We Create Our Own Reality. Really.

If you have wandered here it is because something drew you here. You wanted to access something different, something wonderful that has the potential to enhance your life in ways that will delight you. Law of attraction, positive living and other popular phrases have brought you to this point in time.

Yes, there is an element of self-fulfilling prophecy or statements that are available to all of us. For example, "I will have a great day" as opposed to "This will be a lackluster day." "A winner never quits" as opposed to "I can't seem to get it right." And finally, "Maximize your day" is preferable to "This day has little potential." I don't know about you, but there is more positive energy and life-giving power in the more agreeable of each set of statements.

Having said that, the life-enhancing effect of what you say to yourself and to others is vital to the quality of life that we create. The popular lyric "I will survive" has given many women and men a push when things didn't go as they had planned.

Conversely, the opposite side of the coin is that less-than-perfect statements made to yourself or to others have negative potential that has to be witnessed to validate the downward spiral of its damaging causative agent, i.e., negative words. A  friend told me 30 years ago that he had memories of his mother frequently telling him that he was a "bad boy." He started to believe his dear mother for whom he felt some affection and gradually became the bad boy she told him to be by her repeated statement. That bad boy is now a father and grandfather and is a useful member of society, but he had to shake his "bad boy persona" that was encouraged by his mother's words.

If you have landed here looking for a more traditional and spiritual element here's the personal affirmation I practice daily:

I believe God is forgiving me and healing me. [1] I also believe God is purifying me from all imperfections.[2] In Christ Jesus' name. Amen.

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1. Psalm 103
2. 1 John 1:9

God is More than a Concept by Which We Overcome Our Own Pain

Yes, John Lennon stated years ago in "God" that "God is a concept by which we measure our own pain." It need not remain so. God is many things to many people. Your conception of or experience with God is as different than your fingerprints are different from the person in the next room.

Tonight I wanted God to save me more than He's ever saved or helped or healed me before. You know what his answer was to my great surprise. He said, "heal yourself. Help yourself. Save yourself." That was not the answer I was looking for, but it might just be the answer that will do until God in His mercy blesses me with His supernatural healing, help and salvation. I actually smiled when the realization came. Of course, it's so simple. If no one else can or will take care of and watch out for me, then who better than myself. If my parents are too old or too sick to care for me, I have to care for myself. If other relatives are too busy, too sick or too challenged themselves to care for me, then who better to care for me than myself? Of course, I can always use a helping hand by some compassionate person who has the gift of giving aid to others in need. And, with God's grace or favor, I will endeavor to be a helping hand when some person in need is brought into my life.

The Lord our God is One. Blessed be the name of the Lord for his mercy endures for ever.

Blessings for the new year whatever year you happen to be reading this.

More to come--

The Actual Nature of Reality is Quite Enigmatic

If God created reality or even if reality created itself either scenario presents some mind-boggling paradigms or ramifications. Let me tell you what's been disturbing me for some time now.

First let's consider what reality's ramifications are if there is no God. We exist for no grand design or purpose other than the ones each person develops for himself or herself. Of course some succeed to a degree and live and die their self-conceived lives never caring that their 70 or 90 years is all they have coming to them and their progeny. What's so bad about that? Perhaps nothing worth worrying about.

Now for the more problematic side of the coin. If all we see is here because of an omniscient and omnipotent deity these are the ramifications as I perceive them.

Most people live their lives oblivious to God's existence. They live, love and die never caring or knowing that God exists and loves them.

Now if he didn't exist the situation would not be of much significance. But if God does exist and cares for those who know him not, nor concern themselves with him, even if they have had some contact with his teachings, then that presents serious problems.

What meaning could there be for God to have so many of his children not care for him? Why then did he bother to create them? Some speak of GOD wanting to be loved but by beings to whom he gave free will and are not mere automatons. This traditional explanation verges on naivete.

If God created some of us to simply live out our lives and then die, never having acknowledged him during our time on Earth, then the ramification is that this so-called free will is as meaningless in the ultimate scheme of things as if there never had been a loving God to begin with.

So what third approach am I offering? I don't know. Do you? But really folks, there has to be another way of looking at this.

The quest to find meaning and purpose in life is the grand significance of life. Perhaps that's all we were ever conceived to endeavor--to try to make sense of the seeming senselessness.

In the final analysis one can't be sure beyond a shadow of a doubt how we all got here and what it all means. There are traditional explanations if you choose evolution as the motor that created the reality we encounter daily. And there are even more traditional reasons given to explain life if you believe that God is responsible for the reality we encounter daily. Perhaps we are here to enjoy all that can be enjoyed and to work together to lessen the less than enjoyable aspects of life.