Is There a God?

It's lawn mowing day for me. As always I contemplate the universe when I'm out there trudging behind the mower. This week has been riddled with heartbreak and disappointment for my family and me with only more to come in the near future. I have never been one to cry "Why me?" or ask "How could God let this happen?", but I must admit that I have pondered the complexities of God's will as I have wondered (yes, I meant to say wondered) through this week.

While I have never questioned if there is a God, I realize there are people who do wonder. The proof has been in front of me my whole life. Life itself is proof to me but I have also witnessed miracles that could only come from God. I am human enough to admit that there is something much bigger than me that runs the universe and all its workings. Someone who holds all the control when I seem to have none. It's hard to relinquish control but I think that every human holds knowledge of God somewhere in their heart, no matter how small a piece and how deeply it is buried. Of course, every human has the right to choose whether to embrace God or not, and the irony in this is that He gave us choice as part of His plan. The beauty in choice is that every single choice ever made carries a consequence, whether that consequence has big or little effect on life.  So when calamities arise and  life gets unpredictable, the agency He gave us plays a part. God does let life happen to us. I firmly believe He interjects and intervenes as He sees fit, but so many things happen as a result of our human decisions, and He values that ability to choose. There are times when I have begged Him to intervene. I have asked him to open the earth and swallow whole bodies of land, but we continue to choose-either to our benefit or to our despair.

So back to my original question, is there a God? As for me, I give a definitive YES. He is in the air I breathe, my moveable, workable body, the beauty in the earth, the miracles I will not mark as chance. I have asked Him if He is real and I have my answer. Every person should know for themselves. I will not deny Him because things don't go my way or He "let bad things happen." That is where I know He has allowed agency. There has to be a reason to be here. Choice is how we know. What would be the purpose of existence if we led a life of aimless travel with no consequence for our actions? Our accountability to Him is what it all comes down to. Yes, His mercy is great, and thanks to this gift of choice, his justice will also be great.

I Disagree

When I look around today, I have to admit we live in a selfish world. I don't want to admit that. I see the good. But we are regrettably headed towards a self-serving, narcissistic mess of human kind. In a world-wide culture of "me-ness", it seems that kindness, common courtesy, tolerance and love towards one another are being left behind for the one. And the one uses any means necessary to justify this way of life.

I was discussing this with my 16 year old who is a wise and even ancient soul. I wish everyone could see life through her eyes. I think it would change the world. I know she can change the world, if only a little bit at a time. She was telling me that she has a group of friends who have made drastically different choices from hers, but they are people she still loves and she *respects their right to make choices*. She is kind to them even though she doesn't agree with their choices. And they love her for it. They don't scream "discrimination" because she doesn't agree with them. They are all grateful that they can disagree and still have a friendship. This skill is so rare yet extremely necessary in the current world. It seems that as soon as someone expresses disagreement with anyone in our culture today, discrimination is brought into the conversation, and things quickly go downhill from there. In other words, if you don't agree with me, I am going to call you names and throw accusations at you. I want YOU to agree with my perspective but I am not going to give you that same courtesy. Or even acknowledge that we are different , and it should be okay that we have different views on things.

Disagree means:

disagree/ˌdɪsəˈɡriː/ 

verb -grees, -greeing, -greed (intransitive) often foll by with

1. to dissent in opinion (from another person) or dispute (about an idea, fact, etc)

2. to fail to correspond; conflict

3. to be unacceptable (to) or unfavourable (for); be incompatible (with): curry disagrees with me 

4. to be opposed (to) in principle

 

Discriminate means:

discriminate verb (dɪˈskrɪmɪˌneɪt)

1. (intransitive; usually foll by in favour of or against) to single out a particular person, group, etc, for special favour or, esp, disfavour, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc

2. when intr, foll by between or among. to recognize or understand the difference (between); distinguish

 

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THINGS. I can disagree with your opinion, lifestyle, standards, morals, fashions, tastes, or views on anything and still not discriminate against you. I can even love you even though we view things differently. In fact, we can even be kind to each other!

 

 

 

Now how about that? Can you imagine how wonderful life could be if we could just agree to disagree? You're welcome. 

