Onward

You know what's great about Calvin and Hobbes? They're both me. (They're probably both you too.) I'm the protesting, indignant one, and I'm the one with the blank look. Both of 'em. But this year, while I think about laying out my path into the woods, over hill and dale, up to new vistas and into new thickets, I know something I've been learning. I am perfect the way I am. And so are you. And I do resolve to move on from here. Come with me?

This, I think, is life - in all its blessed, messy, baffling imperfection. Life isn't about picking a spot in the road where we can stake our claim to ownership. Life is about being changed from glory into glory til in Heav'n we see his face. Life is not to be despised as a necessary evil, but embraced. Loved. Served. This - here - is good. Not air-brushed into sterility, but good. Organic. Juicy. Raw. Bitter with pith and regrets, sweet with moments of bliss, and salty with tears -- because salty sweetens bitter and salty complements sweet.

Did you know that if you stop adding sugar to your food that your brain will learn to find "sweet" in foods that already contain sweetness? Life is like that. Strip away all the stuff we sprinkle on top, and life can finally be tasted. Taste it enough, and you find the sweetness. That's where I'm headed this year. To train - refine - educate - use! - my tastebuds and my brain. This year, less scattered and more recollected. Less sugar, and more sweet.