A NEW YEAR – A NEW ME (part 2)

Lloyd C. Douglas, in his novel Magnificent Obsession, gave a warning to those who have felt the stirrings and yearnings from within to jump off of the sand pile and follow the path which leads to better way. “If the thing hasn’t gripped you a little by now – think no more about it – if, however, you seriously wish to proceed, let me counsel you that you are taking hold of high tension: Once you have touched it, you will never let it go – if you are of the temperament that demands self-indulgency to keep you happy and confident to do your work – and many inestimably valuable people are so built and cannot help it anymore than tall people can help being tall – leave this alone and go your way. For if you make an excursion into this, you’re bound: It will plaster a mortgage on everything you think you own and commandeer your time when you might prefer to be using it for yourself – it is very expensive – it took one man who discovered it to the cross at the age of thirty-three.”

I find it interesting, that even though the literature of the ages is proliferated with the new and everlasting doctrine which brings peace, contentment and joy to all who embrace it, each generation seems to glory in the need to redevelop and redefine how to use every tool in the shed.

Life’s greatest secrets of happiness are not buried under hills of sand, but are liberally available on the pages of the Torah, expounded in the Koran, found in the sayings of Confucius, overflow the teachings of the Dalai Lama and fill the verses of the Bible. Nevertheless, down through all the generations of time there seem to be only a relative few who are willing to pay the price to truly make these universal truths which lead to joy a reality in their lives.

Many have attempted to describe the principles of the eternal truths which have the power to remove men from the shakiness of the shifting sands of life and plant them upon the foundations of the eternities. However, He who millions have proclaimed as Master, best expressed the rallying cry of the revolution in these words, “He who shall lose his life shall surely find it.”

Somehow I must lose that part of me that demands that everything in the home must be predicated on making my life fit for a king and become one who seeks for the happiness and fulfillment of those I am privileged to call family.

Somehow I must lose that part of me that only feels fulfilled when I hear shouts and whispers of adulation and acclaim and become one who seeks to lift heads that are bowed and strengthen arms that have become weak.

Somehow I must lose that part of me that only finds satisfaction when I see my own mountain of sand grow higher and seek to become one who finds a way for my troubled neighbor to have a few grains added to his meager pile.

Somehow I must lose that part of me that only feels fulfilled when I hold the scepter and when my words are law and become one who finds value in the words of wisdom as they fall from the lips of the smallest child.

Those lucky few who follow the Savior’s counsel, that finding that their true life is dependent upon the sacrificing of their selfness, will discover that true joy in life will never come from striving to be ‘King of the Hill’ but will come from seeking the path which leads to the ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’

I hope that each of us this year will take hold of that high tension – and never let it go – becoming bound by the wonderful excursion – gripped by the magnificent obsession.