Fly

Lunch time blog post to touch on and expand something I said on social media a few dys ago.

A couple years ago, I left Florida to come to Oklahoma, and a big part of why that was at the time was that I had just gone through two big eye operations, each requiring a month of face down time following, and had gone through it alone.  I felt like that should change, so I took a job offer that was closer to my mom and sister.  

Yet, upon reflecting on that the other day, I realize that first of all I DID go through that in Florida and made it all work just fine by trasfering money, arranging for grocery deliveries, applying my own eye drops, and more.  Further, I realize that upon getting here, I have STILL been taking care of my own needs for the most part... as well as providing to help the needs of others.  From a care taking perspective, where I am now is not that different from where I was living in Florida.

I don't say that to say ... woe is me that no one is caring for me.  I am actually concluding the reverse.  I hesitate to assign the steps that led me to this conclusion to God, so I will just say the universe or circumstances.  But, lets consider how nature teaches the young.  An older lion will let the younger learn to hunt.  A mother bird will kick the young out of the nest to learn to fly.  Nature doesn't cradle those learning but expects them to ... learn.. and believe that they can do it.

It is not till you have to rely on the strength of your own wings that you learn to have peace in your ability.  So, the universe was looking at me feeling broken and unable after the eye surgeries and rather than allowing me a soft place to fall and people to look after me I was given challenge after challenge.  Even on the road to get here I had to repair the car twice.  Then, once here, I was pushed out of my government job by Trump cuts and had to find new work and work hard at it.  And, I rose to the ocassion.  Each time there as a new challenge, I was forced to rely upon myself for funding, comfort, recovery, inspiration, care, and to develop boundaries to look out for myself.  Now, I have no doubt, as I used not to have any doubt, that I am able, all by myself, to not only survive life but thrive.  And, I will carry that knowledge and ability into every new challenge that faces me in the days and months to come.

Flying Blind

A quick lunch break blog post.

There was a flight school that I considered decades ago that had a black cat and number 13 on their planes.  Their point was to say that it's not about luck but training, instruments and reason.  

In movies, you'll see astronauts that fly by paying attention to their instruments and trusting their course.  It's like pilots of planes that fly at night.  Neither are flying by sight outside their craft.  They don't need to do so.  They trust what they know and what they know has nothing to do with sight or feelings.  Recently, I've come to appreciate the need to do that more in life.  

It is easy to be led to make rash decisions under the influence of emotions.  While there is a place for adrenaline at times, I have learned that a lot of times we need to just step away for a moment, take a deep breath, and repeat what you know and make decisions on that.  That's not just true to avoid decisions based on fear but on false hope.  Hope is good, but it has to be based on real potential or is just delusional.

So, whatever you are doing or however you are guiding your life, don't do so flying by sight or emotions.  You know what you need to do to get to where you want, given the information given to you.  If that information changes, you can change your plans.  But, absent that, continue forward, trusting your will and your skill to get you where you want to go.

Loving Your Improvement

I was looking over an old post of mine recently where I was talking about the debate of the question of can people change.  In it, I noted that people say God doesn't change, yet you see different types of expression from him, depending on the situation.  I noted that it didn't mean that God had changed but that just like us how we respond may change to different people and in different situations.  I don't mean that to sound critical, because it is not always the case that someone is less worthy to get a different reaction or expression.  As we are human, sometimes our change of expression can be caused by something like being hungry or stressed or having a loved one facing medical issues or more.  However, that was the focus of that post, and this one only touches on the concept to go in a different direction.

In that post, however, I noted that part of my reason for feeling that people can change is that I have changed over the many decades of my life, as has my opinions, my body, and more.  It is the same person....  my soul didn't leave my body... however, I changed over time when new information came into me to process or when I was affected by being in different environments or had a different diet or exercise routine.  For example, for a while now I have been engaged in fitness and correcting my overall diet.  That has changed my body.

Now, here I need to change one thing I have said in the past.. again because of my learning from experience.  It isn't a change, but it is more like a counter to fully complete the concept.  I have said that growth is hard and that no one likes to exercise but likes the result.  Overall, that is true.  However, it is possible to learn to LOVE it, as well.

I saw a meme recently that talked about how choices become habits and habits become identity.  I think there were a few more steps in there, but it is applicable here.  I made the choice to keep going out and doing fitness, even when I didn't feel like it or the weather wasn't great or such.  That discipline led to big fitness leaps.  It also made me fall in love with self improvement.  I realized that I cannot change a lot in the world, but I can always improve myself.  Now, I love the opportunity for improvement, and I give myself challenges to reach to become the best that I can possibly be.  I am working towards running a half marathon, next year, right now.  But, I want to improve in all areas of my life.  I think everyone, no matter how good, can always identify something in which they are deficient or weak and improve it.

So, that is my challenge for you, this week.  What do you have that you can improve?  Then, start establishing a discipline of habits that will make you love your improvement and lead to a greater version of yourself... not for others but for you.  I will cheer you as you courageously rise up to meet that task.

Don't Curse the Wind

Can you imagine someone standing in a boat without sailes cursing the wind for blowing?  Our immediate reaction is to say... that's not how boats work.  You are right?  They build sails to let the wind carry them forward, with the ability to steer it with the rudder.

