History Starts Now

With each new breath we are making OUR history. That history is not our future, it is our past! Our planning is our future. We have to learn that our past IS past. It’s gone! We can’t relive that past, it’s over! It’s gone!
Years ago I often heard folks say; I wish I had eyes in the back of my head. They wanted to be able to look back on their past and be able to sidestep those mistakes so they could avoid them in their future. That’s what our learning is all about! We are supposed to learn from our past mistakes so we don’t let them happen again!
God knew what he was doing when He put our eyes in the front part of our heads. He put them there so we could only look forward! Next He gave us our brains (our hard drives) to store the things we learned. When He created man, He gave him a brain large enough to hold all the things we were learning in our fast moving world. And, He built in extra space to hold many new things that will come to us in the future.
Most of today’s Holy books were written way in the past to point us toward the future. In my opinion, any religion that deals only in the past is a dead religion. It is impossible to move forward by walking in the shadows of the past, walking in place, or walking backward.
Our future is in our learning! If at the end of our day, our only entry in our diary of life is; today I learned nothing! You had just as well been dead! You have wasted that precious day that your God has granted you! I hope that you don’t point to that day and brag that you wasted another day. Another “same old, same old!” Progress is not built on wasted days!
So often I hear someone say; when he and I, or when she and I were together, my life was so different. But they’re gone now! Their history is gone but your history is still ticking away! Didn’t you have much of your own life while you were with them? Then why can’t you have a life after their gone?
Each person’s Book of Life is that person’s book. Others may walk through some of the pages but it’s our book, is our history. Others have their own book! And, we don’t want our last chapter to sound as though it was written by a walking dead!
Our God gives us many blessings every day but those blessings are hard to see through tears or while walking around with closed eyes feeling sorry for ourselves.
Many say they would like to go back to those “good old days.” They can’t! Those days ARE GONE! Those days are just a part of our history, part history and part fantasy. You can’t go home, it isn’t there anymore! The only way you can look backward is by looking in a mirror! And, as you look, there you are, right in the middle of what you see! There you are! Just what you made you to be!
With each breath, each hour, each day, we add to another page in our Book of Life. As we thumb through our book, we may find things we don’t like. What better time to make some changes than this instant before it to becomes our history?

Who Am I?

Who am I? Who are you? Does any one of us ever really know ourselves? Have we lived in a fantasy world, that each of us has created for ourselves, for so long that we can no longer remember that person God created us to be?
God created each of us as his chosen image. Then, we spend many of our waking moments trying to change or “improve” on His work! Are we trying to improve ourselves or are we trying to make ourselves into someone else?
Think of the millions of dollars spent on advertising each year trying to convince us that we would look better if we looked like, this or that, someone else! God created each of us as an individual. It looks like to me, that we’re spending those millions to send us on a way that would lead us all to a make-believe perfect rubber stamp world. A world where everyone would look perfect in the eyes of those spending all that money for advertising.
I want you to understand this; I believe that God given body is our castle, I believe our duty is to maintain that body the best we can, I believe we should show pride in this outer shell that God has granted us. I feel that if we feel shame each time we look into a mirror, Our Heavenly Father also feels our shame. He gave us a special piece of molding clay (our bodies) to work with. If we have messed it up to where we are ashamed, it’s not just us, others feel our shame.
I’ve talked to many others that have told me they would like to be someone else! That is a dream that can never come true! We have to face the facts, wasn’t it really us that made us who we are and where we are today? If you don’t like what we see today, what better time is there than RIGHT NOW to start making those changes we know we need to make to help us be the person we want to be?
Many have told me that they would like to be someplace else. Wasn’t this your someplace else the last time? If we always keep running and looking for that “someplace else” how can we ever be sure if we get there? And, if we keep trying to make ourselves that “someone else”, how will we ever know when we get to be THAT person?
Many of us often play the lottery. We spend a little money and then spend a lot of time dreaming of how we would spend all of that money. Sure, we could or would, use it to make a better life for ourselves and others. It’s so easy to spend that money we don’t have or never will have. Could it be that if we would spend some of that dreaming time thinking about ways we could make our “this life” time a little better, we could?
When God created our earth bodies, he created them so they would wear out. I see many adds for products claiming they have the ability to hold back the ageing process. It ain’t going to happen! Growing old is a God given right. God put just so many grains of sand in each of our hourglasses of life. Accept that fact and learn to live each of your grains of sand to the fullest! Don’t waste your life trying to count the number of grains left in the top of your glass. Each of those grains are there for you to live life in the fullest. Don’ waste a single one!
It’s always fun for me to reflect on my many different layers and colors of my paints of life that I’ve used so far, many that I used trying to change the Bob my God created to a Bob I’ve never been completely happy with. After looking closely I can proudly say that I can still find a lot of that original Bob showing through the many cracks in all of those layers!
Sometimes I have to look harder than others to find that true Bob but yes I know who I am. It’s important for each of us to look hard at us and understand who we really are.

