Embracing Hard Work as Sacrifice

The last 24 hours have been quite tiring. I had a barbeque today at my house. Most of my family was there and it was a fantastic and relaxing time. My family is wonderful, and it was a real joy to host the last barbeque of the summer, and right on Labor Day. I am deeply blessed to have them in my life.

But back to the tiring part: I spent all of last evening and all of today up until 4 p.m. prepping, and cooking, and baking, and cleaning, and setting up, etc. It was very tiring and very hard, especially on the feet. Part of today I was working with a bad headache from dehydration because I would forget to stop and drink some water. It was a hard day's work.

But I only reflect back on how tiring it was, as I didn't think about my discomfort at all while I was preparing everything for the barbeque. I was driven while I worked. Driven by how nice things will look after I finish my tasks. Driven by how much I wanted to make my family comfortable and well-fed and happy. Driven by God re-enforcing positive affirmations about accomplishing my goals. But mostly driven by just how much I love my family.

I could have given up because of the overwhelming number of things I had to do. I could have given up because I was tired and sore. I could have given up on trying to put on this barbeque because I would much rather rest on Labor Day.

What I did by working so hard was to sacrifice for my family. I gave up my resting on Labor Day to make a happy and wonderful time for my family. And it was a wonderful time. My sacrifice of hard work was very much worth it, as I love my family dearly. It was a blessing.

So next time you are feeling overwhelmed and pained by hard work, just think of it as a sacrifice for the good of another. And if you embrace the sacrifice fully, you will feel blessed by God to allow you to make a sacrifice, as sacrifices count positively with God. Embrace hard work, embrace sacrifice, embrace God.

Hate your life? Start here:

With you.

Yes, believe it or not, you are 100% responsible for how miserable you are. Your life sucks, everything is horrible, you have nothing, you have no hope, blah, blah, blah...is it really that bad? Really?

You have two choices with your life: you can either dwell on every little thing, fret over all of the things you cannot control, obsess over problems in your life yet do nothing about them, or you can focus on the good and positive things you have been blessed with, set goals to where you want your life to go, dream about getting the stuff of your dreams, and turn that into a passionate drive to succeed.

You have free will. You can choose to focus on goodness, blessings, joy, and caring about others, or you can choose to keep the exact same mindset that has kept you in a negative place. You need to ask yourself some serious questions. First, why are you intentionally sabotaging yourself in order to keep you in such a bad and negative place? Second, what exactly has your negative attitude done for you thus far?

Well, it most definitely gives you an excuse not to try. Not to dream. Not to ever want to get to a better place than you are at this very moment. It gives you an excuse to die early. It also gives you the chance to never have to be held responsible for your own life and how miserable it is. It's not my fault, it's the job market, or the economy, or my boss, or my spouse, or societies...Oy vey. Blames off you, so you can have a wretched life and die thinking that life is just hard. (FYI, God knows better.)

So by refusing to hope, dream, set goals or even try, you are re-enforcing within yourself that you are so comfortable being miserable that negativity becomes home to you. And what exactly is going to change your life, if it isn't you? Winning the lottery? A random miracle? A rich dead relative?

The point is this: you are responsible for you, and you are only going to fix the problems in your life by first adjusting your attitude and focusing toward something good. God wants you to have a positive, joyous, and wonderful life. Why are you so against God's wishes for you?

God is good and positive. You should be, too.

Accepting the Pace of Development of Others

Last weekend, while perusing the booths at the state fair, I was solicited by a young woman who asked me how certain I was that I was going to heaven. In recently understanding the depth of God's mercy, I told her 100%, which threw her for a loop. She then went on about how I must have come to accept Jesus as my personal lord and savior. When I told her that wasn't my path, yet I was sure my connection to God was going to get me to a great place in the afterlife, she looked at me as if I was gassy and not excusing myself. She was headstrong in her dogma, and after speaking with her for a few minutes, realized that she couldn't get that there was a path other than the one she was on. My spirituality is as real and as strong as any person of an organized faith, it's just different. She couldn't grasp that, so I simply told her that if her faith connects her to God and makes her the best person she can be, then I honor it, and her, and bid her a good day. I don't quite think she understood what I was saying, but she was just in a different place in her spiritual and personal development.

Fast forward to today; I'm babysitting my beloved niece and nephew until tomorrow. It's a wonderful blessing to spend time with such wonderful kids, as it is this kind of opportunity that I will look back on fondly after they are grown. And plus, it's just a lot of fun to play like a kid with them.

In reflecting on both the woman at the Christian booth and trying to point out logic to my young niece and nephew, I realize that all people are in their very own process of development (intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually). No two people are in the exact same place in these areas of development and will not understand the things you do, no matter how many different ways you explain them. And this, as a recovering control freak, has been a very hard lesson for me to comprehend. Until today. And truly grasping this idea that not all people will not or cannot understand the things I say, as logical and simple as they seem to me, is crucial for my own development and my growing closer to God. And accepting this concept as a truth is a real test of my patience, empathy, and love of others. I cannot force people to understand--or even force them to want to understand--the important ideas God wants me to share. All I can do is offer, share and help as much as people want to accept, and then leave it to God. God calls all of us to fully connect with God. It just happens at different times and in different ways. Giving my patience and control to God was the only way for me to really understand this. Lao Tzu put it beautifully: nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. This obviously goes for the work of God in all its forms. Something to reflect on. God is most deep.

