I am humbled to announce today is the last day of 2012 AND day #4 of Resolution Week!
The Naked and the Clothed
We like to clothe ourselves in many things. We have our careers, families, money, homes, cars, friends, culture, fitness, style, science, beauty, youth, and, of course, actual clothing. These things can give us the illusion that we are in control of our lives and in truth, since our lives do consist, in part, of those things, we are indeed controlling our lives. But it’s also very easy to use those same things to hide an even larger truth about our lives, and that is that we are not in complete control. Underneath all those things we can control are many more things we can’t.
The Known Maybe and the Unknown Certainty
My father, Skeets Coleman, is 94 now. And we all know his death is coming because he is old. That is known. But in spite of his advanced age he is still in relatively good health and we actually don’t know when or how he will die. And we also don’t know if one of his children or grandchildren will die before he does. It isn’t likely that will happen and we would not want it to be so but the truth is we do not know. What do we know for certain? We will die. But even that immutable truth is an unknown to us until the moment (or shortly before the moment) arrives.
What is in Front of Us?
Do you know what your life is going to be like? Do you have it planned out? That is good, nothing wrong with planning. It is ok to feel good about your life and who you are. Being humble isn’t about purposely dissing yourself to appear humble. It’s about understanding reality. It is about remembering that all the ‘master of the universe’ desires we may have and may act on will not completely reduce the unknowns. It is good to be humble as we acknowledge that the universe, god, karma, science or whatever combination of things is at work, is beyond our control.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
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Trivia of the Day (answer tomorrow)
The richest man on the Titanic died. Who was he and why was he on the boat?
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My mother is 104. Maybe Jesus is keeping her alive until he comes again. But, we know she will die, because, as you said, she is old. I am 75 and my sister 73, and we are considered old. I lost my son when he was 46. Death is imminent but we know not when. I also lost a grandson when he was 21. But, he had a serious illness. I have had a serious illness and been in bed the past 3 1/2 months. It is not curable, but treatable by me following doctor’s instructions. This will increase my life and maybe I will outlive my mother. I still have a goal of being the organist of my church as long as I can play. We are in Oklahoma City to be close to my mother. We have a goal to sell the house (which is paid for) when she is no longer here, live in assisted living, or an apartment with all bills paid and travel. Of course this depends on our health. My husband is only 72, but has diabetes and has to care for this, with my help. We help each other take care of our health. We are also caring for my grandson with a learning disability and trying to get him on his own. We’ve helped him get a high school diploma, driver’s license, seasonal jobs (he is good at landscaping), and he is off drugs and going to church with us. This is a start, but he still needs a career. He had a scholarship to OSU for wrestling, as he was the Oklahoma champion for two years. His Dad had a breakdown from post traumatic stress from the Murrah Building bombinb, when he was assigned to pulling children from the day care for 36 hours. None of those were alive. After his breakdown, his wife divorced him and told the kids to leave if they couldn’t follow her rules (she’s a policewoman). My grandson chose a group of druggies to hang out with until I took him in, years ago, it seems. My husband and I have been married only 9 years and would like to have goals for just us, but we have baggage, and wouldn’t do anything any different considering the circumstances. My grandson’s dad, my son, died in 2008. He has a 5 year old daughter, but her mother left him and he has her on weekends. I’ve turned all of this over to God and have faith He will unravel the pieces, to work together for good to the Glory of God. I met one goal: I was well enough to play for the service the Sunday before Christmas, Christmas Eve, and the Sundays since, with the help of my husband, who is also an organist. We take it one day at a time and thank God for the gift of that day. We keep our eyes on Jesus and follow His guidance.
You are doing a good and wonderful thing Eyrline. I admire you and your husband a great deal. I hope I have your love and understanding by the time I reach your age.
I have no plans to die.
I have no plans to kill you so we are good.