"I'm a little divided..."

Oh, wow! It's Friday once again. I've been learning the hard way the past few weeks that there is nothing magic about the start of a new year. Time, while perhaps not totally so, is a fairly arbitrary marker. On the good side, in a very real sense, every day is New Year's Day. This time next year it will be 15 January 2022. You can make a resolution today!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll take all the new beginnings I can get. Since the new year, it has become clear to me that I need a bit of a course correction. I don't need a 180° correction, or even a 90° turn. I think need something in the 45° range, which is still a pretty significant vector change.

At root, I just want and need to be happier. Understandably, last year things were very serious with the pandemic and everything else going on. I am glad I dealt with many of those issues directly, even if my doing so sat the wrong way with some people. Looking back, I am not full of regrets.

This is not to say that, like virtually everyone else, I can always find better ways to say/write what I am thinking and feeling. But I don't have any regrets. It's been observed that if you don't have enemies it's probably because you haven't stood for anything. As a Christian, it's important to love those who set themselves against you, to pray for them, to do good to them. This, of course, is far easier to write than to do.

My need to stop undercutting my own happiness (i.e., a choice to focus on negative things) became apparent to me well before the end of the last year. To remedy this, I obtained a copy of Max Lucado's book How Happiness Happens: Finding Lasting Joy in a World of Comparison, Disappointment, and Unmet Expectations. As I write this, I have only one chapter left before I finish it. It was a good investment.

When I finish How Happiness Happens, I plan to read Brother David Steindhl-Rast's Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer : An Approach to Life in Fullness. I've concluded that at present there are plenty of critics. I am grateful for those who have the gift of doing this directly and charitably. But, at least for now, I feel the need to fly a slightly different course.

Last weekend I had the chance to spend some time listening to music. It's been awhile. I listened to Foo Fighters sing "Times Like These" live on SNL last November. It was a great show with Dave Chappelle as guest host. Dave's monologue was superb, watch it. It's the kind of thing we need to hear. Dave deals with the complexity and humanity of our current moment while making us laugh, especially at ourselves, which is invaluable. If you want to cut to the chase, go to 14:23 and watch until the end.

Peace and blessings. Hang in there. God is good. Because God is good, there is hope. Easter is always happening.