Room for Everyone on the Nice List

There are times I wish I could get one, yes just one message out to the world. I have tried to be subtle. I have tried to be in-your-face. I have coaxed, I have yelled, I have even cried the message. But not everyone is understanding. So here I am again...trying to get this missive out. Simply put, and in the awesome words of Buddy the Elf :

What does that mean, you ask? Well yes, it means everyone can and should be nice-but in my world, it means there's room for everyone to love. And be loved.

Love is the most pure gift there is. There is literally no limit to it. It can be given over and over again, and not diminish. Love is a natural, human thing to feel. We are born with the ability to automatically love. Love is good, love is kind, and EVERYONE needs it. It was meant to be freely  given, shared and experienced. Love grows; exponentially if we let it. Without a maximum capacity. Giving it to someone new in no way takes it away from the people we already love. It just expands even further.



Look at us lovebirds! Then...



...and now.

When I think back to my wedding, I remember feeling I could never love anyone more than I loved Chad that day. My love consumed me and I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my love for him could get bigger. But it has. Every day. And I still have plenty to give to my children. And my friends. And my neighbors. And 600 children at school-with more left over for everyone else. It's amazing to me. A phenomenon that I am so grateful for.

Whatever the world has said, love is not a weapon. It should not come with threats or conditions. It should not be revoked. Trust can be revoked but love should never be taken back. Love should not be hoarded or saved for a rainy day. It is meant to be used in the here and now. Love does not hurt, though the loss of it does.

Love is an eternal principle-whether you believe in the afterlife or not. It continues beyond the grave, if only for the ones that are left behind. I'm a believer that love has no end and it continues for all of us, if we only open our hearts to embrace it. And that's the key, folks. Embracing  love is the remedy to all of life's ills. Love has healing properties. It protects, it strengthens, it gives. LOVE SAVES. There's more than enough for everyone. So jump on the nice list with me. There's plenty of room.

To Be or Not To Be.....a Hypocrite

I am off work for the summer. I have gotten so much done in the 8 days I have not been at work! As much I love my job and believe in the things I do there, I am grateful for my summers off. I love being with my family. I love being able to catch up on all the menial tasks I get behind on during the school year. I love sitting in my gazebo late at night under the stars. It gives me a lot of time to think.

Cheers!

As I mowed my lawn today, I had a lot going on in this little brain of mine while I pushed the mower for what seemed like miles. This morning when I was on Facebook I saw this:

I liked it. It made sense to me. I thought it was cool. Then I started thinking about hypocrites. And how easy it seems for us to call others hypocrites. And it occurred to me that we all are...well....hypocrites. Let me explain.

 

It's quite simple actually.

 

WE'RE HUMAN. We make mistakes. We shape who we are (as well as who we want to become) by the belief systems we embrace and by the actions we choose. We  choose morals to convey, and hope to model ourselves in the boundaries we create through our beliefs. Sometimes we make decisions that do not coincide with said belief system and these actions either change our position into something different, or become mistakes that we have to overcome before we progress in our selected molds. In other words we mess up. We say one thing and do another. We make poor judgments. So really, because every last one of us messes up, we are hypocrites. We are not showing the world the things we say we believe in, so we must be. Some say "I believe in Christ-like love", yet hurt someone's feelings by lashing out. Someone professes to embrace modesty, yet pictures get posted of that someone in a bikini. Groups of people call for a "live and let live" standard, but get angry if their position is not embraced by everyone else. We say "you shouldn't judge"-until there's someone we feel deserves our judgment.

 

Does this mean we are hypocrites? I'm not sure being human automatically turns us in to one. But I think we are doing our best, making mistakes, learning from them, and adjusting our positions. Repeatedly. There really are a few true hypocrites out there. The people who by definition "feign some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements." I believe there is a God and that He will have final say on who is and is not a hypocrite.

 

I agreed with this meme on FB. In my ever so humble opinion, I think it's a good point, but it obviously took me down a different road than I originally started on. It made me want to be careful-in what I say and what I do.And hope that when I do mess up, you won't see me as a hypocrite, but as someone who is trying, and hopefully becoming better in the process.