When a squirrel is breaking into your bird feeder you can either engage him in battle or give him some nuts.

It is very strange how Universal law is revealed to us sometimes.  We only can really take partial credit for what comes to us and are always obligated to pass these things on to All without hesitation.  You see, we are all One.

I looked out my kitchen window and noticed a squirrel eating some nuts on the back lawn which abuts the wooded area of my lot.  Recalling a terrible jar of peanuts I had purchased the night before and reminded of my final decision as to what to do with them; a secondary epiphany came to mind.

Several years back I decided to stop feeding the birds.  It just seemed to be a losing battle for me.   One birdfeeder after another was being destroyed by my fury little nemesis’s.  Oh let me tell you; as those who have read by books most certainly know what a battle of wits it has been.  There were days when I got the best of them and others do to their persistence and diligence, that they got the best of me.  All in all, looking back I can honestly say they caused me more goodness than harm, but what of the birds?

I love the energy the birds brought into my yard all year round.  Although the summer and spring are always alive with my fine feathered friends in the winter they become few and far between. Winter in New England brings forth a landscape that is sparsely colored.  However, when the finch seed, sunflower and suet is hung the whitened ground, grey skies and trees absent of foliage become alive with color eternally.

What was this incredible blessed epiphany you ask?  Well, why not just feed the squirrel those unpalatable peanuts I bought from Benny’s for $1.88?  The answer was a resounding, “Of Course!”  I hated to waste them and honestly they were not even good enough to donate to the local food pantry.  I would not subject anyone’s taste buds to such a jar of nuts.  Plainly speaking; I may have been taken in on grounds of abuse, taste bud abuse that is.

I began to think past the terrible peanuts and really began to see that at no cost to me I could continue to feed them what they crave.  The mission’s roof is about 4500 sq ft and surrounded by huge oak trees that have generously be relinquishing unwanted acorns all over the it for years.  Instead of filling up buckets with them and paying to through them away I will now commit myself to doing a good deed for those little grey fury tailed critters.  Of course I will be replacing my birdfeeders as soon as I can.

Most importantly what was Spirit telling us from this?  Well, most messages from Spirit prove to be multi dimensional and have more than one meaning, but today I can only speak of one.  We all have issues we are dealing with every day, right?  The thing we must realize is that if we continually deal with them the same way we will most likely end up with the same results.  So, let’s start a new habit!  From now on let’s step back from the problem and ask ourselves why it is occurring.  Honestly, we can’t come up with a valid solution until we identify the real issue.  We can either fight or unite.

There are several decisions we will make along the course of our journey.  Some will have a major impact on our Being and others will have an effect that is barely noticeable.  Of all there is only one that has the potential for launching us forward powerfully and efficiently.

Forgiveness is a double edged sword.  It releases us from the past and enables us to experience the Now and sets the tone for what is yet to be.  This is the easiest and most difficult thing for humans to understand, but it is a necessity of effective travel.

You see, the thing that makes us unwilling to consider forgiveness is the illusion that blame is really just a form of retaliation upon the soul, spirit and mind of the person we choose to not forgive.  The reality is often a little harder for many to accept.  What is that reality?  Well, in most cases the person whom we are begrudging is not affected by our blame in any way and in the other cases they will adopt a way of removing their concentration on our blame by redirecting their thoughts away from us, the incident and any blame that has been placed on them.  In fact, many times they will have little or no understanding of what we believe they need forgiveness from.  Over time this becomes more apparent and is gradually etched in stone.

As any of us affirm that we have done no wrong or justify the wrong doing; the wrong doing slowly slips away.  Our reality is really ours alone and regardless of the Truth that exists in our reality it is still our reality.  It is only what we have come to accept as Truth.

So, regardless of how strongly we hold the feelings, emotions and thoughts of the situation in which we perceive we have been done a terrible wrong; the Ego of the other individual will not be affected by us.  They will only experience the reality that their own Egos have allowed them to accept.  This may or may not be to their own dismay, yet holding a grudge against them will definitely be to our own.

We are in control of what we experience and when we concentrate on the bad experiences we relive them continually.  In a way we marry that past memory as we continually feel the emotions associated in it with the essence of all that we are.  As we become consumed with the negative energy of that past experience we forfeit the joy we could be feeling in the Now and submit to displeasing emotions continually.  In a way we have our arms filled with everything we don’t want and are unable to pickup and carry the love, happiness and fulfillment that sit lying at our feet.

Forgiveness gives us the ability to lighten the load and move forward confidently with Life.  Life only exists in the Now.  In the moment before thought It Is!  We can concentrate on the nonexistent past, speculate about the future or live today in this very moment while relishing in all that is real.  Happiness is a choice.  Forgiveness is a choice.  As we choose correctly we proceed directly to the Promise that is ours.

Ron’s “Cast of Characters” Review

Max Lucado’s book Cast of Character is an interesting take on many of the most talked about people in the Bible.  He puts into his own words the personas of each individual as well as their unique struggles and conquests over life diversities.  Through it all God comes through for them and provides in ways that were not always considered.  In short, in Faith they were willing to walk through fear and into Promise.

I liked the premise of this book and found it to be somewhat entertaining.  As always, Lucado’s unique voice is apparent from chapter to chapter.  He enlightens us about the lives and personalities of the disciple’s and apostles as well as a multitude of other players throughout scripture.  Max does well to paint the reader a picture of the human side of each and every one of them by portraying them as closely as he could to those of this age.

As far as great reads I would have to say he misses the mark.  I found it very difficult to get through the book and found it very easy to put down.  There was nothing that grabbed me and caused me to yearn to read more.  It was a book that I chose to read between books.

