The Sermon for this Sunday

Walking past a magazine rack last week I noticed an issue of Oprah's magazine. Her magazine caught my eye because it had in bold print, something like, 9 Ways To Improve Your Life.  I actually grabbed it and glanced through the contents but could not find anything within that seemed to pair with the title.  Magazines that splash those catchy titles across the cover and then leave you to wander through page after page of high end clothing, accessory, and fragrance ads in search of the promised article drive me crazy. And pretty much insures I will never pick up another copy. In the present case, I even sat down and tried again a little while later and still to no avail.  It's not that I'm looking for change or improvement in my life. Rather it's just that I find these types of self-help/advice articles curious and wonder what people consider good advice. I think the reference in the magazine was to a series of biographical sketches which were meant to inspire the reader to engineer a breakthrough in their own life.

Thinking about it, I've decided that what most people need to concentrate on is what they have. They need to know to appreciate, enjoy, and invest in themselves. Consider these few "life changing discoveries" that, effective as they may be, I hope you will never have to face: 1.) Discovering your spouse of 23 years is leaving you. 2.) Contracting a life threatening illness. 3.) Losing the ability to walk. 4.) Learning you will, more likely than not, be dead in less than a year. 5.) Losing your job of 26 years at age 54. I'll leave my inspirational list of "Ways To Change Your Life" at 5. There are others one could experience but they get too grisly.

As terrible a list as that may be, for many people, every day, one of these items becomes a reality. I hope never for you. The fact is, more people face change because of unwelcome and unexpected events than those owing to good fortune or choice. But maybe realizing the hell that can rain down in a person's life can provide the incentive needed to assess one's assets, forge a change where needed, and live life like the gift it truly is.  Examine the lives of others to take inventory of your own, appreciate what you own, the potential within, and all that remains for you to accomplish.