This question has been beleaguered me for a good six months following the yet unexplained highs and lows in my physical body. I have wrestled with it on my own for not wanting to pull down those around me that I love. It is a lonely place.

A few weeks ago I posed it on a forum, and the thread offered some interesting and some flippant advice. Its almost as if people are too scared to think about it and that's ok, I realise that not everyone passes by this cross-roads at the same time.

For me it is like the final frontier of religious deconstructionism, being that institutional christianity implies that we all have a 'purpose' and a 'destiny' and that you need to find out what that is. Many people die to life in the process.

The journey that I have been walking embraces the idea that to understand that God loves me/us is the centripetal message of the Gospel. That out of that comes an organic lifestyle and opportunities to really love others.

I don't profess to fully 'get it' yet, albeit that I am trying.

I stumbled across a quote that I am beginning to believe holds truth and a partial answer to the question at hand:

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~Gil Bailie

In the process of the forum thread discussion, the etymology of the words "life" and "meaning" came up and they also provide some further enlightenment...

Life
Origin: bef. 900; ME lif(e); OE līf; c. D lijf, G Leib body, ON līf life, body; akin to live 1

So life also means body or perhaps simply that we are alive?

Meaning
1. what is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated
2. the end, purpose, or significance of something

And putting these two together "what is the meaning of life?" for me would be to ask "what is intention/significance of my being alive?", "why am I breathing?".

See how that could relate to Gil Bailie's quote? That if there exists a 'purpose' it may simply be to come alive and do that which we truly love. So as we are created in the image of the Father so then too are we born to create?!

The other thing though that I am wondering is if we live for the moment and there really is no particular purpose for living, then how do we find the balance between nihilism and sensualism?

This week I have been pondering the depth of relationships that we (in general) tend to have in our modern day society.

Is a friendship today the same as one of yesteryear?

How do we define friendships?

Are our expectations different?




You hear children emphatically state "you're not my friend" one moment and the next they couldn't discredit the other child any more.

And while we may chuckle to ourselves and attribute that fickleness to the younger generation I wonder if it is not also true of our relationships today.

With the advent of mobile phones and text messaging do we use the superficial day-to-day communications as an indication of the relationship behind them? Do relationships parallel the pace of society and suffer too as many other areas of our lives do?

Do we expect instant replies (and gratification) and when we don't get them read too much into it?



Are friendships today less deep? Are they just surface level?




Lets play out a scenario here to help illustrate what I am getting at.....

You arrange with a girlfriend via text during work hours to meet for a coffee and movie, the next evening. You go home that day, frantically texting her and other friends. Get up go to work the next day, don't hear from the friend all day, who also doesn't show for the movie.

• Do you think she has snubbed you and what right does she have to stand you up?



• Do you send her a text demanding what has happened?



• Do you still watch the movie without her?



• Do you simply go home and forget about it all?

or do you drop everything and shoot around to her home to find out?




From what I have observed many teens, twenties and somethings fall into the former category more often than the later.

Instant 'communications' seem therefore a selfish tool, rather than a selfless one.

Sure this is not always the case, and every invention has its good or bad points, I know, but think for a moment what your relationships would be like without a cellphone. Could you go for a day without using your cell, or for a week without whipping it out to 'just do something' that is so urgent you are doing it in the middle of a conversation with someone else or a dinner out at a restaurant?

What would happen to your relationships then? How would you cultivate them? Would you talk face to face? Would you drive the extra few miles out of your way to visit someone? Would you actually get to laugh in another's company instead of alone at a lcd screen?

I can already hear the nay-sayers, who think I have gone off my rocker, and perhaps this thought isn't for them then. Perhaps they are happy with the fibre of their friendships - and good on them.

For those who are nodding their head in agreement I wish for you greater depth in your relationships, and the richness that comes from knowing that whether you have seen someone just yesterday, last week, or 18 months ago - you are still friends.

I've just been reading a book, Pagan Christianity, by Frank Viola and George Barna, which has my mental sparks plugs firing in many directions.

The one that today seems foremost in my mind is the question of (christian) common sense.

We all know the saying that common sense isn't common anymore, but how does this relate to the institutional church?

If what we do is go and sit under one person's teaching, it could be termed that we are getting 'common sense' after all we are all of one mind and body, right? We are all hearing the same thing in common. I think this is also called herd (heard) mentality.

But I wonder if the opposite is true. I wonder if the sheer process of hearing another person expounding upon their latest revelation, numbs us to using the common sense or perhaps more specifically intuition that each of us is gifted with? An intuition that God gives us.

Does participation within an institution shut down our ability to think critically for ourselves. Is the institutional church partially to blame for the demise of poor ol' common sense and for that matter the heart of Christianity?

And further to that, is perhaps hearing of someone else's ideas shutting down our own ability to understand the ideas that God has to share with us personally, through our relationship with Him? Is it detrimental to Gods plan?

Now if that doesn't have you feeling a little uncomfortable, I am not sure what will.

Our personal relationship with God is the most precious gift!