Recently I had a conversation with a girlfriend who is getting a tattoo of a cross on her arm. I said , I didn’t even know you went to church. She said I don’t. I just love Jesus in my own way and I don’t really talk about it because I don’t want people to judge me for the things I do.
That makes me so sad to hear things like that. Why do we have to hide our faith? Is it that if you're not a perfect person and have it all together, then people won’t take you seriously as someone of faith? I think that it is exactly.
People don’t want to be judged by others.
Period.
Well it’s called religious freedom for a reason. Were SUPPOSED to be able to practice our faith in the way we each see fit and no one else is SUPPOSED to judge you for it.
I told my girlfriend, I have been judged about my faith practice for so long that I don’t care anymore. I have had a message on my heart for as long as I can remember. It is to love people where they are and to show compassion when you don’t want to.
Does that mean I do that every time?
NO, but I sure try. Everyday. To be better than yesterday.
Anytime I don’t like the way someone act's, I look for the story behind the behavior. What drives that person to be so mean and hurtful? It’s always because of the most basic principle that we all follow…
Monkey see, monkey do.
Some asshole parented a little kid and turned that kid into a new and improved asshole. I know that’s over simplifying, but really, it pretty much comes down to that doesn’t it?
Don’t you find yourself mimicking the same stuff your dumb parents did? I am not trying to disrespect my parents or anyone else's. I love my parents very much and they did the very best they could with what they had. They made many great decisions as parents and just as many bad ones. So did EVERY parent.
We do it unconsciously. On auto pilot. It’s programming.
The way your parents raised you can effect you two ways, you either mirror their behaviour or you say, I’m NEVER going to do that!
I have also seen people that said I will NEVER be like that parent and then later down the road, bingo, they make the exact same bad decision that the parent made. Like it was a program with a fail-safe on it, that you could not turn it all the way off. That at some point the program was going to run and you wouldn’t even see it coming and couldn’t stop it.
Kind of like when your computer wants to restart to update stuff and it keeps asking you and you say “remind me later”. And it keeps asking you right when you're in the middle of something, so you keep hitting,
“Remind me later”.
Until one day it say, “Your computer is going to restart in 10 minutes and you can’t stop it, right in the middle of your blog or your facebook post, boom, it’s over. Your out, you have to wait 20 minutes to get back in.
That is what happens when we put off our spiritual growth. Most of the time, we are just going through our lives, comfortably uncomfortable, being the monkey’s we are and doing the things that monkey’s before us did. But something inside us is pushing us to grow up. To be better people.
More loving
More compassionate
More aware
More tolerant
More evolved
We are not sure exactly how to change things, so we just keep hitting, “Remind me to grow up later”, and go on with our cute monkey selves. Treating people like crap. Treating ourselves like crap. (Subtlety of course, so no can really see.)
Then one day we have put it off to long. We ignored the urge to grow for so long that the body, mind and spirit are all out of sync.
The spirit is screaming at you to be happier and more fulfilled. The mind is yelling, “I’m sick of thinking these same old thoughts!” The body is saying, well too bad! This is what I know how to do, so this is what we are doing. I am scared to do something else, because I might get judged or rejected or get really hurt. So suck it up mind and spirit, this is what we're doing.
The spirit says, ok, well if you don’t want to follow this urge to grow in a mature way and get into the flow of it, then you will end up learning the hard way. Everyone has to grow! It’s part of the plan. Body say’s, NOPE. I’m staying just the way I am.
But the pulling and pushing inside to change is to much for the body, then whammo, blammo! (That’s the technical term for shit hitting the fan.) The body has gone and done something really stupid. Self destructive. Sabotaging.
But the pulling and pushing inside to change is to much for the body, then whammo, blammo! (That’s the technical term for shit hitting the fan.) The body has gone and done something really stupid. Self destructive. Sabotaging.
To themselves
The family
Your friends
Your job
Your health
Your tribe
The reboot happened and you could not run from it anymore. That is usually when people break down their marriage with drugs, alcohol, cheating, etc. Because they couldn’t tell people what was going on inside of them because of fear of judgment. Or fear of losing what they have.
Growth happens my sweet little monkey’s one way or another. We have to evolve.
And thank God we do or we would still be burning witches at the stake! If we were still doing that then me and all my best friends would be extra crispy!
We can evolve from a splinter or a two by four, but I guarantee you can’t outrun growth. Even if it means God brings you back home to do it.
I say all this to get back to my original thought.
It makes me so sad that we have to hide ourselves from each other because of fear of judgement.
If your marriage is making you miserable, but you won’t talk to anyone because they will not see you as the great person with the great family anymore, then find a real friend. Find someone that get’s it. That you can have a great family and feel heart broken at the same time.
Find someone that understands that sometimes you want to take this career you have taken your whole life to build and tank it.
Find someone that understands that you, with your foul mouth and your tattoo’s. You, with your drunken and slutty behavior. You, with the over spending problem. You, the gay one.
You-the one who loves God and God loves you. Just as you are. Your faith is just as credible. Your prayers are just as powerful and the the ones that have been ordained. (Oh no she didn’t?!, Yes, I did.)
The prayer from a homeless, drunk bum on the street has just as much response from God as the Pope. The difference is they might have a larger territory to pray for, so some people have more prayer effectiveness because they have expanded their practice over the years.
But still, a prayer is a prayer is a prayer. God is an equal opportunist prayer responder.
So please don’t be ashamed to love God because you are not acting “right”.
For years, I went to the only church in town that openly accepted ALL people. Gay, mixed races, addicts, ALL people were welcome to be in church and to love God in ANY way that they could.
Don’t judge people because of religion, judge people for being assholes. When you meet an asshole, you don’t have to be their friend, but you can pray for them to have more peace in their life so that they can be more loving to others. Because they are just following the basic principle of life. Monkey see, monkey do.
The reason we have religion is so that each person can have a language or a teaching that gets to your heart. Your heart that is supposed to see God in all things and all people. So that you will love people when they don’t deserve it. That you will value people when they don’t value themselves. Religion was meant to unite people through faith. Not divide people into gangs.
God unites.
Judgement divides.
Prayer heals us all.
Stay Conscious.
Temple
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