Suppose for a moment that nothing else is going on in the world ...I mean, nothing bad is going on in the world.

Actually, that would really be a bad thing to do.

Why??

Simple ....because we should be thinking of others.

Okay, admittedly it is not so difficult to be aware of what is going on ...yet, even on the other side of the world, with our sophisticated communications, we only get updates and our knowledge is limited by what is reported to us.  That can leave us with a reality that is only seen through a lens we are given, and it is often very difficult to know what is true and to what extent ...let alone, what to do or how to get involved.  But, that is primarily because we often allow others to convince us of ...what to feel.

And who do we feel is respected enough to rely on, as a trusted source??

Yet, we don't need to watch the news to know bad things are always happening.  Things are happening every day, and though we don't always know where or precisely what or to what extent ...they are happening.  Sometimes those bad things rear their ugly head, and remind us that the things are happening ...and please take notice & acknowledge that it is serious.

Consider whether these are two of the things we're convinced are attainable, or are among the things we can make a difference with ...if we only work at them:

1. World peace
2. Climate change

So much combined effort and energy is spent talking about it, organizing, and spending money.  And of course, we should want world peace and should attempt to do our best to help minimize the opposite ...world chaos. 

And absolutely, not to minimize personal health for everyone ...with clean water and air, & never try to balance our budgets by overriding the safety of individuals (Flint, Michigan??).

So, often we don't have to go far ...to find things that are quite bad, things that never should have gotten to the point of happening.

Yet, how much of our day is involved in thinking of these things??

We may even get angry about a few of these things, but then turn quickly to Twitter to discover someone is tweeting a 'lol' about how they were twimming their twonails, with one of them landing in the cat's mouth. The cat makes the weirdest face ...before she coughs up this huge hairball. Now, I'm giving Twitter the benefit here ...as usually the highlight would be just the trimming of the toenails. 

Or enough of our significant behavior, now that we're done with our own personal reality show, or the equivalent of perhaps only an advertisement ...we tune-in to the favorite TV show this side of the galaxy, which everyone seems to get a big bang out of ...The Big Bang Theory.

It may seem rather disconnected from what is going on in the world, but there needs to be a balance. Laughing is good when it is not at someone else's expense, or doesn't hurt others.  And we can't always do something about events around us ...but, we can perhaps influence the quality of our thinking, and perhaps we can do something.  Sometimes our greatest achievement for that day is listening to someone, and putting their feelings or needs ahead of ours. 

Quality of life is a rather relative thing ...and perhaps we feel our relatives have much to do with it.  We do share the way we feel, and emotions are very powerful, especially when they are fueled. 

Comparison can be a very bad thing, but can be good in the sense that we teach our children not just what to do ...but, also what not to do. I remember in Kindergarten they used to have show-and-tell.  It was interesting, and could be educational too. A child could be shown how soft the fur of a cat or bunny is ...but, everybunny should also be told the black & white polecat is not fur petting.  It's just common-scents.

Life gets more complicated as we get older. We assign labels to whom we think the real skunks are ...and we often ignore our own foul nature.

Much of this often comes from our social standing ...or perception of it. Rags and riches, much a comparative philosophy, often divide people and contentment is not their breeding ground. Some people may be critical of those who accumulate wealth, but those same people often do not consider us friendly to their cause if we smile while living in poverty.

Being appreciative usually goes hand-in-hand with contentment.  It is not a healthy outlook to approach life looking through a lens that encourages us to be ungrateful ...or which un-courages us.

We would all do better to try to practice a bit more contentment.

The serenity prayer makes a point: To accept the things I cannot change, to have the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

We should not be so focused on the bad in this world, that we are unable to live the good.  

We should also not ignore the bad. 

Yet, sometimes the best we can do is tell people the good about God, so they can see the beauty of eternity with God ...where there is only good.

So, aside from what is going on in the world today ...what about what is going on right now in our homes??

Our older daughter calls on the phone and tells us she is coming over for a visit ...she comes over to eat with us, and we wait for our other daughter to return home from work. Our son asks our older daughter if she heard of the latest trade ...they both like sports.

Our other daughter gets home ...and our two youngest sons sit down with her after we all greet her. They talk about different plots they dreamed up, about how they think the next Star Wars movie may play out ...it is, I think, over a year away, but it interests them and they like to talk about it. They exchange ideas while Mom let's the dogs outside to go to their plot.

Of course, I am writing this ...but, soon we will all join together to watch a movie we got from the library, or one which one of us got as a birthday gift.

My wife talked to her dad on the phone today, and we are supposed to go visit him this evening. He only lives 4 miles away.

Tomorrow I will call my parents. Dad is usually finishing up some book ...and will likely tell me of the ending. He read most of the books in the small library in their town ...the ones he considers worth reading, and often he will go back and read them a second time. Mom probably has finished the scarf she was knitting. They live in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan ...approximately 435 miles away.

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Imagine what was going on ...even before our world, even before the world of the angels. Instead of my family, with the conversation I wrote about above ...there was only One family: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they are One.

They are in need of nothing, because everything is of them. They know everything, and can be everywhere at the same time. But, imagine the same conversation as above.

One Person calls ...not on the phone, because they don't need phones to call, "I'm coming over for a visit."

Other Person: "I know ...but, you don't need to, you are already here."

One Person (speaking of sports): "You won't believe who they just traded?"

Other Person: "I know ...and I know who 'they' are too."

One Person: "You know about the movie that's coming out in a thousand years?"

Other Person: "I know ...it's coming out tomorrow."

One Person: "That's right, a day is as a thousand years in our time."

Other Person: "I suppose you know how it's going to end."

One Person: "Of course."

