Rick Beeman

  I think the realization hit me sometime this weekend. I believe it was Saturday night specifically as I went for a late workout.  It might not seem like a big deal in the overall scheme of things but considering where I was for most of this past year it is significant to me.  I realized, I like my life.   Does that mean I’m over the loss of my family or miss them any less?  Absolutely not.  But considering how I’ve given myself over to my faith and am just focusing on what I can control, I would say I have it pretty good right now.  Could it be better with someone to love me and for me to love someone?  Another absolute yes. Life can always be better and it can always be worse. The key is finding the contentment in the present.  I’ve come to grips with this season and I am supposed to be alone right now.  I still pray desperately for my family.  I know I am supposed to wait on God.  I know I’m supposed to learn to wholly rely...

  Something unique happened to me today that I don’t remember ever happening before. I was thinking about my day around mid-day.  I determined that it had been a pretty good day thus far.  Then a thought popped into my head.  What if I made it a great day?  And just like that I determined that I would try to make it a great day.  And guess what…it worked.  Now nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary happened.  Instead I willfully tried to change my perception of the events that had unfolded/were unfolding/were about to unfold.  For some reason my good day became a great day.   Is life that easy that you can willfully change your perception/perspective like a superpower? By the power of thought can you really transform your day from bad to good or good to great?  I don’t know.  In all of my 57 years I had never tried this before. My day/week/month/year was either good, bad or neutral and I was powerless to do anything about i...

  It dawned on me earlier today.  I’ve been married for more than half of my life.  Now this might not seem like a great accomplishment for those of you that are over 50 and have had one marriage to your name (which is the way God designed it to be…but I digress).  I have two 15 year marriages and I just turned 57.  So more than half my life was spent with the responsibility of being a husband/father.  One of the ways I’ve tried to live my life was putting other people’s needs ahead of my own for most of the time.  That’s been the ideal anyway.  So when you’re in a God centered marriage, God comes first, wife second, children 3rd, occupation 4th, then the rest you can fill in according to your convictions.  So more than half my life I’ve tried to put my wife’s/family needs ahead of my own.  So much so in fact that I didn’t have a life/identity outside of being a family man.  That is taking it’s toll on my identity now that I’m separ...