"If we get what God wants us to have, why ask?

I believe God wants us to have peace of mind, the strongest desire we have; God wants us to be in harmony, our most natural state; and God wants us to be in a continual cycle of giving and receiving love, the greatest experience we can have on this earth. God wants us to have these things because that is what God is. Not an old man with long white beard sitting on a throne somewhere in the far reaches of the universe eager to punish us if we do wrong. God is Life. The three primary characteristics that assure the continuation of Life on Earth are peace, harmony and love and every person born into this world has the unlimited potential to express these three attributes. We have free will to choose how we want to live our lives but at times we make the wrong choices. In a fit of anger we choose conflict instead of peace. Prejudices, discriminations and harsh judgments lead us into disharmony with others. And there are times when we choose not to love. We “have” what God wants us to have. Peace, harmony and love are the very essence of our being, we never have to ask for them. But we don’t always get what God wants us to have because we choose otherwise.

Each of us can add value to the "school" of life

Lonnie Hammack's granddaughter started high school this week. One of her teachers gave her a paper sack filled with several items. Included was the following note:

"Welcome to Mrs. Untiedt Class"

The items in this bag have special meaning:

• The penny is to remind you that you are valuable and special


• The cotton ball is to remind you that this room is to always be full of warm fuzzies - kind words and warm feelings


• The chocolate kiss is to get you through the times when only chocolate will do


• The tissue is to remind you to Let It Out

• The sticker is to remind you that we all need to stick together and help each other.


• The star is to remind you to shine and always try your best


• The gold thread is to remind you that friendship ties our hearts together


• The rubber band is to remind you to bounce back when things don't go the way you expected


• The toothpick is to remind you to "pick out" the good qualities in your classmates


• The bandage is to remind you to stick to it and block out all the negatives


• The eraser is to remind you that we all make mistakes and that is O.K.


• The life saver is to remind you that I will be there to support you when you need it"

This is sound advice for all of us in the "school" of life. May all your years in the school of life be filled with love and wisdom.

How can believing in God change one's life?

God is Spirit. Spirit is life. The Will of God is for that which sustains and empowers life. The Kingdom of God is the ever present expression of love, peace and harmony, which is the fulfillment of God's will in the spiritual realm.

God Spirit is the very life force of every living thing, providing that which is needed to realize its highest possible expression. In the Mind of God, the perfect idea for every living thing exists in the invisible realm of its spiritual essence and is like a blueprint for that which it has potential to manifest in the physical realm.

The spiritual blueprint for an acorn is the oak tree; the spiritual blueprint for a caterpillar is the butterfly; the spiritual blueprint of a seed is the fully blossomed flower; the spiritual blueprint of you and me is a totally peaceful, unconditional loving, beneficial presence to the earth.

When we are unaware of our spiritual potential, we move away from it and engage in prejudices, discriminations, hate and conflict. We justify inequalities and violate the God-given rights of others making of our lives and our world a living hell.

When we are aware of our spiritual potential, we move towards it and engage in compassion, equality, love, peace and harmony, making of our lives a heaven on earth. In the 11^th Chapter of Genesis it reads, “The people of the earth are one, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing they propose to do will be impossible for them.”

When the people of the earth commit to that which has been proposed, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We will have fulfilled God’s purpose for our being here.

Having an open heart

We all know that our brains are more sophisticated than the most advanced computers, but scientists have also discovered that our hearts have an intelligence as well, not with words but with emotions/feeling, a radiating center of energy. That energy that we radiate from our heart actually touches and affects others. So whatever feeling we hold in our hearts is impacting us and the rest of the world. In this present moment, each of us has an opportunity to examine what kind of energy we are holding inside of us as well as sending out into the world. Knowing this, we can make choices for how we want to be in the world, and how we can have a positive impact on ourselves and others. In the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, it says, “We shall all be changed, in a moment, faster than a blink of the eye.” Each of us can be changed for the better that quickly, in this very moment.

In this moment, we can choose to have an open heart, which means allowing the love in our hearts to radiate out. The open heart is like a two-way path—one direction tells us not to initiate or express any words or actions that can be hurtful to another. The second direction is to accept others with understanding and compassion, wherever they are, how ever they are, at any given moment.

If someone’s words or action are negative or perhaps even attacking nature, you have a choice to remain in their presence or remove yourself from it, but an open heart continues to hold them in the light, even when they are acting in an unlovable and unacceptable way. The open heart gives us access to a deeper understanding of others. We may not know all the details of a person’s life or understand what happened to make them the way that they are, but we can understand that they are doing the best they can with the situations life has given them.

Through the deeper understanding that comes from an open heart, we can move to a place where we don’t take responsibility for the way another person acts towards us, but we do take responsibility for how we react towards them.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches us about having an open heart. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. The abundance of what we hold in our heart is the abundance of how we experience the world. Jesus told us to not see our treasure as that of the material world, because those things can be stolen or corrupted or waste away. But rather, we can store up our treasure in our heart, where it is unaffected by worldly things. The place where your treasure is, is the way you will end up being.

There are three lessons of the open heart. First, always assume the best about somebody until there is factual evidence to prove otherwise. With the lack of fully understanding another person, the imagination comes into play, which can spin a false and unfair judgment. Imagine the best in others.

The second lesson is the power of the Golden Rule—treat others the way you want to be treated. How is that we all want to be treated? We want to be respected and seen as a valuable part of this world. We want to be understood. We want others to understand that even though our behavior isn’t ideal at times, that we are trying and we are doing the best we can in any situation. We want to be loved, which in its simplest form is acceptance. We want to be encouraged. From time to time, we need to be told that we are doing fine, and that we have the potential to do better.

The third lesson of the open heart is that the affect we have on the world around us radiates out from us and touches those around us. It is exactly the same effect that we see the world having on us. So each of us can choose today, in this very moment, to open our hearts and let love flow out in all directions, love for ourselves and all others. We can change our lives in the blink of an eye…