Other Person: "I'm going for a walk."

One Person: "I know. How far are you going? Never mind, I know that too. I'm going to read a book while you go for the walk."

Other Person: "I'm back!"

One Person: "How far did you go ...never mind, I know."

Other Person: "Four miles ...four hundred miles, it's all the same. Only the blink of an eye."

One Person: "Yes, I know. I finished the book while you were gone."

Other Person: "How did it end ...never mind, I know. I wrote it."
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I am in no way implying that life was dull or boring for our God ...nor am I changing my original statement that God is not in need of anything, or of us.  Yet, there is a difference between 'need' and 'desire'.  There is also a big difference with how 'desire' is with God.  Our desires can often get us in trouble. Yet, God's desire is so wonderful that I can't even comprehend it.  The Trinity wouldn't have to sit around a table like in a boardroom, contemplating.  To me, most boardrooms would be a 'bored' room (or boring room) ...but, it certainly would not be the case with God.  The excitement and anticipation would be so great, it would be greater than anything I could ever imagine. God didn't have to decide what to do ...as He would create the angels first, and those who chose to remain with Him would be sons of God.  The second group of sons of God ...they would be the humans who followed Him.  The first to be asked to follow Him was Adam.

Let me put it another way. Suppose I received a plant for a birthday gift. If I was really appreciative of the gift ...I would water that plant and make sure it gets the right amount of sunlight. I would tend to it tenderly.

Adam, before Eve was created, was placed in a garden to tend it. And to add to the shared experience of appreciation, God created animals and birds which he paraded in front of Adam ...allowing him to name them, sort of a fun observation of form & function, and how the other creatures appreciated and utilized their environment.

Adam also saw how the birds flew together, and how the animals paired off. Having had God share all this with him, Adam wanted to also share ...much as the other creatures shared.

This was all shortly after it stated, "In the beginning ..." Yet, it was just the beginning of what was to be learned about. There is much more which defines it, but the beginning understanding was for Adam and Eve to take a fall together ...the beginning of their love?

I guess it sort of is ...like falling in love.

But, we usually refer to it in a much more romantic sense ...and often initially less problematic, at least idealistically.

I say it is not the beginning of love ...because love goes way beyond just wanting to reach out and share your entire life together, the good and the bad. Love begins by reaching out ...yet love really seems unable to contain itself, or when it does, it is only for the moment of reflecting on how it is going to direct beyond itself.

Another aspect of love ...is that it does not oppose itself.

Love cannot be love when it works not to be love.

The purest love can never be obtained, but can only approach or appreciate the purity of where it is ...in God, Himself.

And the appreciation of love is in accepting it, or Him, the One who is ...and who makes it all possible.

As difficult as that may sound, and I know I'm not doing justice, nor glorifying the love as accurate as it is ...the appreciation of it, is basically what I believe is integral to it. And that integral component is called ...choice.

Since God is love, it is inevitable that He would choose to spread Himself beyond Himself ...but, with Him, that is not called choice, as it is just Him.

Choice is in the possibility that we may choose not to do it ...and with God, He was just going to do it ...it was not a possibility, it just was.

Yet, when we perchance choose not to do what love would have us do ...we are in violation of that love, or oppose it. Then love becomes not its whole, but a direction towards less ...and often a progression with a continuance or reoccurring occasion of that less, without often less of the energy or knowledge or motivation to change the direction to obtain more.

Many people like the word repentance, and practice it little ...and many others don't like the word because they don't understand the deepest of all love, that which is at the center of it ...forgiveness. And they also have difficulty practicing it ...as what often appears as a wounded pride, is a spirit weakened by comparison, competing for a love that is attainable by all of us.

Much of the problem is from trying to understand love in this comparison form, instead of finding it in its deepest sense. A person may feel tall if he is the tallest one in his family ...but, he may not feel so tall, if he is with a bunch of basketball players. And finding love may be a tall order if you are forever locked into the appreciative stage, and never experiencing the difficult, yet, glorious encore of repeated forgiveness.

If love becomes less, it could become progressively less ...all to easily. And if the progression continues, it could all too soon become not love at all. Yet, the critical stage of it ...is what truly defines it. Our choice to change directions ...is how we view repentance, either in a good light, or in a bad light. Repentance is changing ---to first realize what we had not realized, and then to change our choice ---to choose a pathway to love.

Love survives and grows to its greatest capacity when it is violated or opposed. That is because forgiveness is the greatest aspect of love. We can only tap into the beginnings of it ...by realizing that we could never forgive, if not for learning of it and experiencing it ...from God.

Only then does it become more than words ...words that aren't just spoken out of mouths of proper training, but from the heart of God. We can only begin to understand how to forgive others ...when we realize we forgive only because we see how God loves others, how He loves us.

What gives me the most joy now?? Well, I was thinking how I love to see our children together laughing ...enjoying each others company. And the thing that makes me the saddest, seems to be when they are at odds with one another. And I think they feel the same way about both Dad and Mom ...though they may not want to speak of it, perhaps fearing the mention of it may draw more attention to any conflict and dwelling on it, instead of allowing the natural course of God's work in us to bring us to kiss and makeup.

Yet, our oldest son did answer the most correctly when I asked each member of the family what brought them the most joy.  He said, "That Jesus died for our sins!"

And this could not be more correct.  Whether we realize it, or not ---or whether we are focusing on it at this present moment, or not ---it is absolutely true. Because Jesus died for our sins, the forgiveness is extended towards us ...in His greatest expression of love.

Not realizing this, not accepting this fact, and not appreciating this awesome gift ...does not allow us to tend to it or receive the Light. Not only will we not have healthy growth, but it will cause us to wilt and be conditioned for death.