Facebook = Blog-Robber

I want to blame facebook for keeping me from blogging. This is because I spend so much time on the social network site and simply forget that I have launched a blog to offer deep thoughts and commentary on the stuff of life.

But I can't really blame facebook. That's like blaming hot dogs for keeping me from eating apple turnovers. Both are probably not good for me - but both are so yummy!

Anyway, here I am...

And today's amazing philosophical point is: Life is hard. (Yes, you heard it here first, folks!)

Blaming, as was my idea with facebook or the hot dog, is such an easy "out" in life, isn't it? I think, for the most part, everyone has blamed someone or something else for why they are where they are in life.

> The company promoted the wrong guy!
> My parents never taught me how to get ahead in life!
> My husband snores!
> Why do they sell 10 hot dogs in a pack but only 8 hot dog buns in a pack?

We blame because we don't like feeling uncomfortable, disrupted, annoyed, agitated or any number of a variety of inconvenient feelings that should not be a part of our prosperous American way of life. It's not fair! (Have you ever said that?)

I stood in our local supermarket the other day... I was playing the "role" of "husband waiting at the cart as wife meanders through the aisles in search of just 'two more items'..." - - as I stood there, I was gazing around and was suddenly struck with just how much "stuff" we have in our markets here in America. I read somewhere that the average market in American offers around 45,000 different items for sale. That's not a misprint... 45-THOUSAND different items. (No wonder I can't decide on Special K, Special K with almonds, Special K with berries, Special K with less sugar added, Special K with chocolate bits or Special K with enzymes...)

Last night I was on the phone with a friend who has left her husband. In short, because of her huge salary (he was a stay-at-home dad), they lived a luxurious life complete with a huge home in a very nice area, they had a nanny, a cleaning lady and other amenities to make life amazingly comfortable. The husband never worked. His "job" was the kids - which makes sense. Except that in most cases the kids were off with the nanny or at school. According to this friend, her husband found fault with the lifestyle - it was not enough. He lashed out at her for not working harder to bring in more money - eventually that anger turned into all out emotional abuse and she ended up taking the kids and leaving him.

Perhaps blaming isn't the answer. I'm just sayin' - -

What if - and I'm just tossing this out there - what if life really IS hard? What if, sometimes, the circumstances we find ourselves facing really are incredibly difficult? What then?

What if - even in a world where we have EVERYTHING at our fingertips, as close as a mouse click, a short drive or a phone call - things are STILL difficult?

For me, as a Christian, I rely on what The Bible teaches me about the God I choose to believe in and follow. That He "will never leave [me] and He will never forsake [me]." (Hebrews 13:5,6)

As the title of this blog states, I am just a "common saint" - a man with flaws, failures and a future - all at the same time.

And, praise God, He's there with me every step of the way!