Back to Reality

Well, it's back to reality again.  Every New Year, come January 2 or 3rd, I feel forced into it.  The kids return to school, my husband returns to work; all of them reluctantly.  I send them off, equally reluctantly.  I hate to see them go after a marvelous week of down time an freedom from schedules

If I had it my way, we would spend several more weeks in "week between Christmas and the New Year" mode.  We would wear pajamas endlessly, unless we feel like putting on jeans and a sweatshirt, or maybe put on some new Christmas duds and have nowhere we have to go and do nothing we have to do.

We would keep eating leftover appetizers, soup, and Christmas cookies, and not mind what the clock says about mealtimes.  We would keep playing games and reading books.  We would surf the Internet for nothing in particular but to read and see what we see -- no gift to buy, no gatherings to plan.  We would sit inside our cozy home and look out at the gorgeous, snow-covered landscape, and choose to go out into it, on a whim.  We would drink more hot chocolate and have some more cookies.

And, by the time reality hit, we would each weigh close to 400 pounds, have no energy and begin to bicker ... oh, don't sugar-coat it -- we would fight!  Life isn't meant to be watched from the sidelines in pajamas and with plates of sweets on our laps.  We aren't supposed to spend all our time playing and looking out for our own enjoyment and comfort.

We start the New Year with hope, always.  We might not say it, but we feel it.  My children have not experienced enough life to know it, but they return to school with hope, too.  Hope that they will develop some new friendships and find peace with the kids who often don't act very peaceful.  They hope Mom and Dad will show compassion and mercy when they need it,  and allow them to make mistakes and be kids.  They hope for more time to enjoy the electronics they received two weeks ago, without more guidelines and limits. 

We all have hope for life to play out smoothly; without strife, illness, economic woes, relationship difficulties, selfishness (on the part of others), hardship of any kind, or pressure and stress. 

We all have hope for a life that does not meet reality.

This world will never provide us with a satisfactory end result of those hopes.  We need to work to keep the cash flowing, to keep the heat and electricity running, to keep food on the table, to keep clothes on our backs and roofs over our heads.  We need to work to have something to achieve that makes a difference to someone else, aside from our families and selves.  We need to work to serve others, before ourselves.  We need to work to carry on with God's plan for our lives, and continue to work to learn what that entails.  We need to work to make our hearts right -- to fill them with love, kindness, patience, charity, self-control, peace, joy, faith, and gentleness -- all the things that, if acted out in reality, would allow for the hoped-for, for the essence of character every man has within him if he would relinquish control.

And that, my friend, is the issue.  Reality takes away our control.  Humans avoid it as often and for as long as possible, but it keeps popping up to ruin the fun.  It won't stop barging into the party at the wrong time or backing into a room unannounced and unwanted.  We have to deal with it, rather than try to cover it up or hide it behind glitter and streamers.  We have to live this life and make the best of it.  When we fill our hearts with those good things we will find more good things.

Let's do it.