At some point, I realized what most of us seek in life is false, including what a man makes a priority. The things that he pursues often lead to nothing more than emptiness in his heart. Constantly, his actions swing him back and forth between right and wrong. Happiness often flees from him, and peace is only a daydream. It all comes back again in a cycle that never ends. A man will often blame the world for his problems, but he refuses to look inside himself, though deep down he knows that he is the cause of much of his tragedy. The world may not be to blame. The world is only what it is.

I had God, but a church was something that I knew little of, often only driving past a vacant building on a day it was not in session. But I do respect it. My faith was found in the forests and streams that I spent most of my Sundays in, drawing inspiration from my experiences there. But where I truly realized the power of God’s wisdom was in the fire itself, where selfishness, lies, and the deceit that we all encounter pervade, almost to the point where it chokes the very breath out of us. Friends may really be enemies, as our trust is lost in those who once held all of it. I knew I had to find trust in something else: a power that was above man’s pettiness, something that could transcend our arrogance and pride.

My life is half over, but I may have finally figured out how to live it, as I tried to write these words.