The Great Weight. (August 8 [Ryen])

One of the most overused, least applicable verses from the bible comes from the book of Jeremiah. It says something to the effect, "Don't worry, I have a plan for your life. A plan that involves better things that what you are going through now. I know this because I'm God." This is a rough paraphrase, but the essentials are there. However, what isn't there is the fact that the people this passage was written for were being held captive in a foreign land, by the Babylonians or some other imperial force. They were captured, carted off, and held in exile for years, if not generations. This then, allowed them to start losing hope. I mean, who can blame them? They were God's chosen people, and yet here they are rotting in Babylon when they were supposed to be sipping Mai Thai's in the land of milk and honey. What does this have to do with our modern day struggle?
Honestly, I don't know. Especially when it comes to white Americans. We have it pretty easy, considering all of the privileges we are afforded merely for being white in this country. We have the power, and yet we like to hang on to passages from the bible that involve great strife and struggle. The passages that hint at their being hope for the hopeless seem to speak to my white soul the most because, who am I kidding, my life is a mess and according to the Bible, God has a plan for my life. I just need to have faith and it will work itself out.
This is harsh.
People do suffer, even if they are white Americans. (This was a point of contention at a bible discussion group once. Laramie knows what I'm talking about.)
God is a dick sometimes.
It takes time for miracles to get here from heaven.
That's the point.
Just like it takes approximately 8 minutes for the sun's light to reach our eyes here on earth (scientific truth bomb); miracles take a while to get here from Heaven. This can be minutes, hours, days, years, and even never.
The point isn't that miracles don't happen—I've never truly experienced a miracle, per say. Sure, I have wished, hoped and prayed for positive outcomes in situations and it has generally worked out. I have hoped, wished and sought wisdom and guidance, but hardly ever has it worked out. Just like everybody else, I want stuff, things and possessions to make me happy, but alas my bulldog collection is kind of skimpy and most of it is in Marshalltown. So, again, not so much luck in that department.
The point isn't that my lack of miraculous happening has dampened my faith, nor detracted from my belief that there are miracles happening around the world as I sit here and type this. People find food when there shouldn't be; People find shelter where there wasn't any yesterday; people help other people when they cared only for themselves 2 hours ago. Miracles happen, just not always in the way we expect them. They aren't always divine premonitions in the corn flakes; they aren't always sun beams shining over a particular building; they aren't always people recovering from stage 4 cancer. Sometimes, the miracle is letting go. Sometimes, the miracle is knowing when to quit. Sometimes, the miracle is that nothing happened at all. Sometimes…. That's the point.
Sometimes… is better than always.
Sometimes… is better than never.
Sometimes… is both real and imagined.
You can send your wishes into the universe and expect and immediate response. Sometimes you get one, sometimes you don't. It just a matter of perspective. Are you truly seeking guidance? Are you truly seeking wisdom? Do you really need a Porsche 911, or are you just dreaming? Are you wake or are you sleeping? Do you truly believe or are you pretending? Sometimes… sometimes we reach into the darkness and expected to find a helping hand, but sometimes we get slapped for being stupid.
I don't have the answers in terms of what constitutes receiving a miracle. Some people are just more worthy I guess. However, I do have an answer in terms of creating miracles. This is well without our reach, and it doesn't require sometimes. It can be always. It can be daily. It can be now.
Be patient.
See a need.
Fill a need.
Be patient.
Truly seek guidance and wisdom.
Truly believe that there is good to be done in this world.
Truly believe that you can be the miracle.
All it takes is a single flap of a butterfly's wing to create a tsunami on the other side of the world. Why can't you be the flap that feeds hungry people on the other side of the world? Why can't you be the flap that finds a cure to a disease in your hometown? Why can't you be the flap that puts a smile on somebody's face on your street? Why can't you be that flap? Why can't you create the miracle anywhere in the world?
You have the potential to create such great change.
You have the power to make things happen.
You have the ability to see things through.
We just have to patient and see the world for what it really is. We rush through the day as if we have somewhere to be. We rush through the day as if we have more important things to do than spare a few moments to chat with a stranger. We rush through the day as if time is going to run out.
There is time. There are days. There are people who need our help.
We run from task to task, but we never truly experience life anymore.
The people who were being held captive, outside of their home and promised lands. Do you know what they did? They took the message God had for them seriously. They understood that there was a plan for them, a plan to prosper and not harm. They were going to be okay in the end, they just needed to wait it out for a bit longer while the pieces were maneuvered into place. They then went about their life as if they were in their homes: they played music, they worshipped God, they helped each other, and kept on doing what they knew God was expecting of them.
Often times when we take this verse and apply it to our lives we want instant gratification. We take these lines as God has a plan for us right now, and it is going to manifest itself before me as I read these holy words. Wrong. God doesn't do instant messenger. It takes time for the word to arrive; it takes time for the positions and players and life scenarios to be just right for business to be taken care of.
…
You're moving too fast. You've missed it. That was your chance to seize the moment and cash in on one of those miracles you've been hoping for. Now what?
You were running for the bus, and instead of stopping to put some change in that man's bucket… you got to work on time because you caught the bus seconds before it was going to take off. Was it worth it?
Instead of saying hello the woman and child walking in the opposite direction, you texted your best friend in the whole world about the crappy food you just ate for lunch. Was it worth it?
Instead of doing anything meaningful for somebody else, you focused on the fact that God told you, via the Bible, that he had a plan to prosper you and you're looking for the signs of prosperity. Did you find any?
The point is, prosperity comes in many different forms: soul, wealth, health, mind, body, and spirit.
Slow down. Take a look around you. Do some good!
You have miracles in you, now it's time to share them!
Be patient!
Seize every opportunity!
Be the miracle you wish to see in your life; manifest it in the life of somebody else. Then you will be truly blessed… or least make the world slightly better, for a seemingly insignificant amount of time, to a seemingly insignificant player in the cosmic game of life.
Who knows, they might turn out to be somebody you needed to activate the miracle in your life. You won't know until you slow down and look at the world. Truly look at the world and see what you can do to make it better—even if it's only for a moment. That moment may have taken eternity to get here, and you might have missed it had you not been looking!