WISDOM from `EDEN @ 51

"Father, I thank you for teaching me even more about myself @ 50 and for never, ever leaving me alone. Amen."


It's only fair that I begin this blog speaking directly to the one that's been with me, everyday, since I turned 50.

So much has changed in this past year.

This time last year, I had a job that I thought I would be working for at least two to three years.
It ended on July 27th.

This time last year, I was afraid that New Mexico wouldn't produce any sincere, honest and focused friends.
Today I know for sure I have one.

This time last year, I wasn't in fellowship at a church, nor had I been in years, and I lived only for myself.
Today, I'm a member of a congregation and accountable to someone other than myself for the first time in as many years.

This time last year, I thought I knew what exactly my career path should be and what my best gifts were.
Today, I don't care what I do, anymore, as long as I'm at peace doing it.

This time last year, I was excited to be in a new place and took a series of photos that showed how good I looked at 50 and that celebrated my new home in New Mexico.
This year even 'tho I look the same, no photos can show my real progress.

This year, I've decided to showcase what those photos didn't and couldn't show:
the state of my heart and mental well-being.

What I've learned in this pivotal year is that life is really simple.., if you live it simply.

Most don't, and they singularly are the reason for all their confusion, disappointment and drama.


Following are some truths that I wish to share that have become truly real to me in this first half of a century.

• When you're dishonest with yourself, all your friends are destined to betray you. You've taught them how to treat you.
• When you think you're in control of yourself, you're trusting the one person that doesn't have a clue as to what's going on.
• When you doubt, what you're really revealing is a lack of faith, or worse, no faith.
• When you live life without faith, your world becomes increasingly small and untrustworthy.
• When you're tired, you make bad decisions and those decisions reveal you as selfish and untrustworthy.
  
• When you think that everyone is against you, you've revealed how you feel about everyone else.
• When you have no reason to live, you cannot create sustainable life/art and all that you create is certain to die, by your own belief system.

I don't think for one minute any of what I've shared is revelatory. The problem with living life simply, is that so many instinctly complicate it to prove that it can't be lived simply. Of all that I have written in these seven truths, know I've violated every one of them at one time or the other and now as I look back over each of those incidents, I discover that with all the wisdom in the world, I still could not have avoided making the decisions I did.

Why?

Because all the wisdom of the world.., is foolishness before God.

On CHRIST the solid rock I stand.., all other ground is sinking sand.

This you might not believe, nor wish to believe, nor think you need to believe... but here it is, the only wisdom that I have to share.

I can do nothing lasting, of value, that ultimately matters without GOD directing the pursuit, the accomplishment and the distribution of whatever I call my own. Every other pursuit in life, even those things achieved through excellence of living, mental dexterity and incredible material gain cannot fill the emptiness that accompanies every one of those accomplishments, the day after.

Only GOD, who created the vessel you call your life, can filled that vessel with content that matters.

How do I spell contentment? Jesus taught us, by example:
Living to please THE ONE who alone is worthy.

I don't get it right most of the time, but when I do, there's nothing else that matters.

Believe it or not.., that's all I have to share.

Happy Birthday to me.


`EDEN @ 51