forgiveness

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Forgiveness: Why It’s So HARD!!!

We all may agree that forgiveness is needed in our lives.  It is a spiritual prerogative.  It is also a social, emotional and psychological imperative.  But, it is one of the hardest things to do within our own heart and mind.

There are so many factors that are involved with forgiving.   There are so many facets of our own psyche that are attached to the circumstances and actions in which we are called to forgive about.  So, of course, it is going to be a difficult challenge, especially if the different parts of us – within us – are struggling against the other parts of us that are within us.

Books and more are written about forgiveness.  There are countless articles and treatises that are written about forgiveness.  The Bible is filled with the calling to forgive, and so we try.

Forgiveness isn’t always a “freeing” experience, like some say.  It isn’t always a wonderful experience.  This is because we are multi-dimensional and multi-faceted individual souls.  There’s a lot going on inside us – in our minds, in our hearts, in our hopes for life, in our dreams, in our motivations, in everything about us.

Forgiveness is, in fact, an act of letting go.  But, there is sometimes great grief in this act.  Why grief?  Because there is a death occurring.  It isn’t a death of a person, but rather the death of a dream and image of something – giving way to the reality of something.

More often, it is the death of who we think a person is, and who we want that person to be, as well as what we think our relationship to the person is, and what we want our relationship to be.  Forgiveness brings us to a realization that the person and our relationship aren’t what we had imagined, thought, believed, hoped, dreamt it all to be.

It is with forgiveness that we come to realize that the person is slightly or greatly different than we had projected onto them.  The death of that “imagined person” comes through the act of forgiveness.  Who we wanted to believe that person or persons were comes to an end (or partially).  There is sometimes great grief that comes with this realization.

This all brings us to the point that we can let that other person become a human being instead of being an imaginary person whom we projected onto.

In our hearts, it is easier to like and love someone who we don’t know that well as a human being.  It is easy to project onto that person.  In our hearts, it is more painful to love an actual human being who is capable of hurting others – someone who we learn about in a deeper way – someone who demonstrates their ability and willingness to disregard and hurt others.

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Forgiveness is an act of growth for us when we forgive.  We open up our mind to see a real person – a real live human being who has thousands of qualities – both good and bad – and not some idealized image of a person whom we only were willing to see either the good or the bad – without the other.

When we put someone on a pedestal, we don’t see the reality of who they are.  We don’t see them as human beings with all their faults.  We only see an image – a false human being – an unreal human being.  That is why it is then so easy to crucify them.

When we forgive, we let them get off the pedestal and become a soul who is trying to learn how to be a human being – regardless of whether they’re successful or not – regardless of whether or not we’re aware of whether they’re trying – regardless of whether they are even trying or not.

When we forgive, we change ourselves into a human being who sees another human being – instead of an image of that human being.  When we forgive, we allow the relationship to be what it is, rather than what we want it to be – leaving us in a better place to decide whether it is a relationship we wish to continue and bring forth a different love or discontinue because of the need to remove ourselves from a bad relationship.

The reason why Christ can love us without reservation is because He forgives us over and over.  Forgiveness doesn’t make the relationship better not even how we relate to Jesus, but it does create an open door for our inner change to happen.  If we’re willing to walk through the open door for change, then the relationship can get better, but not everyone who is forgiven is willing to walk through the open door for change.

That is why forgiveness can also bring grief.  Forgiveness can also bring the reality of a destructive relationship which needs to come to an end.  We can forgive ***and forget*** but it comes with change.  Sometimes that change is to love more.  Sometimes that change is to move on.

The challenge of many of the Jews and others who were alive after WWII was to forgive the Nazis.  The awareness was present for many that only in the forgiving of them did the prisoners become free from the Nazis.  If there was no forgiveness, the two were still tied together.

Forgiveness doesn’t make everything peachy-keen.  Again, it brings a view of the reality of what the relationship is and what the relationship isn’t.  It helps us to see when we have been holding onto someone wanting them to be someone they aren’t.  It helps us to see when we’ve been holding onto a relationship wanting it to be something it isn’t.  And with this awareness, perhaps be able then to choose a better action on our parts other than idealizing someone or some part of someone, and idealizing the relationship or some part of the relationship.

Finally, mercy is always available to help us to forgive.  Remember, each of us has been forgiven many, many, many times and by many, many, many people – including by Christ, Himself.  And we’ll never know the full spectrum and all of the quantity of the times we’ve been forgiven.  As long as we are alive as human beings, we will never know.  We can only know that we’ve been forgiven countless times, but for the rare occasions that we may learn a few of the details of when and why.

We can then participate in our forgiving of others without holding onto expectations – just letting the act of forgiveness itself be a hidden act of mercy, and then moving on with our life.

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Forgiveness is also the act of taking our own heart in our own loving arms, holding our self close with kindness, forgiveness and love.  ©, 2016, Jodie Senkyrik

“Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I can’t take God’s place.” ” Genesis 50:19

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Deuteronomy 30:19

When in human history has there not been conflict among each other, hatred, war and killing of people by other people. And yet, we human beings are still alive and living our lives. We have 7 billion people on the planet, and I know why.

It’s because “he” loves “her,” and “she” loves “that guy,” and “they” love “somebody,” and “he” loves “somebody” and “we” love, and “she” loves, and “different people” love and “children” love and on and on and on and on. Any planet where “many people loving other people” exists, is a planet worth living on. Any planet where a person or many people express their love through all the different forms that love gets expressed – support, kindness, patience, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, more kindness, etc, – for other people, is a planet where God is among us and active through our choice to manifest love to other people through support, kindness, patience, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, more kindness, etc.

God and Love and God and Love

Where love exists, God exists. Where people love, God’s love gets through to us.  When we love any person and any life that God has created, we bring God’s Presence, Kindness, Patience, Compassion and Love onto the surface of this planet, mixing into the lives of the people we contact and with whom we connect.  We bring God’s active involvement into our personal lives and our lives as a planet full of people.

The Choosing

If any person or group of people wants to bring more conflict with other people, more condemning of another group of people, more war among different groups, more killing of men, women and children – more hatred and fear of someone who is different – into the world, we can choose this activity simply by harming, judging, condemning, fearing, abusing, or hating the person we see either in front of us, next to us, far from us, or someone on the news channel.  This then becomes the act we add to our children’s lives, to our family member’s lives, to the lives of the people in our community, to the people of our nation and to the people on the planet.

At any time, we can choose to condemn different people more, judge different people more, kill different people more, be more violent to people we don’t want near us.  We can do this more and more, not just through our actions, but through the words we speak and write, through our beliefs about other people and our actions born from our attitudes which then become our real treatment of other people.

