Kingdom of God

He said unto another man, Follow me.'But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but you thou and preach the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:59-60)

I remember reading this Bible verse many moons ago, and wondering at the almost calloused response Jesus gives to a man that wants to bury his father. With a matured understanding of the character of Jesus, I read this verse and see revealed therein, the heart of God. If I boil this concept down to its elemental components, life and death are the issues that remain.

Picture this
Can you imagine, dear reader, being in the physical I-can-see-him-hear-him-touch-him presence of God Almighty? Now imagine him saying to you Follow me. Next, hear yourself saying Hey God, as exciting as your mission for me sounds, I have some business to take care of back home... can you give me a couple of days and I'll catch up with you later?

When we look closely at Jesus' reply to the mans request to first let me go, we can see that Jesus is all at once, making a statement and giving an order. The dead bury the dead but the living, dear reader, are to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

What, is the kingdom of God, pray tell? It is Jesus, anticipated and then announced:

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Let us be really clear: Jesus has no time for the dead dear one, He has His eyes on the living. He has His eyes on you and me, and what He wants us to know, is that following Him is our most-important-must-get-taken-care-of-now business. He has a mandate for each of us, and this may include forsaking others, including our relatives, to proclaim His Kingship.

Overpoweringly attractive

The King, in our midst

I don't know about you, but I find Jesus irresistible; this is true because I am one of His people! His gravitational pull is overpoweringly attractive, and I don't want to say no when He says follow me. I am disinclined to reject the assigned task of proclaiming the kingdom of God. A Christian just cannot help themselves, because to deny Jesus is to deny life: it is this serious, this important. I simply must, follow Him and proclaim to anyone who will listen, including to you here and now, to Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).(

Head over heels in love
My hope is that you too, are head over heels in love with Jesus, God (is) in your midst. My prayer is that you follow Him and proclaim Him as King. I live on hopes and prayers... He listens!

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16)

I could say something soothing here and effectually let us off the proverbial hook, about how hard it is to follow Him, to stay on task and mission, but that would be a lie for me, because each day that I open my eyes anew, becomes another opportunity to pledge my allegiance to Him, to Jesus as my God, my King! It gives me deep pleasure and I hope, I hope, it does for you too.

Sugar

Dear Sugar:

We have been friends for a very long time, haven't we? I remember becoming acquainted with you at a tender young age, and we have spent so much delicious time together since! I have memories of whole days in your company and when I wasn't with you, I have to admit shyly here, that I thought of you, longed for you, and could not wait until we would again, meet and melt into one another. Now that I am sharing, could you please give my regards to your cousin, Chocolate? If it weren't for the two of you supporting me all these years, propping me up when I was feeling down, I just don't know what I would have done...

You always wanted my attention

I have to explain myself to you Sugar. When I gave you up in October, it was because you and I were not really getting along. I mean, it seemed to me, at the time, that you had some kind of unhealthy attachment to me. You were always wanting my attention and when I couldn't see you, you called me incessantly and expected me to just drop everything and come running to your side. I discovered after we had been together, that I couldn't think clearly, I had what seemed like fog in the brain. Concentrating and remembering were challenging and it felt as though... forgive me for this accusation but I must say it... it felt as though... I had been drugged! How could I possibly tell you this when we had been so close and you dear Sugar, had always been so available to me in my deepest and darkest times of need? 

I had to know
We were apart for seventy-six days. I had to know for myself if our relationship stood a chance by us being apart. I think we had what is known as co-dependency, you know, that messed up thing that people do when they aid and abet one another in unhealthy behaviours? I think that was us and I had to find out for myself by leaving you, to see how I felt without you in my life.

I was afraid

Co-dependency is unhealthy, dear Sugar

This is the hard part dear Sugar. I was afraid. I was afraid of what would happen if I let you back in. I thought perhaps, we could handle it, you know, go slow and ease our way back into each others lives? So on December 24th, I made a decision to do a test run and invited you to spend some time with me, over the holidays. I shake my head, because those three days are a blur for me and I have to wonder, if you recall how they played out? We were almost inseparable and and... I hate to say this, but you made everything else taste really bad to me. You left me wanting only you, to the exclusion of many other wonderful experiences and I knew then, what I must tell you now

My life is sweeter, without you
It has been six days since we spent time together. It was hard to be without you, especially on day two, because I remembered only the good times. Today, you are a fading memory and I know that my life is sweeter, without you. I can think straight, I feel motivated, my memory is working and I don't miss you, not like I used to. You were like an addiction and I used to think, I can give Sugar up anytime I want to. The problem wasn't you Sugar, it was me... I just never wanted to give you up, until now. 

