Things I've Been Pondering

Life is much more busy than it should be, and I don't have time to write as much as I'd like, but these are the things I've been pondering of late (to be expounded upon someday when "things settle down")

• The face of Jesus - as a man, an indivdual, in the earthly confines of time, and how amazingly icons and images corroborate with each other.  The miraculous nature of some images amazes and humbles me.
• Life after death
• The Judgement, and what that means -- I'm coming to realize how much we condemn ourselves with our actions, running away from God's overwhelming love, and how He allows us to live with the consequences of those actions.
• Why Reagan always points to the ceiling at church and yells (loudly, irreverently) "BUTTERFLIES!  BUTTERFLIES!"  Or - in two year old speak - "FUFFERFLIES".  Is she seeing something the rest of us can't?
• The loneliness of our human lives, despite the busyness and chaos.  How we each crave, at the core, to be loved, accepted, and to BELONG.  And Who exactly fills that longing.
• How much an atheist has to DENY about the world around them, and deny about their own humanity, in order to substantiate their theory that this is all there is.   The tragedy of that, and how I often feel that they're really just asking the wrong questions, and looking for answers in all the wrong places.
• Confession and forgiveness.  Taking responsibility for our own sins enough to ADMIT them, outloud, to a spiritual leader.  Because it's no different than me making my son look his father in the eye and admit why he got in trouble in school, even though Dad KNOWS why he got in trouble, and my son is already SORRY for getting in trouble.  Taking responsibility.  Being washed clean.

That's about 12 posts worth right there, if I were to do each of those thoughts any justice at all.  In due time, I guess...