We can fear and hate, either the person sitting next to us on the plane who looks different, or the person who looks different on the other side of the planet that we only see on TV – all at the drop of a hat.  We can inspire others to hate through our written words and our spoken words in any avenue of writing (and now social media.)  We can return hatred to those people that already hate thereby increasing the hatred among more and more people in the world.  Look at the world and see how we have chosen the easy way of hating and fearing the person that is different.  No one of us is innocent of doing this.  And as Dr. Phil says, “And how has that worked out for you?”

When we fear and hate, our hatred and our fear within our hearts and minds, go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin. They are the right hand and the left hand to a body of living that we can choose simply by believing our own words of fear and our own words of hate.   Our fear feeds our hatred and our hatred feeds our fear. Anyone who fears and says they don’t hate is selling more fear and more hatred to any buyers.

Is Christ a real option?

Jesus was/is a real person.  Regardless of what the Bible tells us, we don’t know that much about Him.  We fill in the details with whatever we come up with in our minds, and from what other people come up with in their minds.   We even remake Jesus in our own image and likeness, sometimes.

Other times, we put Him so high on a pedestal that He becomes unreal.  When He becomes unreal, His guidance becomes unrealistic.  His teachings become unrealistic, and our beliefs about Him become unusable for any real-life situations.   We live day to day, and we don’t practice any of His teachings and guidance.

He was a real human being.  Perhaps not the human being that we’ve imagined, though.  He died from physical wounds and the blood loss.  Real people die from physical wounds and blood loss.  There were no EMT’s or Surgeon’s.  If we were in the same situation – a knife, a sword (not too many any more) a gun, a bomb, or the like, we also would possibly die from the blood loss  from wounds.

We may yet think of Him as an imaginary person.  Imaginary people don’t suffer or physically die.  Imaginary people go away and don’t come back.  Imaginary people aren’t around when you need real help.

But, to better choose Christ, we can start with entertaining the idea that He is a real person, like you and I – “one of us” – with Him walking down the street, or next to us, or waving as we walk by.  As a regular real person, His statement – “For man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) gives us the room for something better to be hoped for and chosen.  This statement can give us hope that we can find it within ourselves to choose something better – with help from within – with God, a better choice can be chosen, from within.

Real people can act with kindness, gentleness and tenderness.  Real people can act with patience and compassion.  Real people, like you and I – “if God was one of us” – can choose forgiveness and mercy.  This is how we can choose Christ.  He chose to extend forgiveness, patience and mercy and still does.

Making a Choice

We can focus on continuing to choose to love-which takes making a decision, and then following up that decision with prayer asking for help to manifest the decision, and then following up that prayer for help with hard work – as anyone who is married, (one of many examples of an expression of love,) will tell you – continuing to love takes hard work.

On the other hand, in any one moment, in any one second, we can choose to hate and express that hatred through violence, through vengeance, through killing,…

or we can choose to love and express that love through patience, through faith, through kindness, through mercy, through more patience, through understanding, through prayer, through more prayer, and through the examples that we have already learned.  We can choose through any method that brings our minds and hearts back to the better side of human beings and away from the worst side of human beings – fear, hatred, and the like.

It is so, so easy to become just like those we condemn, those we hate, those we fear or those that are different. All we have to do is condemn others and justify the condemnation, hate others and justify the hatred, fear others and justify the fear.  The other side does exactly the same thing.

Deep within ourselves, we don’t want to be hate-filled and fear-filled. But, we choose that when we choose to return hatred for hatred – when we choose to return condemning of others with more condemning of others.

There will never be a day that we can stop hatred and violence in the world by opposing it using hatred and violence. We cannot add to the cooperation and unity among different people by adding more conflict and separation.  Whether it’s felt towards people next to us in the grocery line or someone on the opposite side of the planet – it is the same.  Thoughts of hatred and of condemning other people as well as thoughts of fear of those other people, find their way into how we treat the people in our own presence – the people sitting next to us on a plane or standing next to us in line.

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There is no difference between the violence of one person and the violence of another person.  There is no difference between the hatred and condemnation that one person has, and the hatred and condemnation that another person has.  Both people justify their own and both people say “God is on our side.”

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While the title refers to a “strict or strong” stance – sometimes an interpreted judgmental stance – in the Bible, I list it because it recognizes that we have freewill.   We will always have freewill.  We will always be able to choose.  Our response to all things in life is up to us.  We can choose life.

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The real God is the God of Infinite Love – the Love that existed before time, and which will exist beyond any imagined future.  The real Jesus Christ is the Christ of Infinite Love.  The real Spirit within all of us is the Spirit of Infinite Love.  We have within us more capacity for love than we currently choose to imagine and manifest.  When the time comes that we choose to imagine Infinite Love and choose to manifest Infinite Love, this world and all other worlds, as well, will change to One of Infinite Love, Infinite Kindness, Infinite Patience, and…

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“Those we pray for have God available in their lives in stronger ways than those we don’t pray for.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2016, Jodie Senkyrik)

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The Secret of Forgiveness

One of the most challenging acts to fulfill is forgiveness.  One of the most challenging people to forgive is our self.

Within ourselves, with inclusion of all the different levels of consciousness within our whole consciousness, we hold a full understanding of all things.  However, these unconscious store houses of understanding rarely come forward to enlighten us and heal us when we struggle with life.

It takes an extra effort – effort beyond what we know living our day to day lives.  It takes different effort to understand guilt, forgiveness and how these work.  Yet, this extra effort, once made, opens up aspects and experiences of healing, learning and loving that before we were unaware were even available.

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We start with this – the chains of guilt are all one chain – connected from our self going out to all life.  When we wrap others in the guilt we place on them, we wrap ourselves in the same chain.  When we place guilt or blame on anyone for anything, we are placing guilt and blame on ourselves for the same thing – even when we “think” (using our day to day consciousness) that we – our self – haven’t done the same thing as those we place guilt upon.  There is no escaping this.

Be aware that our day-to-day consciousness and memory doesn’t remember 99% of our life, does it.  It rarely ever remembers the things we’ve done in our recent past, or how we impacted the lives of those we’ve known all through this life.  Our day-to-day memory almost never remembers a single past life, much less all of our past lives, much less our lives outside of human existence, or before we entered into this human existence realm, or the realms and dimensions we existed in before we ever came to this Earth realm/dimension.

Very few, if any, remembers the infiniteness of our existence, much less the lessons learned and unlearned during this infiniteness of existence.

To say that we don’t deserve guilt that we then go on to place upon others speaks volumes to what we are aware of.  To say we feel guilt but don’t work to resolve it, also speaks to what we are aware of.  However, it also speaks to a potential beginning.  It speaks to a beginning – if we’re willing.

It can speak to the beginning of discovering how we came to wear the chains of guilt – and it’s not what you might think.

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The challenge to forgive ourselves of any failure, mistake, fault, crime, sin, or shortcoming is a challenge to pick up – a very difficult challenge.  It is a challenge that we don’t succeed at very often, (if we don’t have the willingness or understanding.)  It is an act which we don’t always feel within our minds, hearts and souls.

