As I stood at the gate waiting to get in, I thought about all the things I had done; the rules I had broken, the wrong choices I had made, people I have hurt. I waited patiently to be judged, as patient as a person can be thinking he already knows his fate.
As I stood there reliving in my mind all of the mistakes I had made, I saw Him approach. He was wearing a white suit, so clean & perfect as if nothing could possibly stain it.
His face was perfect & so bright that it was hard to look at it for more than a few seconds without the feeling of not being worthy overtaking me. He was carrying a white folder in his hand, very thick and overflowing with papers, records that would determine just how unworthy I am.
As He stood in front of me looking at me, as if he had a photographic snapshot of my life in his head, a Rolodex to quickly recall the mistakes I have made, He asked me to sit & talk to him awhile. That's when I noticed the clear glass table & chairs that I had not seen before.
As we sat, He offered me a glass of water from the crystal pitcher that was on the table. The water tasted so pure & clean, like no water I had ever tasted before.
When I placed the glass on the table, I calmly stated that I was ready for my judgment.
He looked at me as if with smiling eyes & said "Judgment? I am not here to judge you; you have already done that. I am here to discuss the love you have shown others".
I looked at him with a puzzling look & said, "What about the mistakes I made, the people I have hurt? What about the rules I broke?"
"Rules?" he said, "those were not rules I gave to you, those were promises; promises of what life will be like when you are truly with me. Now, can we get back to our discussion?"
As He opened the folder, He began to smile as He spoke of my father. He spoke of how much my father had enjoyed my company, how much he trusted & loved me.
I could feel a lump swelling up in my throat.
But he didn't speak of disappointment; He spoke of how much it meant to my dad that I was there with him for his final days he was alive. He talked about the tears I cried with him & how I expressed how important he was in my life.
He told me how proud my earthly father was of me & how he has been watching me carrying on the kindness & generosity towards others that he had taught me from such a young age
He said that He gives parent’s an extra sense, the sense to feel emotions from their children just by being close to them.
He told me that my father knew how much I loved him & he still talks about me sometimes at the supper table.
He then reminded me of the lady I helped on the side of the road when I was traveling cross country. He spoke of me giving her assistance & encouragement when she shared her sad story with me.
He told me of how she was able to turn her life around & how she went on to meet a wonderful man that is a great father to her children. He talked about the oldest son & how he is a skilled surgeon & has saved many of lives.
He then closed the folder & said "Son, this is not judgment, this is praise! I do not expect any of my children to be perfect, I just want them to love each other as I have loved them."
He then pushed the folder over to me & said, "Here, this is for you. There are many more examples in here of the love you have shown others. This is to help you forgive yourself for the rules you had broken, the wrong choices you had made and people you have hurt."
"Now it is time to go," he said.
He stood up & reached for a glass bell that was hanging right over the table; I did not see it there before, just like I had not seen the table and chairs.
He began to ring the bell & the sound seemed to echo through my head. The sound was pleasing, like the soft sound of a wind chime made of glass.
The sound seemed to fade as I reached for the folder in front of me. Before I knew it, I was mesmerized by the sound as it continued to fade, as if it was moving away from me.
The man was no longer in front of me & everything seemed to fade to black. I gripped tighter & tighter on the folder, only to realize it was no longer in my hands. I closed my eyes tight, as if hoping to change the darkness that had quickly come upon me.
The ringing sound of the bell was getting louder, as if to be moving closer to me now. I opened my eyes once again & the darkness had lifted & replaced by white. I could still hear the bell ringing as I realized I was staring at my bedroom ceiling.
I reached for the alarm clock to turn off the bell that was still ringing in my head.
Sadden by the thought of this all just being just a dream and the realization that the folder I held so tightly to was not in my hands, I stood up out of bed & a shiver came over my entire body.
A smile slowly came to me as if I was not in control of my face. And then I realized that the entire contents of that folder I saw in my dream were stored in my memory.
