My story — I grew up in the 50’s & 60’s. There was Mom, Dad and my brother and I. This was a simpler time, a more trusting time. My parents knew my friends and our neighbors. I could pretty much come and go as I pleased. I was taught that people are basically good, to respect all people, to trust people, to expect the best from people, to reach out to others, and help others. This I learned from my parents and they practiced what they taught.
I don’t know that I ever really reached out to anyone, except the time I listened to and spent time with my friend Ross. He lost his business, his wife left him, he was estranged from his older son, and he lost his home and his car. And then his younger son (15 yrs old) was killed in an auto accident. In private, I let him cry. I listened. I just tried to be there as his friend. I had no words of wisdom, just encouragement. He survived. He came back. He married again. They had a little girl. He went back to selling and became very successful again. He came full circle.
Barb (my wife) did reach out to many people over the years. One was a young girl she met in the Big Sisters program. She was a Big Sis to an 11 year old girl for awhile. Theresa (our oldest daughter) did too. She would sometimes take Jose out and sometimes bring him to our house for a visit. He was a young man with a developmental disability that lived at Sunshine Children’s Home. Kathy (our middle daughter) was a friend to Shawn, a classmate, when no one else was. Joyce (our youngest daughter) went beyond the usual and reached out to several people who were marginalized. And she recruited others to help her in her efforts to help the people.
These are a few examples of how my family has tried to live out this passage: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. Joshua 24:15. The Lord is God and we, human beings, are part of God. So we serve each other and that serves God.
As I have moved on this journey through this realm of the physical life I believe my spirituality, my relationship, with God has grown. Over the years I have questioned many of the things I was taught.
Even as a child in Catholic elementary school I didn’t accept everything they were teaching.
For example, the idea that we were not allowed to go to a Protestant church, but if we were forced to, then we were not to participate in any way. We were told not to speak, sing, stand or kneel or do anything but sit there like a bump on a log. Because the Catholic Church was the one, true church. And it was through the Catholic Church that you could get to heaven. This didn’t make any sense to me since they also told me that Jesus died for everyone. So why wasn’t it OK for my friends to worship in their church and get to go to heaven? I couldn’t accept this, but I didn’t say anything to my teachers or parents. My friends, yes, but no one else. Although I was smart enough to give them the answers they wanted on the tests.
And as I grew up I was still being selective in what I believed. I didn’t just accept everything that was presented. I tried to live up to what I was taught by my parents and the church teachings I accepted. We had our struggles: financial and emotional. Both when I was growing up and in adult life. But I have always been a “cock-eyed optimist”, believing that everything would work out and be OK. Good comes out of everything even the bad things that happen. And God was always a part of my life. I never blamed God for our struggles and my belief has borne out in fact. Everything has worked out OK and good has come out of all the “bad” we experienced.
You may recall in my previous reflections I have referenced the “Conversations with God” series by Neale Donald Walsh. I have done this because over the last three years as I read and reflected them, those teachings have resonated within the very core of my being, within my soul.
Those beliefs amazingly matched what I believed even as a child. Now I know they are more than just beliefs, they are my convictions. That is why I say them again, here, to you.
God created everything that is. If God loved us enough to create us and we are part of God, would God really create a way to torture/condemn us for eternity? Is that love?
Human Nature is good and is inclined toward love. We are created out of love, by love, for love. We are born an original blessing, as pure love, perfect — not blemished, not sinful, not imperfect in any way. And we are all created and born with dignity and worth. We are all equal and worthy. We are all one – all connected, not separated, from each other or God.
Free Will means to choose what actions we will take, how we will live our lives without duress, without the threat of condemnation. If we know or believe that we are condemned to eternal damnation for choosing to do certain things do we really have free will?
Life is meant to be joyous, joyful, i.e., joy-filled. Life is meant to be spirit-filled, filled with the spirit of joy, peace and love. We are meant to know and realize that we are part of God and therefore we are not only filled with, but we are joy, peace and love. To see through the eyes of the soul, to live our lives from our soul, rather than from our minds and bodies is how we can realize that we are the joy, the peace, and the love that we want to see in this world. We, human beings, are the beauty of God’s creation. We are life and life is good and beautiful.
All human actions are based in either love or fear. Fear is the opposite of or the absence of love. People ask why are there all these seemingly sinful actions, like violence, oppression, discrimination, etc. if God is love and we are part of God. These actions are all based in fear. Fear that a person will have something taken away from them that they need, or that they will not get enough of something they need. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
(Franklin Roosevelt) Love casts out all fear. So the only question we ever really need to answer is, “what is the loving thing to do?”
We have life everlasting. There is no death. Not as an end, because once created, life goes on. What we call death is merely a transformation into another realm of life. And that is not a sad experience but a joyful one.
If we could all know that God is love and we are part of God and therefore we are love, and all our actions could be based in love, then we would have a perfect world. And all would know that people are good, and respect all people, and trust all people, and expect the best from people, and reach out to others, and help others. And this is love. And love is all there is.
What do you know in your heart to be true about God, Life, and Love?
Peace and blessings.
Terry McCauley