The Thin Line

From the time we take our first steps until we take our last step, we learn that as we take each of those steps, we do it to please others as well as ourselves. Those first few steps are toward waiting arms and we have learned that if and when we reach those outstretched arms there will be smiles and praise. We also know that if we fall flat on our bottom we must quickly pick ourselves up and keep heading for those outstretched arms to get those needed smiles and praise! Those first few steps teach us this important life’s lesson; we learned that all we had to do was please others to cause them to point their praise and smiles in our direction. And, those praises and smiles were worth it!
With each additional step we had learned just what it took to keep those people smiling! Wasn’t that our true goal? Keep um smiling! It wasn’t always our choice but it was what they expected of us. Also, we found it easier than going against their wishes. We had learned to go with the flow!
As our lives progressed we had to learn life’s lesson number two; we learned that things that put smiles on some faces brought scolding from others! We had to walk a finer line than we first thought! We had to learn things we could or could not say in front of others. We had to learn that there was a time to talk and a time to listen! We also found that there was different ways to talk to different people!
What we were learning was our fine line was viewed differently by different people! We had to set different guides for each person in our lives! Thinking back today; weren’t we trying to change our lives, the one God gave us, to try to please each new person in our lives? Weren’t we trying to please the world just to get that smile or pat on the back? Were we getting to the point that even we had no idea of who we really were?
Can we let our one life be changed into the many different lives others expect us to be? Doesn’t our own likes and dislikes fit someplace in here? I’ve heard people talk about the “real you.” Does anyone know their “real you” in today’s world? After we have played so many different parts trying to please others it’s hard to find any ourselves left!
The fine line that others expect us to be walking today has so many twists and turns that we could easily find ourselves running in circles! Our God gave each of us a conscience and each is different. Things that some find acceptable others find unacceptable. The same is true of different religions, sometimes in the same religions. Many wars are fought and many are killed using God’s name to justify those wars.
I look upon my God as a friendly loving God. I have never felt that I have to walk as fine a line around Him as I do around some of the people around me. My God forgives me when I mess-up. That’s more than I can say for some of those around me!
If you draw your expected line to narrow for me, you’ll find me stepping over it! I expect some elbow room! After all, I was born a Bob and I intend to stay that Bob! It’s only possible to change a small part of me. I expect to take every step of my life as a learning experience and I intend to take each of those steps “my way!”

God's Will

The more I have talked to people, the more selfish I have found them to be. It seems to me that most want God’s help but they want it to be on their timing and their terms! Sorry, but God does things only His way! Time and time again I’ve heard religious leaders give blessings but most tell God what they expect God to do and sometimes even how they think God should do it! Are they telling God how to do His work? Do you really think a few words from a human can change God’s Will?
In my lifetime I have given thousands of blessings. Yet, I can’t remember, even once, my telling Him what to do or how to do it! I do not believe any human speaks for God. I believe many of us are His tools. I believe that often He tells us what He expects of us but I don’t believe we have the right to tell Him what we expect from Him. I feel many “so called” religious people have become so drunk on their self proclaimed power that some even feel that they are gods within themselves!
Many think that power is granted to them by the robes or crowns they wear, or how they dress, or symbols they show, or the books they quote from, or even the certificates nailed to their walls. To me this is just window dressing. To me all of that is no true mark of “the power.” It’s what comes from their heart into my heart that I look for and all that extra make-up in no way speeds that journey.
I’ve been waiting and it just happened! I heard you say “with all your restrictions how can you give so many blessings?” First; I believe there is a lot of distance between telling and asking! My blessings always start with; if it is Your Will. Then I never take it on myself to tell God what is needed. I’m sure He already knows and He doesn’t need me to remind him! And, with each blessing I always give thanks.
Many of my blessings are silent; they are just between my God and me. I just need my hand on their shoulder or a warm handshake; I try not to make it a public happening. My blessings usually go something like this; “My Father in Heaven, I ask that, if it is Your Will, you will direct the Holy Ghost to show this person’s inner spirit how to deal with the problems of the body. I thank You for bringing this person into my life”.
My life has become much smoother as I’m learning accept more of my everyday challenges as His Will. For years I would ask for guidance and then try to argue about the direction I was being led. It has taken years to learn that if I ask for something, I better be ready to receive it. Because: it may come in a way that is unexpected!
Each day as I learn to accept more of His will, I find it harder to lose my temper, although there are still times when if my button is pushed, I find it hard to back off. I’m trying harder to use these times as learning experiences. The more I learn to accept His Will the more I find my will to be less important. One other thing I’ve noticed; on my road of life I’m finding fewer stumbling blocks!
Today, I find myself more satisfied with what I have. I find that my “wish I had” or “wish I could” list to be much shorter! I know now that it is by His Will that all of the blessings are put into each of our lives! It’s only when we try to change things that have already been written in our “Book of Life” that our lives get messy. Learn to live with His Will because it will be done! And lastly; learn to give thanks for what you have already been given.

I'm Not Worthy

Some friends were at the house the other afternoon and one of the ladies mentioned how she was hurting. I took several minutes explaining to her how I was able to relieve my pains. How I had asked God to show me how and been shown.
Her reply really floored me! She told me; she did not feel worthy! Was she telling me she didn’t feel worthy enough to ask God for help? All my life I have always believed that God was always at my side and those times I felt I really needed His help all I had to do was ask. In my asking I have always included the words “Your Will, will be done. And then, I learned to add one more line, the hard part! I ask for His help in understanding and accepting His Will!
I never considered my worthiness whenever I was talking to My Father in Heaven, I never doubted that He was by my side. Many times I had seen Him answer the prayers of the least among us. Including me! I never believe that my God had a quota on worthy or unworthy folks the day of our birth. I believe that when He created us as humans that He knew each of us would mess-up, some of us many times. But, I also believe we all have been given ways to be forgiven for those mess-ups. I don’t believe there is any relationship between those mess-ups and our relationship with God. If there was, heaven would be a small place!
Several times I have expressed my views, and those My Friend told me, on judging. I believe no human should judge another. And, I believe that this especially applies to that person trying to judge themselves! I have seen many lives ruined or wasted by just that! Have you ever heard the term “inferiority complex?” Is it anything more than one trying to judge themselves? Wouldn’t you like to have the money spent on pills for just that one problem?
In my lifetime I’ve heard many say “I’m not as good as ---“Of course you’re not! Neither am I! But, “I’m better than ---!” And, so are you! Please think about this; that person you’re comparing yourself to did that in the past! And, that’s a past that even they can’t go back into. That’s why they give trophies and ribbons because, even for them, it may never happen again!
I have always believed our Lord had a special place in His heart for all of us “not so greats” because He created so many more of us! If you see someone doing something you would really like to do, set it as a future goal. But, don’t set that first goal too high. Set that first goal a small step. When that goal is reached relish your accomplishment, then set another goal a step higher.
Always remember this; each of us is a Child of God! And, He created each of us differently! Never set a goal for yourself that is so high, that your body is unable to reach your high expectations! Don’t let that unreachable goal cause you to feel inferior. Each body has its limitations.
Try to picture your feelings of worthy, or unworthiness as an invisible hammer that you use to pound yourself into the ground. Take that hammer and put it away in your toolbox of life. Only take it back out when it can be used for something positive down the road. God will let you know when!

Angels In Our Midst

For many years I’ve heard people talking about angels. For many of those years I thought they were talking about those pretty ladies, with wings, dressed in white and sometimes playing small harps. I had seen pictures of them in Holy books but I never met one in real life. I never really bothered to look to hard for one of them because once I looked at those pictures I couldn’t visualize a full grown person being able to fly with such small wings. In other words; I thought those angels were just made up things the artists made up to sell paintings.
It took me more years to change my minds picture of angels. I’ve found that my angels come in all shapes and colors. And, they’re not just pretty ladies. Some are men!
My next surprise was that I had more than one! I’ve heard people speak of their guardian angel, we should think more as our guardian angels. Yes, more than one! I’ve learned that God chooses the one best suited to do what He calls them to do at that time. His time!
That angel could be the person across the street, a best friend, someone you’ve only passed on occasion, or maybe someone you will never know. And I can assure you that they will not be recognizable by their halo or wings. That’s because they are all real people!
Have you ever had something happen and then you thought or said “I’m sure that was meant to be?” Think about this; who meant it to be? And, why was it done at just that time? Have you ever had something happen that couldn’t possibly happen? But, it did! How did it happen? Who made it happen when you couldn’t? I’ve had things happen to me in the past week, that there was no way that I could make happen. Yet they did! Did some angels, under Gods guidance, make them happen when I couldn’t? Could prayers be answered before they are ask? Have you ever thought to yourself; someone must have read my mind? Who do you think that someone was?
God makes some of our angels transparent. They do their deeds and never want to be known. I believe we should give our thanks and respect His wishes.
Angels are a lot like our other blessings, we must learn to open our eyes to see them. As I said before, my angels come in all shapes and sizes. Some come to help us move mountains while others are there to give us that needed touch or say the right words when our needs are greatest.
Of this I’m sure; those angels are always around us. You may find them wearing ragged jeans or five-hundred dollar dresses or suits. Don’t try to look for your next angel for he may not yet know that God has chosen him to be our next angel. But, God knows!

The Best I Can

I’m going to go back in time to make my point, so please bear with me. I’m old! Really old! Somewhere between eighty-five and death! When My Friend first told me to start this blog I had the feeling that My Father in Heaven was pulling some kind of a joke on me.
The second time I was told I realized He wasn’t blowing smoke! He was telling me, Bob, to start a blog! There I stood, almost eighty-five years old and He was telling me to start something that I had no idea of what it was! I felt that throughout my life I had a good relationship with my God but never before had He really told me to do something. He did not ask me to, He told me to!
What else could I do? So, just one month and one day after my eighty-fifth birthday I posted my first blog! It has one of the scariest things I had ever done in my life! Then, I realized if I was to publish a blog I had to come up with new things regularly! And, I thought about all of the worry and sweat I had used to finish that first essay and then I started to worry about finding the subject for that next blog. Then, after I found my subject how was I going to find enough stuff to fill the rest of the pages?
About that time along came My Friend with one more little rock that He placed in my road! He told me that my blog was to be inspirational BUT I was not to use scriptures! The reason being that it would be read by people of all religions. That, after I thought I had most of the worms back in the can!
It was only then that I realized; if my God told me to do something He would also provide me a way to do it! And, I should expect some guidelines as to how He wanted it done.
I have spent much of my life acting as my own efficiency expert, that is, I always looked for easy ways to “just get it done.” At the time of my birth my life’s expectation was sixty-one years. I used up most of those years “just getting it done” and then moving on to the next job!
Never before did I find something that I felt was important enough for me to “give it my best!” This blog has changed all of that. Before, if I picked up a pen, it was just that, a pen. Today when I pick up that same pen I look upon it as a tool full of words and those words are just there waiting for someone to let them out. It seems as though as soon as that pen touches my paper those words start flowing out.
I always look forward to finding the subject of my next blog. I never know what it will be but I know that I will be shown when I need it. The subject for that blog is always given to me unexpectedly as a one line title for my next blog. When I hear that right line My Friend says to me “Bob write it down.” It’s then I have the title line for that next blog!
I print that title at the top of the page. Then, I again read those words. Next I put my pen to the paper to let those words out! All of those bottled up words start flowing from its tip.
I’ve found for me, I have to want to do the best I can before I can do the best I can. And, it feels so good doing it!!!
Oh yes! This is my sixty-third blog and just over a month from now I’ll be eighty-six! My, how time flies when you’re doing what you really want to do!

