Leo Tolstoy on God

LEO TOLSTOY ON GOD: "When you look inside yourself, you see what is called 'your own self' or your soul. You cannot touch it or see it or understand it, but you know it is there. And this part of yourself--that which you cannot understand--is what is called God. God is both around us and inside of us--in our souls.

The more you understand that you are at one with God, the more you will understand that you are at one with all His worldly manifestations."

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Our Kaleidoscopic Life: "All Things Work Together For Good..."

Life is like a kaleidoscope.... many colored and varied...there is an order to it it all: A Divine Order! God is in the Center and is the Center of ALL of our lives.
Life happens, even when we are aware.

Mistakes happen, even when we are paying careful attention.

The question then: Are all mistakes in life...supposed ...to happen?

One says, "Oops...did I make a GIANT mistake there?" The other smiles...



That's a tough one, as we look back and try to ponder how we made such a giant mistake when we were 25 years old...or 40 years old...or 60 years old...70....80?

                                    Fresh-faced, young and bold, these women in their early to mid 20s, live with enthusiasm and joy.  
                                                This is as it should be....

Let's examine where we are today...right now...on this day.
Some of us may be terrifically happy; others not so. In fact, some of us may be going around
depressed...tremendously depressed...about how life "tricked us" to wind up where we are today.
If this is where you are, now, I say: 
 *"Let not your heart be troubled."
"Peace I Give You. My Peace I Leave You." 
"Be Ye Renewed By The Power of Your Mind."
These young women...caught my attention...because of their confidence and joy of living,  Those born in the 1990's, and after, seem to have entered life fully equipped with the tasks at hand:
 "We can conquer all?"   

Technological advantages seem to have given today's youth
an extra edge above those born in earlier generations, like
the Baby Boom.

I find myself repeatedly using the above phrases from the New Testament, as I reach a new plateau of understanding about life: about our purpose and about "mistakes" that happen.

From where I sit now, on the threshold of a new year of my birth this week, I view those seeming mistakes as "gifts" of the universe...given to me by my Soul.

Somewhere...somehow...we began to believe that life is a dotted line.

We plotted a path some time back in our distant childhood and believed that if we walked that way, we would get a set of guaranteed results.
And then...life happened. Really happened! 

Even today's technology cannot solve all of life's challenges. It just brings good/bad news a little faster.


















Life may happen in such a way that we become fully derailed from the path we believed we should be on. So, our all efforts from that time become geared towards fixing the derailed train that may have now become our lives.

Not so.
Not so fast.
Never.
Don't try.

Aging gracefully...without struggle or fight...
is the best way to flow through life
STOP.

Let the "mistake" GO!
Let it go.
Don't try to fix it.
Don't try to turn back.

Take the right next step for you. Do the next right thing you're led to do...without looking back.

Whether it leads to a corrective path to your past...time will tell.
Only...take the next RIGHT step.

Let your life FLOW.
Let go of the reigns.

It's not a horse you're riding.
Let Go.
Watch...Follow...See...

The greatest gift we give to ourselves is to Let Go when our lives have taken a path we seemingly don't understand...cannot discern...cannot fathom.

Don't get caught up in the agony of "Why me?" "Why did THIS happen at this time?"

Someone walks away from you in a marriage you thought was "perfect."
...Let it go.
...Cry a little...as you must....but wake up to the truth about you and "it": it's run its course.
                   In her 50s, Debbie. still married to her childhood sweetheart, 
 reflects freshness, grace and joy,
making her "forever youthful."

You should hold to Letting Go in the same way about a job...a career...a friendship...or anything that changes or wants to walk out of your life. Yes, even money. Let it go.

We can't hold onto something that doesn't want to stay...or by right of consciousness...is no longer ours.

A lot of our suffering in life comes from believing that when we put our foot on our path, it is a sure and guaranteed footing. Not so.

Every step we take is an important...yet tenuous... one.

So tread a step at a time...having a vision...but a step at a time, so you do not fall into the sinkholes you may encounter along the way.

Our lives are kaleidoscopic: many colored, varied and ever revolving. I'd like to believe: ever evolving, too.
We're spinning and spinning around and around, seemingly, getting and going nowhere.
All the while, though, we are moving closer and closer to the purpose in life for which
Joel Osteen is senior pastor
at Lakewood Church, Houston.
we were birthed.   Joel Osteen, Houston-based master preacher, recently equated this form of order to the personal assistant on a car navigation: It auto-corrects, without ever once pointing out that we'd made an error by not following its instructions to turn when we're supposed to turn. I like that analogy, as it's Truth!

This is truth. Our "inner director" will never hammer us over the head,(until he must), as things may be spin more and more out of control. It simply keeps adjusting, hoping that eventually,we'll
catch up and follow inner guidance to get onto our purposeful path.

Don't ask me to explain...how ...and why I know this: I know. 


I will not trace the details of my path and places where my life got derailed, or where I felt so very, very lost. The fact is that however thick the forest...however rough the terrain...however thorny the bushes that brushed and bruised: Today, I understand it all. I know why. And I say only, "Thank YOU!" 

As I sit on the threshold of the annual rite of passage we go through, called a " birthday," I see that life offers us a chance each day ...and in each way...to follow us where it leads. We've just got to believe and have confidence in "The One." 



Just go within.
Just learn to trust.
Just get to know that there is an unseen hand working behind the scenes to
get us where we "need" to be.
When the "winter season" enters into your life
Let Go. Stand. 



Let go of the reigns.
Know that eventually, you'll see...you'll know...
you're where you're supposed to be.

Just keep doing the right thing. 








Eventually, you'll be able to say like I do now:

"All things...ALL THINGS...work together for Good..." Romans 8:28


And...

"My Peace I Give You. My Peace I Leave You."
"Be ye renewed by the Power of your Mind."


Just walk into each moment with the confidence and lack of trepidation as do the 20-somethings  featured above: You'll be aware and know with absolute certainly...even if younger people may not yet be aware...that a greater power is always at work empowering and upholding you. 

Yes. Walk boldly into each moment of each day with Freedom and Confidence! Feel 25 years old, even if you're 75!

Remember: your birthday, like mine, may seem to come only once a year, but if you really think about it...each moment offers us a chance to begin ...again.


             Seize the moment! Seize the Day:
                            Carpe Diem!
                                                    Happy Birthday! 
                                                     
 Namaste',
Che'  

*NOTE:  John 14: 1, John 14: 27 and Romans 12: 2, respectively, are quoted above.

Personal Authenticity: "To Thine Own Self Be True"...

"To Thine Own Self Be True and it must follow as the night, the day, Thou canst not then be false to ANY man."
William Shakespeare.