It’s possible that some of those fighting for freedom in the streets of Cairo today may wield an iron hand of oppression tomorrow.

Unrest persists in the streets of Cairo. Protesters have turned out en masse, seeking to topple a totalitarian regime in the name of democracy and freedom. But it’s possible that some – if not many – of those fighting for freedom in the streets of Cairo today may wield an iron hand of oppression tomorrow.

“The situation in Egypt is extremely disturbing,” says Faith McDonnell, Director of Religious Liberty Programs at the Institute for Religion and Democracy in Washington DC, “At this point, we don’t know what the outcome will be, but various scenarios are extremely bad for the Copts and other Christians of Egypt.”

Fears for the Future

The “various scenarios” she speaks of involve the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization considered extremist by some, and whose participation in the protests has been central. As the government of unpopular President Hosni Mubarak seems ripe for a transition, the opposition’s top choice, Mohamed ElBaradei, is one backed by the Muslim group. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Ziad el-Alami, a senior aide for ElBaradei and a human rights attorney, expressed reservations about the group’s participation in a transitional government. “I have some fears about the Muslim Brotherhood and their [future] intentions,” he said, “But the situation is bigger than all of us now. You need them in the streets.”

Indeed, the desire for freedom and democracy seems to be dominant in the minds of Egyptians from all walks of life. That’s why some people feel that the fears revolving around the Muslim Brotherhood need to take a back seat to the more important drive for democratic government.

“I am 60 years old and retired,” Hanafy Mohammad Abdel Salam told Time, while proclaiming his support for the democracy protestors. “I have lived 60 years without freedom, and my children, they have smelled only a whiff of freedom.”

Many ordinary citizens like Salam have joined the throng of protestors, which include extremists from the Muslim Brotherhood. On Tuesday, more than 200,000 people managed to reach Cairo’s Tahrir Square despite the shutdown of most public transportation, according to the Los Angeles Times. For millions of Egyptians, the possibility of freedom seems to override any other concerns.

Coptic Christians Look Ahead

At the minimum, the Muslim Brotherhood appears to be positioning itself to play a greater role in Egyptian politics in the years to come. Time will tell the future of the new, emerging Egypt. In the meantime, apprehension for Egypt’s Coptic Christian community remains imminent.

Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo is the International Director of Barnabas Aid, an organization that seeks to aid persecuted believers around the world. He says that Christians everywhere need to pray that “as Egyptian citizens seek freedom from an autocratic leader, they will not fall into the hands of a strict Islamic regime that will only further oppress its people, especially Christians.”

Faith McDonnell echoes a similar sentiment. “I have great concern about the rise of Muslim Brotherhood and ElBaradei, who appears to be the favorite of the Muslim Brotherhood,” she says, “This would be a terrible situation for the Christians of Egypt, who are already experiencing great persecution. Persecution would become legitimized under a Shari’a-led regime, rather than just incidental.”

Certainly Christians in Egypt have experienced maltreatment during the past several decades, and Islamic extremism is playing a significant role in this persecution. On New Year’s Day this year, 21 Christians were killed and numerous others wounded when a bomb exploded just outside a church in Alexandria. The blast killed member after member as they exited the church following mass. In addition to attacks on churches, Muslim converts to Christianity have been arrested and attacked, or forced to go into hiding.

Technorati Tags: aid persecuted believers, Christians in Egypt, Coptic Christians, democracy protestors, desire for freedom, streets of Cairo

Nobody is as happy as he seems on Facebook. Let’s train ourselves not for spin control, but for prayer, for repentance, for joy.


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“It wasn’t until the doorway was opened and I fell into the abyss of unknowing, met my undoing, faced the root fear of non-being, and slowly emerged from this profound process of awakening, that I recognized what I had sensed and had been expressing in my life all along. We are already that for which we seek….

“There is a portal to remembering who we really are, and it is always forever available here, now. All we need do is attunes our hearing to its subtle voice, and fall into the love affair of life.”

– Ronda LaRue 2001

People often say to me: “I have no artistic ability”. To which I always reply: “Nonsense” or worse! “You are at the very deepest core of your being, first and foremost, an artist. You are the brush and the canvass and the color and the hand – and that which conspires to bring these together into creative relationship and expression!”

We are not who we seem. We are not what we seem. We are the living creative moment. We are creation engaged in the evolving awareness of being. Or to put it another way: We are God’s realization of creative potential — arising out of nothing, and with-in us finding expression – and thus seeing.

