Snow, cold, gray…  yeah, winter finally reared up.  We knew it was coming, and still we react as if somehow traumatized by the reality of nature’s harshness.

Life is like that. 

Winter is just around the corner, and with winter comes an inordinate amount of darkness.  Until late December the days will continue to get shorter, the sun will ride lower in the sky, and the temptation to go into hibernation will afflict us all.

School’s On!  While doing a little research about the start of the school year I ran across an article in the Montreal Gazette (online version) with the title: HELP KIDS AVOID LOUSY START AT SCHOOL.

That title got me interested.  I mean, who wants to have their children start school and have it be a lousy experience!  I wondered if the article would address such things as academic demands, the tendency for kids to become too involved in too many extracurricular activities, the challenges of relationships in high school, the unfortunate reality of bullying that occurs far too often in our schools, and family problems at home that make performance at school difficult for kids.

Paul, an author of several New Testament books, wrote twenty centuries ago about a principle that he said he had come to recognize.  It goes like this: “Even when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”  I take it that he was a self aware man, and that his self-awareness helped him come to terms with his natural inclination toward unhealthy things and behaviors even in the face of his stated desire to do the good thing.