Messed Up Life or Perfect Path?

A few nights ago, when I had the television on, I kept hearing an advertisement from a local church heavily pushing a new series they have entitled, "My Messed Up Life". This ad was on at least 5 or 6 times in an hour time frame. I can understand that the church is probably trying to help people in this time of heightened difficulty or crisis, but it struck me that our perception of the obstacles that come our way plays a great part in their outcome or in what we ultimately get from them. My post yesterday, "Are You Choosing Heaven" discusses this. If we perceive our life as only "messed up" or full of problems, rather than seeing the beauty of opportunity in those events, then we will stay in a "messed up" state, possibly finding a band-aid fix to the immediate pain, but not getting to the deeper root of it.

I believe that our problems are usually one of two things:
1) Our own creation through our fears and negative thoughts about ourselves or others.
2) Exactly what we need for learning and perfecting...a situation has been sent our way to teach us what we came here to learn and give us and opportunity to "get it".

Rather than going inward and understanding ourselves better, getting in touch with our souls and what is trying to be told to us, we tend to run elsewhere for a quick fix, often to other individuals or institutions who have the exact same problem. Lately, our societal attentions have been very focussed on economic troubles. These are presented to us as only a bad thing - how sad, how terrible...who can we blame or get angry at? In reality, the economic "troubles" are a gift allowing us the mass opportunity to get back to a simpler, less materialistic, more real life...one that does not rely on outer things to measure our success. If we feel lack from having less money or less security, it is only because we do not look at it in the right light, as a chance to simplify and truly enjoy a life that is off of the treadmill, one that is better than the materialistic norms that we have come to believe are good.

In the case of this church, I cannot say their intent with this "messed up life" message, but from the way they have repeated these ads over and over, I think it is fair to say that they are doing a hard (and expensive) sell to get more people in the pews. Not that such an endeavor is a bad thing in and of itself, but the irony is that their own example seems to have been one that bought into the "more is better" concept, living an example of materialism or outward possessions for measuring success,much like the behavior of the general public which created many of the financial troubles. It is a mega church like many that grew rapidly over the last decade or so, partly through hard sells such as this. From the comments of members and their outward impressions, it seemed that worth and success have been measured very much by buildings, jumbotrons, large high edn cafeterias, and massive structures. I understand that this church is perhaps trying to heal pain (both its own and that of the community) with the "messed up life" series, but I have to wonder if its example has not been part of the problem that it is now wanting to "save" others from. I have to wonder if, and hope that, they have first examined their own priorities before providing others advice. A pulpit carries such power, sometimes justified, sometimes not. If the energy or philosophy behind the message is in error or if the leaders are not examining the church's priorities or example, the results can be very damaging. There is an old saying that you have to "clean out your own backyard before you clean out others.", and that is something that we all need to heed for our own spiritual cleansing...being more concerned about how we can cleanse and fix our own situation before we start fixing other people, or even deciding that they need fixing.

But my bigger question or frustration about the "messed up life" message is why a church, people of God, cannot simply sit back and appreciate that there is beauty in struggle, that it sometimes means God is speaking to us as individuals, then get out of the way and let God do the talking and the teaching through experiences that we are given. God can teach much better than anyone else, and direct experiences with God are much more powerful than what another can create for us. Letting go and letting God is a wonderful way to live, both in our churches and in our personal or professional lives, but we often run for the quick fix.

Einstein (one of my favorite persons to quote) said,
"You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew."

We MUST learn to see the world anew, to see God anew, to see the beauty around us rather than the mess. The first step in doing that is to release the limitations we have placed upon God, and open ourselves up to new ideas. I KNOW that God is waiting for us to make this step, and has miracles in store for each of us who does so. I have experienced it in my own life to the extent that I am regularly in awe of the way God works and how things work out that I never could have imagined possible. I have seen the same in others that I work with through Reiki, intuitive readings,distance energy, prayers,deep discussion, or just sharing our own miracles. Once a person is ready for that interaction with God and declares or seeks that, it WILL come, in a much more powerful way than a series about fixing your life, or a book, or a blog can do. These things can lead us down a path, but until we go directly to God and ask for his personal partnership (one that is direct and not subject to others' limitations), until we take charge of our own relationship with God and take responsibility for it, letting go of the old to see anew (like Jesus did), we cannot have our very best relationship with Him, nor can we live out our fullest potential or our Divine plan and purpose.

I know that some who are reading this blog are feeling a resonance within their souls that there is something to this message, because many of us are being awakened in mass at this time. We KNOW there is more, but we are sometimes afraid to seek it because of limitations that have been placed in our brains about what God is or is not, or because those around us might question or scorn us. But are those people who want to hold you back with respect to God acting in your best interest? I think not. They cannot replace what God can provide for you, if you will only ask for it and allow it. Seek more, find more. It is there for you...just ask, and follow.

I am happy to help people find a path that works for them in connecting with God, angels, and their greater purpose (and I believe doing so is part of my purpose), but I ultimately leave the specific course up to them because only the individual can decide what God wants from them or what their purpose or best path is. If anyone is reading this and would like to try some energy work or other avenues through my assistance, feel free to contact me: sherri@angelstouchtherapy.com, or read my website for more information: angelstouchtherapy.com