Center of the Universe

I dislike thew NIV for three distinct reasons, but I like this translation of Ephesians 2:10 for it's immediacy and personal application. (It has one severe problem but it is beside the point I am making here.) On Sunday I told my youngest son that he is not the center of the universe, that he needs to get his act together, stop living for himself. Then he asked me, "Then who is my life for?" Saint Paul gives us the answer to my son's question: "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  And that is it.  Nothing else we do on earth matters, except that it might distract us from doing the good things God has prepared for us to do. 

So I asked Father Basil later that day for a favor, and he has agreed to sons #3 and #4 serving in the altar. (Because of the turmoil of the divorce and Athanasia's irregular church attendance they had not been serving as acolytes for the past two years. But now I have them all day on Sundays!)   These boys need to DO something that is not focused on themselves.  Even Boy Scouts is too focused on them.  But at Church, serving in the altar there is nothing about them.  The good works they do there are all for God and the people in the Church.  I hope it helps.

In other news, Anselm Samuel (also known as the Little Boy and son #3) turned fourteen on the 21st.  His birthday present from me was a razor (peach fuzz on upper lip has been growing more noticeable the last couple of months) and an antique "Warren Harding for President" campaign button.