THE FIRST MUST NEEDS BE LAST....

Mercy, I note that tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of my beginning my sit with my friend. So much "glory" has come to me through that, and so much "non-glory" has come to me through that.

The exact same is true with my friend and with my club...brickbats from the friend, accolades at the club.

The non-glory and the brickbats are for my permanent spiritual growth else, without inside aid, my ego will link up with my reasoning mind and drive that victim-train forever. The glory and the accolades will falter, fade and be forgotten in a heartbeat.

And just this morning I read of St. Francis teaching the friars: "We must bear patiently not being good and not being thought good."

As I read that, "not being good" is the human condition, and "not being thought good" is the ego's bane and prod. There's our marching orders: In our daily search for still more spiritual growth, the first, i.e., the "glory," must be last, and the last, i.e., the "non-glory," must be first.

Thank you.