Creativity is it! I mean the “it” that all we seekers are seeking, called by some God, or enlightenment, or unity-consciousness, or source. Creation itself is the holy one. Creation isn’t just something that happened once upon time with the Big Bang – an event for us to go about uncovering, explaining and “managing.” Creation is spontaneously giving birth to realization each and every single moment! We are here to express and delight in the blooming of conscious creation. We are here for the living relationship of this.

Sacred Relationship

Creation is a verb. Creation like all forms of art is the expression of aliveness drawn into being, breathed into being through the miracle of relationship. It is that which is spawning right now in a dynamic rapport between subject and object, creator and form.

When an artist is engaged in moments of true creativity, it is impossible to distinguish what is instigated by subject and what by object; impossible to say which is the “doer” and which is that “being done to.” In true creating of art, a dialogue occurs; a dance takes place in which both the creator and the created are changed and swayed within the dynamic of the relationship as it unfolds. In the creative process, the lines between “I” and “It” drop away. Subject and object disappear into a pooling relationship in which potential arises from the unique dance occurring in each moment of now. It is an alchemy of moment blending with form. And so is the dance of creation!

Dance of Creation

Life is a vital and living, moment-by-moment, coming together of God and man of the lover and the beloved, of thought and form in order to celebrate the creating of offspring from the partnered pairing; in order to know itself in the process and the content of creation itself. That’s it.

In metaphysical terms, the moment of creation is the apparent separating of “the One into the many” in order for the One to know itself through the relationship of seeing. In the relationship of seeing which can only occur now, I and Thou disappear into a synchronistic exchange. Here, as advaita author Tony Parsons puts it, “there is only seeing. There is only this.”

There’s lots of talk these days about unity-consciousness, stilling the mind, killing the ego, being no-body, loving what is – all pointers toward the paradox of truth. Words are of course tricky and a real set up for misunderstanding. Still, let me try and say it this way: It is perfect just as it is. We are meant to feel separate. We are meant to fall into separation in order to re-unite with/in the embrace of source. We are meant to experience the sacred relationship of creative loving between matter and circumstance, creature and God-Consciousness, subject and object, unity and dualism. In the moment of relationship, not in the objects themselves, is the seeing…and so is the dance of creation!

All this that is, is divine intelligence birthing itself into expression within each eternal moment of now. It is this paradox on which creation rests: the one appearing as two in order to know itself as the love affair.

The Love Affair

Life is a love affair. God is not object or subject; not source or substrate. God is relationship. We are that experiencing of relationship as it is happening – right now. We are both art and artist lost (and found) within the embrace of this creative moment of now.

How do we find enlightenment? …We don’t. Enlightenment is what simply is when we see past subject-object and realize the a priori relationship of this; when our sense of separate self-identity and its running commentary is seen through as a construction (or as temporal reality), the spiritual realization of God-in-us is simply seen.

When we see through and let go of our whole-hearted “buy in” to the object-oriented, security-driven perspective of “self”, there is simply seen and lived, the relationship with/in what is. With this seeing comes the recognition that we are not merely an object-identity nor a subject-source, not duality nor unity, but the very movement of creation itself. We’re not object. Neither subject. We are both and neither. We are on a playing field of paradox. We are particle and wave – and that which the dynamic interchange is creating. We are what is arising through relationship.

The Art of Realized Living

When we come to live our lives as a creative process of art – when we come to each moment of now with the open trust and daring confidence of the artist engaged in relationship with the material of now – we enter into spiritual realization. More precisely, we don’t “enter” or “become” anything. Simply, when the relationship is realized, what is and always has been, is simply seen. Not seen “by someone” – just seen.

It is here in the seeing that the lover and the beloved embrace. It is here that “enlightenment” simply is. It is here that the mystics’ call truth. It is here that unity and duality simply fall away into everything – and nothing at all.

Here, the living is easy, natural, flowing and free. Here too, the magnificent artistry of creation continually blooms with ever-new potential, delight and surprise.

We are the movement of creation itself – not merely its object or subject, but a continual relationship unfolding, in love.

