Hurdles necessary for enlightenment
Mark Pavilons

"You must realize that it is the ordinary way of God's dealings with us that our ideas do not work out speedily and efficiently as we would like them to. The reason for this is not only the loving wisdom of God, but also the fact that our acts have to fit into a great complex pattern that we cannot possibly understand. I have learned over the years that Providence is always a whole lot wiser than any of us, and that there are always not only good reasons, but the very best reasons for the delays and blocks that often seem to us so frustrating and absurd."

Thomas Merton

I'd like to think of myself as a practical realist.

My wife contends I'm a dreamer.

Two very different views of the same person.

I don't expect miracles, I merely believe the world should work according to my rational rules and guidelines. After all, I worked many years on perfecting my personal outlook - the laws of nature should take that into consideration when crossing me!

But it's not about me, or you, or them, according to Merton's thoughts mentioned above. There is a plan, it seems, and that plans involves taunting us helpless human beings and the creation of strategically placed roadblocks. Is the Almighty trying to teach us something?

It's no wonder we human beings are stalled and delayed at what seems like each and every crossing and turning point. Just from our day-to-day dealings with our own broods we stumble, fumble, bark, scream and shout. We seem to make things up as we go, indicating our journey here is more of a flying-by-the-seat-ofone's pants affair than a divine or ordained path. Sometimes (often) I don't know how our species survives.

I prefer order, or a semblance thereof. Unfortunately, when you add children to the mix, the whole concoction turns into a vile, sticky mess that won't come clean in the wash. I also prefer cleanliness, or a semblance thereof. The presence of the aforementioned anklebiters also tends to derail that.

While God may be powerful and all-knowing, I don't think he sent my kids to me to thwart my plans for success. Serenity now!

It's been said by many over the yxears that life is what happens to us while we're making other plans. Ain't it the truth?

I've tried to make a major career move, setting my sights on the proverbial ivory tower, for the last 10 years now. I've tried to open new doors and make new friends and influential acquaintances. The ivory tower hasn't faded from sight, and I'm still on the ground floor, waiting for an elevator!

I'm not saying that marriage, children, my first home, etc. had any bearing on my plans. These are all wonderful institutions if you like being institutionalized.

But in all honesty, there's nothing more real, more human, than finding love, creating life and helping to improve humankind with the addition of our own unique DNA.

I think one of the main stumbling blocks for us in the western world, other than those placed in front of us by God, is our lack of vision and our rather skewed expectations.

Ask anyone - your spouse, friends, co-workers and total strangers the coffee shop - what they expect out of life. Typical answers will likely be "happiness, a meaningful career, relative wealth and financial security, a decent home, health and longevity and the ability to provide a solid future for our offspring." I doubt you'd hear things like "saving the planet, helping to secure world peace, curing cancer, eliminating poverty and disease, and finding a really good clam chowder."

In all practicality, we can all expect the unexpected. We may all love it when a plan comes together, but Murphy's Law (with a little helping from the Good Lord) reigns supreme. The forces of nature and the universe don't care about our immediate needs; the price of gas; shade of burgundy paint we've picked out for the livingroom, or why bread tends to fall buttered-side down (maybe it's the weight).

If you look at it that way, our day-to-day existence can seem quite mundane and trivial.

It's on par with being a bee and facing a life of dreary, drone servitude in the great hive.

"Look with favor upon a bold beginning," cries out the message from a fortune cookie that's perched atop my computer monitor.

And then I wonder why a species of fern has 630 pairs of chromosomes - the most of any living thing on earth.

Accidental-like, or intentional?

Maybe we should worry less about getting it right, and settle for just trying. Perhaps we should take comfort in the little victories - the big ones may never come because that's the plan.

Maybe we already have what we want most in this life.