All posts by Lemfel
A young man wrote the Fellowship asking “What is God and where do I find God?” A vital question to ask as we continue our spiritual journey this lifetime!
Christ said two laws are more important than all others: to love God with all our heart and with all our being, and to love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves. These are the twin paths to knowing God. Believing in and loving God is one path that leads naturally to loving others. Or we may begin with our love of others and through this, find God.
Many of us have an innate sense of a higher power, a greater Intelligence behind the orderly operation of the universe and the events of our lives. But those who question or doubt need some help to reason toward this understanding, and as they make this effort, their faith grows stronger.
The truth that God is good is a starting point. Those who recognize God’s presence in themselves, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or any God-centered faith, have one universal quality in common. They’ve learned to recognize that all we do either reflects God or it doesn’t. They’ve learned things they can do that reflect God more strongly in themselves.
In a family, marriage, or with friends, we often do unselfish things for each other. Have you noticed how your love for someone deepens when they perform some kindness for you? And haven’t you done things for them just to see the joy on their faces and experience the happiness this brings?
Sometimes, the depth of this love becomes most evident when someone you love dies. You know the ache of losing them, the feelings of loss. Having someone you can freely give your kindness and love to is priceless. You love being able to share yourself, your deepest thoughts, your dreams with someone close. You could do this with anyone, but there are some with whom these feelings have grown over time, so instead of spreading these acts of love to all we meet, we reserve them for those we trust to respect them. By doing this, do we limit our expression of God, and thereby, our recognition of God?
When children leave home for the first time, unless they have learned to reach out easily to others, there will be a noticeable hole in their lives. It will be a lonely time and they will feel homesick. Those who have learned to let others into their lives and give of themselves will soon find those they can love and who will love back.
Secrets about the nature of God are more easily discovered in the heart than in the head. Look for God through the good you feel and experience. If you go contrary to God and what the Creator represents your whole basis of belief will flicker and grow dimmer until it is all but undetectable. But practice being your best and your understanding of God will increase. Try to live as God intended humans to act toward each other, and you will find God.
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln
When we suffer the shock or pain of events others are going through, or our world seems on the verge of chaos, we can’t do much to help except try to keep our own thoughts and actions positive. But we can breathe a prayer like “Lord help us!” And we can remember our own close calls and near disasters that turned out amazingly well.
As we agonize along with all who are suffering through the disastrous wars, fires, floods, and tornados, and the near-miraculous escapes and rescues reported, we are pulled back into surrealistic memories of our own catastrophic Witch Creek fire in San Diego County. This fast-moving inferno swept in from the hills east of us, whipped by hot, dry winds from the desert as it devoured bone-dry brush and ultimately destroyed more than 1500 structures.
After a tense night of keeping watch, during which the fire burned around and past our Gateway property, we thought we were safe as the smoky morning sky lightened. Then, I repeated, “Lord help us!” as the fire suddenly pivoted and in a few hours incinerated most of the brush on our 200 acres. Tense and exhausting hours of finding and quenching the burning embers blowing in from the holocaust around us followed. Two outbuildings burned, some paint was blistered, and everything was covered with ash. But other than that, ten buildings, our roads, gardens, and orchard all survived.
There are many reasons we were protected as much as we were. Sixty years of up close and practical experience with wildfires on both our properties have taught us a lot. We clear and mow the land around our buildings before each fire season. The fire department inspects our preparations and we follow their recommendations carefully. Still, in a fire-storm, anything can happen, and all of us remember ways we were helped.
The night before the fire, I did an odd thing.
We keep our tractor inside a tunnel-like metal storage shed open at both ends. We never leave it out in the open. Yet, before the fire struck, I pulled it out and left it on a dirt road above one of our shops. To this day I can’t tell you why I did such an unusual thing. But when the fire came through, it charred that shed and sparks and burning embers from the fire front swept through it like pellets through a shotgun barrel!
I don’t know how you might interpret this occurrence but to my mind it was just one example of help from our beloved Masters during this traumatic experience. I admit, it took a while for me to get past the idea that “I” had done something brilliant because our tractor was unharmed and was a lifesaver fighting the fire. But the truth is I was given a strong nudge to act.
This experience was dramatic enough that even someone as thick headed as me would get it. But how about those less dramatic responses to our prayers? The times we get an idea or a solution to a personal problem? Could this be help from an advanced being? So often in difficult situations I say: “Lord help me!” or some similar prayer. And then take credit for the response I am given. It takes a certain amount of humility and a lot of thought to recognize that the help these advanced beings provide is extended quietly, in accordance with God’s Laws, for the greatest good of all concerned, and in a way that provides an opportunity for all of us to grow spiritually.