Christmas Promise

The reason for the season, is that 2 millenia ago
Our savior was a rockin', in his manger made of hay

And before we ever were, he knew all that ever was
And so on this snowy day, I thank God who rescued us

Singing and eating and presents galore, I praise Jesus I adore
From swadling clothes, to a body pierced by steel

I live my life as the healed, as the chosen, as the new
For my salvation is written, my destiny in heaven

And this Gospel, yes, this good news
Is that the promise, made so long ago

Was all for you.

Every Story

Every story, every good story that is, has one binding trait: love. Our lives, whether we aim to or not, twist and turn according to our dealings with love. I have not experienced much, but I know enough to say a life without love, well that barely passes for existence.

I speak of love so pointedly, yet the word itself remains so vague. I will not bore you with various examples of what I believe love to be. They all seem so trite. No, just like I cannot write unless I truly feel the words climbing up out of my chest, spurred on by racing thoughts and shot through my fingers by the black power of emotions. You cannot know what love is unless you have felt the burn, the crippling fear and insanity, and the immeasurable happiness it produces. It is this occurrence which shifts our courses, changing the very direction of our lives. Love, which births passion, generates an unstoppable force. Through failure, through tears, one must achieve the unattainable, the impossible. But that…that right there is the beauty of true love. It solves the unsolvable; it triumphs over what others had shied away from.

And so we remain bored with life; bound by limitations we set. Our souls quietly tucked away, safe. But if you could only see what it looks like; what a life driven only by love actually looks like. It would bring you to tears, if not only for the realization of how empty we have lived.

The Bucket List

It’s a simple question: what do you want to do before you die. Everyone has faint ideas and unspoken dreams dancing around their minds. Sadly, the urgency of life blinds them to its frailty and brevity. What do we want out of life? It’s an important question to ask, if not the question.

It directs everything we do, say. It guides our accomplishments, our relationships, and our purchases. I like to think most people spend the better part of their life answering this question. Most never find their answer. A small majority find it late in life. But still there is that miniscule portion of society which wake up early in life knowing full well what direction they want to take and do so full force.
Oh, how we adversely admire them.

Life is not about what we want to own, but what we wish to accomplish and experience. No one consciously dedicates their life to simply owning things. If a person desires a house, it is more likely they’re seeking the memories they will create there with family and friends; rather than it being a mere piece of property. Likewise, our lives should become more than a rat race.

Stop. Take a look at your life, what do you want to do? What have you always wanted to do but put off for one reason or another?

Having goals and dreams is too easy. For them to come true you must take it one step further. These goals must have measurable steps and deadlines along also. Or else you will fall prey to the same fate as so many unhappy souls before you. A life absent of true living.

I write this excited at the year to come. New Year’s Resolutions – they carry almost a humorous feel now, tainted by countless failed attempts. But if one is actually going to start living, it has to be more than some spur of the moment shallow commitment. It has to be ‘knock-you-off-your-horse turn-you-around and give-you-a-kick-in-the-right-direction’ kind of change.

I’m young. But I can’t use that as an excuse to be lazy or scared of change. I want things out of life and sitting on my butt is not going to get them for me.
God didn’t put us here to sit and hope and wallow. He gave us tools, He gave us life – use it!

Example: I want to learn how to cook. I want to get stronger. I want to learn how to dance.
Okay, well that’s the first step – just some basic goals off the mental list I carry around. But look at them, their small, weak, and bland. Next step…
1. I want to buy an Italian cook book, and make 1 recipe a week for a year.
2. I want to be able to bench 225 three times by next fall.
3. I want to put together a 1+ minute dance routine with my unit brothers that we can perform for our friends before summer break.
Haha, yes they are goofy, but they’re real, tangible, and time restricted. Suddenly the idea I had floating around in my head is starting to take shape. Now we actually have to make steps towards these goals. Browse a bookstore for the right cookbook, start researching good strength building routines, and finally get some meetings started so the dance can begin to become a reality.

I am writing this because I’m scared. Scared I am going to look back twenty – thirty years from now and wonder what if?
I’ve been stubborn with God lately, but He has a way of being patient with me until I realize I’m off track. I have thought a lot about where life will take me after college, but I have gone about it all wrong. It’s not about where life will take me; it’s about where I will take life - hand in hand with God.