Lost Everything

Lost Everything

I saw a guy the other day standing on a street corner. He had a sign that said, ‘Lost Everything’. The guy also had a big smile on a happy face. The body language implied he had not lost anything at all. Or if he had lost everything, it was the best thing that ever happened. For his sake, may that be true!

Our body language often sends different messages than the verbal messages that we share. It is common place today to hear four letter words splattered throughout sentences as if they were inconsequential fillers for the lack of words in our vocabulary. They are common place in music, movies and all public places. They are signs of violence and frustration and feelings of impotence in the daily experience. No one says anything, either. All walk around as zombies as if oblivious to the reality of speech that is a reflection of behavior in our communities.

What would happen if someone said that this is improper language public or private? It is obscene language. It is obscene not for the simplistic reason that it is a four letter word or worse. It is obscene because it reflects a world that has lost its anchor in anything stable, true or absolute. Ooops! Did I just hear an expletive?

Words, body language and signs today are contradictory. The scene of people in countries of great poverty holding expensive, sophisticated weaponry that kills with ease and they do kill with ease, espousing religious slogans of ultimate commitments and critical beliefs are incredible contradictions. They are an embarrassment to all who are part of any truly religious community. Christian or otherwise.

Religions that espouse violence are primitive religions. They may travel far but do so with little depth. This is probably why murder was one of the first sins mentioned in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures after humans made a fateful decision that they know better than God.

The Christian way believes in a guy who stood on a street corner some 2000 years ago. His words and body language was in symmetry. He showed how we can live in the strangest of circumstances free of expletives in our mouths and violent expressions in our lives. He shared stories about spiritual cleansing through baptism, sharing meals, and transforming the life conversation and practice to acts of forgiveness, love, service.

Don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself in a collection of ancient writings. They can be read in the contemporary language of your choice, readily accessible on the web, bookstores, public libraries. Perhaps even your neighbor has a copy of this collection of works called ‘The Bible’.

This guy’s words and actions continue to transforms lives today without bombs, bullets, drones, fanciful speeches, fists or four letter words. He begins by showing us how to get our own lives together: Body language, speech, everything anchored in some constructive absolute rules to guide us. He also shows you how to help your life partner, to comfort your children and your neighbor, heal the broken hearted, renew the discouraged, encourage the disheartened. These are ancient ideas that seem to fit perfectly in the modern world.

Perhaps we all need to write our own signs: Lost Everything. Never been Happier in My Life.