What I really want for Christmas.

What I really want for Christmas this year.

In all honesty I want lots of presents, but I know that sometimes we don't always get what we want in life, so how about I talk about what makes me happy? In my 20's I went through an existential crisis of not knowing what I wanted from life. What I believed would make me happy, I quickly discovered was no longer making me happy anymore. I found God, I was young and I believed my life was heading in the right direction, and it was. What I didn't expect was the challenges that I would have to face, but something had changed in me. The idea of world peace has always been an interest in my consciousness ever since I was a kid, and I believe the bible where it says blessed are the peacemakers.

I never liked conflict growing up, and I still don't like it. One of the things I have had to learn as an adult is to grow with conflict, not necessarily live with it or let it shape me, but to grow with it. To me there is a danger when we look at problems that life gives us, and accept them as coming from a good source. Yes, I do believe that we shape most of our lives by the choices we make, and some things we just have to accept. It is in the acceptance of our failures and sins that we have the opportunity to find out what life is really about. So just what is life really all about?

To me it is about love. Not just any love, but forgiving love. I believe my purpose in life is to express the kind of forgiveness and unconditional love that can come from an imperfect human heart, and that means it applies to myself too. Loving yourself shouldn't be an inordinate love, but a respectful love. Love your neighbour as yourself. Watch out for an inordinate love, just ask somebody who died of heresy, of course that is impossible. So if you want to know what I want from life, it's the freedom to be myself.

Faith is very important to me, because it teaches me how to live, and I think if you know how to live, the 'why' will come next. What I simply want for Christmas this year is more of life. This is Mike.

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