Yes, I do know that people can build a motor and put it on a boat and go wherever they want to go, but that requires extra power at every step that will literally cost you to do it, and I am simply using the boat as a nature analogy... so to continue.

Wind doesn't have it in for you.  It is just wind.  You happen to be in it.  Nature is nature.  I remember a time when I was over on the ultra religious side that I would be reciting bible verses like spells to try to stop the rain from coming.  It never even dawned on me at the time how arrogant that happened to be... thinking I was so important that the universe should bend to my own will, when there was things like need for rain for plants or cooling of the earth or more.  Life is not just about you.

But, you are in the Earth and a part of the Earth.  You bend to the universal song that cycles through truths, not desired storylines.  There is a beauty in becoming part of that song and listening to it and learning from it, as much as receiving from it.

So, this weekend, I suggest you slow down, listen to the universe and enjoy the path you are on, even if you have not yet arrived at a desired destination.  I find, there is something to learn and ways to grow, every single day of that path.  So, I plan to slow down and listen a little more this weekend.

First Edition

A very long time ago, one of my first self published devotionals had the preface that focused on being a first edition in the world.  I want to revive that concept in this blog post.

There are so many copies in the world, today.  Not just copies, they are copies of copies of copies and so on.  If you have ever had to make a copy of a copy, you will know that with each copy you lose a little of the quality.  It's like the phone game where people spread a message along from one person to another in a whisper, only to have the final message be nothing like the original message at all.  That is a very good analysis of gossip in the world, today, as well.

The point being, copies lose quality much like an outfit that has  been washed over and over.  It fades and becomes less special with each wash or each use.  

If you look at books that come out, the first edition of an author is raw, true, and a pure message of what the author wanted to convey.  Then, each new edition becomes less of that message to appeal to new readers, til the novel is old and discarded as being yet another novel of the same mundane, accepted storylines.  People WANT originality.  That is what drew them to the book in the first place.

Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, said "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."  I definitely agree.

You were born with a unique flavor you can present to the world, hungry for creativity and boldness.  If you mute yourself to fit in, what was the point of your birth.  In Beautiful Creatures, the boyfriend of the main character asks her, "You are a miracle.  Why would you ever want to fit in."

So, my challenges to you is to not mute yourself to be a good faded copy of originality but be the original miracle you were born to be.  Acceptance was never the point.

The Lotus Flowers of Providence

 I watched the Odessey movie, last week.  It was done very well.  In one part of it, Odysseus is delayed for years by someone feeding him lotus flowers, which by way of its pleasure caused him to forget and to remain, rather than returning to his wife.

The lotus flower element has been used in several other Greek tales and movies, and it is a good way to illustrate the point I want to make here. I saw a meme, earlier, that said they trusted the timing of the universe or their story or such. It's a cute saying, but it is not only incorrect but will keep you from reaching your goals.

How?  Because, if you enter a mental state where you are not at work in your own life, nothing is happening.  So, people can be sitting there waiting on the universe to do it for them, when all the time they fail to realize they ARE in the universe and are tasked with their own life.  They are the answer waiting to happen.

To echo my recent post, Do the Work, I wanted to be in shape and get fit for decades, til I got discontented and dedicated to get off my but to start doing it.

There is a place for patience, and the universe will respond to your work, but as Benjamin Franklin once said, "God helps those that help themselves."  So, what is the universe waiting for YOU to do for yourself?

Redeeming Others

This post will tap into my theological training a bit, but I do want want to be seen as someone claiming to be better than anyone else.  The only person I seek to be better than is myself every single day.  But, I do want to convey something that has been stirring in my mind and heart about how we approach others.

Can someone be redeemed?  Is it possible for someone, anyone, that has failed to measure up to be restored?  That is a concept that is very popular and spoken about quite a bit.  I do believe that it is possible, but it does not come from speaking the words and poof.. one is redeemed like magic.  It comes about because someone believes they are worthy of restoration and seeks to have it.  

Yet, our society is not practiced in restoration of the flawed.  While everyone wants to believe in redemption for themselves, the average person will not extend the same grace to another that has wronged them... even if they are instructed by Christ, Himself, to do so.

Jesus said that if someone strikes you, you are to turn the other cheek for them to strike.  If they take your coat, give them more clothing, as well.  He tells us to pray for those that despitefully use us.  If I am honest, I used to not like those verses much.  I was a person that was bullied as a youth and have been used by many over my decades.  It felt like weakness to be kind to someone that is not kind, and I do believe that you need to have limits and establish boundaries of how far you go to help othes, or you will find yourself depleted and unable to reach your own goals.  However, I have been thinking more deeply on this, and I see another side to the coin.

When I was studying to be a teacher, we learned that oftentimes those that are the meanest come from homes where they are targeted.  Those that lash out to cause pain are often facing pain.  It's like the lion with the thorn in its paw.  Once removed, they become more kind.

So, what IS Jesus trying to say, here?  I believe he is trying to say that we have the opportunity to either add to their pain or give them a path to redemption... a path to believe they are worthy of love and care and respect in order to rise up.  Those that cause us harm are often hurting from us, as well.  To fuel the conflict is to give them more obstacles to overcome to rise.

I no longer want to be the excuse for anyone to feel unworthy.  I want to help all people to believe in themselves and become the best they can be, no matter their role in my own story.  So, I will let everything from the past go and only look forward to my own potential of joys as I rise.  May others around me feel and do the same.