The David Guinn

I have finally gotten around to establishing my New Year’s Resolution for 2012. I am keeping it short this year, which will make it easier to remember. I have decided to use the K.I.S.S. system in doing this. 

KISS stands for:

Keep

It

Simple

Stupid

So here goes:

1. I resolve to buy my clothes in a size larger than those which have a snug fit. Because I look good in baggy clothes, they are the rage, and most important; with my “trend to expand”, I will probably grow into them.
2. I resolve to laugh at once every day. Just reading Facebook each day affords me that. I can’t believe some of the pathetic lives some people live, and then post about.  One woman was complaining about her husband cheating on her so much, that she doesn’t think the baby she is pregnant with is his.
3. I resolve to continue my innate ability to filter out the voices that strive to project me to do things I really don’t want to do. My wife says I am really good at that, so I resolve to hone my skills in that area.                                                                                                                          On another note: I am concerned about my wife. I think she may be in the early stages of dementia. Several times she has said, with exasperation in her voice, that she has told me many times to do a thing – and I don’t remember her ever saying it.
4. I resolve to continue my never-ending quest to find the most comfortable position, on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house to test my eyelids for leakage, while I am “watching” the sports channel on T.V.

There you have it. I said it would be short and I think I can keep these this year.

My prayer is that you will have a BLESSED year.

I listened to an interview on Public Broadcasting a few days ago with Maurice Sendak, the author of “Where the Wild Things Are”, and I wept. Not because the interview was bad, but because Mr. Sendak was so lonely and misinformed.

He talked about how lonely and hurting he was, because his long-time companion had died.  They had lived together for over 50 years.

He also said he had spent the last few weeks crying and depressed because a couple they had known for years had died only a few weeks apart.

“Since I don’t believe there is anything after life here on earth, I know I will never see them again”, he said.

Here is someone that has gained all this world has to offer:

Fame

Success

Riches

The adulation of his peers. He had won several literary awards. Been the guest of Presidents and Kings.

And yet, he sounded like the loneliest, most miserable, downhearted person I had ever heard.

He had no hope for the future.  He had no hope for himself or mankind in general.

His voice was as downcast as a mortal failure breathing its last gasp.

and I wept.

Why do we think we are the absolute final authority on EVERYTHING?

We seem to think a thing is true, simply because we BELIEVE it to be true.

No facts.

No proof.

No eye witness accounts.

Why don’t we believe the truth as it is revealed to us even in things we see every day; the flowers, trees, baby’s smiles, love we feel for and from others, the sun rising and setting every day?

So many things. Yet we continue to believe there is no God. No Savior. Nothing.

I wanted to tell Mr. Sendak that there IS hope. That there IS life after this one. That there IS a Savior who can relieve our pain of being alone.

But I could not. And the pain of feeling his pain persists. For I have been there.

Then I remembered:

1 Cor. 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

God will comfort Mr. Sendak, if he will allow it.