It was as if someone had placed it there, cataloged perfectly & with vivid details. It was as if I was watching a movie about me, seeing the pictures so real in my mind. What a wonderful gift!
Was it a dream or did something happen to me?
Years of recalling all of my failures in life, reliving all of the pain I had felt & the pain I had caused, for the first time I saw only the beauty.
I had to share this; I had to tell people what had happened to me.
Was this G-d talking to me? Was this just a wonderful dream that opened my mind to the life I had hid in a dark corner of my memory?
Whatever had happened, I realized I would never be the same.
For the first time in my life, I saw the book of my life and realized it was a love story. The best part of this wonderful discovery is that the book is not yet complete. I had been shown some of the outcomes of the love I had shared in my life & I wanted more.
This day I reached a new level of serenity & I realized for the first time that the love you give away, the pure unconditional love that you show others, always stays with you. It is a love you are born with. A love more pure than the whitest snow. It is G-d’s love & it must be shared with others always.
G-d Bless.
J
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Accomplishments
To accomplish what we want, we need to know what we need to know & be the person we need to be; we are where we need to be, where we have aimed our thoughts. Open your mind, be humble, otherwise you take the risk of staying where you are. Until we become humble, in our stubborn mind, we cannot profit by the wisdom, experiences & thoughts of others; there is always room for improvement.
Motivation is needed all the time we breathe & even more when we don't trust in who we are & in what we do. Believe in yourself! Unless you have confidence in yourself, you will not be able to accomplish anything but more unaccomplished dreams & frustrations.
Blindly believe in you & in what you do & in what you can accomplish & act, regardless, even if you have the highest obstacle in front of you. The only thing that stops you from crossing, climbing or going through that huge obstacle is what you think about yourself.
The size of your self-esteem, your essence & your confidence has to do directly with the image you have about you & who you really are. Your essence energizes the movie, which plays in your mind, every time you have to cope with a task or face a challenge. It is the voice that is telling you that you will, only can do, accomplish or reach very little, or even worse …. nothing.
Thoughts create or magnetize our personality & attitude. Dominating thoughts will eventually reproduce themselves in outward physical actions & gradually transform into physical realities. The thoughts we have, from the time we wake up, will definitively determine our attitude, our day. We bring to our lives what we think about most of the time & where we guide or focus our mind, is where we end up.
Starting in the morning, we make choices. We either decide to accept negative thoughts & therefore spoil our moments & even our day, weeks or years, or we decide to plant positive images in our mind & have days full of satisfaction, happiness, prosperity, peace & all the beauties that life has for all of us. The beauties G-d created.
Influence your thoughts so you will stimulate your action & you will gradually become a self-reliant, confident & successful person. Until we die, we all need motivation. Keep yourself motivated, create the habit of been motivated every day; focus, breathe, smell, laugh, dream, do, touch, hold motivation & trust in G-d.
There are so many things for which we should be appreciative, for which we should have hope, be grateful for & therefore motivated. Talk to yourself as much you can. Imagine & feel yourself accomplishing all you want. Think about the things you already have accomplished & also the accomplishments that have brought you confidence, satisfaction & happiness to your life.
Yes, you can. There is nothing impossible to the person who has a definite & clear purpose & has G-d in their life. You are a person, so you only need a definite purpose. Every morning, every day, when you are in front of the mirror, talk to that special person in front of you & tell him/her how good, smart, valuable, capable, intelligent & loved he/she is.
Take action, If now you cannot do great things, try to do small things great. Now you may not see any door open but once you believe totally & blindly in yourself & in G-d; & believe that you can do whatever you decide, many doors will open for you. It doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter where you are coming from, but they will not open until you get ready & it is entirely up to you. You are not defeated unless you defeat yourself.
