The Window of Life

What window of life do we look through? So many of us stare through the glass with no hope, no dreams and no possibilities. Even if we obtain all the material luxuries life has to offer we still cannot see clearly. Our window is cracked and it reflects only pain, sorrow and confusion. It prevents our eyes from seeing the beauty of grace. It cannot see the brightness of generosity. It cannot see unexpected blessing to others as a precious treasure. It is a window that is blind to what is truly beautiful and bright and precious and God-like. It is a worldly window. It sees money and material reward as more to be desired than a beautiful display of free, gracious, God-like generosity.

If you are tired of looking through a window that is splintered begin reversing your thoughts from earthly views and fix your heart on the values of God; righteousness, peace and love. Make sure these precious values are your anthem instead of the world’s values. When you begin looking through the window this way you will be full of light, full of promise. If you don’t change your ways the light you think you are seeing, which is all the materialistic and self indulgent attractions, is in reality all darkness. Just look what has happened around the world; people have become a slave to money. Their happiness they think is based on a foundation of a numerical value. The fear has grown so large that it has paralyzed many from moving forward and enjoying life.

Don’t you think it’s time for a change? Harness your strength and conviction towards a more loving and enthusiastic attitude. If you are in the midst of a struggle today, hang on. Keep steadfast in your faith, because your trials won't last forever. And you will come out on the other side a better person, one who is better equipped to handle the strains and stresses each of us inevitably face. So if you still are emotionally drawn to the material things of life and the news of the world begin to pray that God will provide a new window; one that sees the beauty and splendor of the possibilities that lye within us all.

A New York Giants Football Legend

This blog is about a football player I met over 30 years ago. I write this because in a section of my blog under feel good news is a headline that Brad Van Pelt suddenly died. Who is Brad Van Pelt? Some of you may know him and some may not but he was an NFL player for the New York Giants. I met him in 1974 at a football camp and was able to spend 3 days with him. Maybe not a big deal to many of you but for a ten year old boy who loved football it was a dream come true. Mr. Van Pelt was only in his second season but I new him and followed him. He was my boy hood idol. When I watched the games i would search out his number 10 jersey and cheer him on. I was saddened to hear about his death but the memories of those few days resurfaced and took me back to when I was a boy. I could smell the grass and hear the whistles of the coaches. I can see Mr. Van Pelt throwing me the football, running sprints and catching passes from Craig Morton, another NFL player. It was a few days of my life that to this day, still brings me joy, laughter and excitement. I don't know if kids today get to experience one on one time with professional athletes and if not its a shame. But for me I feel blessed that this man spent time with me; holding my hand, putting me on his shoulders and really caring about who I was. I'm sure he never would remember me but that's OK for today he stills brings a smile to a 44 year old man who cherishes those few days as a young boy. Number 10 will always be Brad Van Pelt, outside linebacker, New York Giants.

Understand Where You Are and Make the Change

Why is depression so prevalent in this country? Why do we have one of the highest suicide rates in the world? Why do we medicate our children more than anyone in the world? We have some of the most ambitious, dedicated and educated people in the world but too many of us follow or believe in the standard measure of success the world infects our minds with. The illusion of greatness is based on monetary and vanity driven dreams that concentrate on a soulless life. We are living our lives within a cauldron of impenetrable walls preventing the ability to unleash our God given talents and passions. Disoriented and misguided are disguised as a natural pattern of life’s progression. The mirror of life is redirected time and time again always trying to keep your focus away from the truth. Maybe we are all just too confused; sleep walking through life. Our enthusiasm and dreams are based on artificial promises with no foundation or substance for seeds to grow and take root. Many of us are living a life we feel we are obligated to live rather than living our passion. We let outside influences impose their views, standards and structure to decide which way we will travel. Once this world grabs hold of you, you begin building a fortress that year by year gets larger, more defined, more enclosing to the point you are encased in your own world that is deaf to any reasoning or encouraging words. We struggle with fear, worry and anxiety believing this is normal. The distractions are overwhelming; they constantly are vying for your attention, making sure you are off track. Occasionally you may have a glimmer of hope or even some small spiritual victories but our obsessions and appetites for chaos blanket those inspirations and snuff out any chance for clarity. Why is this normal for most of the world? The reason is that the Human Soul is overloaded and overworked with self indulgence that it cannot function properly. When you live a narcissistic life there will always be restlessness and dissatisfaction; there will be uncertainty and instability.
Your body and soul cannot continue on like this; it will eventually break down and crash. Hopefully there will be a lifeline to reach out to when this happens or maybe it will be a realization within that life has to mean more than this. Reach out, encourage one another, offer a helping hand: then you will become more awake, more alive. Step out of your prison cell and begin living a life of certainty. There will be discomfort but this uneasiness is the grip of fear that holds you contained and paralyzed. Break this pattern of living by being a leader: a person who stands alone willing to be attacked by the worlds confusion and distorted words. Be willing to look straight in the face of human suffering…no glancing left or right or around…stand firm and look into the faces of those who are immobile, frozen in the misery that has captured their lives…..be the one who is willing to help remove those from the discomforts of their lives. …this is where God wants you and needs you.

