When you are feeling Blue.

Sometimes in life, we are faced with situations that seem to be out of our control. There are many things in life that are unpleasant, but I have found that there is freedom in facing our problems instead of running away from them. We live in an instant society and when we are faced with distress we want instant relief from our painful emotions. In the parable of the prodigal son in the bible, after the younger son's return home the elder son cannot deal with the reality that his disenfranchised brother is welcomed back into the family. He refuses to participate in the reality, (which is actually the eldest son's reality as much as it is everyone's else's) to take part in a party that the father chose to throw for his son who returned.

Much pain in our life is the result of our refusal and resistance to accept reality as it really is. When we are faced with hardships in life that are the result of our own choices, some people try to deny that their reality is actually the way it is. We like to play the blame game, like that famous scene in the musical "Into The Woods" where the characters are all blaming each other to find out who is responsible for the predicament that they are all in. In reality, it was all of their faults and no one was to blame. The meaning that we should get from the story of the prodigal son is a personal one. Instead of blaming the sinful child for his wrong choices, which is what most of us do, God welcomes us to see and accept the Kingdom of God in the middle of our hardships, and the hardest part is to accept them without trying to change them.

When we see that our problems might not end, or work themselves out the way we thought they would, life gives us a choice. We can fight reality and try to manipulate others or our situation or we can see the good in a bad situation, and fight for the Kingdom of God by possibly showing kindness to our enemies. When we act in a way that reflects acceptance of our worst possible enemy, we begin to see that God lives in that kind of a person.

The Bible teaches that all mankind is made in the image of God, but do you really want to see a sinner in that light. It could actually save that person. This is Mike.

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