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WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 12/10/08

What’s Your God?
 
I have several old friends — womb-to-tomb buddies of my youth — who were once full of hope and optimism, but now their souls seem to have rotted away.  One followed a passion of self-serving social reform (the god of justice) that lined his pockets and has left him full of empty platitudes that he recites with dull eyes.  The other became a brilliant scientist and head of product development in a major research company (the god of science); he often laments the emptiness of life and scoffs and snarls like a vampire at sunrise at even the mention of faith and love and hope.
 
As for me, oh, I’ve wandered down all those paths — and, yes, I do admire the concepts of social equality and the benefits of science — but I’ve also found that they’re good ideas, yes, but certainly not much when it comes to something to believe in.  (Sort of reminds me of the Dead Heads, whose sole goal in life was to follow the Grateful Dead band from concert to concert across the country.) 
 
My point?  You can create a belief system — from “Save the Earth from (fill in the blank)” like my one friend — or just decide that all is for naught, like my scientist friend.  Or you can — gee, I bet you guessed it! — open your heart and your soul to the ultimate “belief system,” the ultimate God (with a capital G) and find a life worth celebrating and grinning about.  Your choice.  Enjoy! — jri
 
“I have chosen the way of truth;
    I have set my heart on your laws.
I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord;
    do not let me be put to shame.
I run in the path of your commands;
    for you have set my heart free.”
        –    Psalm 119: 30-32