The way to forgive ourselves of xyz (anything) is to forgive everyone of the very same failure, crime, shortcoming, sin, etc.

The chain of guilt we place on ourselves, we have also placed on others.  Likewise, the chain of guilt we have placed on others, we hold up in the light of day showing their guilt, and then when the time comes – even without our awareness of this process – we forge this same chain for ourselves.  As I’ve said already, there’s no escaping this.

To help us learn what it’s like for other human beings – to help us learn what it’s like to be a human being, God will sometimes – and we ourselves sometimes – lead us to circumstances that give us opportunities to experience situations of failure and sin, of those with whom we’ve judged and condemned most vehemently.

Lifetimes can pass, and future lives can be lived, before the day comes that we experience that which led others to stumble and fall – which we condemned and called “guilty” and of which we chose to never let go.  But, as long as we hold onto chains of guilt for placing on anyone else, never letting them go for anyone under any particular circumstance, we are forging and holding onto the chain of guilt for ourselves, as well, and hence why it is so hard to let go of our own guilt – the chain of guilt which we forged and now wear on ourselves.  We’ve worn the chain for so long placing these chains on others, and only feel the chains when we feel the weight of guilt from recognizing that we’ve acted in a way that we, before, criticized and condemned – (and almost always is unremembered.)

Only when we let go of the chain of guilt we place on others are we also letting go of the chain of guilt we place on ourselves.  It is one chain.  Only then do we understand what it’s like for human beings to be human beings.  Only then do we understand how a person can act a certain way through unique circumstances which lead to making mistakes, stumbling and falling, sinning, or whatever we call it.

Does it always require us to go through the same experiences, situations and circumstances to learn how to do this?  NO.  No.  and no.

Only when we are unwilling to understand.  Only when we are unwilling to demonstrate patience, or compassion or mercy.  If we’re only willing to place guilt, shame, judgement, criticism, or condemnation, do we set in motion the path that will eventually lead us to learn the healing effects of forgiveness for ourselves and the others we condemned and judged.

If we’re willing to let go of guilt and shame, judgement, criticism and condemnation, we open ourselves to forgiveness and open others up to forgiveness.  Only with willingness, do we come to this process, and with willingness, we let go of the one single chain that binds us altogether to guilt.  If we’re willing to let go of holding onto the chain of guilt – towards others, we can let go of the chain of guilt that we held upon ourselves.  With our hands opened and empty of placing guilt, the chain falls for all.

Only then, with willingness, do we forgive our self, and others at the same time – letting go of the one and only chain that held all of us – all this time – the chain which we, ourselves, forged from placing guilt and condemnation onto others.

It adds another level of truth to the saying – All for one and one for all.  Holding onto the chain of guilt or releasing the chain of guilt is this way.  It is for all, including our self or it is for none.  This is the secret of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is for all or forgiveness is for none.  True Forgiveness is infinite.  Put another way, finite forgiveness – target forgiveness – individual forgiveness doesn’t exist except in pretend forgiveness.  Only Infinite forgiveness exists.  This is the forgiveness which God gives us, for when the day comes that we share it with others.

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“If you were to want to see a sign from God, would you rather experience seeing water turned into wine, or would you rather experience feeling deeply loved and forgiven?” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

“The world gets better when any of us says, ‘I’m willing to try –
to see what I can do to help.’  Not when we say, ‘YOU didn’t do enough.’ ” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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Knowing One’s True Self

“My question is pertaining to knowing one’s true self and truth. How do we know we are making the right decisions and being true to ourselves and not just making a wrong, selfish decision? God is telling us things all the time, but how do I know which voice It is? The one that says “be true to yourself and go for what you are feeling right now ( this feeling overwhelms me)” or the one that says “are you sure you want to do this, the grass may not be greener on the other side, and people will get hurt in the process?” Its like a battle. How do I know the right way to go? Which voice is right?” M.

How do we know?  Through practice, practice, practice, practice and more practice. Life is not just a process of learning what God wants of us. It is a process of learning about our own self, in addition to common sense, understanding, and wisdom (eventually), and even with all this, learning that mistakes can be learning opportunities, also.

Think of this process, even this life as a “school-like” opportunity, not a tight-rope that one has to get perfect or else lose everything. This is why Christ is recognized as a teacher rather than a judge, jury and executioner. He is a gentle yet persistent teacher.

Our life is more like a school that gives us many, many opportunities to learn about how to live our lives with love from our hearts and what we’ve learned in our minds.

Some advice I encourage is:

  • Continue to practice having an open mind and an open heart. God can fill both of these.
  • Continue to practice the Fruits of the Spirit – like kindness, patience, mercy, forgiveness and more. God comes into this world in those moments that these are expressed.
  • When praying and meditating, pray for sincerity in one’s prayers.
  • And another: it helps to regularly ask ourselves, “Am I willing to learn, to love, to live, and to practice? Am I willing?”

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“If you can’t decide between the left hand choice and the right hand choice, then throw them both out and pick from the third hand.” The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1993, Jodie Senkyrik

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What Can I Do?

There really are very specific things we can each do when seeking how to respond to all the events  happening on the planet Earth, now.

1. Pray – when we start our efforts with the seeking of a greater communication and connection with the source of wisdom, intelligence, compassion, heart, understanding, patience, loving kindness, mercy and brotherhood – God – then we have a greater chance that our efforts will be healing, helpful, will build rather than tear down, will unite rather than create schisms, and will bring about a real and lasting result.

2. Meditate – when we meditate on the highest spiritual ideals within ourselves – Loving kindness, Peace for souls, cooperation, etc., this reconnects us to our own better parts of ourselves. This also helps to raise the consciousness level available in the world, especially when millions (and there are millions) of others are also praying and meditating for the higher level expressions of Mankind’s presence in this planet.

3. Work on myself, so that I’m not reacting automatically adding to the polarization, anger, blanket accusations, prejudicial statements and hate-filled rhetoric.  Acting responsibly is the ability to respond from a place better than that place where the problem was created.  This doesn’t happen automatically, though.

4. Join with others – when we join others with like hearts and minds, our efforts expand and become stronger in exponential ways. “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20.  Joining with others strengthens our sense of belonging to a community, it strengthens our own resolve to keep on keeping on, and it strengthens the community as a whole.

Joining with others can also help us feel that we’re not alone in having feelings of great concern for dangerous issues and that we don’t have to face these challenges alone.

5. Pray again.

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Freewill and Judgement Question

I wonder how you define freewill, I’m a bit theologically curious. I don’t think God is as non judgmental as you seem to [think], and I think you are giving him a get out of jail free card on some things. And my bias is Christian…  V.

Thanks for the comment and question. (Here’s my answer.  I’m sure others would have other answers.)

