Nov 30, 2014

Pondering

I spoke of acceptance as being one of the key points to obtaining Abundance. Acceptance of life, acceptance of circumstances, and acceptances of events in life. Acceptance in life does not mean giving up to anything, nor does it mean to giv in to all.

 

What acceptance means is accepting each circumstance and event in your life as a given, and since it is in the past, it can not be changed once past that event. Accept and take the next step, as best as you can see it, to move towards a positive goal.

 

For acceptance to be most effective, one has to know, and I mean know, that each event is the result of inner desires, what has happened in the past, the state of our mental and physical being, and is the best for you or me that it can be, to serve our purpose in life. Note that I have said several times ‘items that are under our potential control’, such as our inner desires. This level of faith, at least that of a mustard seed, (remember the words of Jesus: “if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, hurl yourself into the sea, and it shall be done. Matt. 17:20) is the key to Abundance at any level. This level of faith is at least that of a mustard seed, and that is the level of faith that is needed to “do greater than this“, as Jesus said. Faith is the dimension of our life that reaches into our soul, and provides the link into the soul that can join our awareness, our deepest felt spirit, with that of our Soul, where the infinite being that we are is centered. Our Soul, our true spirit of life, the part of us that never dies, is that portion of us that understands and hold our Purpose in life, the reason we were born and our purpose of venturing into this round of creation, the reason we left the Core of God to Know Who We Are.

 

The greatest benefit that occurs in Acceptance of our life as it occurs is that we understand that life is good, is always good, and provides the best that can happen to us for our inner peace and rest. Nothing is wrong, nothing is misplaced, but each event serves its purpose to lead us to fulfill our purpose. Note that I did not say to fulfill our plan, but to fulfill our purpose. For God has no Plan for our life, but we do have a Purpose for this life. How we fill that purpose, what plan we follow, is our choice. Always our choice. We are never forced to follow a predetermined plan, but the next best step we take is always a result of the step we just took. Usually it is a simple move with little choices, but sometimes we make a choice that leads to totally different paths of our life. Either path would have resulted in a set of choices that would meet our purpose, and taking the choice we did firmed up the choices.

 

For instances, when I choose to go to school to be an engineer, that set a course for my entire life. When I choose to take the job on Long Island rather than accept the PhD program at Ohio State, that led to a whole different set of choices. Each of us has had a series of choices to make, some choices may have been better than others, but each choice we made led to other choices. If you are married or have a significant other, the choice to join a group, attend a party, or some other event, led to making the acquittance of the person that you then had to make the choice of bonding that led to your being together.

 

And so it is. If we allow ourselves to think about it, it is amazing that we lead the life we live, when we think about all the choices we made (or not) and how these events led to others which led to others —-. That is how life is, as a series of events that can be richer or poorer for us, leading to richer events or leading to destructive behavior. But all will serve the purpose of our Soul, in this round of Creation, or incarnation.

 

The great thing I have found in accepting life as it is presented, and believing firmly that our God, our Eternal Wisdom, will always, always, provide the best for us, and will give us the potential for peace of mind and soul. Always. Oh yes, during the transition of events it can be painful and soul wrenching, very often quite painful, but when finished we realized that indeed, God did not let us down, that every step led to the result that is best for us, that we, if we have faith and courage to choose that which we know is right, will be happy and peaceful, no matter what the outward signs that others see.

 

Acceptance does require us to have that faith to move with the flow that seems, in our heart, to be the best choice for us. When I made the choice to accept the job on Long Island, I knew, deep in my heart, that the move was the very best for me. Now I understood that I was moving 700 miles from where I had grown up, away from all that I knew, but deeply felt that I was called, was pulled to stretch myself into doing something new, something different, to step into the unknown. I consulted no one, not my closest friends or my family, just my heart, and I knew deeply that I had to step into the total unknown if I was to reach my best, to be stretched and pulled until I fulfilled my potentials.

 

Did I understand my decision as described at that time? No way! In fact, it was only while writing this, right now, did I receive the insight that allowed me to understand my decision 55 years ago. So that decision came out of my soul, my inner consciousness, where I knew what I had to do.

 

This stretching brought me into contacts that I would never have made without stepping into the unknown. Most of all, I would not have met the love of my life, almost 55 years ago. I fell I love with her at first sight, but I had to move 700 miles to find that one. She literally had to walk across the street to where we met. I would not have had the learning opportunities with some of the greatest engineers alive at that time. I would not have had the opportunity to lead and work in strong movements within the RC church that I did. I would not have had the opportunity to start my own business 19 years ago, with a partner that I have now known over 40 years, and have some of the greatest time of my professional and personal life.

 

And that is how our life is. We have to stretch, to sometimes step blindly forward, to accept what is and reach for what could be. I realize now that the level of stretching required to make that jump was critical to me as a person, to move away from the strong influences that surrounded me in my home town, to be able to enter a new atmosphere where no one knew me and I could be the person I believed I was, not being the person someone else thought I was. I had grown and stretched so much in college, that to return to my birth place would have thrown me back to the shy person most thought I was. Only by stretching and going to a new place could I take my new found self confidence and ability to its potential.

 

And we have to accept what is. I have to understand now that I am 80 years of age, with a limited span ahead, and with having lower physical capacity than I had, and it will not get better. I have to accept that my wife has some physical limitations that prevent her from much desired activities. This limits some activities that we may have wanted, but accepting that will allow us to find greater joy the activities we do have.

 

But these are all circumstances that we can moan about, or accept and see what is the best we can do. That is all of life. Acceptance is the key to move on and accomplish the next thing that is put in our path. We have choices: do we take a risk when it is presented or do we defer? Those choices are what form our life. Both my wife and I are willing to take a risk, even at this age. We have lived all our lives life like that, talking about the possibilities and the place where we are at that moment. Being willing to take a risk, knowing God will not let us down, assures us that while the result of the action will be considered positive or negative to most others, it will always be positive to us and lead us to the next blessed event. Acceptance assures us that the result will always be a positive experience to us.

 

Even when it is time to transition to the next phase of life. Yes, death will be a great adventure, difficult for the one left behind, bringing sorrow and pain, but knowledge that the one gone is not gone, always with us , and we are truly joined for Eternity. Our love has been honed by 55 years of life, from the day we met until now. This love will not diminish, no matter how often we get on each other’s nerves. Yes, it still happens, as both of us are full of life, and these events provide the spice of life that leads to more richness of being. We are truly one Being in the Eternal Wisdom of Life, for we understand that Life is to be Lived, without regret, without wishing something else had occurred, but accepting life as is has occurred with all our choices we have made.

 

God is good. Life is good. And both God and Life are one, one in Being and One in Living.

 

Meditation

 

God, our Eternal Wisdom, our Eternal Life, we are grateful for all that You have offered us in our life. We have tried to live a life of exuberance, one filled with Truth and Joy, filled with Your Presence, and we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. You have taught us not just acceptance, but knowledge that all is good, that life is good, that Your presence fills us with joy, that truly “The Kingdom of God lies within and about us“, and we thank you and have great gratitude for allowing us to see that Kingdom that is there in Life.