LOVE

Do you ever think that you are not NORMAL? Truth is you aren't. We do live in a society that strives to make us normal or average  yet in our minds we feel something else. This morning I can't help but to think about my faith and spirituality realizing how outside the norm and average it is. Or is it?

I like to challenge all traditional thinking as it relates to God in our lives. Trust me I know you have thoughts too but just do not feel as though you can express them. In most religions we are taught how to pray, how to think, who God is, where God lives, what God does in our lives, what God expects from us, what we expect from God, and what happens to us if we deviate from what our religion teaches us. All of that in my simple opinion places us in a box with millions of others and if we are lucky we might somehow someway get to experience God if we act just right. Am I saying religion is bad? Absolutely not, what I am saying is you do not need to have your faith and spirituality confined totally to the teaching of religion because if you do you will never truly feel God in you. 

I have met people, miserable people I might ad that live as though God directs every aspect of their lives. Regardless what happens good or bad (usually bad) it is a sign from God. This all goes against what I think God stands for which is LOVE. God does not direct our lives, we were given a heart, mind, and soul do that. We simply have to develop it.  Read on please!

God is love pure and simple, God is not a dictator. We are born to love regardless of anything yet as we grow we learn how to hate, judge, ostracize, condemn, etc. We learn how to separate ourselves from God. How do we learn it? Like we learn everything from the people we are surrounded by. That means you too have influence on others good or bad positive or negative.  Your actions believe it or not separate people from God if you use God as a weapon of division instead of unity. God is love, keep saying that, God is not vengeful, God loves you every cell in your body. Do not let anyone ever convince you otherwise. You are the greatest miracle in the world and the sad thing is we are taught that we aren't.  

God (Jesus) represents one thing in my life and that is love. I cannot place that in a box, in a book, on a shelf, or in my pocket, I have to live it. I cannot live it as a religion because that confines who God really is. I can learn from a religion if that religion promotes peace, love and unity, but I cannot live as though God is the religion. 

In America, as I have said many times, church attendance has taken a nosedive in the last 20 years. Not because they do not teach the Bible but they do not teach love. There is an inherent fear to teach love because that builds bridges most are not willing to build. Love promotes peace and peace promotes forgiveness. In a society that is so consumed with bitterness, envy, materialism, jealousy, and bigotry there is no room left for love. Going to church is not a symbol of love nor is spewing Bible verses. We fear love because in order to love you have to have genuine humility and we are taught that that is a sign of weakness. 

I feel that you, me, and many others feel that there is so much more to life than what we are experiencing. There is so much good out there when you have the courage to take the leap of faith to find it. Depression medication is at an all time high, misery in relationships is at  a peak, divorce rates are skyrocketing, and like I said earlier people are leaving churches in masses, maybe just maybe we have it all wrong. Jesus was simple in how he promoted peace, love, forgiveness, and acceptance. Did you hear me say simple? Jesus did not write volumes of books to understand his simple model. As society grew however books were written, degrees were achieved, churches were formed (1000's of them) and vast divisions of people created all in the name of Jesus. Sad isn't it? The love left years ago but the good news is we can still have it. 

We were born with love in our hearts everything else we were taught or witnessed. I believe with all my heart that we can still find God in us if we just allow ourselves to believe that God is love. We can find God in our churches, in our homes, in our friends, in everything we do if we stop judging and start accepting. We cannot see life through anyone else's eyes but our own. We do not know the storms they are in or entering. What we can do however is start loving them and ourselves unconditionally. Do not worry about what you have done in the past only consider what you will do in the future as well as today. Your life can change starting right now. Change cannot depend on the actions of others it has to come from you. Stop all things that create bitterness and division and start building bridges wherever you go. Do not even worry yourself about how may or may not cross that bridge, just build it. Love conquers all woes, why? Because in true love God is truly there. It doesn't take religion to teach you love because you had that from the beginning. 

Let's get our hearts and minds focused on love and let your light shine before all. 

peace to you

Dale