More important than my understanding of freewill and more important than our differences in our beliefs is the question, “What do we do with our beliefs?”

The world will never have “Peace on Earth, and Goodwill towards all men” if we think we all must believe the same way, because that’s not going to happen.  But, if we look at the question of what do we do with our beliefs, or to what use do we put our beliefs, or how do our own beliefs serve us?, then as we answer this or these questions, our answers will determine how we treat and relate to God, ourselves, and each other.

If we use our beliefs to strengthen our kindness, our compassion, our understanding, mercy and forgiveness, our support, our encouragement, our willingness to hold the hand of those who need a helping hand, then we will find that the world does indeed gain more “Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards all men.”

But, if we use our beliefs to condemn, to criticize, to judge, or to carry out our own vengeance, or our own bitterness, resentment, or hatred, then we will not achieve that which Christ has come to establish.  We can use our beliefs to bury people in guilt and shame.  We can use our beliefs to symbolically stone people to death, until they despair and lose all sense of hope for themselves.  We can use our beliefs to chain and imprison people in blame.   We can use our beliefs in any number of ways to bury people under the weight of the entire world, if we want to choose that.

Regardless of what God chooses to do, to judge or not judge, we can choose, within our own hearts and minds, the beliefs, acts, thoughts and feelings which we want to follow and become who we choose to be.  This is how I define freewill – making a choice on our/my own actions, our/my own feelings, our/my own thoughts, and our/my own beliefs, and then following through with them.

This may seem to some people to contradict the fact that we live on a planet that has a system of justice and imprisonment.  This is a reality on our planet, but each of us still has the choice within us as to whether we condemn another or hate another within our own heart.  Even those that commit crimes, that go through our criminal system, and that are imprisoned – these men and women are loved by someone, and most certainly by Christ,  in addition to being the recipients of Infinite Love from our Infinite God, who also offers Infinite Forgiveness, Infinite Understanding, Infinite Mercy to you, me and everyone else.

This means that everyone, no matter what we, of our own freewill have chosen to act out, or think, or believe, — everyone is already worthy enough to be loved — with no exceptions — and no one can stop this love going to another person.  We can only stop what comes to ourselves.

When we realize this is for all of us, and let the Infinite Expressions of God come forth for all of us, then we have (to use the common phrase) “accepted the keys to the kingdom” – the keys to that existence where Infinite Forgiveness, Infinite Mercy, Infinite Understanding, Infinite Patience, Infinite Compassion and Infinite Love all exist and are ours both within and without.

But, wait, there’s more.  (Sorry, it was too tempting to write that sentence.)  We don’t have to wait until we die to accept this, because of our own freewill, we can choose – within our hearts and minds today to act, to think, to relate, to treat others from that place within us where God lives and where we can draw upon Infinite Mercy, Infinite Patience, Infinite Forgiveness, Infinite Understanding and Infinite Love when dealing with each other.  This is called, “creating a Heaven on Earth.”

God has given us freewill to make our own choices.  These choices of actions, feelings, emotions, thoughts, beliefs and more, – we make these choices every minute of every day.  As humans, we are a mixed bag of all of these, including being judgmental and condemning at times.  With that, it’s not unheard of our wanting God to follow our lead and be like we are, judging who and what we judge, rather than us follow Christ’s lead – being patient, forgiving and merciful – letting go of judgement.

Thank you, again, for your comments and question.  This is how I answer, and I’m sure it is very different than many others’ answer.

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“None of us understands God, as much as God understands God.”  (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

“As we pray for others, so are we praying for ourselves.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2003-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“To successfully forgive, we must let go of the benefits we believe we get from NOT forgiving.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1999-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“Feeling peace is not experiencing God.  Helping someone else feel peace is experiencing God.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1999-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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Politics and Religion and Bears – Oh, My!

How many of you reading this blog, think that everyone else reading this blog thinks, feels, and votes politically, the same way that you do? are probably in the same camp? are with you on your side? How many? Go ahead and raise your hands. Okay… 1… 2 … 5… 12…

Now step back – how many of any group of us believe that everyone else reading this blog – or in any group we belong to, church we go to, school we attend or organization we are involved with – believe the same way we do about politics, political parties and our elected officials? Of course the answer is “No one thinks that everyone believes, thinks, feels and VOTES – all of these – the same way we do. Similar – sometimes yes, but exactly the same?  God, no.

The diversity of feelings, thoughts, beliefs about politics, political parties, and voting is truly, truly diverse, even among like-minded people.

Yet, we all gather together and attend our own church together. We all gather together and attend school, go to work, support organizations, and read this blog (well, maybe not gathered together to read the blog.)  We all still gather together in our groups, and families, and jobs and etc. etc.  Usually, we gather together, because we don’t talk politics and religion.

(Speaking politically about the different political parties, or different churches or different religions, I say, if you want to rant and rave, and rage against the political and religious machines, go ahead.)

It’s just that I’m reminded that Jesus never once spoke out against the Roman government or Roman officials, who were ruling the area. Jesus never spoke out against any government or government officials.  Nor did he speak out against the Roman religion or the Samaritan religion or the Gentiles’ religions. Christ never spoke out against the established forces and religions of the day.

What Jesus called the Romans was “Brothers”, as in “We are all brothers and sisters.”  Jesus had Roman followers.  John the Baptist did the same – he called the Romans brothers and had many Romans, even soldiers, come to be baptized – and they stayed Roman soldiers afterwards.  John’s instructions to the Romans were be honest with each other – don’t mistreat one another. Do your jobs with respect for others.

Jesus’ directive was “Follow Me.” And we follow someone by walking on the path they walk on. Jesus walked the path of Loving kindness. He walked the path of knowing everyone was His brother and sister. He walked the path of understanding, patience, forgiveness, tolerance, and mercy. He walked the path of helping one another. He walked the path of brotherhood.

Jesus never condemned, criticized or spoke out against anyone, …

except hypocrites and those that buried the people with religious condemnation “from above.”

Jesus never condemned other religions, but we do. Jesus never condemned other political affiliations, but we do. Christ never spoke out against anyone who was different or from a culture or group that was different from his own. He never spoke out against Gays, Lesbians, or Transgendered and they existed then. Jesus never condemned prostitutes, alcoholics, or any subgroup or subculture in society, but we do. Christ never condemned other ethnic groups, immigrants, “illegal aliens,” people from other nations….

but we do.

Jesus Christ never condemned any other group – except hypocrites – those that said one thing but lived another – those that easily condemned others with their message “if you’re not like me, you’re evil” or “wrong” or “condemned” or etc…., or “if you don’t live as I think you should, believing as I think you should, you’re WRONG!”… or “if you don’t live as I tell you to, you’re condemned in the eyes of God.”  How many of us have heard these messages expressed?  How many of us have been on the receiving end of these messages?  (Have any of us said these messages?)

