Friday, November 25, 2011

Washing the Stink Out

It was a glorious day. It was her favourite place in the world.
"Way better running here than at Larry Walker field." she thought as she leaped over a large puddle and continued the sprint westward. The birds were singing their glorious songs.
"What an amazing day to be alive! The sun shone and the sky was blue." she thought to herself as she ran along the dyke following Pitt River. She felt alive. She was doing what she loved to do, in the place that she loved to do it. Life couldn't get any better. Every passer-by could tell she was enjoying life to the fullest. Her smile was from ear to ear and it was catchy. She ran with full abandon. She even took the path less travelled and ran through the tall grass. It was glorious. She felt young again. Alive!

"What's that smell?" she stopped in her tracks. It smelled so good. And yet deep down she knew that smell would cause her a lot of trouble. It took her further off into bushes.  She couldn't help herself. It was bad, but it smelled so good. With careless abandon she sniffed the smell out and when she found it she rubbed it all over her body. It was bad. Deep down she knew it. But, it felt good.
"Angel." Her pack leader called.  Instant dread filled her being.
"What did I do?" Shame filled her soul. Any good feelings she may have had a moment ago were left at the edge of the river bank. She knew she did wrong. With tail between her legs, she slowly walked back to her pack leader. No more joy. Only the stink of death rubbed all over her.
"It was all that salmon's fault!" she cried, "Why did he have to smell so good?"

Not everything that feels good, thinks good or smells good is good for us. Sometimes, after we've rubbed ourselves all over something that we thought was good, turns out to be just a stinky smelly mess.

I have a dear friend of mine that believes our only purpose as humans is to procreate and spread our seed. I wonder.... If that were true, why is their music and art?
I believe this train of thought leads to depression, anger and doubt. To have no purpose or meaning in your life leads to a stinky smelly death.


If my only purpose in life was to procreate and spread my seed, then my life right now would have no more purpose. I have children, my job would be done. But, I believe my job isn't done just yet.

If our only purpose was to propagate the species, why are we so concerned that our children have a good education? Shouldn't our concern be to find a healthy mate for them? If our soul purpose was to just have babies, there wouldn't be any need for thought, education or science. We would just be marrying our offspring to the first healthy available species and then we would die. Everything else wouldn’t matter. Why be concerned? Nothing matters, if our purpose is over? Truthfully, why even have children to live in a life with no purpose or meaning?
Where’s the hope? With no purpose, life is over. People become depressed without hope. People get angry where there's no love. People doubt when there's no solid foundation to live by with purpose. 

Without purpose, there is nothing... so doesn't that make purpose everything?

Each one of us has a purpose greater than procreation and we have a God who believes we are so important, that he came to earth to teach, to correct, to heal and to love unconditionally a creation he loves. 

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5
After Jesus said this he healed a man's blindness. There are times I know my heart has been blinded by thoughts and ideas that hinder me from being all that I'm called to be. He doesn't want us stuck in a darkness that holds us back.
God calls us to live in light. With purpose. To love one and other and lift each other up out of the darkness that holds us back. The darkness that keeps us 'just going through the motions' of pretend living. The darkness of a life in misery, anger, depression and doubt. 

I can’t live in that kind of darkness anymore. I'm going to take a shower and wash the world's stink off. How about you?




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