Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men

Well, we've just had Christmas and amongst all the holiday festivities, I wanted to take time and reflect on what I'm actually celebrating. I know not all people celebrate Christmas from a Christian point of view and that's fine... I'm merely speaking from the perspective of what Christmas means to me. I think as my relationship with God grows and changes over time, Christmas become even more significant and exciting. Not only because I'm now a mother and I get to watch the excitement of Christmastime on the faces of my children, but also because I feel as though I have a deeper understanding of the awesomeness of the gift that Jesus was/is to us and how He truly is the Prince of Peace. Grasping the reality that it is because of Him that we now enjoy peace with God makes my heart overflow with gratitude. Ultimately for me, knowing that I am at peace with God right now settles in my mind once and for all that NO BAD THING that ever happens to me is ever a result of His judgment or anger for my shortcomings. Jesus took care of that - once and for all. Because of Him, I never have to experience the wrath of God for not being able to measure up to His standard of righteousness. I am righteous now. I am accepted and loved and blessed and made whole now. The issue is this - do I believe it? The more I am able to convince my heart, the very seat of my being, of who I am in Jesus RIGHT NOW, the more peace I will experience in this present life, no matter what may come my way. I am also convinced, more than ever, that we all need to experience this reality for ourselves. No one else can experience it for you. That was the reason Jesus came... not so you could go to God on my behalf, but so that each one of us could experience Him individually. And once you've tasted and seen how good He really is, I promise you, nothing else will come close to satisfying you. He's so good... and every time I think, 'Wow God, I didn't know it could be this good,' He blows me away with some more of His goodness.

I realize many people are pursuing peace on different levels out there. For me, the deepest place of finding peace is understanding that I am at peace with God and that He loves me - and not just understanding this on an intellectual level, but experiencing it in my life. I know I've mentioned a lot about 'experience' in this post, but I'm convinced that it's the place to live. I am tired of speaking about theory, I want to speak from experiential knowledge, as I learn what really works. I may not always get it right, and that's okay, because my goal isn't to get you to see things my way or to follow me, but to whet your appetite to know this for yourself. That's what it's all about. Until next time... happy holidays!

Just Thinkin'...

I wasn't created for a vicarious relationship with God,

I was made to experience Him one-on-one.

That's why Jesus came... so that we would never have to go through another human being to obtain access to God again. He paid the price so that we could live at peace with God forever. No bad thing that is happening in your life is the result of God punishing you. He is at peace with mankind, just not everyone knows it yet! This scripture has come to my mind while I'm typing and so I'll leave you with this thought:

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!

- Isaiah 52:7

Let Go of the Victim in You

I like the idea of a 15 minute time limit to write my thoughts so am going to do it again. I figure this way I can get more posts out (I'll aim for a minimum of 1 per week) rather than attempt to make time to do a mammoth one every so often. Writing regularly keeps the creative juices flowing anyway for me so here goes. This week I want to talk about letting go of a victim mentality and becoming more proactive in our daily lives. Bottom line: life is not fair. Everyone has 'stuff' happen to them in life so no one is exempt from pain. The real question is, 'What are you going to do now?' Trying to control other people's actions is not only exhausting for you, but it also isn't healthy and guarantees you will remain in codependent relationships. The one person I do have control over is ME. We have the power to choose our responses to other people's actions and man, what a power that is. The power of our free will is one of the most untapped resources out there. If more people lived out of an awareness that they, and they alone, can control their attitude, their responses, their actions, I have no doubt that we'd see many more people fulfilling their life's potential and dreams.

Not only does maintaining a victim mentality dis-empower me by placing the results of my current life circumstances in the hands of other people (and possibly people who don't even care for or love me,) but it pretty much ensures that unless I find a way to make everyone else act the way I want them to (because, after all, they and not me are the controllers of my future) I am doomed to never have the life I want. I'm not saying we ignore the pains that others have inflicted - knowingly or unknowingly - upon us. What I am saying is that the benefits that come from forgiving and releasing people empower MY life and vastly outweigh the 'growing pains' that I may experience when I choose to let go of blaming the 'outer world' for my inner turmoil.

I recently read 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' and one of the most impacting personal epiphanies for Stephen Covey in the book was when he came across a quotation that said, 'Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.'

I'm outta time so I'll leave you with that thought. :)

Be Yourself (Pt 1)?

I'm trying something new. Often I don't write because I seem to need a lot of time to get a post finished. Today I thought I'd give myself a time limit of 15 minutes. A post in 15 minutes... this will force me to think on my feet and not over-analyze what I'm writing (which I sometimes do.) Anyway, two minutes are down already so better keep going.

One of the things that has really begun to surface again and again in my times of personal reflection and meditation is the inherent need in all of us to 'be yourself.' I am 35 years old and for the first time - not ever, but in a long time - I feel as though I am reconnecting to the person I was created to be. Throughout life, social scripting, life experiences, culture, hurts, other people's expectations - the list goes on - all act as external pressures or forces that try to push us into their molds, and often those molds are not helpful in allowing us to truly express who we really are. I am convinced that many people live their lives attempting to be the person they feel they are expected to be, without really connecting to the person God has created them to be. I know this analogy may be overused, but I really see myself as a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. That's where I feel I am in this 'season' in my life. I keep getting that mental picture when I think about where I'm headed at the moment, and at first, I thought 'What a waste... it's taken me 35 years to get to the place where the butterfly in me is emerging. Why couldn't it have happened earlier?' The temptation was to 'write off' the earlier years of my life as 'useless' and then the thought occurred to me, 'EVERY stage in a butterfly's life is vital in getting to the end result. Nothing is wasted!' The larvae stage is just as important as the adult stage and even though we think of the butterfly as the 'best' phase of life, there would be no butterfly without the previous phases bringing it to the place of maturity. With this thought, I relaxed a bit and I feel much better now.

In regards to peace, I think that the sheer decision to pursue a life of peace has been instrumental in bringing me to the place where I feel the 'real Mel' can emerge. I haven't felt so comfortable in my own skin in years. I haven't cared so little about what other people think of me in years. I realized that much of my own life has been spent trying to be the person other people wanted me to be rather than the person I was created from the beginning to be.

Anyway, my 15 minutes is up. I will talk more about this - maybe - later. Bye for now.