Reflections of a Freaking Genius

 M. Scott Peck said in his book, "The Road Less Travelled" - I'll paraphrase from what I'm hoping is still a fairly sharp memory, "Life is difficult.  Until you come to the place where you understand and accept that life is difficult, life will be difficult."  Read it again.  Those are some very good words.  Life outside of Eden is tough.  God told us it would be after we (yes, we) thought we could make wiser decisions on our own without him.  Life on the other side of the flaming, swirling sword guarding the entrance to paradise is chaos, difficulty, de-creation, decay, and ultimately death.  (Spoiler alert: that isn't permanent due to God's love and grace).  No, it's not all bad, but we invited plenty of it into our reality. I've done enough circuits around the sun on this spinning mudball that I've experienced plenty of hard times.  I've lost a parent and a sibling as well as many friends to death, I've experienced lots of heal...

  Social media is replete with seemingly unending selfies of people holding up a drink on a white sand beach loaded with statuesque palm trees with the backdrop of a brilliant blue ocean with foamy waves breaking at the edge, or friends in the foreground of a mountaintop vista view with crystal clear lakes surrounded by towering pines far below them, or a family enjoying incredible ancient architecture perfectly preserved in quaint European cities.  The comments section on those posts are full of positive thoughts as friends enjoy the captured moment vicariously, and it seems as if there is always one friend or family member who says, "You're living your best life!"   We'll read about or hear people sharing with us: “Just got a promotion at work! I’m definitely living my best life.” “Spent the day at the beach with friends. Living my best life!” “Finally booked that dream vacation. Can’t wait to start living my best life.” “Started a new hobby and it’s bringing me so...