Beginnings and Endings

I have many mottos. We all do, and we always will. Most of them change daily based upon my current mood or circumstance. They run the gamut from the hopeful to the desperate to the necessary. At times my motto comes in the form of quoting a song, a poem, or a book--- but more often than not, my inspiration comes from the screen. One of the finest examples of such inspiration comes in the form of the recently discovered lyrics of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" theme, which states that "A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down, so smile and that frown'll get lost." I love that quote for so many reasons, but mostly because of its simplicity. Just smile, and that'll make your frown go away. Naturally... you can't smile and frown at the same time. So do the one that makes you happier and anything that makes you unhappy will disappear, at least temporarily. So that's one of my mottos. Another is that hope for the future makes all things in life possible. Another is that divinity in its most simplistic form is faithfulness. But no matter what mood I'm in or how Gatsby-esque I'm feeling each particular day, one of my mottos seems to have a definitiveness about it, like I'll never be able to not live by that motto. That motto is that when one door closes, another one opens. This quote can be interpreted many different ways--- the closed door can either represent something good that's gone out of your life or something bad that you want to get rid of, and the open door can either represent change for the worse or the better. But nevertheless... it's a constant of sorts in life, not even as a motto, as a philosophy--- but as a way of life. Life is unexpected and mysterious and we are constantly morphing, changing, thriving individuals seeking self-realization at even the darkest hours of our existences. We're always on the road to something else in the world--- never truly satisfied with whatever we have in the present. We try to fix the unalterable past or attempt to charter the undeniable yet unpredictable course of the rest of our lives... making idealistic game plans for where we are, where we should be and where we will inevitably be. Stillness for human beings is rarely an option.
But lo and behold, along comes the wonderful world of web blogging... forums for meditation, venting, organization, synthesis and a jumping off point for new discoveries, discussions, and dialogues. I'm a little behind on the times... blogging's been around for pert near ten years now, but I figure better late than never. Now on the blog name; I thought long and hard on this one (and by that I mean about five minutes) and in the end decided to name it "Resistance of Salvation." Why? Well if it isn't immediately obvious than I guess it was a lost cause but I'll explain it anyway. It's a direct allusion to the Resistance John Connor is destined to lead to victory in the future against the sentient machines created by evil computer virus Skynet in the Terminator mythology.... trying to lead the world to salvation. Trying to lead themselves to Salvation... just like we all try to do every single day of our lives, whether we realize it or not. We're searching for who our most inner selves are even when we don't realize it... fighting for survival and sustainment in a constantly evolving, increasingly frightening world. The wars don't have to involve big guns or huge, scary Schwarzenegger-modeled robots... they're internal conflicts that run rampant in our bodies, trying to control and shape who we are. The battle between good and evil, the battle between conformity and taking charge. Realizing that fate is a choice, not an inevitability, as most things are in this rarely comforting, cold to the touch world. Realizing who we are and who God wants us to be. It's all about the road, the journey, the discovery. It's about coming into our own, being manifestations of who we really want ourselves to be... it's about being John Connor.