Approaching Bliss

I had a spectacular evening today. After I got home from work, I began to mow the lawn straight away. While doing so, I had time to reflect, pray, and connect with God. God told me to focus, and I did. I focused on what I was doing and it went smoothly and perfectly. I focused on the beautiful sky with its wispy clouds. I focused on the cooling summer evening and wonderful breeze that soothes the soul. I focused on the gorgeous different shades of green of the trees, plants, and lawn. I fully noticed the popping colors of the flowers and bushes. I noticed the sweet smell of cut lawn, along with lovely smells of flowers and growing things. I noticed the textures of the grass, trees, dirt, cement...everything was beautiful and wonderful and perfect and put there by God. I was overwhelmed with God honoring me so with so many wonderful blessings.

God is joy, and love, and generosity, and appreciation, and focus and when you practice these, you grow closer and closer to God. Pay attention to everything and embrace your life! Trust me, you'll be extremely glad you did.

Why God Lets Bad Things Happen

God gave me some serious insight today that is vital for me to share on the heels of the near tragedies with my work friends over the last few days. God let me know why God allows for bad things to happen. First, as mentioned in the Revelation from God, good, constructive, and loving acts are the positive, important, and lasting results of tragedies. Second, and most importantly, God allows for bad things to happen because it is the only way we can learn how to truly and fully appreciate the gifts from God that we do have. If everything were perfect and no one ever suffered and there were no bad or scary or terrible things, how could you really understand how good you actually and truly have it if there weren't bad things to contrast them against?

So there you have it: God allows for bad things to happen so you would quit being so negative and focus on the good and wonderful blessings you've received from God, especially your loved ones.

But what about those who suffer, are tortured, or die, often horribly? Why would God use people in this way? One, it's people or God's passive will of nature that cause the damage. God and society at large are just the beneficiaries, not the perpetrators. (Although I'm pretty sure God knew of this when designing our world.) Two, those who suffer or give their lives are blessed by God. Their pain, suffering, or deaths are counted in the good column when God reviews their lives after they die. The bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the credit. Victims of all bad things are blessed by God. They were gifted with Sacrifice, which is a selfless permanent offering of some part of yourself for the good of others. The Sacrifice of victims is their willingness to endure the worst of the worst so that we may truly embrace God's gifts and really and fully know what it means to be alive. Embrace and honor their sacrifices. Embrace your life, embrace God!

Not One Second Longer!

I have two friends at work who have suffered serious medical problems over as many days. Both are dear to me and I have worked with both of them for quite a few years. We know each other quite well and were in essence, good friends. The kind of work friends who really get along, communicate well, and really care about one another. They are dear to me.

The problem is that I've lagged in keeping in touch with them once they were relocated to a different floor of the building. It started out well; we would visit back and forth and e-mail pretty regularly just to chit chat. And then we visited and e-mailed each other less regularly...and less...until eventually it could be two or three months without any communication at all. Not good.

So when I found out about their medical problems, I was deeply distressed and obviously concerned for their health. I didn't stop caring for them or loving them, so instantly I began to pray. I started to pray for their instant recovery. I begged and began to bargin for miracles for them both when it hit me: God is going to do what is in God's plan. If God is going to allow nature to decline and for them to die, there has to be a reason. All things have purpose, and there would be a reason, however muddled or unknowable that purpose is. So when I realized that, I simply prayed for God to grant them strength, comfort, and alleviation from pain. Good and positive things for them.

Shortly after I prayed for them, God reminded me of my lapse in keeping close with people I truly and really care about and to not allow for this to happen any more. I am going to keep in much better touch with my beloved people because of this reminder from God. If they really had died, I would have the burden of guilt of not staying in touch with them better as well as the regret of not being able to tell them how much I love them. Do NOT let this happen with even ONE person in your life that you care about. Tell them how much they mean to you. Hug them, kiss them (if appropriate), and gush over them! Love them, and show it! And really, do not wait one second longer!

Lost hope? Need a miracle?

I've been on an emotional rollercoaster as of late. Today, at least the first part of the day, I was feeling shlumpy and bogged down in negativity. I knew I was re-enforcing it with my negative self-talk, but just couldn't seem to break out of it. Then I started to feel sorry for myself and just generally overwhelmed, which then made me begin to feel hopeless. It was the spiral of doom, and I didn't see a branch to cling to for the life of me.

I know you must know this feeling, too, as it's very human. The problem is that most people don't know how to break out of this cycle and unavoidably circle the drain into a pit of negativity where there is no exit in sight or even seemingly possible.

While I was sinking deeper and deeper into negativity, I knew God was still there and turned to God, yet again. It's a good thing God doesn't give up on giving me insight, as I would be an absolute disaster without it. While I was feeling overwhelmed and rather hopeless, I begged God for a miracle, a sign, a message, anything tangible to hang onto to avoid despair. Sure enough, God had something to tell me...

Open your eyes! That was the message, simple, but abrupt. So I did. I focused on what was exactly in front of me at the time, which was a picture of my newest and absolutely amazing little niece. Duh, I thought to myself. My niece is most definitely a powerful sign that God is present and creating incredible miracles for us. (The story of my how my niece came into being and that of my sister's perseverance to have her is an awesome story, but for another time.) The point is, after I looked at my sweet little niece, I couldn't be negative any more. Thinking of how smart and cute and perfect and sweet she is just brought such a flood of joy, the dam of negativity I was building burst wide open. I took a brief walk after that and just soaked in the blue sky, puffy clouds, trees, plants, and green grass that surrounds my office, and just thanked God every step of the way. I repeated over and over again, "Thank you, God." On my walk, I was able to see miracles everywhere and how gracious and generous God is. Now THAT is some perspective. In retrospect, I realize that asking or expecting God to give me a showy miracle so I could find a little hope was incredibly selfish, yet God still came through. So next time you have lost faith, feel overwhelmed, just open your eyes and really reflect on the good and positive things God has graced you with. Next time you need a miracle, just focus on God and God's wonderful gifts. If you do it with real attention, your mood will change and you will feel much lighter. I guarantee it. God is lovely.