Jesus Christ opened His arms for everyone, every culture, every subculture, every group, every subgroup, every organization, every political party, every religion, every everything, saying ‘Follow me on this path of Love, Kindness, Understanding, Patience, Mercy, and Forgiveness.’ ‘Follow me on this path I walk of Charity, of Brotherhood, of Tolerance, of Compassion, or Cooperation, of Humbleness, and Long-Suffering.’ ‘Follow me on this path I walk of knowing and seeing everyone being equal and deserving of God’s Infinite Love in the Infinite Eyes of God, and of everyone being brothers and sisters – children to Our Creator Father/Mother God – the God of all and the source of all Love, all Compassion, all Mercy, all Patience, all Forgiveness, all Acceptance and all Kindness.’

Jesus opened His arms for everyone that wants Love, Kindness, Mercy, Forgiveness, Tolerance, etc, and He still does. His only request is that we then share these things with each other, ….

and, I guess, patience and long-suffering with those that do speak “condemnation” (which I will admit absolutely takes God’s help to do, sometimes.)

*******

“No one speaking judgement and condemnation, speaks for God.  No one speaking punishment and retribution, speaks for God.  The one speaking love, forgiveness, understanding, kindness, brotherhood, patience and mercy – this one speaks for God.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1999-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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The Virginia Killing

This is an article about the Virginia killing of two people by another person.

When this happens, and it has happened a lot – too much, it is about people and people’s lives – like yours and mine. It is about those that are killed, and it is about the person who does the killing.

Many of us are on a spiritual path. As strange as it seems, we’re on this spiritual path for ourselves, but we can only move along on our journey by giving of our spiritual path to everyone and this is done by helping others. It is by opening our hearts and minds to give out our spirit to others which moves us along our path. It is by praying for others, meditating with and for others, being kind and forgiving to others, supporting others – and more, that we are opened to greater understanding, a greater Oneness and greater awareness.

The helping of others is why we are in this Earth. As spirits, we are here to walk our path and in so doing, be a light for others to see clearly. This Light comes forth from within us when we open ourselves to that which other people need, (not necessarily what people want, though.)

With the killing of two people in Virginia by another person, and so many other times similar things have happened, our path can call us to pray for these two people. But, our greater spiritual destiny calls for us to pray for the person who killed them, as well. This is the more important reason why we’re here in this planet – to help those who are in so much darkness and turmoil, despair and madness that they believe murder and suicide is their answer. It is these people that are in a monumentally great need for prayers.  It is these who are wrapped in the greatest sickness of the soul.

Yes, we don’t forget the trauma of souls that are killed by another. They are in need of our prayers and they will have many praying for them – family, friends, the people who watch the video, the people who knew them. But, the person that did the killing, it is this soul that God also seeks to bring into the light – even after he and others have done all these things that they’ve done.  To God, there is no difference between one child and another – one healthy child and one sick child.

It is these souls that God asks us to pray for also, because these are the souls who are the sickest in their souls and most in the darkness of their spirit. They are the ones who suffer without knowing it from being in a state of madness which they, by themselves, would never be able to come out of.

It is also these souls in the darkness that we do the work that we do in this Earth. It is to these souls also who Christ has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, even unto the end of the world.” If it takes that long, Christ will never leave us, or them – the souls who are in the blackest darkness, who are in the most twisted madness – the souls who are in the most unrelenting black hole. It is these souls who we are referring to when we say, “God, please send your Healing Light and Love to those who have no one to pray for them. Send your Healing Light to those who are in the deepest darkness, lost to everyone and everything except you. Let your Light and Life help them in the way that only You may know. God, be with them, help them, according to all things within Your will. Please, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And Father, remember all of us, when we act in any way to harm another person or another life. Amen.”

*******

“If one life experiences something, God experiences this something.  If God experiences something, all of infinite existence experiences this something.  There is no separation between one life and all life and God.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“If we could fully realize the truth that every experience we create for ourselves and others is experienced not just by those who directly experience it, but by all life in this universe and by all life in all the infinite universes, as well, would it affect what we decided to create for all life to experience?”  (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

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War and Terrorists?

Will there be any more terrorist attacks on US soil?

With Americans attacking Americans every single day in countless ways, who needs terrorists? How many internal “American on American” attacks happen every single day – whether physical, emotional, or even verbal attacks?  Compare that to an organized officially named “terrorist” attack.  “We have met the enemy and it is us.” (I don’t know who first said this.)  There are statistics online showing mass shootings monumentally outnumber terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Will we have WW3 in our lifetime?

Only if we’re willing to and want to, and plenty of people are willing to and want to, especially in the U.S.  More of us have war, conflict, and are attack-ready in our hearts than have peace, brotherhood, acceptance, understanding, cooperation, kindness, patience, oneness, mercy and forgiveness in our hearts.

All we need to do is come face to face with the truth of war – what war really is.  To almost all of us, war is only a TV show, a news item or an electronic game.  We turn it off in one push of a button, go outside and get the mail.

But, look at the effect war has on the soldiers coming home.  Look at the wars of the past and the wars of the present.  Look at the costs inside people’s hearts and minds.  Look at the suffering and pain that war guarantees.   All wars offer and guarantee the same things.  This is war and its rewards.

War is death.  War is destruction.  100% guaranteed.  War is injuries.  War is suffering.  War is family members and loved ones coming home in boxes.  War is when people die, and these people are never again able to hold their loved ones in their arms, or be held, ever again. This is war and its rewards.

War guarantees 100% that many fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters will never be at another Christmas or Birthday or graduation or wedding.  War guarantees 100% that those killed will never offer anything more to their families or their communities ever again.  Those family members killed won’t support or love or interact or relate or teach or contribute or cooperate or offer kindness or anything of any kind ever again.  100% guaranteed.  This is war and its rewards.

Every person’s contribution based on their caring and love, kindness and belonging, they could have made to the Earth, to their communities, to their friends and their families will never happen ever again.  Every person’s moment of help they could have offered, every ounce of love which they could have given out, every act of support will never happen ever again.  This is what war really is.   100% guaranteed to be never again.  This is war and its rewards.

It is painted as being worthwhile by some of us, but there is nothing at all that is worthwhile about war.  Yet, it is justified and rationalized as being a worthwhile option for getting what we want.  We come up with so many “wonderful” reasons to carry out what is in our hearts – war.

Those of us that want war in our hearts, will wage war and support war.  God gave us all freewill.

Those of us that seek peace and ask God for help in gaining it, will receive from God that bread for which we ask.

******

“Those that sincerely want war, never sincerely pray for peace.”  (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2002-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“War doesn’t start in the halls of governments.  War starts in the hearts of human beings.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1997-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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Attacks and Attackers Part 2: Karma

“If we meet insults, contention or other unpleasant experiences, it is not the fault of the aggressor, but actually our own. The reason is that they are simply a manifestation of our heart. If we have no roots or thoughts of contention or insulting speech in our heart, this would not happen. Thus, by wiping away our greed, hatred or ego with kindness, virtue and forgiveness, we eradicate our past/current evil karma and habits and change the outside for the better.” Bc

What a good opening to present Part 2.

