.  The geese are going by by the thousands and there are tracks in the snow of some critter.
      Circumstances have left me to be a bachelor and looking back at things in my life I just cannot help but wonder how things would be if I had made different choices.  The view back is pretty focused on mistakes and even right choices.  But to imagine what would have been and where I would be now is hard.  There is so much temptation for making regrets.
     It seems that modern culture has replaced 'others' with 'me'.  The only thing that seems to count in the world now is what is good for 'me'.  It has been instilled into our younger generation and we are paying a price for it.
     I hope that the sum of my life is not the 'Me's' but the 'other's'.  It is so easy to look back and grieve things that were lost or never been.  I miss so many friends and relatives that have passed on, many before their time.
     It is also hard to think about the 'what if' had I found the right partner.  Today's relationships don't leave very many good examples of the right one ever being found by many.
     It seems that intolerance is the vogue thing now and being a Christian is equated with backwardness and ignorance.  Yet truth is many times mistaken for meanness.  Maybe the fact that truth is so uncomfortable especially when you are wrong, might be the reason for declining numbers filling pews in our churches.
     As I see more and more people picking apart the Bible, Christianity, and people of faith it is clear that there has been a fundamental mistake being made in this culture that requires lengthy actions or justifications. Faith cannot be measured by scientific experiment or measurements. Belief in God, and his commandments, is that faith takes the mystery and  unknown and makes it the underlying foundations of our lives.  Those who have need to justify and inject vitriol and hate into the equation have foundations built on sand.
     It is easy to pick at things that make no difference and feel strongly about issues that have little importance.  Yet in other places just staying alive is the real issue of the day.
     Maybe we can all set back and reflect on the wonders we have and be grateful for friends, home and family.