Reflecting the Eternal in Thought

Photo byKeegan HouseronUnsplash

The choices one makes impacts the state of one’s soul, as well as one’s relationship with the Eternal. I have made good choices in my life. I chose to have children and it was a priority to provide and to care for them. Inspired by the Divine, I choose to pray daily. Additionally, I choose to seek out a community of others who desire union with the Eternal.

Yet, I also made many poor choices throughout my life; choices that distanced my soul from its Creator. For me, most of these choices revolved around attempts to find love through the body. God did not stop loving me; I stopped trusting in God. Attending college in Wisconsin I dated a number of men and attempted to create intimacy solely through the body. The reason this was not pleasure, but a craving for the love of a man, for a knight in shining armor. I wrongly thought I could manufacture that love by placing physical intimacy before emotional or spiritually intimacy. Knowing I was choosing something that distanced me from God, the One who blessed me with His Love again and again, I removed myself further by not attending church or even kneeling in prayer, and instead surrounded myself with those making the same choices as I.

I am deeply sorry for each and every poor choice I made. Luckily, God is the most forgiving Father and Mother and gifts each of us with another chance.

God watches us make poor choices, choices based on fear versus on His Love. He wants us to make good choices, but we often choose another path and these paths are many. We have to suffer the consequences of our choices. As a parent helplessly watches their child stumble and fall while learning to walk, so too does God even more so watch us and help us as much as possible without interfering with free will.

Life is a process. There really is no “good” choice or “poor” choice. There are only choices that take us farther from our best selves and choices that bring us closer to realization of our true Self that exists one with the Eternal. God loves all of us and all of our choices. Labels and judgments are not of God. There are only choices that allow us to more fully express or experience who we truly are and choices that do not.

One cannot say that something perceived as bad happened because of a choice one made. It’s possible, but it’s also possible that what we consider bad has been sent to us for our own good. From our limited perspective we have no way of knowing if we did something that created the situation, or if it’s a situation that has been given to us and possibly another or even others as a way to grow and to learn. If we could only let go of the labels of good and bad, and be grateful and at peace in whatever tempest we are living through, then life would be easier for us and not as stressful and heartbreaking.

God has blessed us with free will to make the best choices for our bodies and our souls. What do our bodies gain by choosing addiction of any kind? Bodies gain nothing, but for a moment the mind gains pseudo bliss. A decadent piece of chocolate melting in your mouth, the lift from an end-of-day martini, the buzz from a cigarette, the jolt of “joy” as you find and purchase the perfect pair of shoes, the zany jumping for joy after the cute guy phones, the extra endorphin high as you push your body beyond its limits, are all weak reflections of the joy of inviting our Creator to befriend us in this lifetime.

We put up blocks, in the guise of choices, to that which could help us, love us, and fill us with joy. God is in each of us. Look to the God in each other, serve and love that God in each other as if you were serving God Himself. There is then no competition, no fear, and only love.

Our minds influence both our bodily desires and our heart and all are linked to soul. We nourish and rest our bodies and must do the same for our minds. If one’s mind is entwined in worldly delights and pleasures, there also will be one’s heart, body, and ultimately soul. A first step in opening oneself to receive the gifts of the Creator is to change your mind until it becomes a place where the Divine Energy can comfortably dwell. If one believes the Divine Energy to be pure goodness and light, then one’s mind must reflect just that.

It is not the body that need changing, but the mind. First comes the thought of a need, and then comes the desire. Without thoughts, our bodies will hunger and thirst, but for not more than they need to survive. God provides for these bodies. God can even take away our hunger and thirst. We only need to change our mind.