In meditating on my prior post (“Perseverance Rewarded“) I was reminded of just how difficult perseverance can be.  I’m not so much talking about the “one foot in front of the other” mentality … that part, while painful, is the far easier aspect of perseverance.  What is truly difficult is Trust.

To explain – this example:

It’s pitch black, you feel blindfolded, and you are climbing higher and higher.  You believe you are on the right path but there are all sorts of rocks, and roots, along the way that trip you up because of your limited vision.  Sometimes your path is precarious, even a tightrope.  You happen across another path that looks to be blissfully free of these encumbrances, and it heads slightly downhill, which seems quite refreshing just now.  Now comes the hard part … the decision to either stay on the rocky path you are on, or change course for the path that looks easier.

In truth, that easier path could wind up being easier for all the rest of your days.  It could be a decent path … but it won’t get you to the destination that you were so zealously climbing after … that place that God wanted you to be.  So, in essence, you aren’t just switching paths … you are giving up on “the dream” (that being what you felt called to).

It sounds like not such a big deal when talking about it in terms of a parable.  When you get down to the real life manifestations of this, however, then it becomes excruciatingly difficult at times.  This also goes back to my “Unconditional Love!” post yesterday.  We have so many conditions about how things are supposed to be in our lives … so many structures built up.  Sometimes the only way to see the path you are supposed to be on is to allow all those structures to be torn down.  To just … slow it down … let God fill you … let everything else melt away … and TRUST.

So what does this mean … well, sometimes it means allowing yourself to be hurt without making the retort you SO want to make.  Sometimes it means knowing that the path you are on is Divine, and you are about to make it man-made with your actions (or rather reactions to the provocations around you).  Loving the other people around you despite what you are going through about it … and just letting those inner barriers erode and crumble.  Those are the structures that YOU built up to try and protect yourself … when you walk on the path God has designed, those things (pride, ego, sarcasm, gossip, etc. … all the REACTIONS that you THINK make you feel better about yourself) just get in your way.

Sometimes it means just letting go completely … of everything … falling … and trusting that God will be there to catch you.  That’s the hardest part … WAY more difficult than just putting one foot in front of the other.

It hurt so bad when your were in the midst of it … but when you look back, it is quite startling to witness.  You can see all those times that you wanted to take over, and make things be the way you wanted them to be instead of allowing them to unfold as God wants them to be … and, if you somehow managed to persevere and not take charge for yourself … if you succeeded in the hardest part: to Trust … you will see the plan that God had all along; unfolding in reverse.  We can’t see it looking ahead, through the chaos as it swirls … but retrospect is the best way to see how God is really there caring for, and carrying, you along.

Even then, the path is easier … but you still have to keep persevering.  Sometimes you let your guard down and before you know it you’re about to take charge again.  Be vigilant … God has great things in store for you.

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

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