An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life.
He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil -- he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.
The other is good---he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."
They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee replied: "The one you feed".
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds
to be." -- Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president
There is evidence of God, or some kind of higher consciousness, all around us. God makes itself visible through nature of all kinds: trees, clouds, wind, rain, and even the squirrels running through the park.
But if God were to try to talk to us directly using something similar to language, I think it would be a single musical note. And not any ordinary musical note, but one so powerful and beautiful and moving it would bring us almost to tears.
Often when listening to music, certain combinations of notes will come together and I'll wonder, "Is that what God would sound like?". It's a nice thought, in any event!
Yesterday while on a routine shopping trip at Dollar Tree, I spotted a red silicone spatula with a wood handle for, naturally, a dollar. I picked it up, wondered how I'd lived all these years without one, and then I bought it. I was so proud of my new acquisition that I joked about it to the cashier, and then let my cat examine it when I got home.
And now the hard part. What will I do with it? Will it languish in a kitchen drawer for the next 20 years, suffering the same fate as my Braun hand mixer or that whisk thing I bought a decade ago? Or will I actually find the inspiration and motivation to bake a cake? No, that's out because I don't own any cake pans. Maybe all I'll ever use my new spatula for is getting mashed potatoes out a bowl, or squishing flies.
But the deeper question is, how have I made it to middle age without ever owning such a device? Obviously I haven't needed one, but why not? Where is the inner chef in me? Has life become so pre-packaged and convenient that we no longer need spatulas? Everything we could possibly need can now be bought fully prepared, wrapped up, and ready to go! But where's the challenge and satisfaction in that?
So I sit here contemplating my new red spatula. Will I be inspired to actually do something with it, or will it become just another colorful object mixed among other colorful objects in a drawer? I really don't know....but somehow I doubt I'll be buying cake pans anytime soon.
"There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he's absolutely free to choose."
William M. Bulger
American Educator, Senator
Are you living in fear? If you answered "no", you're probably lying to yourself. Fear is all around us, and it's within us. Fear is something we can't really escape. We're constantly bombarded with news and other forms of input telling us that something or someone is out to get us. If it's not terrorists, it's gangs looking for victims in the mall, or bedbugs waiting for a blood snack, or radioactive gas leaking from our granite topped kitchen counters. It's also lovers threatening to leave us, landlords trying to evict us, employers hinting at job cuts, or pharmaceutical companies trying to convince us we have some condition that only their drugs can treat. It's enough to make you not want to leave the house, until you remember that most accidents happen within the home.
If you let it happen, the media, the government, your well-intentioned friends, and other fear mongers will have you scared out of your wits, unable to enjoy life and unwilling to explore your God-given potential. It's up to you to take control and live without letting fear run the show. You are a child of God, and this holds true regardless of what your definition of "God" is. God is all about creativity and creation: new thoughts, new things, new actions. You can't be creative if you're hiding under your bed! Go out, step out, move out. Just get out there and take a few risks.
On the other side of fear, we always find freedom.