Thursday, February 9, 2012

In Search of our Dream

In Korea like many other countries the daily papers have horoscopes that are a must-see for many. The four pillars: year, month, day, and hour of birth are the foundations for the zodiacal house that determines, it is said, our future.
 
In the mission station bulletin, the writer tells his readers that the pillars do not make a house. There are many other parts that are necessary to have a house to live in. The future is not determined by one of the parts, he stresses, but by the efforts we make in life to prepare for the future.

Whether the four pillars say something good or bad, it is of little importance. It is all in the eyes of the beholder, he says, and the attitude one has in seeing life.

We can't retrieve what has passed. We can't practice for the future but we can prepare for it. We should not live like the mayfly that has no understanding of the morrow or the cicada that doesn't understand what will occur next year.

Jesus gave us an example of what it means to live by following his way. The writer, using the words of an ancient Chinese philosopher to corroborate the teachings of Jesus, outlines ten ways to live without regret.
 
1) If we don't respect our parents after they are dead, we will have regret. 

2) If we are not kind to our relations when near them, when separated we will have regret. 

3) If we don't learn when we are young, when old we will have regret.

4) If we don't think of failure when all is going well, we will have regret.

5) If we don't save when we can, when poor we will have regret. 

6) If we don't plant in the spring, in the fall, we will have regret.    

7) If we don't fix the lock on the front gate, when the thief comes we will have regret.  

8) If we don't take care of the body when healthy, when sick we will have regret.   
  
9) When we drink to excess and say something stupid, when sober we will have regret.

10) If we  are not hospitable to guests, when they leave we will have regret

Water that doesn't flow putrefies, air that doesn't circulate suffocates; there is no aroma from an old tree and dry earth doesn't produce flowers. We are more concerned for today than yesterday, and for tomorrow than today. The thoughts of most  are not in the here and now but on dreaming a new and better tomorrow. What is my situation  today? My fate is not determined by the stars nor determined, as some would have us believe, by our genes. Where should we turn, the writer asks, to realize our dream? We should turn to God  and  go in search of the  dream.