In doing this lesson about the giving
of cards and openly appreciating
others in our lives, I started thinking
about something that I've thought
about off and on for years.....
and thats what I "take with me"
back to my Creator after death.
In reflection, we all know we don't
take our belongings, or money.....
we can lose those many times from
nature and fire, etc....
At whatever stage in life we finally
"shuffle this mortal coil", we take
our growth as free will souls, our ability
to render judgement; knowing both
good and evil...., we take the record
of our actions, (yikes), and finally, we
take our relationships, with freinds,
loves, aquaintances, family, etc etc...
I realize that if we are created in
the image of our Creator, then we
are like Him in every way....and I thought
about God a lot, realizing that before
we were put here....before anything at all...
He must have been at some time....
Alone!
We are beings in and of ourselves,
looking out from our souls through
our eyes and senses, knowing that
we are "alone" in a sense, entering this
life and leaving this life totally alone.....
a singular being.
From birth till death, we shower each
other with love, support, frendship,
nurturing, and look at giving our
lives for each other as the highest
form of showing Love to each other
that we can do.
The one thing we can't do to ourselves
like we can receive from others is Love
Ourselves.....Love is really best when
its freely given and received by two
distinctly separate beings.....We all know
that we need and want to be loved....
none of us are islands unto ourselves.
Loneliness and separation are really
the worst of all fates, being totally
alone is like living death. Solitary
confinement is a punishment....the
worst of all possible conditions.
It's obvious that our Creator can
create beings like angels, that are
not in His image, but in order to
bring freinds and like minded and
completely free will agents like
Him to Himself, he has to put us
somewhere to grow, learn, make
choices, and come back to Him
having developed our souls
with the experience of life.....
I believe that we are, here in this life,
Gods in the "womb", each experiencing
loss and gain, good and evil, love and
hate, freindship and loneliness,
learning to make judgements bourne
of what we experience and think.
If you think about it, everything that
we see on the news, or hear about
with each other, or anything that
happens at all....we all immediately
tell each other what we think about it,
as though we are built to make
judgements.
We all react to and make judgements
to every single thing, and make our
decisions according to our perceptions
of what would bring us pleasure, or
help us escape pain......and we look
to each other to help us, Love Us,
and support each other all the way
through.
There's nothing more meaningful or
real, or valuable in my eyes than
our free will giving of ourselves to
each other in this life in freindships,
loves, neighbors, business partners,
and nations.......
It's the very fact that we are alone
within ourselves that drives us
outwardly to look for love, acceptance,
tenderness, support, teaching, and
all the way up to life saving and
sacrifice.
Jesus says in the Bible....."Whatever
you do to the least among you, you
do to Me".
That is a pretty heavy statement!
It will be something to see each other
as the eternal souls that we really are,
without the trappings of Time, and
our physical bodies when we return to
the place that we came from, and see
fully the reasons for everything!
How fully precious it will be to see
each and every soul that we had to do
with in our lives.....after the tears and
hugs we will know the impact of every
good and every mistake.....every
gift and every selfishness.....every
deed good and evil.
"Forgive Me.....I'm Sorry, I Love You,
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!"
Lessons learned, and eternity before
us, we will fully know the truth, won't
we?
I've grown to see that I treasure
every help, from every thought and
smile....to every action and gift, from
the smallest Boost to the lifetime
of Love and scarifice towards me,
every freindship and aquaintance
to every teacher and doctor, lover
and neighbor....from each and every
supportive soul at Tools to my
paint customers and beyond!
What is the quality of my relationships?
What is the effect of my presence in
peoples lives?
What is the effect of my entrenched
attitudes, that if they were released
and given up......Love would flow
again?
Who has been my best freind, and
who has wanted to be my freind, and
I didnt let it happen?
Who is helping me daily, and sacrifices
a part of their time, money, life, or
happiness to see that I am happy as
well?
What about me makes it difficult for
people to interact freely with me?
Do I help others less fortunate?
Am I patient, kind, big hearted and
thoughtful?
Am I polite, respectful, and easily
approached if something is wrong?
I can tell you, I need to be loved.
I hunger for Love, and want to be
loved! I do everything I do one way
or another to love and be loved....
I confess and acknowledge it.
I know my record here will follow me,
and lessons learned or not....there
it will be!
For me, I love to be thoughful.
I love to give the card, or take the seat
at the restaraunt that looks into the
sun, so that my freind doesnt have
to squint. I love to cover my cold partner
with a blanket, or give my last cookie
to a hungry child....I do...I really do.
I love to help someone at the
side of the road, and encourage
a student that they are doing a
great job!
A boost here, an email there, a ride
here, and there....the best things in
life are the small ways we take
time for each other, the smallways
we "lubricate" the path ahead of us,
which is tough enough!
My Prayer is that I go back to my Creator
with an ever improving record of growth,
sincerity, and giving towards each and
every person in my life.
My prayer is that I will reconsider my
attitudes and fears, and learn to give
freely, as life and love and another
chance is given to me each and
every day.
My prayer is that my presence in
peoples lives will be something that
makes them feel better about
themselves, or to be encouraged
and helped.
Though we all can pass at any age
in our lives, I now know that I carry
a defect in my heart that I will probably
die from, and I, for the first time, have
faced the reality that my life can end
in a personal and real way.....not just
knowing it in my head.
I will go out alone, and yet not alone.
Now I will go with every precious
person and freind, every human I ever
interacted with, in every way...having
known me, for better or worse.
I am enriched by each and every
one of you, really I am! Im not just
saying that....I truly am Blessed
to have come across each and every
person here and anywhere.
From my closest freinds, family, and
to each and every soul I've
communicated with here at Tools.....
This is my "card" to you today......
The Hawaian Chant:
"Forgive me,
I'm Sorry,
I Love You,
Thank You!"
Smilinsteve
