OY!

     What a year! 

     Last January I lost my J... that left the rest of my year J-less. Appropriately, February until now, with only 3 weeks left, became an OY year! I know I can get an amen, but it's deeper than that. Oy is right!
     Pressure proves character... and this has been a year of characters to be sure. In all the years of my life I've never seen such pathetic displays of lovelessness, EVER! The absurdity and hatred. And you know what's even more disturbing, the vitriol, hubris and complete lack of humility. Utterly shameful!
     I've been meditating in some of the most difficult verses in the Bible lately which are in 1 John. Now I'm far from perfect, but this hits home when it comes to my personal observations of what the pressure of this year has revealed in the hearts and minds of many as the bitter chill of winter sets in on us.
     John said, "he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." And again he said, "If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" 1 John 2:11 & 4:20
     Oh the justifications! Oh the righteous indignation! Oh the hostility and fierce contempt! But even more, oh the deception! A good question to ask yourself, is your brother only your blood brother? Or is it far greater?
     I don't see positive things coming, only extreme disappointment. I see what is being exaggerated to intolerable levels.
     But hey... it was all worth it, right? Sure!
     Measure yourself by the thoughts and deeds of others and you will imagine yourself just and fair. Measure yourself against the Almighty and you'll find you don't measure up at all. It doesn't matter what you think of me or the things I've said because in the end it will only matter what the Holy One thinks.
     If you want to measure up then you have to humble down. That requires abandoning your vain imaginations and surrendering yourself to the Living God! 

     May the "J" return to all of our "OY's"!


Steven Bliss
© 12/8/2020