Soren writes, "Even though He does not fulfill every wish, He still lives closer to us and is moved by the strugglers cry." God may answer "No" to our prayer as it is not in accordance with His will. No is an answer. Yet, He hears us. Draw comfort from that.

Soren writes that we "Win By Losing" in prayer. We let go of our will and pray for God's will. Peace is at a premium in this world and the way to have it is to lay down all manipulation, probability, and scheming.

The purpose of prayer is to will the good. To want what God wants. Today I used the line from Kierkegaard "Don't be a Reward-Hungry Sensate Person" as the basis for my rant. And it is rant, yet not fly-off-the-handle rant, but a reflection of where we are at as a culture. Kierkegaard gives us the insight to be better than our culture. Being just like our adversaries makes us no better than them.

Soren writes that a conciliatory spirit is the hardest revenge. "The worst punishment for insults is to forget them." Losing is winning.

Soren writes in this Upbuilding Discourse, "The turbulence of life which carries the child and the youth earlier and earlier out into the pandemonium, gather them into the vociferous crowd or make them vociferous."

Sounds like social media. And us adults are no better. Prefer to make your resolutions in silence with God. Keep the crowd out of it. At least that is my takeaway.

There is a time to speak up. It takes wisdom to know when to be silent and when to speak.

Soren writes that when we come to the understanding that we are nothing without God, that we need God in order to please God, that is the path to becoming a profitable servant.

Jim Murphy, in his book "Inner Excellence", writes in the Preface that "Self-centeredness is the root cause of all fear." Being cowardly is not of God who desires that we be of good courage. If we are overly fearful, chances are we are focused on ourselves and not God and the good he wants us to experience.

* The book is the one that A.J. Brown was reading on the sidelines during the playoff game with the Packers. The book went from being ranked 500,000 and then some to Number 1 on Amazon. In a week.

Soren writes, " Resolution has the winsome faculty of concerning itself with the little things." We may not have a lot of talent, money, time, etc. Or we may have a lot. What we have, God wants. Whether it is a little or a lot. And better to give all of a little than little of a lot.

Soren writes, "Besides all its other good qualities, the good, the truly great and noble, has the quality of not allowing the observer to be indifferent. It elicits a pledge, as it were, from the person who has at once caught a vision of it."

This sounds like some type of 1960's Hippie song. A bit of a travelogue. Keep the holiday season full of good cheer. Live life forwards my good people!