What do I value?

Two questions have been haunting me lately

hanging around my head

going on my morning walks

joining me in my bed

ruining my morning soak

But they are good questions

The first question is this…

What do I value?

Not what are my goals?

Not what do I want to accomplish with my life

But what are the values that get me up in the morning

And take me through my day

What are the values that craft the direction of my life?

I have a value set by my family

Service

Kliewers serve.  Period.  End of conversation

It just is.

Ministers, Doctors, Therapists

Serve your community!  That is why you are here

But who can exclude love

My faith system demands that

That crazy, foolish way of being taught

by some guy named Jesus

love

love God

Love your self

And love the people around you

Accept love

Nurture love

Be love

Actually most of what I value gets captured

In that thing called love

Compassion, generosity, connection

Kindness, all the standards

So I have to come up with something else….

And I chose

Authenticity

Being real

Being honest… to God

To myself, and to….. you

Hard to do when you think  you have to be perfect

An accomplisher

When you constantly compare, compare, compare

Strive strive strive

Under you are not a fool for Christ’s sake

But just a damn fool

But still

There they are

Service, love, authenticity

Serving the people, all people, in love?

Ah but there is more

So much more

Because the second question is important too

Am I living toward what I value?

The answer is often yes, sometimes no

But here is the thing… my values path is not a straight line from A to B

It is a direction, nothing more

I am moving toward a destination I will never get to

What is important is that I keep moving

And I keep moving the right direction

Sometimes I’ll get lost, at others I’ll get stuck

But I will keep heading

Down that path

Toward that compass point that is

Service, love, and authenticity

And when I fail?

With I slip and slide into strange and sometimes dark place

I will simply pull out my values

Dust them off

And begin again.