order – justsomegoodthoughts

Imagine, if you will, that your life plays out on a field of pure potential. There’s no predetermined destiny or well-developed course. You came from the factory with complete freedom of will to function within a complex, fully loaded network without limitation. You began with a mind and a heart as a means to tap into that potential and were given the ability to develop your own life as you saw fit. In the infinite field of potential (called life) you were provided with the choice to soar as high as the heavens or fall as low as the deepest valley. This is how your life started and this is how your life functions to this day. There is no element of randomness involved. Randomness is a deception on a breathtakingly, masterful level. Behind every apparent act of randomness is a carefully crafted plan.

In a world designed by God there can be no element of chance. There is nothing without purpose or meaning. Often the meaning or cause remains hidden and in a futile attempt to understand, man is forced to guess. Man is schooled to evaluate by cause and effect. When he fails to see the connection, as he often does, he foolishly assigns erroneous causes and played out to his exasperation, assigns nebulous causes which are not causes at all. The apparent randomness of life is such a nebulous cause. If you could see life as God sees it, you would be well aware of the complicated, unbroken chain of events that led to both your greatest accomplishments and your most tragic catastrophes. You did not land a good break nor did you run across a patch of bad luck. In the same way that a plant does not just appear, but first began as a seed, so your life and the results thereof began as a seed. And through knowledge or by ignorance, you planted and one day received. This offers you no consolation for the horrible things you may have experienced, but it is the truth, somewhat simplified, of course.

My purpose for attempting to explain this is not to condemn you for any negative events you are presently surviving, but rather to give you back something you have possessed all along. The sooner you stop guessing at the game of life and get back to life’s Designer, the sooner you can change the course of your life and start manifesting the results you really want. God is quite adept at teaching you the truth and seeks only a willing heart. If you were paying attention, you would recognize where He was already at work. Whether it came in the form of an apparently random thought, or a close friend, or a teacher or your own attempt at evaluating what happened to you, God was back there igniting a burning bush to see if you might stop and investigate. No-one is exempted from God’s tender love and guidance if that person really wants to know. No-one…

The notion that life is random serves only to take away reason and purpose and meaning. Without those elements, life becomes pointless. Logically there would be no point in what you think or what you do or what you believe, if life is random. It all becomes a giant exercise in futile existence whereby stuff just happens to you from a perpetual state of “look-out!” Now just observing your surroundings, you know that isn’t true. Nature alone denies that theory and it isn’t anyone’s mother.

There are reasons behind even the most insignificant events. Sometimes those reasons are good and sometimes those reasons are bad, but how you vote determines the election (Dr. VPW). No person can control every aspect of life, nor should he want to, but he controls a helluva lot more than he thinks. He is playing in a field of pure potentiality with the potential to do or go or be whatever he wants. His only limitation is his beliefs and ignorance regarding the reality of things. God said, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” It’s ignorance fostered by a world carefully manipulated to present an apparent order that is not order at all. It’s a training program you have participated in without knowing you were participating. It is the systematizing of error that once accepted leads only to misery and hopelessness. Just think about how many things you hold as true that really aren’t true at all. The doctor said your disease was incurable, but God didn’t. The system says you cannot achieve without the right education, yet many achieve despite it. If you do this, you’ll get that and if you don’t do this you will suffer. All erroneous, all systematized, all put forth as truth to a world starved for goodness and love and success, then resulting only in evil and hate and failure.

This is your opportunity to break out of the myth of randomness and regain control of your life. This is your chance (pun intended) to chart a new course whereby you decide how things are going to turn out. This the reality of the life that God gave you complete with a full catalogue of instruction, if you want it.

Breaking free from bondage and limitation and ignorance isn’t any more complicated than deciding in your heart that you need God to help you. You ain’t smart enough to do this on your own as your own experience exemplifies…

So as I wrap up these good thoughts, I peer into the sky where I see the moon mocking the sun by appearing to rise in the east behind the clouds, draped by the splendor of the mountains and I think, “Thank you God that this wonderful sight isn’t random either…

Just some good thoughts

Doing things right may bring a lot of things to your mind, most of which probably involve drudgery and compulsive adherence to rules, laws and religious dogma. Since me and rules are fairly incompatible, you can relax because this aint that! This is really about doing your life fully, completely, thoroughly; doing it all the best according to what is needed next. It’s about satisfying the just demands of the moment.

