Life Trekking

Like every kid, my two brothers and I loved Christmas. We loved the family traditions such as helping our mom make cookies, fighting over the turkey wishbone, and listening to holiday music while decorating the tree. There was a set of porcelain angel ornaments my mom bought that I especially loved and looked forward to hanging on the tree. They looked like little children and each one held in their arms a Christmas object like a star, or candle. Of course they were dropped, chipped, and broken until finally there was only three left all but one with broken wings. One Christmas I asked my mom why she kept those three broken angels and she said because they represent her three angels: me and my two brothers. My mother died when I was 15 and Christmas was a little sad for several years until my dad remarried a wonderful woman whom I love as dearly as I loved my birth mom. One day we came with all our children for Christmas dinner and she handed me a small box where lay three broke...

This past weekend I experienced one of those rare moments in my life; a moment that can only be described as the “fullness of joy”. I have only felt this euphoria maybe twice in my lifetime and that’s probably more than most people. It was a brief moment of time where all fears and cares of the world fade to nothing and I feel completely at peace. It’s hard to put on paper this experience. It was as if time stopped, the noise around me ceased, all thoughts left my head, and I was totally satisfied in body, mind, and spirit. I assumed immediately it was a gift from God and actually closed my eyes to say thank you. Instead of thank you, the first thought was “Lord, I am completely happy at this perfect moment, take me home right now.” As I stood in my kitchen thinking such a thought and surrounded by laughter, food, and family, just as quickly as it came, the feeling left and my regular thoughts returned. All the busyness that usually accompanies such family times as Thanksgiving ...