Boot Straps, time to pull yourself up

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 Most everyone has been put through the wringer over the last couple of years, and although it has not been the best of times, it sure has given us the opportunity to adhere to the adage of pulling ourselves up by the boot straps and forging ahead. What I want to do today is simply provide some additional encouragement, and let's face it, everyone needs encouragement from time to time.

I sat down to write this morning, and although I thought I knew what I was going to write about, the title I had in my head just  one day ago would not come back to me, and that always means I was suppose to head in a different direction.  So here we are, and here we will find ourselves on another journey of discovery.  I want to add a note here, not as a statement that I think I have all the answers, I do not.  But rather a statement that says I desire to provide whatever insight I have to aid you in your journey of discovery.  We were never meant to have to deal with many of the issues we deal with, but alas we find ourselves doing just that, dealing with what seems like impossible issues almost daily.  Many are tired, many are discouraged, and many have simply given up.  The encouragement I want to give you today is nothing more than telling you that no matter what one might be going through, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with your name on it.

I have had struggles in my life.  Some tiny in comparison to what others have gone through, but to me they were monumental, and I had to learn to set aside emotions, set aside thoughts of failure, and instead hold fast to what I know as truth, we are creative beings.  We have been given immense power, and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we learn to use it, the sooner we will not longer need those boot straps to pull up on when it comes to getting through difficult situations.  We have been fed a line of BS since we were little about what we could and could not do.  I know I've written about this numerous times in the past, but repeating something over and over again is what some need to finally get it into them.  I cannot stress the importance of coming to a complete understanding of your true essence.  I cannot stress enough the absolute necessity of realizing the significance of your being.  When one can touch, accept, and know the truth of their creation, they then will be on that path of enlightenment. Some people still do not understand enlightenment. To many people it is that impossible journey.  It is the unanswered question.  It is the mystery that many feel they will never comprehend until it is too late.  Believe it or not, there are some who will run away from enlightenment because it would force them to decide.  Decide if they are going to go all in, or will they simply sit back and let things happen as they happen.  Now sitting back and watching is what many, many people do, and they become reactionary verses proactive.  It doesn't make it right or wrong, as we all have a preference.  What it does though is make it almost impossible for someone to ever get to their true place in life.  

When we were created, do you think God's intention was to put us here simply to be tested in every manner known to man?  Do you think that your creation was nothing more than an opportunity for God to say "let me laugh at you", and "I really want to see you squirm"?  That's not how God operates, yet we find many who really believe this to be the truth about life.  My friends, we have to get cemented in the knowledge of our true essence.  We have to accept the perfection of our design, the significance of our being here, and the hold fast to the knowledge that we are not just mortal.  How many people do you know who have gotten to a place in life where they are creating?  How many people do you know who are able to walk on water, turn water into wine, or raise someone from the grasp of death?  My guess the number would be zero, and yet we have all those abilities in us.  If we have the ability to raise someone from the dead, wouldn't it be easy to keep ourselves out of situations that are contrary to our nature?  Let me put it this way:  if you were a weight lifter and you just picked up and pressed 400 pounds.  If all you had on the next life was twenty-five pounds, how much easier would it be?  Well the same can be said when we look at what we are, what we were created to do, and what we face each day.  When you grasp your abilities, when you accept your greatness, when you walk in that I Am presence, all things seem to be a little easier to get through.  

Pulling yourself up by the boot straps is nothing more than understanding who and what you are.  Pulling yourself up by the boot straps is nothing more than not accepting limitations that have been placed on you by others.  Pulling yourself up by your boot straps is nothing more than acknowledging I am that I am.  If I had the ability to flip a switch and instantly awaken every human on this planet, I would do that.  There is so much that we should be doing in this life, and yet many never get to that place because they are fighting battles that they were never intended to fight.  If I spend a life time getting past what others are telling me I can't do, or shouldn't do, that is just time wasted, and I'll never get to doing what I was sent here to do.  Pulling one's self up by the boot straps is accepting greatness, creative ability, and more than anything, accepting your calling.