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Ronda LaRue is an emerging spiritual author/mentor living in Ojai, California, USA. http://www.rondalarue.com

Ronda works from a novel and contemporary approach to the ancient tradition of one-on-one sacred apprenticeship for facilitating radical transformation., healing wholeness, and direct Self-Realization. Her book “Remembering Who You Really Are”, is a contemporary classic on the journey to true self Realization and Wholeness. (available from Amazon.com) See more about her private retreat programs at http://www.OjaiSoulArts.com or order her book at http://www.rondalarue.com

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Find The Endless Love – Part 4 – Loving Yourself

Perhaps we should consider those people who seem to live their lives in an apparently altruistic manner, dedicating themselves to conservation, charity, public service, learning, research, and so on. Could this be an illustration of the unconditional love that many of us hope to discover? Of course, the most important factor isn’t what these people actually do, but the reasons why they do it. If their conduct is truly altruistic, then that must mean that their key motivation is to work for the benefit of others, an outlook which clearly suggests a certain lack of concern for the various personal rewards which may be gathered while fulfilling these particular roles.

This description would seem to open up the possibility of anyone living their life in an altruistic manner. In other words, anyone can choose to move in this direction if they so wish, regardless of their social position or status. Whether they benefit others on a large scale or a small scale really doesn’t matter, only that this is their prime motivation as they engage in their various activities. Clearly, very few people are truly advanced in this respect, perhaps only those rare individuals who are able to approach all people with the same generous attitude. Kindness and generosity of spirit will distinguish such a person, qualities that each one of us should surely be striving to attain in ever larger measure.

You cannot, therefore, identify the genuinely altruistic person by simply looking at the type of position that someone holds. Even though their work may appear to have great benefits for the community, their involvement may be based on largely selfish considerations. Their principal motivation may be something other than the benefit of others, for ex
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ample, the pursuit of power, or praise, or even, perhaps, an escape from serious personal troubles. Conversely, the person who holds no position of note may be very advanced in this regard, even though their efforts may be entirely unnoticed.

This analysis seems to suggest that each one of us has the potential to move towards that unconditional love in our life. Two elements seem to play a major role in this process: understanding and forgiveness. Starting with ourselves, we need to become more detached and impartial, qualities that will allow us to see ourselves as we really are, while avoiding the great sense of disappointment that this process often brings. We shouldn’t judge the qualities which we uncover, simply acknowledge them, accepting that they are a natural product of the various experiences which have come our way in our lifetime. The unconditional love that we seek must start with ourselves. If we can’t accept ourselves, we will hardly be able to accept anyone else.

The truth is, most people carry a pretty distorted view of themselves, refusing to acknowledge those qualities which they find regrettable. The reason for this is quite simple. From a very early age we feel a very natural need to feel good about ourselves, a requirement which is absolutely crucial to our healthy development. We need to feel that we are good, that we are valued, that we are loved. We then look to all those around us to see whether this is the case or not, taking note of the many positive and negative reactions which constantly come our way. In other words, how we actually feel about ourselves is completely out of our control, entirely dependent on the various fragments of feedback that we receive from others.

Those who experience rejection, who are attacked for their faults and weaknesses, who are mocked for their failures, tend to become victims of anxiety, and are forced to adopt a wide variety of coping mechanisms. The pain which they naturally feel is frequently repressed, placed somewhere in the background of their mind, allowing them to carry on as if unaffected. The anger that usually results may then be displaced, shifted to someone or something other than the original cause, a process which is likely to produce even more negative feedback. The guilt of having behaved badly is then repressed, and so on. Unless addressed, these painful feelings may stay with us throughout our entire lives, affecting all our relations with others, and preventing us from realising our highest potential as a human being.

There are many people, however, who have no personal knowledge of the problems just described. This can be illustrated by using the fictitious example of one very lucky young boy. He was brought up in a good home, where there was no serious conflict and he was treated with love and kindness. Every single day he received a generous amount of positive attention from at least one loving adult, allowing him to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence which would prepare him well for school.

Being a happy child, with good social skills, school proved to be a very enjoyable experience. He was able to concentrate on his various activities, his behaviour was under control and he was very popular with his classmates and teachers. He performed very well, was praised for his talents and conduct, and continued to receive excellent support at home. Not surprisingly, he was very successful and many qualifications were gained.

He made friends easily, pursued a successful career, settled down in a stable and loving relationship, and so on. Naturally, he felt good about himself and the life he was building. He had no inner conflicts, no repressed memories, due to the fact that life had treated him so incredibly well. He had a calm, relaxed manner and couldn’t remember the last time that he was angry. What a fortunate fellow he clearly was! Although this may all sound very ideal to most people, there are many people in our society, both male and female, who wou
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ld have little problem identifying with the essence of the story just presented.

