Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

If there were a tag line for my life, that would be it.  It comes up again and again.  I just found out someone else I know is fighting a hard battle.  Everyone.  Everyone is.  So be nice, Teresa.  You never know what they're going through.

Are our Thoughts and Intentions really Prayers?

So here's a random one.  Guy walks up to me at church last night, I have no clue who he is, and when he tells me, I'm just blown.  Wow, haven't seen him in 32 years - and let's just say - the years haven't been all that good to him. 

We used to be close.  He's spent a lot of time in prisons - when I was 17 I visited him in a couple of them.  I wrote him a lot of letters.

So we're sitting in church watching a video, and all these memories are coming back...

He says that he's a Christian.  But, yeah, everybody says that...  But then after it's over, he says to me 'isn't God good?'   Yeah, God is good, and I realize - people don't just randomly say 'isn't God good? unless they've experienced his goodness.  Maybe he does know who God is - even though his life isn't perfect (who's is?). 

Then I remember this:  I was living in Woodland, and had read in the Lodi paper that he'd been arrested again, and would be heading back to prison - again.  I can't tell you what year this was - but I know it was sometime between 1995 - 1998, because I remember where I was living.  I just read that article, and felt compassion, and thought - this guy needs to know about Jesus, how sad for him that he's living out his life in prison.  Mind you, I hadn't seen him since around 1980.  So I wrote him a letter.   I sent it to the county jail - 999 W Mathews Road, French Camp. (I'd sent a lot of letters there over the years.)  Thing is - it came back.  They'd already shipped him off to the big house.  Oh well.  I forgot about it until last night.

But then somehow, somewhere along the line - he did learn about Jesus.  And I just saw that little letter that I wrote that day as a prayer.  That even though it didn't get to him, it got to God.  He read it, and he felt compassion, too.  And he put people in Greg's path somewhere along the line that told him the Truth. 

And once again, God blows me away with His love, His compassion - the length of His arms.

So I think - that our thoughts and intentions really are prayers - God is bigger than that we have to preface it with 'Dear God' and end it with 'Amen'.  He hears our heart when it cries out.  He speaks the language of our heart, in addition to properly formatted English.

something else i read that i like... ( i don't know who to attribute it to, just not me)

The Rules for Being Human

You will receive a body:
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

You will learn lessons:
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

There are no mistakes, only lessons:
Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”

A lesson is repeated until learned:
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. You designed it that way.
When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

Learning lessons does not end:
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned/remembered.

“There” is no better than “Here”:
When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

Others are merely mirrors of you:
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

What you make of your life is up to you:
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

Your answers lie inside you:
The answers to life’s questions lie inside you. All you need do is look, listen and trust.

You will forget all this:
You can remember it whenever you want.

Native American Spirituality.

Got this from a friend today.  I like:

	Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 22 "Everything's so simple, and we make everything so complicated. That's why we're confused." -- Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo The Creator designed a very simple set of Laws for us to follow. If we follow these simple things, we'll be happy. If we don't follow these simple things, our lives become complicated. For example: Respect Mother Earth Love one another Be truthful Give to your brother and sisters Be gentle with each other Be happy Following these simple Laws will have great rewards. Great Spirit, let me lead a simple life.     The meditations are copyright of Coyhis Publishing and can also be found in the book, Meditations with Native American Elders: The Four Seasons at www.coyhispublishing.com. Any republishing of part or all of their contents is prohibited.

Another Lesson Learned: It never hurts to ask.

I know it never hurts to ask.  So I did.  "Is there any room for negotiation on the salary?" - Yes, yes there was.  So, instead of a 30% pay cut, there will only be a 25% pay cut.  Good deal.  So just ask already.  The worst they could say is no, and the best - well, that was better than I had hoped for!

March 1st begins the next chapter in the journey.  I'm ready!

Would you do it? Could you? #storyline

So - I hoped that they called me and they did!  and they interviewed me and they liked me and they offered me a job!  Yay!  I think... For some reason, today, I have been terrified!  This is what I've wanted and now that it's happening, I'm scared.  Sigh.  Just a big chicken.

I have to do it.  I have to I have to I have to.  I will.  It all happened so fast...

I learned at the #storyline conference I went to, that in order to force a story (my life, in this case), to turn a corner - there must be an 'inciting event'.  Something that makes the characters have to take action.  Sometimes at great personal cost.  Well, I think this is it.  The salary at this job is 30% less than I currently make.  The world will think I'm crazy.  I don't.  Would you take a 30% pay cut?  Could you?  To do work for an organization that you believed in?  That would free you up to do more in service to others?  And be way less stressful?  I've always believed in living debt-free, so yeah, I can do it.  I'll make a few adjustments, do away with some luxuries, rent out a room.  Yeah, I can do it.  And I know that God provides.  

I really don't know what I'm afraid of.  I believe in the values of this organization, in their mission - it so lines up with my own, and Gravity's.  I can do the job, I think I have just been focusing on the 'me' issue all day.  What if I don't get what I want/need (time off, my dental expenses paid for).  Trivial stuff, really.

Worse case scenario?  It doesn't work out - which forces another inciting event - and we get to go have another adventure.  Yeah, that's it, I've been looking at it all wrong.   I need to look at it as an adventure, and not be so dang worried about the details.

God's in control, not me.  Remember that, and you'll be OK.

Progress

I applied for a job today.  Oh, I hope, I hope I hope, that they just talk to me.  Even if I don't get it - I need to have hope that there are reasonable people in the business world.  "crossing fingers"!!!