DO YOU HAVE A PAST?

 Of course you do.  I do too.  We all do.  We all have a past and we also all have a past...(wink, wink).

These days we're being exposed to a lot of facts that provide the definition of what we expect from the present and the future of the people who are being considered for employment in the new government of the United States.  Sadly, I think, there seems to be so much stock placed in the distant past of the candidates and so little hope in their ability to rise to the challenge of what the future calls them to be.
I have highlighted a simple, innocent graphic at the beginning, but my reflections about the present reality in our country call me to deeper considerations.  We are at a level of discernment that is far deeper than the physical development from caterpillar to butterfly.  We are in an environment where the guiding axiom is "The past is prologue."  History is history; actions call forth similar actions and thus habits are formed and life does not change.  No room is made for introspective self reconciliation which calls forth that conversion from mechanical repetition born of habit to considered, prudential behavior born of the comfort that conscientious dedication to the common good brings about.  This comes from intense listening to the voice of the Spirit.

Belle, the saint behind the Voice from the Kitchen an I are preparing to lead 40 people to Bethlehem and other holy places in ten short days from now.  We will be exposed to many different ideas and behaviors during the 11 days of prayerful experiences that such an adventure calls forth.  We will present the possibility of this conversion to those entrusted to us by God in the Land that He chose for His people.  It is our sincere prayer that not just our 40 people will find the ways of God more appealing to them, but that the key movers of the turnover in our United States government will allow themselves to be changed by them as well.  
We pray that all will heed this simple saying, 
"Those who do not reconcile themselves with their past are condemned to repeating it, to their detriment and to that of those whom they think they are serving."