Personal Meditation no. 212

“Courage is choosing to change.”

Embrace the Within.

Folks talk a lot about change. There is a lot more talk about change than there is actual change in the world. There is superficial change that gives the appearance of difference BUT there is very little transformational change. This has been one of my complaints about the farce of government and politics and temporal power. The mask of power may change BUT the structure behind the mask remains the same. And you can concoct all sorts of theories and ideas about who is in control and who is pulling the strings in the world of men. You can get on the Interwebs and go down rabbit holes and talk about in echo chambers and point fingers and be the smartest person in the room because no one else has done the research you have done. And what is the point?

You see, I know those people. I was one of those people out there looking for the reason the world is such a mess. I was out there and right here preaching the gospel according to ed. I was pointing fingers and laying blame and looking to change the system. I was voting and active and political and struggling in futility to make folks see the truth. BUT I hadn’t found the truth yet. I was just as lost and blind as everyone else. I was struggling to fix something that doesn’t want to be fixed. I was struggling to change something that doesn’t need or want to change. I was looking for change where it wasn’t going to happen.

There is a courage in changing yourself. There is a courage in seeing the path of the world and standing up and saying that is not for me. There is a courage in looking for truth and unity and joy and abundance. BUT there is no wisdom or courage in looking to change things that are not going to change. And there a lot of things out there you and I cannot change. I don’t care how much we want to look to historical figures and say, “That so-and-so really changed that place into something better.” There is no power on our own to change anything in this world.

This world is already set on its course. You and I both know that things are not destined to get better. This is the last ditch efforts of a world that is broken trying to keep its brokenness alive. A broken world trying to prolong its time. And that time is not forever. That time is always close at hand to ending.

And that is why we need to change ourselves. There is no point in trying to change others, our community, our nation, our world, unless we are willing to change ourselves. There is a courage in choosing to look above and not below. There is a courage in choosing to embrace the eternal and set ourselves apart. There is a courage that is in taking the path of truth.

Or we can choose to tell ourselves comforting lies. There is never a shortage of comforting lies in the world to make us believe we are truly good people. There is never a shortage of comfort in knowing that there are plenty of folks that believe the same lies that we do. There is never a shortage of good intentions and excuses in the world. There is never a shortage of talk about change.

BUT there is a lack of change in our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. And that is a good place to start today. A place to change from looking to control everything else and simply take control of ourselves. Find our divine purpose and embrace the path that God has planned for us. You and I were not created to be less than. We were not created to make excuses. We were created to find the beauty and the abundance and the joy in this broken creation.

Bless your heart. Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin

Be the Change no. 46

“You can’t change the people around you BUT you can change the people around you.”

Be the Change.

I am a reflection of the people with whom I invest my time and energy. These people show a lot about who I am and what I value. I cannot change those people BUT I can change who those people are. And that is probably one of the most difficult problems I face in life because a lot of those interactions are important for my everyday routine. So changing that routine is an important way for me to change who those people are and what they reveal about what I truly love.

I have changed a lot over the past fourteen days. Prior to this I was holding on to my past a lot. I was remembering the times before transferring schools and comparing my time there to my time now. There was a lot of nostalgia about that time just like I compare my place now with the other places and prior times in my life. The difference in the past fourteen days is that I no longer think about those times as better or more valuable than my time and place now. I look back on them with fondness and with love for what they have allowed me to grow and mature into today. BUT I no longer want to go back to then. I no longer have an unrealistic memory of how good it was or how wonderful I thought it was. Those memories are tinted and biased with the highlights and not the reality of what they truly were.

I get a little lost in perspective when thinking about the past. I tend to just gloss over the bad parts and focus on what I enjoyed about those times. BUT, I can see looking around me now that those situations helped me build into where I am today. I needed those experiences to build the better conversations, the better thoughts, the better habits, the better relationships that I have today. Without them I wouldn’t know and value the people that I have in my life today that are great influences in my direction and journey. Folks that are supportive, folks that are working, folks that are changing, folks that are helpful, folks that are positive, folks that are inspirational. If you aren’t finding yourself around those folks, then you need to, as I did, change the folks around you.

And a lot of that happens by just changing you. A powerful tool in attracting the folks you want and repelling the folks you don’t is just in changing you. I am amazed at how my social media and personal life interactions have changed since adopting a spirit of joy and abundance. Adding in a spirit of interest in the Bible and God and the playing field gets even smaller and more intimate. BUT it attracts the people and the voices I want to hear. That change attracts the voices I need in my life and removes most of the naysayers and critics. There is no better repellent for the evil in this world, for the mundane, for the trivial, than the power of God in my life. It is quite illuminating. There is a lot of truth in John 3 when he states, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” The light illuminates all that we want to be around us and chases away the darkness. So, I am finding myself even more reflective these days of the light that I choose to surround me. And embracing that light, that truth, that change makes all the difference in the company I keep.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange