Tag: environment for truth

Hope and Shining your Light

Yah, this hope thing can be tricky, because I certainly don’t want to sound saccharine, and quote a bunch of pithy stuff. I, like many people are struggling with the concept of true hope in an often corrupt world, especially in regard to root beliefs that have been held for a very long time. When I look out into the world, I fully admit, that I wonder what the hell people have been consuming (and not just drugs or alcohol) to believe some of the literal shit that is out there. Does anyone recognize truth anymore? Have we completely lost the ability to think critically or see truth beyond our own personal bias and desires to the point of harboring pure delusions just so we don’t have to shift our thinking? Are the people running the show actually the best out there to lead us down that straight and narrow road? (not just political, but religious, scientific and anybody else who purports to be an influence ). ANY PERSON OF INFLUENCE who rages on about the corruption of others, who utilizes a false narrative to create fear over potential, clouds judgement over the truth of a situation clearly, only complains and never offers solutions, and most of all, perpetuate hatred over love…just needs to shut the hell up. As you can see, my sense of hope has become a bit damaged.

I guess my next question is this: How do we get our hope back. That my friends, has been my greatest challenge. It isn’t enough to simply believe in and embrace hope in my soul…that is like keeping my light hidden under a bushel basket. There has to be a way, where all of us commit to unsheathe the gifts we have been given and expose them to the world, so that we can not only change it for the better, but to stand against the fear mongers, haters and hypocrites who are sucking the intelligence and clear sightedness out of our collective human consciousness. Now I get that anyone can use a gift for nefarious purposes…I think we’ve seen plenty of that already. We can only be responsible for what is within our own selves, and we have to be willing to never let fear become an element of that equation. I can only be responsible for how I share, and for me that is with kindness, love, intelligence and generosity. I also know that how others respond to the gifts I bring to the table is beyond my control, but as long as I share my gifts truthfully, it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks. I say this not to avoid criticism others may have, but more as a reaction to the all too easy negation of a person’s gifts through judgment and bullying. I am specifically saddened by the increase of negativity on social media, and the level of suicide that results.

Building back hope doesn’t begin with the movers and the shakers of the world, but with individuals we engage with every day. What can I do to help elicit the beauty that lies within each and every individual? That’s where we start.

An Environment For Fruit

dead-fig-tree

To begin, since there will be “language” used in this post, I won’t start immediately because generally the first few words of my posts are visible to everyone on my Facebook account, those that haven’t blocked me anyway. To those abroad, I’m not sure how my words will translate…but hopefully you’ll get my point, and to everyone other English speaking reader that reads my blog regularly, I don’t think you’ll mind. True to what I learned last year during my year of clarity…here goes, no holes barred.

What this fuckstorm is, this present political environment, is indeed the apocalypse, the end times, the rolling out of the red carpet for the Antichrist. Before you get all hyped up and ready to condemn or think me certifiable, I’m not talking about Trump. Who I am talking about is Beelzebub, the fucking Devil, Satan, Lucifer, or whatever your moniker is for pure unadulterated evil and the only arsenal in said’s wheelhouse: the appropriation of truth and twisting it into something unrecognizable…given the whole the Father of Lies title, the distorter of Truth, yes, with a capital “T”. Scripture teaches us that Hell was irreparably broken when Jesus sacrificed his life and rose from the dead. We are saved. The evil one only has lies now, to somehow convince us that what really happened didn’t happen and to throw away the grace that was given to us. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

There is all this talk of alternative facts, fake news etc., that has amped up such a negative polarity in this country and the rest of the world, that we now have an environment that is toxic, perfect for negating bearing the good fruit necessary to build up the Kingdom of God. Because when neighbor turns against neighbor, based on the climate created by such negative politics, the ripple effect of such animus will destroy those important elements and connections necessary in a person’s life that would have been an essential part of them becoming the best person God created them to be, all because they’ve been deceived into believing and then rendering null and void certain important people placed specifically in their lives. Not to mention the staggering amount of cyber bullying and hate crimes that strip the light from individuals who will now never bear good fruit in this world. For me, I’ve been called I…let me see what I’ve been called, a libertard, sore loser, snowflake, baby killer, ignorant of the real truth, whiner, jealous (yeah, I don’t get that one), unpatriotic and so much more that is thought and yet unspoken. All of which I am NOT. Beyond the hurt feelings, I worry, because that is my nature, that what if my very calling, which I truly believe is to create environments necessary for people to thrive and become their best selves, is rendered null and void because of all this bullshit. More than ever I see that my commitment to clarity last year was the greatest gift that God could have given me. But it will mean nothing if I’m dismissed because of my politics.

Admittedly, I hold myself to equal chastising, except to say that since I am aware of my own leaps to judgement, I have worked with Herculean strength to overcome my gut responses and act as Jesus demands me to and not as I want to in my head (my rapier tongue has been silenced so often I am in a chronic state of exhaustion). I have never called anyone a name, I have pleaded to keep discussions rational, to verify facts and hold back on pigeon holing people into a specific category. I have sat with incredulity as I’ve had to withstand the increasing level of distortion and misrepresentation of situations, many of which I personally participated in, are actually on tape, easily verifiable and still squelched under the biggest pile of bullshit the world has ever been witness to. And let me be clear, I am NOT TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO THINK DIFFERENTLY THAN I DO POLITICALLY. I am talking about the most basic expectation of civility and desire for the truth. I am talking about choosing fear over love, I’m talking about rationalizing one’s way into justifying hatred and buying the lies that would lead us down the path of hatred verses love. When you do that, you are actively involved in creating the exact environment that kills potential fruit. Good fruit cannot grow out of something evil as Jesus explains in Matthew 7:15-29.

Be aware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like the fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

And what is the will of our Father in heaven? Let’s start with the line just before this admonition: Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets. If you don’t strive for that, you aren’t creating the environment necessary to bear good fruit, and you are, and I don’t say this lightly or hyperbolically, the arm of the Devil.