Does this mean that he had attained that unconditional love in his life? No, it certainly does not. Given that there had been such a steady abundance of good fortune in his life, we simply don’t know how he would react to the kind of severe setback that seems to happen to so many of us. The serious consequences of failure, rejection and guilt remained a complete mystery to him, something that he couldn’t really relate to since they were completely outside his realm of experience. His excellent background meant that he hadn’t yet encountered the darker side of his own nature, a potential which still lay dormant within him, resulting in a self-knowledge which was clearly only partially developed.

The main danger that this situation presents is the problem of pride. When we feel good about ourselves based on our qualities, abilities and achievements, there is a strong probability that we will have little understanding for those of apparently lesser ability and character. We will judge them by our own standards and values, making no effort to consider the deeper reasons for their less admirable conduct. It is only when we are willing to take the necessary time to understand that we are all essentially the same, each with the potential for good or evil, that the problem of pride can gradually be overcome.

By: Luke Within

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Any comments?
I can be contacted at this email address: billynicol@aol.com
How did I find that love? Well, you can have a look at these 2 websites: www.contact-info.net and www.tprf.org
People from the UK can visit this website: www.wordsofpeace.net
Good luck!

What´s the meaning of the expression “our love is all of God´s money”?. I heard it in Wilco´s song “Jesus, etc”. Could you help me, please?.
Thanks

Technorati Tags: god\'s love, living love, loving

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Loving Your Car

Of all of the things I own, my car would have to be on the top of my list of what I am most grateful for. I literally cannot imagine my life without my car. Can you imagine your life without a car?

The obvious reason that I love my car so much is because of the convenience it brings to my life. If it were not for my car, how would I get to all of the events and activities of the week let alone to the grocery store? Every member of my family is involved in a variety of activities that they love being part of. Not having a car to get them to and from their favorite events would certainly be a challenge. I love my car because if I forget an item at the store I can simply turn around and go purchase it. If I were relying on public transportation or a friend with a car I would have much less freedom to do what I want.

I love allowing my family members to do things they love. I love watching my young daughters practice ballet or take swim lessons. My sons enjoy participating in flag football and in basketball after school. My husband plays in a city wide soccer league and I enjoy getting together with friends to scrapbook our families latest memories. Our car is the single thing that makes it possible for our lives to be rich and full. I cannot imagine forcing my kids or my husband to stay home all the time and find ways to entertain themselves. My car has brought an incredible richness to each of our lives.

Another thing I love having about a car is that it allows my family to have close friendships with people all across town. While we enjoy time with our close neighbors, some of our best friends happen to live a drive away, and having a car makes it possible to visit them and spend time together. Even my siblings and my parents live too far away to walk to their homes, so I have been very grate
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ful over the years for the ways my car has allowed me to stay connected to my family and friends.

Consider all of the ways your car has benefited your life. If you are anything like me, I take my car for granted. I do not take care of it properly and then I get frustrated when my car doesn’t run perfectly. In the past couple of years I have started getting the car in for regular oil changes, I have committed to keeping the inside and the outside cleaner, and I take it to a mechanic for a regular tune up. I figure that for all the great things my car does for me, keeping it cared for is the least I can do for my car.

If you love your car as much as I do, get it cleaned or tuned up today.

By: Otto Wynn

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Read about hoarding disorder, malnutrition symptoms and other information at the Health And Nutrition Tips website.

When you live with an alcoholic one of the best survival strategies is to detach, preferably with love. If you live with an alcoholic or a problem drinker you will almost certainly find yourself worrying about if he is going to drink, when he is going to drink, what he is going drink, how much he is going to drink and what the consequences of the drinking will be. You are being sucked into his world and your life is being dictated by his behavior. Increasingly you will find yourself trying to control this world by seeking assurances that he won’t drink or won’t drink too much or won’t drink with the car or a thousand other scenarios.

People who live with an alcoholic often feel that they are changing. They can feel that their personality is changing, and not usually for the better. Where there was once a relaxed and carefree person who was fun loving and keen to socialize with friends now you probably feel like someone else entirely. You probably feel like you are constantly nagging, critical and bad tempered. Socializing with friends may be a thing of the past or alternately, if you and your drinker still socialize, it may be a nightmare for you.

You find yourself wondering what he will do or say, who he will upset and just how drunk will he get. It is little wonder that many people who live with an alcoholic withdraw from their friends. They feel guilty about their drinking partners as if it is somehow their fault and they feel ashamed and embarrassed to be with him when he is drunk. He may or may not be an abusive or belligerent drunk but even an affable and funny drunk becomes boring and tiresome pretty quickly.