Gratitude, responsibility, honesty & self-respect are things you must make sacrifices for because without them, you are nothing. So be respectful, responsible, honest & have unwavering faith in G-d. Be confident, have trust & blindly believe in you. Stay motivated & enthusiastic, with a burning desire to succeed. Be clear in life. Create a plan, focus only on that plan & take uninterrupted action with passion, discipline & patience; & above all, don't worry about the results; definitively you will succeed when all the pieces of the puzzle get into place. Trust G-d & trust yourself.
G-d Bless.
J
Motivation is needed all the time we breathe & even more when we don't trust in who we are & in what we do. Believe in yourself! Unless you have confidence in yourself, you will not be able to accomplish anything but more unaccomplished dreams & frustrations.
Blindly believe in you & in what you do & in what you can accomplish & act, regardless, even if you have the highest obstacle in front of you. The only thing that stops you from crossing, climbing or going through that huge obstacle is what you think about yourself.
The size of your self-esteem, your essence & your confidence has to do directly with the image you have about you & who you really are. Your essence energizes the movie, which plays in your mind, every time you have to cope with a task or face a challenge. It is the voice that is telling you that you will, only can do, accomplish or reach very little, or even worse …. nothing.
Thoughts create or magnetize our personality & attitude. Dominating thoughts will eventually reproduce themselves in outward physical actions & gradually transform into physical realities. The thoughts we have, from the time we wake up, will definitively determine our attitude, our day. We bring to our lives what we think about most of the time & where we guide or focus our mind, is where we end up.
Starting in the morning, we make choices. We either decide to accept negative thoughts & therefore spoil our moments & even our day, weeks or years, or we decide to plant positive images in our mind & have days full of satisfaction, happiness, prosperity, peace & all the beauties that life has for all of us. The beauties G-d created.
Influence your thoughts so you will stimulate your action & you will gradually become a self-reliant, confident & successful person. Until we die, we all need motivation. Keep yourself motivated, create the habit of been motivated every day; focus, breathe, smell, laugh, dream, do, touch, hold motivation & trust in G-d.
There are so many things for which we should be appreciative, for which we should have hope, be grateful for & therefore motivated. Talk to yourself as much you can. Imagine & feel yourself accomplishing all you want. Think about the things you already have accomplished & also the accomplishments that have brought you confidence, satisfaction & happiness to your life.
Yes, you can. There is nothing impossible to the person who has a definite & clear purpose & has G-d in their life. You are a person, so you only need a definite purpose. Every morning, every day, when you are in front of the mirror, talk to that special person in front of you & tell him/her how good, smart, valuable, capable, intelligent & loved he/she is.
Take action, If now you cannot do great things, try to do small things great. Now you may not see any door open but once you believe totally & blindly in yourself & in G-d; & believe that you can do whatever you decide, many doors will open for you. It doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter where you are coming from, but they will not open until you get ready & it is entirely up to you. You are not defeated unless you defeat yourself.
Gratitude, responsibility, honesty & self-respect are things you must make sacrifices for because without them, you are nothing. So be respectful, responsible, honest & have unwavering faith in G-d. Be confident, have trust & blindly believe in you. Stay motivated & enthusiastic, with a burning desire to succeed. Be clear in life. Create a plan, focus only on that plan & take uninterrupted action with passion, discipline & patience; & above all, don't worry about the results; definitively you will succeed when all the pieces of the puzzle get into place. Trust G-d & trust yourself.
G-d Bless.
J
Monday, June 21, 2010
To Believe Is To See
There are so many ways to see and experience G-d isn’t there? Everyone is unique and He shows Himself to us in all kinds of different ways. Some who doubt only wish to see Him in a physical manner in which they can see and touch. They want to be able to stand in front of Him just as you and I can do so. They feel that without that “real” interaction, we simply are whimsical people looking for something to cling to rather than reality. It’s sad really. I genuinely feel sorry for these people. Because they obviously can’t manage to see or feel what is right there all around them.
