Meditation of the day...IMITATION OF CHRIST...

I am not sure if anyone reads my meditations of the day...but, if you do...let me share some insights.
First of all, I do this to make me accountable to God to get my time with Him first before I start to go on the computer. Secondly, this is what I feel Christ is saying to me...not you. You may need to be reading something different for your meditation time. This is an old favorite of mine, and I feel like Christ is asking me to return to the basics. Third, if you are confused or unsure about anything I right, email me, or seek spiritual guidance. Also, you may want to read a different version of The Imitation of Christ, sometimes just the language may speak differently to you.

THOUGHTS ON THE MISERY OF MAN (part one)

WHEREVER you are, wherever you go, you are miserable unless you turn to God. So why be dismayed when things do not happen as you wish and desire? Is there anyone who has everything as he wishes? No -- neither I, nor you, nor any man on earth. There is no one in the world, be he Pope or king, who does not suffer trial and anguish. (I am so glad that I am learning to offer it up)

Who is the better off then? Surely, it is the man who will suffer something for God. Many unstable and weak-minded people say: "See how well that man lives, how rich, how great he is, how powerful and mighty." But you must lift up your eyes to the riches of heaven and realize that the material goods of which they speak are nothing. These things are uncertain and very burdensome because they are never possessed without anxiety and fear. Man's happiness does not consist in the possession of abundant goods; a very little is enough. (I always say that I am grateful for not having much money...I know my personality and I would probably not be that good of a steward)

Living on earth is truly a misery. The more a man desires spiritual life, the more bitter the present becomes to him, because he understands better and sees more clearly the defects, the corruption of human nature. To eat and drink, to watch and sleep, to rest, to labor, and to be bound by other human necessities is certainly a great misery and affliction to the devout man, who would gladly be released from them and be free from all sin. Truly, the inner man is greatly burdened in this world by the necessities of the body, and for this reason the Prophet prayed that he might be as free from them as possible, when he said: "From my necessities, O Lord, deliver me." (for some it is important to have a mission or apostolate so to keep your mind on fulfilling what Christ has created us for)