Artwork by Annalisa Barelli
It’s a huge epidemic out there: “I am not what I should be.” So you’re dissatisfied, with yourself and the world. You know there is something wrong, internally and externally. The problem is not illness, it’s perspective. Of course you are not what you should be! How many people do you know who are? Not many, if you can see beneath the veneer. Here is the litmus test: are you willing to stay the way you are? If you are, nobody can help you. But if you aren’t, the possibilities are endless. Only be willing to be changed.
To be changed.This flies in the face of the whole self-help industry. All the books, all the dvds, all the You Tube videos that promise to create a new and better you, if you will only promise to do what they say and stay with the program. You can do it. After tons of programs and years of trying, I’ve come to the tremendously liberating realization that I can’t do it.
Where to go next? One of the most quoted and most beautiful verses in the Bible is: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There are two sides of the equation: neighbor and self. Can never downplay neighbor, but you also have to lift up self. Once we accept that we need to be changed and are willing to be changed in a positive way, we can be blissfully changed. Buy in.
The next step is the tricky one: faith. If you’re not satisfied with who you are (who is?), and you know you cannot change yourself (how many failed resolutions?), but you simply must change, how’s it going to happen? The most elemental part of the tricky step is: ask for help—the Other, the Force, the Oneness, the Way, the Truth, the Lord—seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened, ask and it shall be given… Because, and I love God for this, there’s only one requirement: you gotta believe.
Part two is patience. God never hurries. All your flaws and neuroses and bad habits and egocentricities and selfishnesses took years to develop—do you think He’s going to clean it up in one swipe? How did He make mountains? Very very slowly.
AA calls it a higher power, which is kind of insulting to my Lord and Savior, but I don’t think He cares so I won’t either. Offer yourself up to be changed—after that you only have one basic responsibility: believe (patiently). How simple is that?
Because when you believe, you have completely taken the onus of responsibility off your shoulders: He will take care of it. The beauty is that you can never pull a fast one—you can’t fake believing (not inside)—and if you believe, you will respond. It makes every day exciting—how real are you today?
This is the lesson I am being taught: I will always fall short. This is the lesson He is trying to teach me: it doesn’t matter, keep trying. Press on to the upward calling. Let your mind be transformed.
And be gentle with yourself. Don’t puff up and don’t get down. You are walking with a Potter who has promised to turn clay into gold—or whatever metaphor you prefer. Believe (patiently).
By the way–if you admired the artwork for this blog post as much as I did, you can see more of Annalisa’s work by googling Annalisa Barelli.
Love the art work, Annalisa ?
Hi Dallin. Glad to see you are writing again ? I am enjoying reading your posts
Thanks, Kathy—I am enjoying writing but I need all the encouragement I can get. I appreciate you reading.