Dear Sugar
So this is a dear Sugar letter... because I must say goodbye. It may not be forever because I can only live one day at a time. I hope you understand how much I appreciate what you have meant to me and the time we spent happily together, but it is time for me, to say adieu and wish you well. My hope is that you do not become bitter with my departure. 

P.S: Please give my regards to your distance relative, Dark Chocolate.

Character Development

Emotions were reflected
I have watched a couple of amazing series on Netflix over the past year and a half. As I reflect on the ones that serendipitously slipped into my voyageur like viewing pleasure, I realize emotions were reflected for me by the characters in the shows: what I needed and wanted to feel was lived out on my behalf, on the screen.

While I became familiar with the characters in each show, I learned their names, their likes and dislikes, their idiosyncratic dispositions and behaviours. Some of the characters oddly represented replicas in my own life, people that I know! Uncomfortably, some of the characters were awkward, annoying, unpleasant with jagged reactions and selfish responses to the circumstances in the "show", and I was confronted with this two part question: am I like that, is that how people see me? This leads me to the premise of this writing dear reader: we all have certain traits and inclinations, not all of them admirable or desirable. The fun part is when we take a good hard look at ourselves, the people in our lives, and even the characters we relate to in the shows we watch, and choose to develop our own characters, as it were!

The shows that moved me
The past couple of years have been growth inducing for me and my family. While I grieved loss, I watched Longmire. When I longed for dedicated love, I watched Friday Night Lights. When I wanted to learn what family unity looked like, I watched This is Us. Now dear one, with a smirk, I tell you that a new series has entered into my edified life. Shall I tell you what it is?

Live this crazy adventure Life
Before I share the new series, I must tell you where I am and why. There are character strengths that I possess: we all have them so this is not a prideful statement, I am not being a braggart here. The difference between me and maybe you, is I have done an inventory of my traits. I know who I am, who I am not, and who I want to become. Where I am is right here, learning and growing: willing to be taught. The why part of all this is called Life: wonderful-awe-inspired-get-to-live-this-crazy-adventure Life! It is a thrill to get up in the morning and know, that another day awaits for me to discover... to discover! I am evolving, changing, being moulded and shaped. and my character is developing: I have some desire, which leads me to telling you what my newest favourite watchable on Netflix series is...

Agents of good
Life in Pieces. We fall to pieces; we put the pieces back together again; we become fragmented and reconnected and, at the risk of a run on sentence, the bits and pieces of who we are is really this marvellous collage of all the characters we have encountered, run away from, drawn near to, lived with, loved, moved away from, collided with, and bounced off of and lastly, fallen into. We are a mix and match of each other, picking up the pieces of our own lives while hopefully being agents of good in the lives of others.

Life in pieces
Life in Pieces is a composite of characters; people whose traits I would like to develop in my own life. Emotionally speaking, this show is the me of now, and the me I want to live into as this New Year begins. I can add and subtract traits dear one, as I develop my own character: and so can you! 

Follow these steps

1. I challenge you to take an inventory, or lack thereof, of your character traits. It is okay dear one, sometimes we must be cruel to ourselves to ultimately be kind: you have heard the expression, honesty is the best policy, right? You have some wonderful and not so wonderful traits, take the time to figure them out
2. Write out the traits you admire in others and long to possess
3. Find someone, or many someones, that have these traits, and copy them for goodness sakes! We learn by example and through practice. This is true in the physical and emotional realms
4. Ask yourself some questions: What is thematic in my life? Does the theme reflect what I desire? Does it mirror what I admire?
5. This last step is up to you dear one... I don't want to take you too far up the ladder I have in front of me, you have your own to climb! You get to figure out step 5!

Suggestion

Land on soulfully solid ground

I will make a suggestion though: watch the shows I did. They brilliantly display humanity in all manners of guts and glory, despicable pretence and selfishness, generosity and hatred, love and cruelty, misunderstanding and wisdom. You get the picture, now go develop your character. That is your work for 2019. My desire is to live as fully as is humanly possible. 

My hope, is that you do too.