They Don't Walk My Way

If the rest of the world would just think and walk the way I do, what a wonderful place this world would be. But, they don’t! Maybe I should change that last part to; what a boring place this world would be. Our God sure knew what He was doing when He created us. He made each of us as different as our fingerprints!
Many lives have been ruined by people trying to change others into the person they would like them to be. Before we try to make changes in others we should first think how hard it is to change our image of ourself into the one who we would like to be!
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard parents say; they don’t know what is the matter with their kids. They’re not like them at all! Of course they’re not! God gave them the power to think for themselves! And, that’s just what they are doing!
I’ve also lost count of the times my Grandma and my Mother would first look at me and then say “Bob what on earth were you thinking?” Now, let us look at your kids or grand kids and didn’t you wonder the same thing?
I pride myself in doing things “my way.” And, I resent it when others try to change me! Could others feel the same way? Others may want to, or think they can, look into the thinking parts of our brains but they are still a long way from understanding how it works and how to change our thinking process.
We pay doctors large sums of money to try to analyze and maybe even change our way of thinking but at best all those doctors can do is express their opinions. And, as we know those opinions are subject to change! They can prescribe all kinds of expensive drugs that, also at their best, last until the next new one comes out. Much has been spent on those “mind altering drugs” but it seems to me that there is still a lot to learn.
Millions of dollars has been spent on advertising with the hopes those dollars can create a desire or need. Actually the purposes of each add is to “brainwash” the person reading it! The only reason it is there for you to read is to sell stuff!
Our kids have been bombarded with those high-tech ads from birth. They have been taught to move faster, that a drive-in meal is better than a sit-down meal with their family, that everything is better if it is supersized, that a best friend can live a half world away, and they have been taught to do things differently than US! I’m sure they would like to change us into thinking more like them. But they can’t! We do things “our way”, they do things “their way!” Isn’t that the way God created us in the first place? Do I really want the entire world to think and walk “my way?” I guess not!
I find many of us so set in “our ways” that it is hard to imagine there could be other ways to reach that same goal. Years ago I had a famous teacher tell me there were two ways to reach a goal. There was his way and the wrong way! How many are looking at today’s world but still looking through the same narrow vision glasses he was wearing that day?
Every second our world changes! Many try to keep it like we remember it “back then.” Back in “the good old days” but the younger generation doesn’t have our “good old days” to fall back on or hide in.
We must give others a chance to stumble and fall a time or two. Wasn’t that a part of our learning? Didn’t we learn with each fall how to pick ourselves up?
In prayer we told Him; His Will would be done. His will could be different for me than it is for you! Ask yourself; are you trying to advise or control? There is a fine line between the two but a world of difference! And, we must remember that choice is theirs not ours!

Black Entertainment

This morning I was shocked when I heard two people talking about “Black Entertainment” on a TV talk show. As soon as they started discussing the subject I heard many beeps blocking out many of their words. As soon as the word “black” entered the conversation, it was quickly followed by much profanity! It was only then that I realized both (one was black and one was white) were associating black with profane!
Every now and then I flip to the black TV channel, but I seldom stay there long. It’s so depressing for me to watch people making fools of themselves and their race in the name of comedy and calling it entertainment.
After the many years of tears and bloodshed while fighting for equality it seems to me that today’s trend is to return to segregation by speech, dress, and actions. In my book equal does not mean different!
One of my life’s most proud moments happened while I was helping with a prison ministry. I walked into a group that was talking among themselves, I overheard one of our regulars tell a new member of our group; we don’t use street talk around Bob, he’s better than that! I feel that if you know the difference, aren’t you better than that too?
A person that doesn’t want to be looked down upon must set higher goals for themselves! There’s no way you can always expect someone to do it for you.
I believe that My Father in Heaven is always at my side. I also believe that I never need to use words that would be beeped out on TV in front of Him! Do you?
If you believe that pulling yourself down is the only way you can make a buck or make a statement, so be it. But, don’t pull your entire race down with you! I’m sorry but I just don’t believe lowering one’s standards can be called progress!
I have always believed that successful people should be examples for our kids. With so many of the examples that I see today, I feel it’s no wonder so many of those kids are getting into trouble or are dropping out of school!
I would like to see that word “black” used more as a positive than how I see it used in today’s world as a description for something degrading or shoddy!