Live long & prosper...

"And the only solution to this would be that the meaning of earthly existence lies not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul..." from The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 (1973) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

When did the light flip on for you? When did our existence, collectively as the human race, finally begin to make sense? When did the questions "Why am I here?" and "What do I do now?" finally have answers of your liking? For some of you reading this, that day has yet to come.

What if I told you that the most important answers don't always come in classrooms, living rooms, state houses or even places of worship. Sometimes they come in jail cells, hospital rooms, and battle fields. What if I told you suffering in your life wasn't there to destroy you, but to prosper you?

All too often Americans view prosperity as a state of being. I am prosperous because I own this, have that, or make this much. What if we flip prosperity on its end and made it more a state of mind rather then a state of being? More specifically, a state of soul. When we look at prosperity through this lens, suffering comes into focus and makes more sense. In his masterpiece "The Gulag Archipelago", Aleksandar Solzhenitsyn recalls with gratefulness his years spent in a Soviet Era Gulag forced labor camp. Amidst all of the suffering, torture, slave labor, indignity and death; Aleksandar found his meaning for his life. As he so succinctly put it:

"Lev Tolstoi was right when he dreamed of being put in prison. At certain moment the giant began to dry up. He actually needed prison as a drought needs a shower of rain... And I say without hesitation: "Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!"..."

Throughout his book, Aleksandar discovered that although he went into the Gulag "prosperous"; he predictably lost everything precious and important to him... or so he initially thought. Paradoxically, the very thing (the Gulag) that stripped him of all prosperity, dignity, freedom, vanity, and respect became the instrument to truly show him how void his soul had become. The very thing he lived his life for (prosperity) was stripping him of what he truly needed most; what he called "the development of his soul".

Gabe & Graham:

What Gulags in your life will you look back on and say "bless you for having been in my life"? Oh how our perspective will change if we bless the storm instead of fight against it! Always live your life with this end in mind...God allows the Gulag's in our lives for a reason...he wants more than just meaningless prosperity for our lives. He wants to develop our soul. This is God's definition of prosperity! I pray your light flips on much earlier than mine did!

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36