A Vessel for the Lord

The other day I was thinking about the structure and inner workings of our body, and how we don't think of it much because we cant see it. Through our days, hours and minutes all this crazy stuff is going on inside our body to keep us running and performing so we can live. We take advantage of this machine hoping it lasts 80 years or so. We let nature run its course and believe all the tools will function properly. Then I thought, what is the one road block to this efficient machine? What can break it down and cause it to sputter, ache and fall apart? Besides some crazy disease or accident, the main culprit is the mind. What we allow to penetrate our thoughts and influence our values can be an enemy that disrupts the natural flow within. The substance of our life, which is blood, flows through our body in a dynamic way. It courses its way through our veins always leading towards the heart where it circulates through chambers then travels towards the lungs where the blood is cleansed and renewed with clean oxygen. How amazing, how awesome this process is; a cleansing and renewing all day, every day. Even though we can’t see it or feel it, it is happening all the time. Why then would we barricade ourselves from renewing and cleansing our minds and thoughts? When we are full of anger, bitterness and jealousy the body cannot function properly. The medicine needed to combat these issues is in the words and teachings of the Lord. Set aside any indifference's or perceptions you have and read these words with an open mind and open heart. In John 6:53-57 Jesus says to his followers," I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood; you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." So you see His teachings and message are the fundamental necessities to live a life free from depression, anxiety and all the other ailments man has created. Feeding your appetite with God and spiritual goodness, instead of negativity, blame and condemnation will alleviate the hold your current circumstance has kept you captive in. If blood is our dearest ally then being a vessel for the Lord and everything He stands for will benefit our mind and body; allowing for a longer life, better health and an undeniable faith for a more peaceful existence.

Valentines Day Can Be a New Beginning

Every year this day approaches I squirm a bit and grumble about another man made holiday so greeting card companies can prosper. If I don't get something for my wife I am a bad guy. But this year I have a new attitude towards February 14th. A couple weeks ago I watched a movie FireProof and the title really has nothing to do with the message being presented. It's focus is on the bond of marriage and the trials we face over the years. My marriage is not bad, it's actually pretty good but after watching this movie I realized I wasn't giving it my all. I concentrated too much on my feelings and my selfish attitudes and I wondered was this hurting and preventing my marriage from growing into a stronger relationship. As a Husband there are times you must take inventory and do a self evaluation; be honest with myself and strive to be a better man, better husband and father. In this Movie a Father knows his son's marriage is in trouble so he offers him a 40 day challenge in the form of a book called the Love Dare. It is difficult but it does change you, it opens your heart and tears down the walls that we have built in every marriage. My advice to Men and Women out there if you are at a crossroads in your marriage or you just want to make it stronger go out and get this for yourself and your spouse.

http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/lovedare/

You can alter your life

The following writing is by Emmet Fox. A tremendous spiritual and new thought writer who impacted thousands during the great depression. His words, nearly a century later still relate to the world today.




