The thing that reveals itself.

A Samurai wrote a book in the 17th century about discipline, called the Book of Five Rings, in which he talks about discovering "the thing that reveals itself" when you pursue a discipline. When you enter a new community, old ways fall away and new sprouts begin to appear. In the 14 days since I was diagnosed with cancer I can see a new person emerging. I have to gain weight instead of trying to lose it; I openly invite others to pray for me now, whereas before I never needed that; I have this new found sense of caring for others that I've never known, solely due to the massive outpouring of love and support sent our way. No matter how long this process lasts, my new self is a cancer survivor, which is a pretty good group of people I've come to find out.

In every discipline there are things that must be done. Disciplines are not passive endeavors. If all you do is read about running marathons, you'll never know what only marathon runners know. It is in the doingness, in the practice and failures and in the sacrifices, that you get to see the thing that reveals itself.

I'm excited about what will be revealed doing what a cancer survivor does. I'm not looking forward to the discomforts but I know there is a pony somewhere in this big pile of manure.

Kay is doing a great job using the blog to communicate what we're doing and I'm so grateful she is willing to do that. Thanks for all your comments. We love 'em and we love all of you .