How you’ve written your comment could potentially be confusing, so I want to use this as a way to write about Karma.

To me, it’s not quite as simple as you’re presenting – with respect to responsibility and Karma.  Remember, everyone has freewill to decide their own thoughts, feelings, actions, behaviors, beliefs, etc.  This means that we are not responsible for others’ actions – those others who have freewill.  We are all responsible for our own steps we take on our path.  This means we are all responsible for our own thoughts, our own feelings, our own behaviors and more.

To try to explain Karma would be daunting, but this much I’ll offer.  When we throw a pebble into a lake, the ripples go out in all directions.  As the ripples go out, some ripples then also return back to the thrower of the pebble.  In effect, we have created the ripple that returns back to ourselves.

When we create an experience within life for someone else – for that person to go through – we are also creating the same experience for ourselves – and as hard as this is to fathom – we are creating this experience for all life in all existences – even for God, Himself, to experience.  The same ripple must then also return home.

Part of the experience we have as human beings is that when we receive back the experiences of life, we don’t remember throwing the pebble – creating the experience.  We blame others for what we experience or we (most of the time) erroneously blame the person we are today for what we experience.  As humans, our memories tend not to include soul memories of past lives and past experiences.  Many times this is a merciful thing for us, helping us to start over without remembering the person we were back then.

The soul or the Higher Consciousness of each human being remembers, however.  In time, we will come to understand how each experience we have in life is an experience which we helped to create for ourselves and others.  In addition, what experiences we create in the lives of others now – experiences which even God is touched by – will be what our path will include further down the way.  This includes whether we, of our own freewill, choose to attack with bitterness and vengeance, or to heal with understanding, mercy, and compassion.

What this means of Karma is that there is no judgement with karma.  There is no censure or condemnation.  There is no punishment with Karma.  Karma is simply the pebble’s ripple which has arrived back to where it started.

But, that’s not all.  The healing of “karma”, or rather the healing of experiences can happen by raising the vibrations of the “ripple”, which actually exists in time, space, and consciousness.  Since all things are vibration, the addition of higher vibration actions can affect the lower vibrations actions.  What is it that brings forth higher vibrations? Prayer, meditation, Loving kindness, forgiveness, patience, mercy, understanding, compassion, cooperation, and the like.  Each of these fruits of the spirit when brought forth into the world for another to experience opens the doors for the God Consciousness to be present in the moment.  The God Consciousness is Love and is the Highest of all High vibrations.  This vibration affects all vibrations/events/experiences with which it is present.

So, the bringing forth of God Consciousness through prayer, meditation and demonstrating the fruits of the spirit raises the vibration of the ripple.  This raised combination of vibrations goes out to all existence, and also returns back to us.  While sometimes the ripple vibration that goes out also comes back unchanged, with the presence of God, the presence of Love, kindness, mercy, etc, the ripple vibration is changed and returns in a higher vibration form.

The purpose of Karma is to raise vibrations to the level of God Consciousness – Love.   With this done, Karma is absorbed into the experience of understanding and awareness.  This is why prayer can help change human experiences.  This is also why mercy, kindness, cooperation, etc, can help change human experiences.

******

“Experiencing bliss is not experiencing God.  Helping someone else experience bliss is experiencing God.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1996-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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Attacks and Attackers – Part 1

“…what if the soul is so much attacked by others that the body becomes ill and they have no other option but to leave? I ask this because sometimes the soul is forced to leave not because they lived unhealthy or work was finished but because their cycle was cut short. Those who attack simply move on to the next victim. Therefore I would also like to ask what can be done for souls like these who have been decimated in their existence and died because of this? Thank you in advance for your reply and blessings.”  L. L.

As odd as this may sound, your question and view are both coming from a very human perspective within a very human paradigm.  In essence, you’re applying human standards and understanding to an issue that isn’t really what it seems.

As human beings on this Earth, we have a paradigm of experiencing “attacks”.  There are verbal attacks, physical attacks, emotional, psychological, financial, electronic, … etc.  even “self-attacks”.  As human beings, we have experiences of being attacked and being the ones doing the attacking.

As long as we continue with the way of thinking that we are humans in a physical world, attacks and attacking will be part of our human lives and human deaths.  As long as “attacking” is part of our perspective and paradigm, we will continue to participate in both sides of this “attack” issue for a long time.

However, to understand this issue more, let’s take a look at it in a different way.  Let’s take a look at the thought and belief of “attacking and being attacked”.  The “attack” paradigm sets one being against another.  This view can only exist in the human world.  This view is not the reality of what is referred to as the spiritual or non-physical world, because the spiritual/non-physical world doesn’t really work the way the human/physical world works.

The real issue here is who is the attacker and who are we attacking.  We, ourselves, our own personal selves – attack – ourselves.   We are the attackers and we are the attacked of our self as the attacker.  We do so while pointing the finger of blame at others – saying “You are attacking me” or words and thoughts to that effect.  (We do this for specific reasons which I won’t get into at this time.)

******

It is a true statement that the person who is 100% completely at peace with themselves is not attacked by anyone.  In other words, a person who does not attack themselves, in turn, does not attack others, and also in turn, does not hold the attack idea when dealing with others.  This is because “attacking” is not a part of this one’s paradigm.  Another person’s actions usually perceived as “attacking” become recognized only to be an attack upon themselves.  In this case, what do we do when we see someone attacking – beating up – harming themselves?

Who among us can say that any of us are completely at peace with ourselves?  And in asking this, who among us can say to ourselves, that we are 100% honest about how we treat ourselves – attacking or any other behavior towards ourselves?

Who among us never thinks anything critical and judgmental about ourselves?  Who among us never says anything critical and judgmental about ourselves – our bodies, our looks, our behavior, our stature, our culture, how we treat others, what we think about others or our place in society, or … anything?  Who among us doesn’t beat ourselves up, when we’re upset with ourselves or someone else?  Who among us looks in the mirror and completely accepts ourselves for who we are – with love in our hearts and the peace that passes understanding inside our souls? And can then know that this is true even deep within the subconscious, and the full consciousness of their full Self?

It is true for ourselves, as well, that “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” applies to how we think, feel, and treat ourselves.  If you think it’s not true, then answer this question – When was the last time you carried on a conversation or thought up an argument or fight inside your own mind with someone (or yourself) in your mind with criticisms, judgment, anger or condemning insults being a part of this event in your mind? The conversation/fight/argument is happening in our own consciousness/mind between one part of our self and another part of our self.  Both sides of the conversation (the fight, argument, criticisms, etc.) are our self.  We are condemning ourselves, judging ourselves, criticizing ourselves, beating ourselves up, and all of this is 24/7, because we live with ourselves 24/7.

If we are attacking ourselves within our own subconscious or unconscious, then what does it matter if we stop someone else from attacking us – we will be continuing to do it to ourselves.  If we learn to stop attacking ourselves or anyone else, from deep within our own consciousness, via accepting, forgiving, being merciful, understanding, being patient and kind towards ourselves as well as towards others, then what does it matter what another soul chooses to do with their mind, heart and soul that appears to be against us.  In the end, our changes will bring in Light that will also be present for them, when they’re ready to choose Light.

As Christ said to Peter along the shore after Christ rose when Peter asked about others, “Peter, you don’t worry about them, I’ll worry about them.  You follow me.”  It is our task to follow in the footsteps of the One who is the Infinite Peace – who is the Infinite Loving Kindness.

I’m not saying don’t worry about those you see attacked.  I’m saying we are called to change in order to stop being the attackers of our self and others, and in turn, learn that as we let go of attacking ourselves, we are also letting go of attacking others.  In the human Earth, when we let go of attacking other humans or other beings of any kind, those other beings lose their illusions of attacking eventually, also.

And those that come forth into our presence for any reason who are lost in the illusion of attacking, we then can pray, “God Bless All Life in all forms, and all that are here with us for any reason, and in any context, and in Your Infinite awareness.  God Bless Us All in all ways, now and for all time.”

If we’re so busy attacking ourselves (and others) in our own mind, heart and subconscious, then no amount of “psychic kung fu” will do anything to protect us from anyone outside ourselves, when the real attack is coming from our self inside ourselves.

If we are intent on believing that we (and others) should be attacked, and then continuing to attack ourselves (and others) within our own consciousness, and seek to fulfill our own attack, then we will find and latch onto others that will carry this out alongside us.  Like attracts like – attackers attract attackers.

Is this going to take some time to heal?  Oh, my God, Yes!  But, the axiom is true – “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  How do we change this?  Forgiveness – of ourselves and others for the things over which we assign guilt.  Letting go of judgment – of ourselves and others for the things we’ve decided to judge.  Being aware when we criticize others and ourselves over things that we heretofore considered worthy of criticizing.  Patience – towards ourselves and others while knowing that with God all things are possible … even forgiving, letting go, being patient and kind, and changing ourselves.

We are called to know ourselves.  This includes knowing our own subconscious, so that we may let go of attack thoughts and attack behaviors.  We are a cosmos unto ourselves, and as such have much to learn about who we are within ourselves.  But, we have eternity to do this.

“We can escape from the world that we see by giving up attack thoughts.” The Course in Miracles

“Remember, those that are prayed for have God in their presence more than those that are not prayed for.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1995-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

PS.  I expect questions with this topic.  It is vast in its scope and not comprehensively explained in only one article.  I left a lot of loose ends untied.

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Forgiveness and Mercy

When we extend forgiveness and mercy, the person receiving it is changed. Maybe this change is not in a way that we immediately notice, but the act of forgiveness and mercy cannot happen without our cooperating with the presence of God.

This presence of God touching another person in the form of forgiveness and mercy or any other fruit of the spirit, has an effect. Again, this effect isn’t necessarily something we’re going to consciously witness.  (While on Earth, it helps to let go of the need to witness our own efforts on behalf of another take root in that person.)

Need proof? We can take a look at our own life, and our own past lives. Who has extended forgiveness and mercy to us? When have we been touched by another’s bringing forth their connection to Infinite Forgiveness for our sake?  We can take a look at where we are in our spiritual path and our inner healing. We also have been forgiven and shown mercy – by One and/or by many. This has made an impact on our self, as well. We are the proof that being forgiven and being shown mercy have an effect on the soul receiving this forgiveness and mercy. We are where we are today because of forgiveness and mercy helping us to where we are. We are healing inwardly, because we have received forgiveness and been shown mercy.

Why is this all true? Because forgiveness and mercy are aspects of Love. All souls are affected by love. All life is affected by love.  Not in our own time requirements, but in God’s.  It may not be immediately noticeable to us how others are affected – the others which we haven’t yet forgiven or shown mercy to, but the source of Love and the receiver of Love notice it on their soul level.

When we’re deep in darkness, a small touch of forgiveness and mercy becomes a big thing. A seemingly small amount of kindness and light, shine out like beacons, when we’re steeped in the darkness we once created and chose. The touch of the hand of forgiveness and mercy becomes like a drink of clear water, when all we had before was sludge, (because all we gave to others was sludge.)

When we extend forgiveness and mercy, the one we extend it towards, in some way is helped, in some portion is healed, in some part is changed.

Imagine a world where everyone went around forgiving and giving mercy to everyone else. There would be a greater presence of Infinite Forgiveness and Infinite Mercy in the world. Everyone would be touched by the healing hand of Infinite Love.  As individuals, we can start creating this world, by forgiving and showing mercy to those who need forgiveness and mercy in our lives – those who desperately thirst for that clear glass of healing Infinite Water called Infinite Love.

******

“Imagine a world where everyone went around forgiving everyone else.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1995-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“To successfully forgive, we must let go of the benefits we believe we get from NOT forgiving.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1999-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“Has anyone ever wondered who has forgiven us so much that God is now so much in our life?” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2005-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

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To Bring Light to a Violence-Weary World

If you’re seeing similarities between ISIS and the Nazi’s under Hitler, and wondering if you’re accurate with seeing these similarities, then you’re correct. There is a reason why we see similarities – because they are similar.

The difference is that today, we have instant reporting of the actions of ISIS, whereas in the 1930’s and 1940’s reporting was done very slowly.

In looking at this going on in our world, it is easy to follow the beat of the drum of retribution, vengeance and hatred. We see so many examples of how easy it is for some to choose violence and vengeance. For some, this will be a regular choice that they find easy to make.

But, not for all. The question for some of us isn’t whether the people of ISIS are destroying artifacts and murdering people, the question for some of us is are they destroying and murdering our spiritual paths – our paths to bring the whole world out of darkness through efforts to bring forth the LIGHT from within ourselves individually. Yes, absolutely lives matter and yes, history matters, but of what value is history if the whole world chooses the darkness of hatred and vengeance. And what do the souls who lost their lives want for us – greater darkness so this can happen to others? or perseverance to live from within the heart of our spiritual path so that this darkness is replaced with the LIGHT OF GOD.

The truth is they can’t murder or destroy our spiritual paths and spiritual efforts. However, we can do it to our own spiritual paths. When we do it, we do it voluntarily. We can destroy and murder our own spiritual paths simply by choosing the same thing they do – violence, killing, hatred, vengeance, etc.

It is times like these and events like these when holding to and practicing our spiritual paths becomes most important. It is the practice in the face of circumstances which oppose practicing the presence and guidance of Spirit when it is most effective and helpful to the world at large.

