charting the Great Trail

This is the real beginning of a new year. Wow, here we are January 2 and things are heading in a signifigant direction. For so many years Darla and I have planned to make changes in our life after the New Year, but this year is different. Two months ago we began to take a hard look at our finances and the way we spend our money. As a result, we opened a second account for savings and taxes; we talk about purchases with each other before we make them and we are looking for ways to save money so that we might be in a better position to help those who are in need. Two weeks ago we began to take a hard look at our physical condition. We are talking to each other about what we eat and why we eat it. I am drinking more water than I ever have. Losing weight for me is secondary, my real goal is to establish the spiritual discipline of self-control. Darla and I agree that spending, eating, sleeping are all spiritual activities. Meaning that behind each decision to buy, consume, or engage in any activity there is a deeper connection to our inner person.

A wise sage once said, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

For the last year or so I have a couple of things emailed to me on a daily basis. One is a daily life lessons from a messianic Jewish rabbi who looks at each day of life from the bifocals of Jewish culture and Christian heritage. Click here to get it emailed to you. Today he used one of my favorite quotes: “Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read it (Habakkuk 2:2).” I can’t think of a better way to start off the new year than to write down the things that you would like to change, build upon, or start new. I need reminders to help me remember what it is that I am doing. As a person of faith, remembrance is a life practice. To really live is to remember.

The second thing I have emailed is the daily lectionary readings, which are read by the people of God all across the world and across many denominations. Over a three year period, these reading will take one through the entire sacred history lived through people for thousand of years. click here to get it emailed to you. One of the passages today was Genesis 12, the beginning of the Abrahamic journey, a journey to become a blessing to all the nations. The journey was never a journey to become an exclusive people to themselves, rather it was to become a people who were readily welcomed because of their incredible forgiveness, generosity, and hope in the lives of every family in this age and the age to come.

When I read these two emails, I was encouraged that today is a beginning in many ways, and it is a reminder that we did not just begin this trail today but have walked on and off it for many years.

An experienced journeyman once said, “the only way to keep a trail fresh is to walk on it.”

May you find your feet walking the Great Trail and know that it is not found by any man made maps but is written on your heart.