I cringe and promptly delete forwarded e-mails that describe
“the good old days” as peaches and creme and the current times as totally
immoral and disastrous. I can’t stand
to hear self-proclaimed “preachers” who profuse that we are all wicked people on
a slippery slope to damnation. Who died
and left them God?
Now that I’m 67 years old and in the latter years of my
life, I have little tolerance for doomsday prophecies. My God is a God of Joy, my God is the God of
the Resurrection. My Lord is the Lord of
the Dance. I also believe in starting my eternity now. I believe in bringing, to the best of my
ability, light where there is darkness and hope where there is despair. The
older I get the more I attempt to surround myself with positive, loving
people. I am drawn to them like metal shavings are drawn
to a powerful magnet. Likewise, I find
myself fleeing at once from negative people, negative talk, negative politics
and negative religious beliefs. It is
not that I deny sadness or pain. Actually,
my ministry at church is assisting with funerals.
Nonetheless I refuse to waste my time and fill my soul with
unnecessary gloom, grief and pain. I
will not focus on nor internalize the emptiness in the glass when, in truth,
the glass is half full. I will do my
best to light one candle here and there rather than curse the darkness. And, I will continue to believe that God is the
Light which knows no night, the Light which overcomes the darkness and fills
the world with joy!
