Master and Student

Happy New Year!

I have two quotes that I heard this week that I want to dive deeper into. The first quote is “You’re not going to be a grateful master if you haven’t been a foolish master.” In 2025, I learned how important that was. I started taking Tai Chi classes at the end of 2024. I wanted a low-impact exercise that would be easy on my joints. I wanted to improve my balance and flexibility, as well as my discipline. In the beginning, I was extremely hard on myself. My inner critic compared my progress to people who had been practicing tai chi for years. However, as I improved throughout 2025, I realized that my teachers still have the same bad habits as I do. The difference is they do them less often and it’s less noticeable when they do make mistakes. They also give themselves grace for their mistakes and allow themselves to be open to correction – not taking the criticism personal. They remained the forever student – still learning, still growing. The teachers who had the black belts and considered one of the masters maintained the heart of the foolish beginners, accepting they still had much to learn and improve. I also like to grow and improve. I don’t want to view myself as 100% perfect because I’m not – no one is. The faster we all realize that, the sooner we stop being disappointed by people and establishments.

This leads to the second quote, “If Christ is your boss, he has the power to tell you what to do.” I find that Christians who say, “my body my choice,” slightly hypocritical. The reason is if you believe in “solo scriptura.” Christ never said,” my body my choice.” If he did, he clearly wouldn’t have sacrificed his life for ours. He clearly stated, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42 NASB). He never said our bodies belong to ourselves either – “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit…I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-3, 5-6 NASB). For non-Christians that also say, “my body my choice,” also run the risk of being intellectually inconsistent if they also subscribe to the Rule of Three, “Whatever you send out, you get back times three,” also known as the law of Karma. If you cling to choices that are only self-oriented and self-benefit without love or compassion for yourself and others, you are going to bring the weight of karma on yourself. I’m not preachig to live your life just for others – been there, done that, wrote the book, and then burned it. However, some selfish decisions according to the law of karma will only end up hurting you in the end. You have to be mindful of the imprint you leave on this world. You have the choice of love and happiness for yourself and others, or hated and cruelty to everyone who stands in your way. I choose love and happiness and if that means my body belongs to Christ, I’m good with that. And if I die and there is no God or after life, I will die knowing I blessed the world with love and compassion vs. chaos and destruction. I will die having people remembered me with love and not bitterness.

That’s the gift I give to myself this New Year. Welcome 2026. Until next month, Peace.