Friday, February 15, 2013

Life Renovation - A New Project

I love that God gives us new days, new weeks, new seasons, new years and new starts. This blog and website are beginning anew. The goal is really the same, to help people find and live the life that God has designed for them before the beginning of time. I am not talking about a static plan that is mapped out and you are either in God's will or your are not at a specific moment, but a dynamic way of living as a human as a child of God by becoming who you were created to be. All of us seek what we think is best for us and what we believe will bring us the most life satisfaction. Some call this the pursuit of happiness and it is even written into the founding documents of the United States. If you ask most parents what they want most for their children, they often choose happiness as their top consideration. They want their children to be happy. It really makes sense, philosophers through the ages have describe happiness as an end unto itself. They mean that happiness is sought for itself rather than for another good. Success may be sought to get happiness but happiness is not sought to get success. It is important to explain what is meant by the term happiness, because it has meant many things over the centuries. Today, it is often thought of as a contentment with circumstances. This is a weak version of what has been a robust concept; Aristotle used the Greek word "eudaimonia" to describe his understanding of happiness. "Eudaimonia" is often times translated as Human Flourishing, meaning the highest experience of human living. This is what Jesus meant when he spoke of abundant life in John 10.10. Life Renovation is dedicated to helping you and me to discover and live into the abundant life that God has for us here and now. It is not something we must wait to receive when this life is over, but we can begin to live into it beginning today. What must we do? We must use the original plans for human flourishing; God has a design for human existence that if we align our thoughts, behavior and character according to the design, we will experience the life God created us to live. Living a Life Renovation embraces the process of deconstruction and removal of what doesn't work or was added apart from God's plan and the addition or construction of a new way of living according to God's design for humanity. Like those who have ever seen a television show about home renovations, one knows it will not be easy and there is always something nasty you find behind one of the walls or under the carpet. However, it is the process that will bring life in all it's fullness and provide the peace, meaning, and life satisfaction you have been longing for since the day you were born. Thanks be to God!!