There is a saying from a very well known movie, A Walk to Remember. “G-d’s love is like the wind. I can’t see it but I can feel that it’s there.” This saying popped back into my head along with some of the first verses in Genesis. Genesis 1: 1-2 (JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh): “When G-d began to create heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from G-d sweeping over the water.” While at times, the wind isn’t always an enjoyable phenomenon; it certainly does make itself known doesn’t it? I have read that verse many times in the past but one day it really stood out to me because that day happened to be a windy one around here. And I couldn’t help but smile, wondering if G-d could be passing through. When you stand outside with the breeze gliding past you, ruffling your clothes and playing with your hair, who’s to say that couldn’t be one of the millions of ways that G-d says hello with this incredible creation of Him.
Another example for me was when I was visiting one of the museums out there. It was the museum of science and history and like most, it has an IMAX theater. I got to see a movie about undersea creatures, or more specifically, the Sardine Runs in South Africa. It took you through the migration of these sardines that are so large in number, that by the time they pass by a specific area of South Africa, they come so close to shore that the people can run out into the waves with baskets, nets, and even upturned skirts and capture large amounts of them. What was incredible was to see how the creatures would all act; everything little thing that G-d programmed into them to survive and even work together. Let’s face it, fish are not known for intelligence. But when these sardines would come across predators like seals, they would swim together in this huge ball that would rotate. The seals were still able to get their mouths on some but it was effective, it was team work and it was really incredible to behold. Each fish would instinctively follow the one in front of it and this is what would result. It’s incredible! The beach where the sardines are supposed to arrive is filled with people that simply sit and watch nature to know when the time will be right. They watch how the seals and whales are acting and gathering. While I know that there are people that will still argue with this, but that is all G-d! No explosion of gases could have “accidently” put so much detail into nature.
Another place I see G-d is through the faces and touch of the people around me. Several years ago when I was a teenager, I was attending a funeral. It was an especially sad one because it was a result of an unfortunate suicide of a young boy. I didn’t know really know him but I knew his sister pretty well and I went to offer my respects to her and her family. The whole atmosphere was so sad and the grief was almost literally heavy in the air. You couldn’t help but cry. I went through the line to hug and speak to all the family members and at the very end was the grandfather. He was this old man with a gray suit that I had never actually seen before but will never forget. I put out my hand to shake his and he gently clasped my hand with both of his and silently looked me straight in the eye. I instantly felt a warmth and comfort sweep right through me. Even in a time of grief, this man was able to allow G-d’s love and compassion show in his face. Skeptics might say he was just a very nice man but I know in my heart that he was one with G-d and knew how to show His light to other people, even without a word.
One that is a given is the innocence of children. G-d shines considerably through them. I envy them to a point; they are able to hold to beliefs without question. Nothing is impossible. They look at a mountain that goes above the cloud line and they see a stairway straight into heaven. They see a moon that is barely visible and they call it G-d’s thumb nail. When I was little and we had a thunderstorm passing over, I would picture G-d and His angels having a bowling match up above us. I had a friend with two small children who were trying to understand their grandmother’s death. They were trying to understand how people can say “she’ll always be with you.” So the three of us were sitting outside one day and they started talking about it. Just then I saw three of four butterflies fluttering by in a group. I pointed them out to the kids and asked if they had heard of butterfly kisses. They said yes, and I told them that butterflies help G-d by bring kisses down from heaven to the people who are still here. After that they would squeal and smile every time they saw a butterfly and excitedly say that grandma was sending them kisses. It can all be seen as silliness, but, in my opinion, child-like faith is one of the most beautiful things out there.
G-d’s presence is limitless. He is beyond the physical that we know in this reality. And that is one of the reasons that I feel sorry for people that can’t bring themselves to acknowledge Him without “proof”. They give Him so little credit and limit Him to this small simple existence that we are in right now. He’s everywhere and in everything. A person doesn’t even have to try and look for Him. He’s always been there and will continue to be. It’s not about Him showing Himself to you. It’s about you opening your eyes to Him.
G-d Bless.
