It is truly a long road...

I am not sure how I got here. I suppose it has less to do with me than with many other factors. You see, my parents have more to do with it than I did, really. They decided to have a child and I ended up being the end result.

Now that is not a disclaimer as to responsibility for my life and what I have done with it, but it does speak of some limits to that responsibility. I mean, I can only work with what they provided for me and that has limitations. My critics will of course agree delightedly with this but my creditors will want me to take full responsibility for my being here.

Well, by whatever means life is given to us or forced upon us, as the case may be, we are all here in the same state: Searching for significance and identity, or so we are told, although I search far less these days than when I was young. You see, in a few days I will be celebrating my 70th birthday, or should I be consoling myself?

In any event, I have put a few miles on this old body and enjoyed some challenges, many of which I would love to share with you if you can handle another volume like War and Peace. OK, I shall not attempt it.

For oh so many years I spent little time looking at the past, driven so clearly to accomplish those things that would define my existence and affect my world. Now, I am far more able to relish the present and to enjoy the memories of life as it was experienced without the need to make a mark on it. You see, somewhere on the road of life, the recognition came that I made far fewer changes in my world than I decided to and was changed instead by the road, myself. Somehow, the journey got in the way of the destination and the simple cultivation of the garden of life brought sufficient fruit to satisfy the hunger for life beyond the parameters that were given to me. I am a very fortunate man.

There remains some things to do yet, however. I must find those things in me that are yet assumed illusions of reality and replace them with truth. Unlearning is one of the most important parts of life. We all find it so easy to assimilate our context without question and to drive headlong into life with certainty as to what is true and what is real. It is a golden moment indeed when we stop long enough to challenge our assumptions, look again at the illusions surrounding us and to be willing to allow our world to be reshaped by revelation. This is my journey these days. The journey or rethinking the journey of the past and of coming to know God, myself and my world through the matrix of new vision.

If you would like to, please join me. Slightly ahead and to the right is a door of opening, ready to be explored. Some times it is the road less traveled. Sometimes it is just another candle jammed into a cake, but whose illumination drive us to great delight. Care to take a walk...

Dave Fritsche