Sometimes things appear too late. Take life seriously, but not to the extent of not forgiving yourself. We can start over ...and try to do things better. But sometimes it's better to repair what we already have, especially if starting over means discarding all those around us whom we find as intolerable as others perhaps find us. And don't forget, most things that explode, don't merely hit the target, but shrapnel flies about, injuring many others.

I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Some people think that people there live back in time. Though untrue, I would say that to a certain extent, that may be a good thing. I think our Founding Fathers put more thought into many things than we do. And to be honest, I believe we've moved beyond the point of where we may have been able to fix it. But I'm not going to go backwards in time ...I'm merely going to try to blog backwards, in an attempt to create just one more convenience in your life. Though, to be honest with you, my goal is not to bring total peace and comfort to you!

There are people in this world who suffer from poverty, yet there are amazing testimonies given by those who have the least ...or near nothing.

But most of what we call poor, is not poor at all ...when we say we are hungry, we are not really that hungry at all; we complain we have nothing to wear, yet we are not naked; and we claim that God does not care, yet do we care to seek Him?

This is a quote from a Bohemian-Austrian poet, named Rainer Maria Rilke: "If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty."

There are people who have done wrong, but now have been brought down to one of the lowest levels of emotional despondency, as others say they just got what they deserved. But if you've had a good upbringing, would you wish them anything less? Would you say they deserved that violent life they perhaps have had?

There are people I've worked with in prison who have repented of what they've done ...and every day they read their Bibles, and try to place their lives in more proper perspective.

I have to admit, what they do on a daily basis now ...is often more than I do.

These prisoners are kind, thoughtful, and pleasant to be around ...and there are many of them.

But though they try to make their prison home a tolerable place to live, it is not always easy.

Every so often they are confronted by another type of prisoner. This other type of person is angry that they've been incarcerated ...and they will attempt to conduct business in prison, the same way they did before they went to prison. They despise and reject authority on every level ...and they will not hesitate to use any means to assert themselves as superior over all those around them.

I've read some real horrific cases, but I don't believe that for us to understand good and evil, that we have to be exposed to all the details ...

...sadly, we "are" often exposed to it, but if we can see a decrease in the number of those who personally experiencing violence ...then that is a statistic I'd like to see!

Few things would be considered worst than the living terror itself, yet perhaps the very thing that fuels much of the sadistic glamour surrounding it, are the visits that it makes into our homes in the form of entertainment ....the TV.

I personally think that is not only sick, but highly destructive. It erodes the very fabric and character of each and every individual, our homes, and our country.

Going back a bit, to the mention of the Correctional Facility, and the prisoners reading their Bibles ...I actually worked within a federally mandated Mental Health prison, which sadly, no longer exists. I found a body of believers who were interested in Bible study. It began with little interest, but very interesting and encouraging. But then it grew, and the fringes of the effects of their mental illnesses began to factor in more ...with the distractions looming larger and larger upon the horizon.

None of us are with perfect understanding. I admit that I've had my share of struggles, attempting to understand certain aspects of the Bible.

With the population in the mentally ill prison, I would not want to read the Book of First Kings, chapter three. Now, many of you recall what has been said of Solomon. God had asked Solomon what he wanted ...and Solomon asked for an understanding heart to judge the multitude of people he had to rule over as king, so he could fairly discern between good and bad. And God said he would grant Solomon a wise and understading heart ...and give him much more for not asking selfishly for himself.

Then his first mentioned act of putting that wisdom to use was a well-known case where two women each made the same claim. What Solomon called for in that case was something that goes totally against my experience in the field of Mental Health. I've heard of horrific cases where someone took literally ...what was not to be taken literally. So, with my background, I felt it not wise at all what Solomon had said. But I certainly would not question the wisdom of one whom God had endowed with wisdom ...I'm certainly wise enough myself, not to do that! So I felt I just ...must not understand.

That is not surprising ...there is much I don't understand!

But now as years have passed by and I've seen so much tragedy brought about by divisions and broken homes, I feel there is a powerful analogy. Doesn't divorce cause the division of a child ...dividing their very soul?

Tragically, it reminds me again of the quote by Rainer Maria Rilke: "If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches ..."

And though we may at times feel we are defending our pride, as if with a sword; and allowing our differences to embitter us to a simmering rage ...

...call forth not our own selfish defenses, drinking from the cup of emotional poverty; which we ourselves so often prepare, deliberate or not. As if by filing for emotional bankruptcy we can just walk away from our debt.

Instead, we should search beyond ourselves, and call forth the richness of our children, who ...though they be often filled with frivilous requests, are too youthful to perceive or admit that their sole unspoken request is for their parents to be at peace, to not divide ...but to somehow survive ...

...with hope that one day, they can thrive!