K
There is a saying from a very well known movie, A Walk to Remember. “G-d’s love is like the wind. I can’t see it but I can feel that it’s there.” This saying popped back into my head along with some of the first verses in Genesis. Genesis 1: 1-2 (JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh): “When G-d began to create heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from G-d sweeping over the water.” While at times, the wind isn’t always an enjoyable phenomenon; it certainly does make itself known doesn’t it? I have read that verse many times in the past but one day it really stood out to me because that day happened to be a windy one around here. And I couldn’t help but smile, wondering if G-d could be passing through. When you stand outside with the breeze gliding past you, ruffling your clothes and playing with your hair, who’s to say that couldn’t be one of the millions of ways that G-d says hello with this incredible creation of Him.
Another example for me was when I was visiting one of the museums out there. It was the museum of science and history and like most, it has an IMAX theater. I got to see a movie about undersea creatures, or more specifically, the Sardine Runs in South Africa. It took you through the migration of these sardines that are so large in number, that by the time they pass by a specific area of South Africa, they come so close to shore that the people can run out into the waves with baskets, nets, and even upturned skirts and capture large amounts of them. What was incredible was to see how the creatures would all act; everything little thing that G-d programmed into them to survive and even work together. Let’s face it, fish are not known for intelligence. But when these sardines would come across predators like seals, they would swim together in this huge ball that would rotate. The seals were still able to get their mouths on some but it was effective, it was team work and it was really incredible to behold. Each fish would instinctively follow the one in front of it and this is what would result. It’s incredible! The beach where the sardines are supposed to arrive is filled with people that simply sit and watch nature to know when the time will be right. They watch how the seals and whales are acting and gathering. While I know that there are people that will still argue with this, but that is all G-d! No explosion of gases could have “accidently” put so much detail into nature.
Another place I see G-d is through the faces and touch of the people around me. Several years ago when I was a teenager, I was attending a funeral. It was an especially sad one because it was a result of an unfortunate suicide of a young boy. I didn’t know really know him but I knew his sister pretty well and I went to offer my respects to her and her family. The whole atmosphere was so sad and the grief was almost literally heavy in the air. You couldn’t help but cry. I went through the line to hug and speak to all the family members and at the very end was the grandfather. He was this old man with a gray suit that I had never actually seen before but will never forget. I put out my hand to shake his and he gently clasped my hand with both of his and silently looked me straight in the eye. I instantly felt a warmth and comfort sweep right through me. Even in a time of grief, this man was able to allow G-d’s love and compassion show in his face. Skeptics might say he was just a very nice man but I know in my heart that he was one with G-d and knew how to show His light to other people, even without a word.
One that is a given is the innocence of children. G-d shines considerably through them. I envy them to a point; they are able to hold to beliefs without question. Nothing is impossible. They look at a mountain that goes above the cloud line and they see a stairway straight into heaven. They see a moon that is barely visible and they call it G-d’s thumb nail. When I was little and we had a thunderstorm passing over, I would picture G-d and His angels having a bowling match up above us. I had a friend with two small children who were trying to understand their grandmother’s death. They were trying to understand how people can say “she’ll always be with you.” So the three of us were sitting outside one day and they started talking about it. Just then I saw three of four butterflies fluttering by in a group. I pointed them out to the kids and asked if they had heard of butterfly kisses. They said yes, and I told them that butterflies help G-d by bring kisses down from heaven to the people who are still here. After that they would squeal and smile every time they saw a butterfly and excitedly say that grandma was sending them kisses. It can all be seen as silliness, but, in my opinion, child-like faith is one of the most beautiful things out there.
G-d’s presence is limitless. He is beyond the physical that we know in this reality. And that is one of the reasons that I feel sorry for people that can’t bring themselves to acknowledge Him without “proof”. They give Him so little credit and limit Him to this small simple existence that we are in right now. He’s everywhere and in everything. A person doesn’t even have to try and look for Him. He’s always been there and will continue to be. It’s not about Him showing Himself to you. It’s about you opening your eyes to Him.
G-d Bless.
K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
