Newness of Life

We did not do this! We did not think up and bring into existence manhood, womanhood, the amazing processes of conception and how the single cell produced from the union of a sperm and ovum has within it the secret inconceivable "knowledge" to produce a whole new human being with a beating heart and seeing eyes!  We did not do the earth with its hippopotamuses, octopi, seahorses, crocodiles, redwood forests, water in many forms, changing sky and weather patterns! We did not do our own amazing bodies that support and protect us automatically. We did not do our own minds! We live in our bodies and our minds, and we do not even understand them! An earthworm is more complex than our space station, computers, and cell phones! The complex interwovenness of the plant and animal life in our back yards and undeveloped woods is an infinite source of amazement and awe if we can get unplugged from man-made things long enough to really see it. Everything man has created was made with things he did not create, and with the use of his mind--which he did not create.
Whether you are a theist [as am I] or an atheist, this is an amazing situation for us to be in: this life-journey; this consciousness; this ability to know that we know, and to contemplate the universe. Of course, since we were born into it, the normal course of human development is to lose our since of wonder by late childhood. "Oh, that's just a tree." Only when we see something new does that wonder re-emerge.   But it can also be resurrected by spiritual growth--by consciously choosing to look deeply into life with new eyes and a new heart. The Bible says, "If anyone abide in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things pass away; everything becomes new." Everything becomes new! Eleanor Farjeon wrote:
Morning has broken like the first morning. Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing; praise for the morning. Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.
Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from heaven, like the first dew fall on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden sprung in completeness where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning, born of the one Light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation. Praise every morning, God's recreation of the new day!
Tagore caught the spirit of this newness and wonder in his simple statement: "The same sun is newly born, in new lands, in a ring of endless dawns." Endless dawn. The Bible describes our awakening into Truth along the path of righteousness as the "dawning of the sun, shining brighter and brighter, to the full light of day." [Prov. 4:18] Someone has said "You can never put your foot in the same river twice."
We live on the cutting edge of eternity. Each second is like the sharp blade of a knife, cutting into the future, separating the present from the past! And the process that brings everything into its proper focus, gives meaning, and constantly renews the great adventure of life is to use the gift of our conscious will to peacefully love all people with the Love of Jesus the Christ. If you can think of anything better than that to do with your life, please do it. I've racked my brain, and I cannot. But if you cannot think of anything better than that to do with your life, then please don't waste the amazing gift of your precious life on anything less.

Manhood

A true man does not have to prove that he is one. He does not have to make the final decision; but if one has to be made, he will, if no one else is willing to or wants to take the wrap if things go bad. And he will consult with others because he's not threatened by others' intelligence--he delights in it, learns from it, and uses it for the common good. And he gives credit where it's due. A true man's willing to put dishes in the dishwasher, and not complain or brag about it. He cares about responsibility, first and foremost his own. He feels a little like a failure if others are doing more than him. And if anyone's working too hard [other than himself] he tries to help them slow down a little, knowing that it's not good to work too hard for too long. A true man breathes deep, and isn't rushed. He's at peace because he knows the truth about  God--the Truth that Jesus brought to us.  It has settled all the way into the bones of his soul. Death is new freedom, added to the freedom that he is growing in every day. And he sincerely desires that everyone have that same peace and freedom; and he's even doing some work, in church, or volunteering, etc. to ensure that they do. He is kind and civil, even to those who are insensitive and competitive, but he will protect himself and others from being hurt by them. He knows when he's trying to love people, and when he's only trying to impress them; and he eschews the latter. He deeply respects womanhood, and the amazing gifts [grace, goodness, nurturance, enjoyment of life, diligent concern, intuition, etc.] that she brings into the world. He acknowledges and enhances her freedom to be all she chooses to become. He knows how to feed his children's strengths rather than their weaknesses. He relentlessly faces the truth about himself: the good, bad and ugly, especially the latter two, because he knows those are the traits that can  be used of Satan to hurt his loved ones; something he's dead set against. His greatest concern is that he might falter in a way that damages his integrity and his ability to share with others what God has given to him. He considers this sharing an honor, and prays [always with gratitude] that God will never remove His hand from him and his family [the human family.]

He is a warrior, provider and protector. He fights peacefully for all that is good for the human family—for the Truth of Christ to be lived out in the world. The front line of this warfare is within himself, against the relentless upcroppings of selfishness and egoistic pursuits. He recognizes the importance of diligence, which is perfectly married to peace. He carefully avoids the pitfalls of addictions to substances and attachments to the things of this world, knowing that they will all pass away, but the “Word of the Lord endures forever.”

Guarding Your Heart

The fact that we guard ourselves at all reveals that there is something to be guarded against: destructive dynamics; evil. But we should be mindful of what we are guarding ourselves against. Sometimes we are attempting to guard our self against something that cannot be guarded against, in which case the guarding itself becomes the problem--like bracing against chronic pain. Bracing against chronic pain does not alleviate, rather it exacerbates the pain.
One very important thing to guard yourself against is this: the part of you that resists the truth about  yourself. Knowledge of the truth about you brings you closer to God, Who is Truth. To resist the truth about yourself is to resist your own freedom; the freedom that can only come with spiritual growth. Spiritual growth moves us into the Love that frees us from the need to be guarded--as Jesus did not guard Himself from the Cross.
If I do not guard myself against the part of me that resists the truth about me, I will guard myself against the truth about me. This will create a dark place in me from which Satan can do his destructive work.