Saturday, September 30, 2006

in the beginning...again

Here we are at the beginning, again. My brothers in the Jewish faith maybe onto something in celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. It has been said that life is a series of cycles. Those who live well are the ones who can recognize the cycles and learn to live them more skilled than they did the last time. Finding it a challange, they look forward to the trials and difficulties hoping that this time around they might choose "mitzvoh" the good deed. Each good deed is in some way bringing about a more complete circle of the way it is in Heaven.

For some life is a divine service, for others life is a race to buy and consume all that can be had.

I think over the last decade I have unfortunately been in the later camp. But maybe this time around I will choose a life of divine service. Darla and I began our journey together almost 17 years ago in small town called Panama City. It was from that town that we struck out to make a life for ourselves. Today we find oursleves back in Panama City ready to embark on a new journey. Over these last few months we have introspectively looked at where we have come from, it is from this vantage point that we move forward. The past has served as a road map to the choices we have made with our time, resource, and thoughts. As a result of some of those choices, we have found ourselves in a trap of commitments wieghing us down. The weight of these commitments are such a heavey burden, we can barely take more than two steps at a time. So as we go back to the beginning again, we hope to make different choices with what the One who gives neither proverty nor riches but only our daily provision.

Living in the daily, we no longer must carry the weight of tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. Realizing that our daily needs will be met, we can then be looking for who might be in need and become a hand of the Divine to meet those needs. Maybe it is the beginning of living the giving away of our lives for others, not in obligation, but in joy to be in harmony with the Great Song of Restoration playing in our ordinary every day living.

So here is my prayer today, let the shackles of the exiles fall off, and let the horn of freedom sound, and may we step out into the new day!

2 comments:

GoteeMan said...

Michael - praying for you guys today. It is a good thing to learn to live in the current moment. God is "I AM", not "I WAS" or "I WILL BE". He is outside of time, and yet He is with us in each and every moment. We cannot experience or affect change in the past or future - only in the current moment.

Bless you my friend.

Jeff

Jacqui said...

"One who gives neither proverty nor riches but only our daily provision."

Proverbs 30...I was there on Saturday as well. So much of your current journey, of what God is showing and teaching you guys, is so similar to how and when and what He is saying to me. Thank you for sharing. I'm actually going to quote your first paragraph in a post one of these days. I spent a couple of hours in a meeting today saying that some parts of my life just feel like the movie "Groundhog's Day", and I'm not going to be released from this "day" until I get "it." You were much more articulate and captured the essence of the feeling so much better :-)

We are praying with and for you. Blessings be upon you.