Good Bye and Good Night

Good bye 2012. 

While I am in deed grateful for the difficult, painful and yet very valuable lessons you have thrust upon me, I'm by no means sad to see you go. 

 You have reminded me once more that in business, the bottom line is always the bottom line and that in the end it is there and there alone that the commitment lies. 

 That the hourly employee is a resource, either asset or liability, and that the extra mile can quickly become the expected mile. 

 You have shown me quite clearly that before friendships, relationships or history, an employee is foremost, in the reality of things, nothing more than a dollar value, a profit margin. In striving to do their best and improve, as a result are often be seen as one that had not previously done so. 

 This being an election year, you have shown me the ugliness we become in pursuing the myth of the "American Dream". Reminding me once more that those who would identify themselves as "American Christians" are often identifying not simply their loyalties but (sadly) the loyalty, rights and freedoms under those citizenships in their respective order as well. 

 Through the grace and generosity of God's people you have also reminded me of my own pride and humbled me by showing me that it is not I who provide for my family, but God alone who makes that happen. 

 In the most unexpected of people, through the least expected of methods you have reminded me that the church is not at a building, or an institution. That it is not even a collective group of people who feel convicted to gather at a scheduled time in a preset venue, but that the true church is embodied solely in those who strive to do God's will and answer His calling. 

That it is those who do so whenever and however that opportunity arises, with a faith that allows them to do so without reservation  regarding personal cost, they are your body, the one true catholic church. 

 I have seen that "The" Church is often found and experienced in its truest form through people far outside of  "a" church. I have seen that it actively exists in the world Christ himself came to. That of the lost, the suffering, the searching...which is exactly where it  belongs. 

Something that was difficult for me to see the reality of when I was buried in the institution of it. 

 2012, you have been both blessing and curse, but you have served to remind me that if I am to serve God, then I must remember it is people and the souls of people that matter most. That my first ministry is to my family and God's. 

 You have taught me some difficult lessons and reaffirmed those things which I already knew. 

In the taking of it, you have shown me the value and briefness of life. The importance of living it, living it well...and living it now.  
To express love, grace and compassion to those that you can while you can, for tomorrow never knows.

 I hope these things will make your follower, 2013 a much better year as a result. For 44 years I've hoped this though... 

 Your trials and tribulations somehow have not crushed my faith, though they certainly did come close at times. In the end it seems they have served simply to perhaps change how it is manifested it and certainly served to strengthened it. 

 No, 2012, I'm not at all sad to see you go, but I do not all together regret experiencing you either. 

 Best wishes to all of you for a blessed new year...whatever that looks like. Do yourselves a favor and don't assume that because those blessings do not look as you think they should that they are not there. 
For God alone is faithful, even when we are not.

Solo Cristo Salva

d(-_-)b