Often people who live with an alcoholic have low self esteem, they do not like themselves very much. Indeed they often feel that they are not very lovable or even likable. Years of trying to change the alcoholic take its toll mentally and physically. You may find that you have problems sleeping, that you are constantly tired and your mood is always low and you often feel weepy, sometimes for no apparent reason. (These are some of the classic symptoms of depression and if you are experiencing them then you should seek help from your family doctor.)

You may find that your eating habits have changed and that you are losing weight or gaining weight. Often people who live with an alcoholic find that their general health is poor. They find themselves suffering from a variety of colds, flu and low level illnesses. Not only do they catch these illnesses easily they may also find that they have difficult recovering from them. Therefore they can find themselves feeling poorly for much of the time. Much of this can be caused by stress, which recent research has found can have an affect on the immune system.

Thus living with a problem drinker can bring many problems social, mental and physical. One way to reduce the impact and reduce these problems is to detach with love. In the next article we will discuss what detaching with love means.

John McMahon has worked in the addiction field for over 25 years. In that time he has worked as a therapist, university lecturer and researcher and has published widely. Help for people living with an alcoholic

Do you live with a problem drinker? Do you want information, help and support? Go to Bottled-up and find out about a brand new website.

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Need a reboot on your New Year’s resolutions? Break destructive patterns, spot a healthy church, and learn how to confess good things about yourself this month.


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“Career Renegade: How To Make A Great Living Doing What You Love” by Jonathan Fields is more than a “rah rah” do what you love book. It’s full of practical advice on building a living around what you love to do, and following your passion rather than a paycheck. Fields himself, once a mega-firm lawyer who was killing himself for the job, left his high paying position to become an entrepreneur and follow his passion. You might not picture a high paid lawyer quitting his job to open a yoga studio, but it worked for Fields, and he insists that following your passions and doing what you love can work for you too. This book is his guide to show you how.

Again, I found this book to be much more than a bunch of motivational “you can do it.” Fields shares examples, stories of others who’ve achieved success following their dreams, and resources to assist you make the transition toward your passions. The first part consists of two chapters that get you thinking about what you really want. Part two explores what kind of renegade you want to be. Fields looks at different career renegade paths and opportunities available to make a living while doing what you enjoy.

In part three, Fields covers topics such as getting social online and building on blogging and social media, areas that he has been extremely successful with. Marketing is a key to building a business, and Fields offers some good advice in this area.

The final part focuses on topics such as cultivating the renegade mind-set, not doing it alone, holding on to your life preserver until you can swim, and being your own guru. This final chapter was motivating, but also grounded in reality. I like the Helen Keller quote near the end, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Fields then asks, “What are you waiting for?”

Some of the stories and examples Fields uses were people and business I was familiar with, and others I’d never heard of, but all of them fit well with the lessons he was sharing. He also provided numerous websites for additional information. I really did feel the book had a good mix of motivation, practical tips, resources, and examples that engaged and instructed the entire way through. It is also a book to look back to as you plan your own career. If you are not making a great living doing what you love, check out this book and it may just provide the stimulus and advice to help you along that path.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior’s Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior’s Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com and http://www.aikiproductions.com

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Michigan couple celebrates 77 years together

(WXYZ) – Here's living proof that there is such a thing as love-at-first-sight. Ella and Jack Essenburg just celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary and …   Read More…

Kevin's leap from house of horrors to home of love

It has shaped him as a man now living in country Victoria. And in turn, he is now providing a home filled with love for a young vulnerable person who can't …   Read More…

Words to Live By

… greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; …   Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

What is the difference between those who teach that people will go to hell if they don't follow the teachings of Jesus, and people who teach that God hates everyone and only a select few will make it into 'heaven'?

Christians claim to teach that God is love, but the Bible contradicts this numerous times. According to most Christian beliefs, everyone is born sinful, and God hates sin, but if God created people and therefore, sin, how can he condemn people to hell for being what he made them in the first place? How do you justify this?

Consider the quote out of “Utopia” by Thomas More, “For by suffering your youth wantonly and viciously to be brought up, and to be infected, even from their tender age, and little with vice: then in God`s name to be punished, when they commit the same faults after they be come to man`s state, which from their youth they were ever like to do: In this point, I pray you, what other thing do you, than make thieves and then punish them?”

Would you not say that, according to your beliefs, God made sinners, and unjustly seeks to punish them, for being exactly what he made them? How do you justify maintaining such a contradictory belief? Mature responses only, please. Immature responses of “You're stupid” or anything similar will be resoundingly thumbs-downed.