I want to encourage you this morning to begin to walk in your true essence.  I want you to begin to accept your greatness.  I simply want you to forget about all the do's and don's, and simply be what you were always intended to be.  We are fast approaching critical mass in regards to where this thing we call life is heading.  It may seem overly dramatic, but we must come to grips with our purpose, our destiny.  Anything shy of this, only causes us to doubt, to stumble, to be less than we are.  No one benefits when we are not being rue to self, and being true to self is as simple as accepting you.  

So here's the question: will you continue to simply go with the flow, or will you pull yourself up by the boot straps and declare I am that I am?  Will you accept greatness, creativity, and more than anything else, will you accept your perfection?  Trust me, as tough as it may seem to get where you are supposed to be, it is far more difficult wither away to nothingness because the world has made you feel like you are nothing. You are anything but nothing, and once you accept this truth, then the boot straps you pull up on will never fall away again.

Going Round the Mountain, Again.....

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 Whether it's going around the mountain again, or Robinhood's Barn, or simply repeating what has become an excruciating exercise in futility, there is one thing we need to recognize; we've all been there, and we will undoubtedly be there again.  What I want to do today is encourage you to never give up, never give in, and never, ever doubt what your destiny is.  Believe it or not I am writing this today just as much for me as for any of you.  There are struggles that each of us have that for some unknown reason seem almost impossible to tackle, let alone explain.  If you find yourself incapable of explaining your current position, how you got there, the why's and how's, then almost for certain, you are going to be going round the mountain one more time.  Lessons come to us to teach, to prepare us,  and to open our eyes to reality.  Now reality is sometimes a difficult thing to grasp, but sooner or later clarity will come to you, and your journey around the mountain will finally come to an end.

As humans we often question things, and for some unknown reason never expect to get an answer to our question.  This may stem from the fact that we have indeed been going around the mountain for what seems like a lifetime.  The question so many people ask is why.  Why am I going through this ordeal again?  Why do things have to be this way?  What do I do when I don't know what to do?  All questions each of us have asked at one point in time or another, and the very same questions you will be asking yourself the next time you make a pass around the mountain.  Failure is never fatal, it is simply a bump in the road.  Failure is often not pleasant, but it is a valuable tool in teaching us the better way, the perfect way, the way that will take you to the peak for that glorious view of all things.

I fully understand the torment that can come from situations.  The unanswered questions, and the desire to have those questions answered in a way that we know that we know we are going to make it.  I cannot put myself in your shoes, but I can empathize with you as I have had my own struggles, struggles that seemed almost impossible, and more painful than words can describe.  Faith tells us to see things as though they are, even in the absence of actually seeing the results you seek.  Displaying faith in the face of struggles is difficult, it is maddening at times, and to be honest is causes one to feel lost and all alone.  Trust me, I have had many an opportunity in life to feel the loneliness aspect of life, and man oh man, it sucks to be brutally honest.  As I write this today, I am struggling with a few situations that quite frankly have me feeling totally alone.  Struggles are never easy, they never come at a time when you are really prepared for them, but you have to believe that they are there to teach us a lesson, and that lesson is what will get us to the place in life we need to be.  I've  never met a single person who will say they have not gone through struggles in their life.  Oh sure there are those who will portray themselves as superheroes, but this facade is nothing more than a smoke screen that will allow them to not actually own what they are going through, and because of that will no doubt be required to go around the mountain one more time.

If you are feeling stressed, feeling alone, feeling like you haven't a clue as to what the next step should be, just own that.  Thinking that we can hide our true feelings to God is simply idiotic.  The sooner we can own things, the sooner we can correct our course,  the sooner we can continue on with our journey, void of going around the mountain again.  Masking what you are truly feeling is never going to be of help to you.  Look at it this way.  If you have ever tried to paint a room, normally you scrape, and scrape for what seems like an eternity because with each layer of paint you remove, you uncover a different color below it.  What you thought was going to be a simple task of removing one layer, has now become a major project removing numerous layers.  Problems come when we try to circumvent the process and instead of removing all the layers, we try to simply do the top one.  Trust me, the finished product is never going to be what it could have been, and you and I both know it.  Shortcuts when it comes to learning things is never the answer, and I know many of you do not want to hear that.  