There is no need to be unhappy. There is no need to be sad. There is no need to be disappointed, or oppressed, or aggrieved. There is no need for illness or failure or discouragement. There is no necessity for anything but success, good health, prosperity, and an abounding interest and joy in life.

That the lives of many people are full of dreary things is unfortunately only too true; but there is no necessity for them to be there. They are there only because their victims suppose them to be inevitable, not because they are so. As long as you accept a negative condition at its own valuation, so long will you remain in bondage to it; but you have only to assert your birthright as a free man or woman and you will be free.

Success and happiness are the natural condition of mankind. It is actually easier for us to demonstrate these things than the reverse. Bad habits of thinking and acting may obscure this fact for a time, just as a wrong way of walking or sitting, or holding a pen or a musical instrument may seem to be easier than the proper way, because we have accustomed ourselves to it; but the proper way is the easier nevertheless.

Unhappiness, frustration, poverty, loneliness are really bad habits that their victims have become accustomed to bear with more or less fortitude, believing that there is no way out, whereas there is a way; and that way is simply to acquire good habits of mind instead of bad ones--habits of working with the Law instead of against it.

You should never "put up" with anything. You should never be willing to accept less than Health, Harmony, and Happiness. These things are your Divine Right as the sons and daughters of God, and it is only a bad habit, unconscious, as a rule, that causes you to be satisfied with less. In the depths of his being man always feels intuitively that there is a way out of his difficulties if only he can find it, and his natural instincts all point in the same direction.

The infant, as yet uncontaminated by the defeatist suggestions of his elders, simply refuses to tolerate inharmony on any terms, and therefore he demonstrates over it. When he is hungry he tells the world with a confident insistence that commands attention, while many a sophisticated adult goes without. Does he find a pin sticking in some part of his anatomy? Not for him a sigh of resignation to the supposed "will of God" (it is really blasphemy to say that evil or suffering could ever be the will of God, All Good), or a whine about never having any luck, or a sigh that what cannot be cured must be endured. No, the defeatist view of life has not yet touched him; his instincts tell him that life and harmony are, inseparable. And sure enough, that pin is located and removed even if everything else has to come to a stop until it is done.

But "shades of the prison-house begin to close about the growing boy," and by the time he is old enough to think rationally the Race habit will have trained him to use his reason largely in the inverted way.

Refuse to tolerate anything less than harmony. You can have prosperity no matter what your present circumstances may be. You can have health and physical fitness. You can have a happy and joyous life. You can have a good home of your own. You can have congenial friends and comrades. You can have a full, free, joyous life, independent and untrammeled. You can become your own master or your own mistress. But to do this you must definitely seize the rudder of your own destiny and steer boldly and firmly for the port that you intend to make.

What are you doing about your future? Are you content to let things just drift along as they are, hoping, like Mr. Micawber, for something to "turn up"? If you are, be assured that there is no escape in that way. Nothing ever will turn up unless you exercise your Free Will and go out and turn it up for yourself by becoming acquainted with the Laws of Life, and applying them to your own individual conditions. That is the only way. Otherwise the years will pass all too swiftly, leaving you just where you are now, if not worse off, for there is no limit to the result of thought either for good or evil.

Man has dominion over all things when he knows the Law of Being, and obeys it. The Law gives you power to bring any condition into your life that is not harmful. The Law gives you power to overcome your own weaknesses and faults of character, no matter how often you may have failed in the past or how tenacious they may have seemed to be. The Law gives you power to attain prosperity and position without infringing the rights and opportunities of anyone else in the world. The Law gives you Freedom; freedom of soul, and body, and environment.

The law gives you Independence so that you can build your own life in your own way, in accordance with yow own ideas and ideals; and plan out your future along the lines that you yourself desire. If you do not know what you really want to make you happy, then the Law will tell you what you want, and get it for you too. And the Law rightly understood and applied will save you from the danger of what is called "outlining" with all its risks and limitations.

The Law will endow you with the gift of what is called Originality; Originality is the doing of things in a new way which is a better way, and different from anyone else's way.