This is: "I'd rather be blogging Post!" ;-)
I get many e-mails during the course of the day. Before, I used to spend time carefully reading, sorting through, then deleting or forwarding them on to others. Now, I read them and smile. When they are funny, and would truly brighten someone else’s day with laughter, I forward those on to my e-mail buddies.
I mostly erase and not forward those that are “spiritual” now. I especially don’t forward those that state at the end how much one needs to prove their love for “God” or “Jesus” by forwarding! (I tend to still fall for those with great photography and graphics!)
So many, many, many people claim to love God and to love Jesus!
Yes, forwarding an e-mail to prove such love is a very, very easy thing to do! It costs nothing! The people to whom the e-mails are forwarded already subscribe to some spiritual or Christian beliefs. So, the forwarder loses no “face” with anyone in that circle.
Try forwarding it to a boss or colleagues. That’s when I’d say you’re going beyond the bounds of the ordinary!
When people claim to love God and love “Jesus,” I’m often so tempted to ask:”Would you give up your only begotten son, like the old Testament fable of Abraham’s willingness to give up his son, Isaac?"
Maybe...in another age and time, God did ask us to make human sacrifices. This...I do not know. Maybe...according to some religious beliefs...he still asks this of us today. I cannot speak to those types of sacrifices.
What I can speak to are the sacrifices I know God asks of us day by day, and we pretend we don’t hear, or we say, “he can’t be talking to me!”
Yes... God is talking to you!
He’s not asking you to prove anything! He simply is asking you to get “closer” to him!
Often, the “sacrifices” he seems to be asking of us today do seem to many to be their “only begotten son!”
Those are the sacrifices close to our hearts: like our comfort zone.
Our comfort zone is...in...
...the job that people may hate so much but stay in because of a "paycheck!”
...the relationship that only provides torture but where many stay because of the need for a man or woman in their lives!
...the $50 you hold on to as “security” for your future because of a belief in lack and “never having enough” to spare?
With people being so reluctant to give up these “small” sacrifices, then it becomes laughable...yes... indeed laughable...to believe God would ever ask anyone to give up their real, live “only begotten son!”
If a child is taken seemingly prematurely from a family, the entire world mourns! That’s when many people throw up their fists at God and turn their backs forever on any belief in religion or spirituality! Indeed, this is the time that people believe God is absent in their lives.
But I challenge you to believe that these are the times that God is very, very present in your life and is inviting you to move closer!
The “things” that God seemingly asks us to sacrifice for a closer walk with him are the very things that keep us, and will keep us, separated forever from a closer walk with him.
The spiritual walk is not for the faint hearted.
God indeed asks us to make sacrifices....those of the ego!
Through the creative spirit of God coursing through our veins, God does provide for our human needs and comforts, often exceeding our wildest expectations. Through grace, mercy and love, God does provide for those not able to provide for themselves at certain times, or for the disabled, throughout a lifetime. Those are God’s gifts of Spirit to us.
The walk with Spirit, however, has nothing to do with what the Tao te Ching calls the world of “10,000 things!”
The walk with Spirit involves a conscious effort day by day, even moment by moment, to get closer to God’s whispers in our lives.
The walk with Spirit involves a trust and a faith that goes beyond any human capacity to explain or to share, as it is unique to that individual and Spirit, only!
The walk with Spirit involves making sacrifices that defy logic... but doing so anyway.
The walk with Spirit leads us through deep valleys of the “shadow of death” and yes, some of the highest peaks... but generally not knowing what is coming next... but following anyway.
The walk with Spirit is a test of human will, against the guidance of Spirit.
The walk with Spirit is a willingness to forego EGO.
The walk with Spirit asks nothing more than a willingness to go the distance...in trust, in faith, in hope, in peace, in joy, in ...letting go...and yes, in having blind faith, and yes, in walking the way of uncertainty, and yes, loving God ...enough.
This July 4, I ask you to consider the ways you walk in the world...
...the ways in which you are fully conscious of making a full commitment to God.
Are you willing to sacrifice "your only begotten son"?
Are you willing to seek your "independence" from the ways of the world?
Namaste’,
Che'
1 comment:
Well done, my dear friend. You answered so much for me (nothing new). The comparison of only begotten son to the things (STUFF) we have closest in our hearts is unique and pure truth. I love it. It's like a blog entry I wrote in my myspace blog (musings, actually, lol). I used the fable of God asking Adam "where are you" as he hid in the garden. I challenged the reader (most of all myself) in asking where they were, where was I. At that time I was hiding behind a protective shield called FAT in order to protect myself from any relationship. Deep huh? But if you can't go deep, you stay shallow. Thank you, Che. Namaste to you as well - Spirit in you, Spirit in me.
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