There are no shortcuts when it comes to going around a mountain.  There are no shortcuts when it comes to learning.  There are no shortcuts when it comes to walking in, and understanding your destiny.  Things take time, and sometimes as much as we want it now, we need to recognize the perfection of the universe and things will happen when they were intended to happen.  That brings me to a very important part: stop questioning the lessons you are going through.  If it wasn't necessary to go through something, you would not be going through it.  Once again you either believe in the perfection of you, your design, your creation, and the perfection of the universe, or you don't.  Trust me, you can tell someone who believes in the perfection I speak of, and those that don't.  Those who can't accept going around the mountain, maybe for the tenth time, are the ones who have never truly believed in their perfection.  I know that may sound strange, but truth is truth.  There are plenty of people who simply try to do everything outside of God's plan, away from what was meant to be, and try to circumvent the need to go around the mountain again.

I wish I could tell you that struggles will never try to attach themselves to you in the future. Oh I can say it, but I would be doing each and everyone of you a grave disservice.  What I can tell you is that each step we take, every course correction we make, has a reason behind it.  We may not know or fully understand the reason at first, but rest assured it will be brought out into the light in due time.  So many people will struggle, and struggle, and struggle with things because they won't take the time to simply allow God to direct their steps.  Don't you know there are people who feel they have all the answers?  I for one do not have all the answers, but I am willing to walk things out, learn from situations, and know that no motion, either forward or backward is lost motion.  Set-backs will happen. Failure is sure to come to each of us once or twice in life.  One step forward, two steps back does not spell failure.  

I've been knocked down, dragged about, gone through things that I could not explain, and things that I certainly didn't want.  Once the dust settled I was able to see the wisdom in all of it, even if it hurt at times.  Today I want you to decide to accept certain things, and realize that in accepting certain challenges, certain hurts, and suffering, that through it all you are gaining wisdom, knowledge, and what is probably the most important thing, faith.  Faith that says you've got this.  Faith that says you are not alone.  Faith that says no matter the time, the length, or how big the mountain is, you will conquer it.  We only fail when we give up.. We only fail when we stop seeing the true us.  That which is intended to happen will happen.  You have been given the power, the wisdom, and the fortitude to get through it.  It's time to start believing that, and walking in truth, in power, and in your destiny.

Where Angels Tread

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 Some believe, some don't.  Some have seen, some have not.  They come in all sizes, all shapes, all colors, and in every part of the universe.  To some they are mysteries, to others just a myth.  To me, they are very real, very loving, and they bring me comfort just knowing they are around me 100 percent of the time.  Our angels, your angels, are gifts from our creator.  They are not simply beings floating around the heavens, they are in fact helpers, comforters, protectors.  What I want to do today is encourage you to reach out and start a conversation with your angels.  I want you to have a relationship with them, knowing every aspect of their being. 

People have often asked questions about these wonderful creations.  How many angles can fit on the head of a pin? Is there an angel that gets its wings every time a bell rings? Will we ever know the truth when it comes to angels?  Let's dig down deep today, and in answering the many questions that surround the existence of angels, maybe we'll be able to identify the importance of angles, and even more importantly, why they exist in the first place.

Like you and I, angels have been around since the creation of time.  They have the ability to be in multiple places at the same time.  The can travel at the speed of thought, and they have no limits in terms of what they can do, and when they can do it.  That being said, angels have always been, and will always be subservient to us.  They will never infringe on our free will, but they will guide us, educate us, and otherwise support us, if we give them liberty to do so.  There are several classifications of angels.  We know of the Arch Angels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Meteron.  There are the little fat cherubs shooting arrows to bring lovers together.  There are warriors, guides, teachers, and worshippers.  They come in all sizes, all shapes, and as scripture tells us, they come to us in the form of man, having entertained them without our knowing it.  

