Gratitude
When life challenges you … the way you fight out of the corners says a lot about who you are… those that learn to deflect and limit the number of direct shots have a chance of growing into an evolved species… those that play with any percentage of ego will not only limit their progress but hinder their innate abilities to evolve… one of my biggest zen hero’s is Bruce Lee, and my all-time hero is the Son of Man. In this Christmas season when we celebrate the “gift” we reflect on what that really means for us… is the Baby Jesus an ornament that we bring out once a year and give homage to or is it the deepest most mysterious relationship we ever dared to partake of… ?you see intimacy with the Son of Man hits you at your very core no skirting, no withholding the master is the perfect you at the 100th degree… He is what you will never be or could never come close to matching … and yet if you dare put 100% trust in the son of God… and put all your faith in Him … your chances of joy and peace increase exponentially. In order to run at this high level you need to cut out all the games and train like a champion… rain, sleet, or snow you do the hard work… you show up when no one else dares, and no matter how disappointing the outcome you realize God has a plan. I love Christmas because the Gift is mostly about anticipation(thankyou Pastor Brian) when hope is dangled in front of you … you can hang on just a bit longer when asked to wait you trust there is a reason… the outcome is that hope cultivates gratitude and gratitude happens to be an essential ingredient that begins your process towards Christian discipleship… what fascinates the warrior is that few are trained at a high level, thus they operate with kindness and stewardship towards those less trained, and what becomes most discernible is the longer you operate without the master skipper the more handicapped you become… the best portion of a good man’s life becomes his nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love…Humility then is a flower that smells the sweetest when shy and lowly… the child always becomes the father of the man.