2015? Be Colorful in Life!

I love watching elderly people as much as I love watching children.  Children look at the world with a sense of wonder and discovery; older folks rediscover the world with a sense of wonder and discovery.  We tend to look at the world through the eyes of the child we once were.

Every New Year that goes by, one undeniable truth affects all of us... we are not getting any younger.  Most of us old farts struggle to make through to midnight on New Year's Eve, so we can waggle our finger in the air, and mumble "whoopee" to no one in particular.  Another year gone, knock wood.  

The New Year makes us think of what lies ahead as our friends begin to drop like flies around us.  Resolutions become not as important as what life has in store.  As one reaches sixty it becomes almost counterproductive to resolve to do much other than wake up in the morning and squeeze as much out of life as possible, and if that means wearing loud, brightly colored clothing that draws attention to us and our pasty white flesh, so be it.  We have earned the right, and could really give a fig what others think.  We're out to have some freaking fun!

I was never much of a wall flower.  I always tried to have fun in my life.  But, as I get older, I think back on how little I actually did and how much more I could have done with little extra effort.  Most of these are things I would be hard pressed to do now, primarily because I have the wisdom of age and have lost the stupidity of youth.  For instance, I thought about participating in the 2015 Biloxi Beach Bull Run.  For $65 I get to outrun the guy next to me, and the bulls behind all of us, for a bandana and a ticket to the PCA Rodeo Finals where I can drink expensive event beer and watch wannabe cowgirls in tight jeans.  I thought about it.  Headline:  Dumbass Trips - Trampled By Bulls.  I might exercise my lecherous side, though, and buy a ticket to the rodeo finals.

In 2015, as with any new year, we should be less concerned with resolutions to do what we know we should, like get healthier, and more concerned with living life to the fullest.  If you're 18, you might not live to celebrate 19.  As you get older the odds do not get better.  Live for today, love for today, and praise God for today.  Go out of this life the same way you came in - loudly. Or, being spanked, or both, I leave that up to you.  

Make each and every day the "next to the last day" of the rest of your life... and dance!

Note from Pastor Tony, the founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance, as well as the author and editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Frank Anthony Villari, Pastor