One of the most remarkable things about angels is that they have seen the face of God, worshipped God, and carry the light of God around with them.  As a child growing up I was always fascinated with angels, always wanted a set of wings, allowing me to soar about everywhere I wanted to go.  Admit it, there's something so cool about a huge set of angelic wings, well at least cool to me.  I have never come face to face with an angel, at least not that I know of, but I have been the recipient of angelic assistance throughout my life.  Some of these actions have been small in comparison to what other's might have experienced, yet I still know that assistance was provided to me.  The key to anything dealing with angels is realizing that we have to allow them to operate in our life.  We have to task them, and in the absence of releasing them to do our will, they will simply sit back and watch things happen, good, bad, or indifferent.  There seems to be a reluctance on many peoples's part to activate or move their angels to action.  God the Creator has given us charge over the angels.  What does this mean?  It means that we need to be mindful of what we ask them to do, or in some cases what we fail to ask them to do.  Remember free will.  

There have been volumes, and volumes of pages written about angels.  Theologians have speculated that based on the numbers presented in the bible, legion upon legion, that every single person on the face of the earth has approximately Ten Thousand Angles assigned to them.  Now the skeptic would discount this fact, but one angel, or ten thousand can still be, and can still do what we need them to do.  

What amazes me are the people who doubt the existence of angels, but then again, there are people who doubt the existence of God, so to each his own.  I personally look forward to communicating with my angels. And yes, we can communicate with our angels.  The ones who doubt this, are the very same people who deny the existence of these heavenly beings, and they are also the ones who will cry out for help when they find themselves in dire straights.  Have you ever asked your angels what their name is?  I think the average person would have to answer "No" to that question.  And why is that?  Most people don't seem to think that angels have any specific part to play in their life other than to be a "Guardian" to them, but out of sight, out of mind.  If your angels are out of sight and out of mind, then you are missing out on one of the greatest, if not the greatest gift ever given to you.  When you meet a stranger or would-be friend isn't the first things you exchange besides a greeting, their name?  It's kind of weird to be hanging out with a new acquaintance never knowing the name they go by.  And yet, many go a lifetime without ever knowing a single name, to a single angel, whose only roll is to do what you direct them to do.  

The purpose of this blog today is not to describe every aspect of angels to you.  There are so many different personality traits, physical traits, that there are not enough pages in the world to write it.  The purpose of today's blog is to simply get you to acknowledge the existence of angels, accept the assistance they were created to provide, and know that we can talk to them at anytime, on any day.  Once again God's word says that he has given us charge over angels.  If I have given you authority over something, doesn't that mean that you direct what is going to happen?  If I have given you authority over something, doesn't that mean that you dictate every aspect of the outcome?  Maybe it's time to grow a set and start directing your heavenly beings.  Maybe it's time to ask and receive, believing that you have been granted authority to set loose the legion of angles assigned to you.  

Your angels are God's gift to you.  If I give you a gift, and you never open it, is that gift doing you any good?  Don't ever think you are in this thing we call life alone.  You have legions of angels working on your behalf, whether you see them or not.  I'd love to see my angels face to face.  But in the absence of seeing, I still believe they are all around me doing what angels have been asked to do since the beginning of time.  Take your angels for a spin, and see where your adventures take you.

The Rise of the Pheonix

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From out of the flames it rose. From out of the flames it lifted away from defeat.   From out of the flames the Phoenix escaped what others could only think of as impossible.  Today I want you to imagine escaping all that has trapped you.  Today I want to see you being set free from the expectations of others, and instead head toward those things that  have always intended been for you, promised to you, and what has always been in your heart to do.  There are days when encouragement is needed, when we simply need to be reminded that no mater what may be going on around us, we are triumphant in all things.  

