Diversion & Thanksgiving
The Citadel deck with misters for my plants.
I woke up from a vivid dream at 3:45 yesterday a.m. and knew it was time to write.
I was standing next to a friend who was preparing a gift basket for his girlfriend. The box was wrapped in gold and inside where many boxes of gifts, also wrapped in shiny gold paper. The woman behind the counter looked up and said "Now for the final part" and she poured golden melted chocolate all over into the box and then closed it and wrapped it up.
Yikes!
Well I can think of many women for whom this would be just about perfect (plus my friend was quite handsome in a Matt McConaghey way). So perhaps whoever the woman was, she was in store for sex, chocolate (which many women view as synonymous, sex coming in second) and gold.
But step back and understand that gold is worthless without our mutual consent; chocolate will mess up your blood sugar; and unprotected sex can kill you or, at the very least, give you herpes.
Still, that is just the downside. The upside is pretty good.
All three are iconographic. A typical male version might be Salma Hayek driving up with your 2007 Mustang Shelby Cobra (black with leather interior) with an iced bottle of Bollinger.
Yummy at first glance, but apparently not my calling.
In either event from the wealthy and powerful to the poor and disenfranchised, we all have our diversions. Often when we remove one which has become problematic, we replace it with another.
This is a mistake in my opinion.
Pascal said we all have...well why bastardize it..okay...from memory "the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself."
There. My Boy is Wicked Smaaaht.
It's the "God-shaped vacuum" theory in the human being as that being finds it's own inherent emptiness. There is a sense of lostness, disconnect and the playing field is just way too wide, thus diversions to keep ourselves from too much reality.
But reality is only bad in a godless universe of random chance. Even the Apostle Paul saw that if Christ was not really raised from the dead that it would be best to "PAR-TAAAAY!".
Well, I do not feel like partying, and as Walker Percy so aptly pointed out awhile back, alcohol at the party signals it's failure as such. Real partying takes place between sober souls like my friends Rick, and Rod, Scott, Kim, Reese, Mike, Big Mike, Wademan West and Wademan East, etc.
No, once diversions are put away it opens the door to the deeper reality of life in Christ. It's both a beautiful and vulnerable place. It's nothing like dead religion which wrings all the joy and humor out of life.
*******
I was sitting last night out on the deck, which I do far too little of. It's beautiful, and all of my plants, done mostly from seed, grow all around and incase the bamboo lights. There is a Tibetan prayer flag that is strung next to the lights then a long row down the rest of the deck of chinese lantern lights.
Hundreds of feet below is the valley, and the air is clean and rich with just a hint of ocean.
Despite this foul and insane dispute about my kids, it has been a very very good year. I was privileged to be right in the middle of the Mavericks Surf Contest and oversee all operations including its migration from New York to San Diego. I got to spend time in New York and San Diego, two of my favorite cities,. I made new friends that I will have for the rest of my life. I found a great church that speaks the truth, yet with humility and grace. I wrote a novel and painted my best painting yet. I was successfully banned multiple times from several Fundamentalist blogs for making too much sense. My roomate and I searched for and found the sweetest dog who we both adore. I rekindled my love for God.
I am also thankful for so many of you who read my blogs and have sent notes of encouragement. It means a lot to me because some of it really is for you and not just me processing (it's a mix).
When you have quiet time alone you can think about all you are thankful for. There is an old saying that if you are not grateful you have really not yet received the gift.
I'm grateful.
.
posted by Obi-Mac BakDon @ 5:54 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home