A Matter Of Convenience
Another oldie but goody conveyed back on March 23, 2018. A very good read, so click the image or link and take a minute or two for you. Challenge yourself.
Convenience has become a predominant part of our lives. From the foods we choose, to text messaging, to the products we acquire and even our mates, our lives are from a matter of ease and convenience. I know some will debate this, but looking outside ego, it is obvious that we choose the road most traveled most of the time. And now, a new road, artificial intelligence (AI) has been paved and most will take that convivence too, without a second thought.
Living during this time has brought a fact into our lives and that is, we are not as far apart as we once believed. Once a 50 mile distance was oh so far away, but now we talk to people thousands of miles away with a simple touch of a button. While this may seem like a great leap, there is another side to this ease. Like picking a burger at a fast food business, our lives like our choices are predicated on what is close and convenient. Yes, we chat with people half way around the world, but that is as far as it goes in many, if not most of today’s relationships. There are exceptions, but for the most part we relate now via fast and convenient social media. While there is nothing wrong with connecting this way, substance takes more than clicks on a keyboard and likes on someone’s post. Substance takes conviction, your conviction.
We pick our food because it is easy and many times, it quickly satisfies our hunger, but are we eating the right foods, the best and most nutritional for our health? I think not, as evidenced in the massive fast food sales, as compared to days long ago. Yes, that burger is tasty and it comes with fries and a soda or a beer, but is it good for us? Again, I think not, as evidenced by the epidemic of obesity and heart problems we experience here in our country and others. Convenience without balance and discernment is deadly.
The point of this writing is to elicit thought from each of us. If we pick our foods, the products we buy, and the people in our lives by how easy they are to obtain and keep, where’s your substance? Where is God in all of this?
Oh yes, I know, some of you talk to God every Sunday, sometimes on Wednesdays and even when we want something, but how often do we really listen to God? How often do we work to be and act Godly? Now, ego wants to say, “Everyday!”, but we all know that is not the case for most of us, as is evidenced by cyclic societal and worldly problems, and our own.
God is further away than the burger stand, the convenience store, and God can’t be purchased by a credit or debit card, nor can God be in our lives through some phone application, or a few strokes on a key board, nor even by showing up in a brick and mortar church. Yes, God is within us and all around us, but God is also light years away. Now, you ask, how can we be so far away, yet God is within and all around us. Great question! The issue here, is you, or it is me. We have accepted teachings about God, via human concepts, words and definitions, and all of that is, itself, determined by man, not God.
One of the best responses every given, was God to Moses, when Moses asked God, who are you. That answer, God’s answer was infinitely, “I Am That I Am.” In that perfect response, no boundaries were created, no division, no hierarchy, nothing - but in the same breath, everything. Yes, less is more.
Now, to simply answer your great question above, ask yourself this; How can infinity be defined or described using finite concepts, definitions and words? Truly, that question is rhetorical, for finite means can only hint at the infinite. First, one must throw out everything finite, then begin from the infinite to start understanding, knowing, and living infinitely.
God is not the problem, nor is a geographical location. God, like the people in our lives, or the preparation of a healthy meal is by choice, allowance, dedication and faith. No big deal, right? Well ask that question again, but add in all the crime, disparagements, fat and chemical-laden foods, hatred, incarcerations, murdering, stealing, and the day-in and day-out slaughter of the unborn and animals for our convenience. Evidently, we’re are a lot farther away from God than our worshiping indicates. For a nation that considers themselves Christian, and for other nations that consider themselves Muslim, or this or that, we are not healthy - as is evidenced by our choice of ease over substance and effort. It seems we are reaping what we have been and are still sowing. Spiritually, we have given ourselves away for the conveniences of the physical. We have have hidden away in our actions, in our avoidance of facing ourselves and our deeds. So, we eat, we sex, we judge, we buy, we gossip, we kill, we control, war, drink and drug ourselves away from ourselves, and sadly, away from God within and all around us. No, it is not distance but heart that separates us from our divine essence. We must Be and Live our essence.
Cancer, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and a myriad of other maladies are our harvest, as is our loneliness and our empty non-fulfilling relationships. While a burger and fries are quick and tasty, and our relationships seem healthy from the number of friends we have on Facebook, mostly we live within empty calories and tasty fat that does little more than satisfy our carnal desires.
To eat healthy takes time - time to grow healthy foods, and time to properly prepare that food. To love healthy and have strong relationships with other souls, it takes time and effort from both parties, no matter the geographical distance. And, to commune with God and to live Godly, that too takes nurturing with our sleeves rolled up in commitment and faith. God is so, so far away, but through our acknowledgement, our efforts and dedication; the unseen, the unheard and the unimaginable, the infinite, is right beside us, within us and is all around us.
So, how is your diet? Quick, easy and filled with nothing nutritional?
How are your relationships? Are they too a product of ease and convenience, a tantalizing wrapper, but full of self-desire or ego?
How about God, the unseen? Where is that aspect? Just in some brick and mortar church, or somewhere over there? Is God a matter of pretty clothes on Sunday, your appearance in church, your quoting of, or talking about God? Or, is God the predominant part of your life, the each and every moment in your life? Is God simply the ease of reading about God, symbolically praying to God, and the hope and belief that God will swoop in at the last second to save you from your fast and convenient choices? Or is God something you diligently cultivate, nurture and tend to within yourself each and everyday?
You see, our food choices, our people choices, and all of our convenience choices say more about us than do words. These choices of ease, tell a tale of us, how much effort we put forth, how courageous we act, whether or not we face our darkness’s, atone for our misdeeds, ask for forgiveness, and choose to discern instead of just following along. Life is not just physical, but spiritually filled and lived, which is evidenced through the physical, our vessel’s, our relationships, and the health of our soul, and the kingdom and realm of God. Everything is connected. Only in self-delusion are we separate.
Ask this of yourself, Would I bring my abhorrent, self-absorbed life choices into God’s house, your “heavenly” kingdom? If you have actually looked at your life, the answer would be, No. If your answer is yes, your continued convenient choices will lead you right where you need to be, and you will rejoice in the gluttony of your withered fruitless existence, not even knowing of, or caring about what you missed. Your Will, will be done.
Today, change what you eat, change who you date, change how you talk to yourself, and change how often you commune with God. Today, look beyond the ease of a convenient life to the substance waiting for you. All it takes is attention, courage, conviction, discernment, and some effort and faith.
Worth The Journey - “A Seed in the Desert”
A Seed in the Desert
When we are sent out to find the seed in the desert, overwhelm starts our voyage and confusion determines our way. In our self-seeking of one seed in a world of deserts, many stop, before they begin. Who in their right mind would search for a seed in the infinite sands of all the deserts? (more below)