The first thing that needs to be acknowledged when we talk about escape, about being loosed from dire situations, is that we were never intended to be in those situations in the first place.  Most of us have found ourselves there because we did not stand fast to what is real.  As hard as it may be to understand, to even believe, much of what we go through, the trials, the hardships, is nothing more than an illusion.  Don't get me wrong, we do live through trying times.  Things do happen that we wish hadn't, but in reality we often lock ourselves into situations because we've been conditioned to believe that we need to stay there and experience all the pain that comes with it.  I've said many times before, we need to rid ourselves of the conditioning we have been put through, and instead walk in what we truly know.  The only way to escape the flames of what is going on all around us, is to realize, and believe, that those flames are really nothing more than an illusion.  

Learning is not always easy.  Life's lessons often lead us to asking the why question.  Why did this happen, or why did that happen.  We can spend what seems like an eternity wondering why.  Instead of wondering why something has happened, why not see it as the opportunity to learn from it all.  I can't tell you how many lessons I have gone through in my life.  Some of these lessons have made me wonder is life really worth living.  Some lessons have brought joy, some have brought sadness, but more than anything, they have always brought a certain amount of clarity.  Clarity comes when we allow it to come, and not fight it.  I was unsure if I wanted to write about this topic this morning, not because it is controversial, but rather it is so far reaching I wasn't sure I could narrow it down to a level where it was concise, yet also edifying. 

Often when we are trying to encourage someone we are also bringing back thoughts and memories of things that one would rather forget.  It's kind of a double edged sword, kind of like pain heals, but healing is often painful if you know what I mean.  In order for the Pheonix to rise from the flames, it had to go through the flames.  Now you and I can both agree that going through a lousy situation is not what we want, but if looked at the proper way, it is a teaching event.  I fully understand, or at least I believe I fully understand, that going through a lesson is not always easy, and as cliche as it sounds, it is worth it if in the end we end up where we were intended to be.  I know that so many are tired hearing about intention, about learning this or learning that.  I understand that pain sucks, and situations that we go through are not always a picnic in the park.  That being said, we need to realize that we are always going to be learning lessons, so we might as well take a stance and say "I will learn this lesson the right way the first time."  

Let me encourage you with this:  as horrific, as lousy, as utterly demoralizing some of the lessons we go through are, they ultimately will bring you strength, bring you courage, and bring you an understanding of just how powerful and amazing you are. People will often say that those things that do not kill you, will ultimately make you stronger.  Most of the people who say this have come through the wringer, and lived to tell about it.  Those who don't believe this are either going through a trial at the moment, or have decided that they want off the wheel, as they are simply tired of just going round and round.  

Trials come and go.  Victories fade after a while as other trials comes and blur things out.  There is no simple formula for getting through things.  Each will have to decide what to do, where to go, and in some cases, is it worth it?  I believe it is always worth fighting for things, but you are the only one who can decide when it's time to fight or time to give up.  The Pheonix is going to come out from the flames, but that does mean you're right smack dab in the middle of the flames also.  That's OK, because you have all you need to overcome all things.

I know that many are tired right now.  Tired of the battles, tired of the constant fighting, and fighting, and fighting, and what seems like a never ending cascade of just shitty situations facing you.  You are not alone in the battle, and if it's any consolation, you're in some pretty good company when it comes to overcomes.  If you look back at history, it is laced with examples of those who have overcome, those who have survived, those who have lived to fight another day.  History does repeat itself, but often with different participants, but hopefully with different outcomes.  We can learn from the past, learn from others, and if we take the good, and forget the bad, we will ultimately rise above it all and escape out of the flames like the Pheonix.   

I encourage you to relax, take a deep breath, and simply have faith that what you are going through has a purpose.  What you are going through is positioning you to be where you need to be, in order to do the things that you need to be doing.  I know, sucks sometimes, but when all is said and done, you are going to  be so thankful that you didn't give up.  Believe, trust, have faith, and you will see all those things that were meant for you.