Cast of Characters may be a better book for a biblical novice who is just opening their eyes and hearts.  It would be a great tool to help a new reader grasp the implications of modern struggle by exhibiting the similarities and exhibit the realism of them in a light of modern days.  Readers will find themselves and those they know in the characters discussed in this book making the biblical stories easier to relate to.

Again, it is not that this is not a good book.  It just was not the right book for me.

Sharing one side of the story with others will yield single sided opinions. A single sided house will not stand. Remember, there are three sides to every story our side their side and the Truth. So, be very careful to never share a shaving of the truth. Those shavings will only serve to clog the drain and leave you with a sink full of split hairs.

To every problem there is a root, but if we only prune the weed it will only grow back stronger. We must honestly consider all possibilities. Yes, even the possibility that we are wrong. Most of the problems we are dealing with today took root a long time ago. It takes time for a seed to take root. The trick is to remember exactly what it was that we planted.

Did we sow hope, love, peace and truth or did we settle for something less? Were we planting the seed of the fruit we thought we wanted? Most likely if we are reaping what we do not want it is because we planted what we only thought would satisfy us. Ego may have convinced us that the sand was water and left us wondering why our thirst unquenched.

It’s very easy to take what seems to be so obvious and move in that direction, yet many times these things are only illusions. Illusions are delusions that cause disillusion. We see what we think we want, only to find that we have chased the shiny lure and been left unsatisfied.

The only way to find the Truth is to look inside us. The heart has no room for illusion. It is the mind that can make us believe and allow us to deceive. In this we look at what others have and want it. From here we feel that we are less than who we really are without it. Looking within will yield the greatness that we may be missing in our lives.

The world is a piece of the Universe, but the Universe is the peace of the world. We will never find what we truly seek in a piece of something small because the answer is in something beyond the physical. We feel something is missing because It is.

To find it we must be open minded and willing to receive. Communication is a two way street. When the road is blocked so is the communication. Therefore, we must open the flood gates and allow the information to flow through us. Whether we believe in gravity or not we are still subject to the consequences of it. It is the same with Truth; accepted or not it is still Truth. When we choose the lie we die.

We will never see the solution if we refuse to hear the problem. This is what will cause the death in us if we allow it to. Not a physical death necessarily, but a spiritual death absolutely. Things we cherish will quickly fall by the wayside because we believe that fire is cool, water is dry and the air is toxic. We react incorrectly in every given situation. Taking lies as Truths will always yield the wrong decision. The creation of our experience is by our own thoughts, words and actions. The only way out is to extract the root of what we had planted and start anew. We will only reap what we have sown.

The only place we can truly fit into is our own Being.

In life there really is only one way to attract exactly what is best for us.  Everything from the right job, the right partner to the right friends all comes from within us.  When we present ourselves to the Universe honestly and openly everything will begin to line up with our Being.

You see, we will attract into our lives exactly what we present ourselves as.  Like people attract like people.  This is why we see people we love constantly attracting people, situations and circumstances that do not compliment who they are.  The person we know and love as they are, is constantly and continuously going out of their way to present themselves as the person they believe the prospective partner, boss or other acquaintance would prefer them to be.

This is a double edge sword.  Not only will we be attracting the wrong people into our lives, but we will be repelling the one who truly compliments the essence of all we are from it.  The façade we put forth will only serve to keep us from what is best for us.

Often we only believe we know what we want and spend much of our lives desperately trying to get what we only perceive will make us happy, successful and secure.  We believe the smiling faces that have these things are signs that their people, places and things will make us happy too.

So, where do we go from here?  How do we find what will give us what are soul wants and release ourselves from what the mind only thinks we want?  A necessity of substantial gain is surmountable loss.  We must lose these old thoughts from our minds and allow what is in our hearts to be released so that it can send out the signal that will bring to us the things that compliment and nourish the Truth within us.

As we face our desires we face ourselves and if we overcome these desires we conquer ourselves.  Desire is a funny thing that means different things to different people.  There is sexual desire which is associated with physical pleasure; the desire to be accepted by our peers is another and the ever popular desire to be envied is a sociological favorite too.  These desires have little to do with the Truth of our Being.  In fact they are largely based in our illusions.  They are only what we believe others require of us, but in Truth they are only what we perceive as prerequisites for a euphoric state of Being.  When I talk about “our selves” I am speaking of Ego.  Ego causes us to make decisions that nourish Ego and Ego gains this nourishment through the torment of our soul.  That’s right, by not allowing our souls to reach out and blossom the Ego grows stronger and our ascension takes longer.

We are on a journey.  It is an infinite ascension on many levels of existence.  There is no end!  However, there are a series of levels, stages in our development that will enable us to continually be all that we are created to be.  A necessity of travel is change and allowing change to take place.  Ego relishes for sameness.  It succeeds in its quest to remain strong through lies and illusions that make the Journey long.  As we follow, seek and desire what is unreal we forfeit those things that are real.

This Truth is within us.  In our hearts and souls is the Spirit of all that we are and all that we are created to be.  As we let go of the desires that bind us we become free and release ourselves into exactly where we belong.  Here is the most fertile soil.  Now is where we plant the seed of our Being.  What do we get when we plant the right seed?  Well of course; we get the fruit of exactly what we planted.  Just think, all this time we have been planting onions and expecting tomatoes.  How silly is that?

Why weren’t we fitting?  It was because the only place we can truly fit into is our own Being.  The only way to get a square peg into a round whole is by destroying the square peg.  That square peg is all that you are created to be.  In Truth we are so much more that.  We are beautiful, wonderful and unique shapes of our own; ever changing and everlasting souls and spirits created in the image of God.