One of the greatest tragedies of having survived a life of sin (whatever the circumstances of that sin might have been) is that it seems like nobody listens.
And I know - thick as I am - that just because I've got some skeletons in my closet, that doesn't mean that I've got anybody else's struggles figured out.
But it does not take a man of great years or frightful experience to figure out that some things are just plain bad news.
You know who Bob Ross was, right? The painter? Used to have a show, The Joy of Painting, on PBS for a long time. Had the fro thing going.
Bob had a saying in his show... "There are no mistakes, only happy accidents." Lots of those happy accidents would turn into happy little trees or a happy little stream running down the side of the happy little mountain.
I wish Bob's philosophy applied to actual life.
I wish I could look back on all the things that I have majorly screwed up in my life and - through the consequences of some of those actions - in the lives of others and say they were just happy accidents.
But I'm not awake at 3:40 AM thinking about all the times I screwed up that turned out happy in the end.
There are some mistakes that I have made that have definitely impacted the man I am today, and in a way that I can only attribute to the grace of God, I can see where some good has come from those mistakes, because I've learned lessons along the way that have helped me avoid such mistakes again.
All the same, really wish I hadn't ever made those mistakes in the first place.
More than that, I wish I could tell some people some things. More accurately, I wish I could get them to listen.
I don't have it all figured out. I know that. Doesn't take divine inspiration to get that much nailed down.
But Lord God in Heaven do I pray that there was some way to show people the fire they are playing with.
So many people are convinced, beyond any shadow of doubt or any room for discussion, that they will be the ones to carry the rattlesnake down the mountain and not get bit.
The rattlesnake is no respecter of persons, my beloved.
I have scars that are opened up fresh every time I see my sins reflected in the lives of others. There are things that I wish I could take back, but even more than ever undoing them myself, I want to avoid seeing those mistakes made again by those I care about.
This is emotion, pure and unfiltered. I don't even know if I'm making sense, I just have to get it out.
I love you, no matter who you are or what you're doing. But if you're doing something stupid - and I really think that in the back of your head, way down in the guts and gizzards of who we all are, we know if we're doing something stupid - just know that I would love to see you not do that anymore. I ain't gonna love you any less if you don't.
It's just gonna hurt.
(Also, because I can't resist an even mildly appropriate song drop... The Faces - Ooh La La)