I recently watched the movie, “The Intern.” An interesting movie for sure, but the appeal to me wasn’t the clever story line. It was Robert De Niro’s character, Ben Whittaker. However, it wasn’t Ben’s desire to get a job or be relevant or even his patience in working with a pack of young folks. It was the orderly way he lived his life. It was his care for the little things. It was Ben’s full attention to the moment he was in and the demands of that moment. It was his attention to detail. It was his lack of hurry in favor of what should be next. It was beautiful and clean and crisp in a way I can’t yet put into words, but I’ll try.

The modern day laissez–faire notion of life implies that any desire to keep things clean and maintained is obsessive. Demanding to have things put in the proper place is categorically over the top. Organizing desks, closets or anything presently in a chaotic state stifles your ability to live and breathe.” Just let it go man!” “Why are you so OCD?” All this talk about instituting order is taking away my freedom to “just be.” And, like so many things in this life, you sort of end up with the exact opposite of what you were after. Instead of feeling relaxed and unrestrained you feel anxious, hurried and stressed. Well, there’s a reason…

The One who invented life is supremely organized and orderly. His attention to detail is breathtaking. Everything matters and there is nothing made that does not have an intended purpose or use. The reason that nature has such an appeal to you is because there is a fantastic intricacy behind it. There’s no rigidity or straight lines (because that obviously aint it-get it?), but there is an unparalleled order; a beauty; an exquisite symmetry. How about your human body? No matter how it looks outwardly, there’s no sloppiness back of it. In fact, it’s so well done you can abuse it for a long time before it starts to break down.

Order not chaos is the dominating principle of the universe. And, the more you put your life in order, the better you will live. Fighting against and resisting order may feel good in the moment, but, as all illusions do, will never last. What you gain in momentary expediency, you’ll lose in sustained happiness. Your relaxing won’t be relaxed and your letting go won’t let anything go. Everything you walked past remains fixed, perpetually occupying your mind as undone. The coat slung on the banister requests action every time you see it and in ignoring it, it beckons the louder. The candy wrapper in the driveway calls out each time you park. The light in the bathroom whispers to be shut off. Your junk drawer in the kitchen serves as an harassing evil, assaulting your thoughts when brought to light. Order is seeking you, not for itself but for you.

Being a Bible fan, I often think of the account when Jesus was raised from the dead. After the incredible miracle of being raised from the dead, there’s another point of interest you may have missed. In the custom of his culture, Jesus was wrapped from head to toe in grave clothes, sort of like a mummy. When they came to see if he was risen, they noted that he wasn’t there and that the the mummified grave clothes were still there untouched with the napkin that covered his face neatly folded on top. Who do you think folded it? Well, Jesus did of course. Compared to the magnanimity of the event apparently folding a napkin mattered as well. Jesus was and is a perfect man. So, you put that together…

There was a time when people sat down together for dinner, with carefully planned place settings and matching dishes. There was a time when people put their work items away carefully in their custom briefcase. They hung up their suits after the office toil or put their boots in the mudroom for later. People took time to make matches in the sock drawer. They dressed with care and nothing was wrinkled or too worn. Dress shoes shined and grooming was impeccable. There was a time when the details mattered and folks took the time to do things right.

The frenetic pace of today has thwarted man’s ability to take care of business; his business. Distractions exist all over and steal away our time. We have so much to do that we don’t have time to do things right. But, I’d guess you have the same time today that the Ben Whittakers of the world had back then, only minus all of the distractions. You might be surprised to learn in the great by and by, that God will reward you just as much for washing your car as He would for recognizing your service and love to your fellow man. Doing things right extends to every category of life and like any behavior that mimics your Father in heaven, has its own blessings that you can enjoy today.

Doing what you know to do; that which is required in the moment, the clarion call to order, will bring you a peace and a satisfaction that is unequaled in this world. The time it takes to do so will multiply back to you in ways you have not yet imagined. There’s no pain in doing things right. The pain ensues from letting things go. Do it right!

God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…

Just some good thoughts…

justsomegoodthoughts

Tag: order

Is Life Random?

Doing It Right!