Technorati Tags: god\'s love, living love, love living

Judas does us a favor if his story causes us to rethink our basic commitment to Christ by asking, “Lord, is it I?”


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Compassionate Detachment: Loving Enough To Let Go

When I was young I discovered a chrysalis hanging from a branch in some scrub oak near our house. Each day after this discovery I would go out and check on this chrysalis in the hopes of seeing the butterfly that I knew was inside. You can imagine how excited I was when one day I came out to find the head of this butterfly sticking out from a hole in the bottom of the cocoon!

I stood fascinated by the whole process, but wait… something was wrong. The butterfly seemed to struggle and not be getting anywhere. I decided to help. Very carefully I began to pull the silk from around the butterfly until I had a hole big enough to tear the cocoon open. With a “plop” the butterfly hit the ground. It wasn’t the magnificent flying creature I had envisioned. Its wings were rolled up tight and it eventually died. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Instead of being a witness to the wonder of the butterfly’s flight, I was the cause of its death.

Had I known then what I know now about compassionate detachment, that butterfly would have lived to fulfill its life’s mission. I learned much later in life that the struggle I had witnessed was actually necessary for the butterfly to live. The effort to get out of the cocoon causes fluid to be pumped into the wings and without that fluid the butterfly can’t unroll. By stepping in and interfering with this process I didn’t allow the butterfly to develop according to its nature. I prevented the struggle that was necessary to make it strong.

Compassionate detachment simply means we are not attached physically, spiritually, mentally and especially emotionally to the events, things, and people in our lives that we have compassion for. This does not mean we don’t care – because compassion is caring. It means
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we are not attached in a way that fails to serve the highest good of all.

What exactly is the highest good? The truth is that most of the time we just don’t know. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop us from trying to insert our wisdom and sometimes even insisting that people take our advice. However well intentioned I was when I was younger, I didn’t know what was for the highest good of the butterfly and my interference and insistence cost that creature its life.

If it was difficult to watch the struggle of a butterfly, how difficult must it be to watch the struggle of a loved one?

What if it is your child? Suppose a child was born into a loving, yet very over-protective family. The parents, in their idea of love declared, “Our child will be protected from all of the evils of life. Kids will never make fun of him or tease him because we will never allow him out of the house. He will stay here where he is loved and protected. He will never have to be subjected to germs and pollutants nor will anything harmful every come into contact with him.”

The mother would cook every meal for him throughout the rest of his life. He will never have to cook and risk being burned by a hot stove. The father said, “He will never have to work because he could be injured on the job and we would never want to see our child hurt.” They agreed that since he would never have to work he would never have to go to school. “Why should we subject him to cruel and unkind people? Why should he have to exert all that effort to learn anyway? Plus the history books are full of stories of war, famine, slavery and other atrocities. It is better that he not have to hear such negative things.”

They also agreed that he should never date or marry because how easy would it be for a girl to break his heart? “It is better to just keep him here with us where he is loved and protected,” they said. They told him, “Don’t run, don’t jump, don’t climb on things and stay out of all the rooms where there are dangerous things because we love you and don’t want to see you get hurt. It’s for your own good.” …Okay, by now you are probably saying, “I get the point!” I give you this extreme and hypothetical situation to overstate that not all struggle or pain is bad.

There is a fine line between aiding someone – and carrying them in a way that robs them of the life lessons needed to make them strong and help them become capable of carrying out their life’s mission. Each person comes into this world with his own load, for which he and he alone is responsible. Anyone who attempts to carry another’s load (or shirk his own) is not serving anyone’s highest good. In fact, that is a disservice and could stunt or prevent the growth necessary to carry them through their lie’s mission. Sometimes you have to love a person enough to let go. Let them learn their lessons.

When you let go of someone by being compassionately detached, you don’t let go so they fall. You let go so they can fly!

By: Ralph P. Brown

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Ralph P. Brown is a Mohawk instructor on the use of the Medicine Wheel. He is a pipe carrier, ceremony leader, traditional storyteller and author of “Awakening the Eagle: A Guide to the Medicine Wheel” and “13 Virtues to a New Life: A Journey Around the Medicine Wheel”. Having lived with several tribes and studied with many Medicine Men, he brings to his work a lifetime of study and experience. He operates www.MirroredWindows.com, an online art gallery.

Yes:)

1 John
Loving One Another

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
16 …God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

Technorati Tags: god\'s love, loving, true love

Missionary calling is a mysterious thing. Some people can tell you about a single, life-changing moment when God spoke to them clearly. Others talk about a growing sense of leading and purpose over many years…


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