No one can force us to be hateful or vengeful or violent – off our own spiritual path – although it’s damn hard sometimes to stay on our path. If we get off our path, it is of our own freewill to act from the “lower vibrations” of hatred and vengeance, rather than act from “higher vibrations” of patience, openness, perseverance and long suffering – holding onto the hand of the Still, Small Voice within – walking with the One who promises healing of more than just ourselves, if we hold out – persevere – to the end.

We’re all in this together. There are many of us seeking to hold on to our spiritual paths in the face of hatred, violence and vengeance. So, keep on keeping on. Choose life not death. Hold to the Light, when all around seems to be darkness. Join with others, pray, meditate, practice the presence of God. With our effort to live from a greater Spirit, we will help to bring Light to a violence-weary world.

******

“Crying is an effective and valid healing method.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1995-2015, Jodie Senkyrik)

“Imagine a world where everyone was going around forgiving everyone else – where everyone was showing mercy and patience to everyone else.  If we can imagine it, we can choose it, if we are but willing to start with where we are at, right now.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 2001-2015)

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Creating Experiences

We are the authors of all the experiences which we go through – as souls. We won’t see this or understand how this can be if we only look at this one life as being all there is to human/soul existance on the Earth. However, we are the authors of all the experiences which we go through.

Consider this more in terms of eternity – the eternal past and the eternal present. If we go back into the past of our soul (this life and beyond this life) we will find when we wrote the beginning of the story of each particular experience. For example, our parents – very few people DON’T have issues with parents, when perceived from the human level of perception. But, looking from the soul’s perspective, one can say that we created or wrote the script in which our parents acted out the parts.

Yes, our parents had and/or have their issues, and in “acting out the parts” they helped solidify our issues. But, if they had chosen to not “act out” those parts, we still would have our script out there ready for someone to come into our life at some time to “act out” the parts that tie into our issues.

So, in actuality, we have issues, imbalances, patterns in our psyche, (whatever we want to call them) within us. We have them when entering into our life, and these issues are of our own creation  during some point within our soul’s existence – including possibly in previous human lives, (but not always a human life as the beginning source.)

Hence, we can see that we are the authors of our own experiences. We created the circumstances by acting out in some other time and place towards someone or something else. This started the ripple that went out into the entire infinite universe for all life to be on the receiving end of that experience in some fashion, … including ourselves. And so the experience of being slapped, or killed, or betrayed, or shunned, or hated, or beaten, … or the experiences of being loved, or welcomed, or accepted, or cared for, or being shown mercy, or forgiven, or being shown patience… all of these experiences are in our lives because we created them for another person or persons, in our past and the ripple of that creation then went out into the entire infinite universe for all to be on the receiving end of that experience in some fashion, … including ourselves.

While this may set the stage for understanding, this by no means is the end of the story of the purpose of the return of these experiences. The purpose of the return of these experiences – the experiences which we created for others to receive from us – is for us to find a different response and create a different experience for others. It is for us to create an experience of response to other persons that comes from the place within that God resides.

It is for us to express this God that resides within our own heart via the fruits of the Spirit. You’ve read this here before. When we respond to experiences with patience or long suffering, kindness or understanding, cooperation or forgiveness, or mercy, or letting go of our judgement/criticism or any of the other Fruits of the Spirit, whether towards others or even towards ourselves – we are bringing a real balance back to our own consciousness.

So many times we don’t bother responding from our heart. Or we give up “this one time.” Or we decide it’s too hard or too late or unnecessary or any other number of our very clever reasons not to use effort to let God guide us in our hearts. (I think of the “given up” notion more for myself.) We may continue the status quo once again creating an experience of pain and suffering for others.

However, in that moment of instant willingness and freewill, when we bring forth mercy or patience, etc, we bring God back into our creating, and healing begins, balance begins, and resolution happens. The new healing and balance with the energy and consciousness of forgiveness or mercy or any of the F’s of the Spirit then becomes the experience we create for others and send out into the infinite universe. In time, again, because creation is happening, we create this for all, including ourselves and we will be on the receiving end of what we create for others.

As we do for others, we do for ourselves. The experience we create for others to experience, we create for ourselves to experience. Some call this Karma. Some call this Creation. It is both. But, it is not law without it also being a living process happening within all life.

******

PS. A World of Peace won’t happen without forgiveness, mercy, and all the Fruits of the Spirit. It is these that bring about the world of Peace. How? As individuals. Once again, if we, as an individual, create a World of Peace for another person or being, we are creating for all. And remember, patience is one of the Fruits of the Spirit, also. It takes patience to create a new world. Just ask Christ.

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Freewill vs. Predestination

“…then everything in life is predestined, is this true?” Z.

No.

God gave everyone freewill and this means we can choose, and then change our minds, at any time. No one can take away what God has given us.

A basic simple beginning of understanding prediction can be as follows:

Prediction can  be like having the ability to see that A leads to B, which leads to C, which leads to D, which leads to E, which leads to F, which leads to G, which leads to H, which leads to I, which leads to J, etc., etc.  For example, I can predict that Spring will come after Winter, because that’s our planetary design.

Prediction with individuals comes from the ability to see that if a person went to work 5 days a week for many years, then they are on the path to go to work again.  However, it is still a person’s freewill to quit their job today, and do something else.  Each individual has millions of patterns like this.

Prediction also comes from seeing that if a person is going down a path, and they make certain choices, then certain factors will come into play depending on the decision they make.  For example, if a person chooses to go to college, certain factors and life situations will come into this person’s life.  If they choose not to go to college, different life situations will come into this person’s life.

Prediction also comes from seeing that if we’re going down a certain road of life, to reach a destination in life, and there are warnings on that road of life, saying something like, “Bridge Out Ahead”, and the warnings are ignored because they’re not believed or not understood, certain things (sometimes harmful things) will happen because the road taken has not been changed.  Choosing to smoke cigarettes is an example of the last statement.

Predestination can be a part of life, but only in presenting choices for a person to decide – to act respectfully or disrespectfully, to forgive or not forgive, to be patient or to be impatient, to judge and criticize others, or to be kind and understanding, to cooperate with others or to fight against others, to make someone else’s or one’s own life heaven or to make someone else’s or one’s own life hell, to be selfish or to be unselfish, to choose life or to choose death.  Life situations happen, circumstances happen, but how we respond to them comes from our own freewill.

See, we make decisions everyday and these decisions lead us down different paths.  Interestingly, we’ve made decisions 10,000 years ago that are affecting our life, today.  We’re making decisions today that will affect our life 10,000 years in the future.

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“In any moment, we can choose to understand or we can choose to misunderstand.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1989-2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

“The path that usually leads to ‘learning things the hard way’, so many times, is the ‘easy way’ to choose, isn’t it?” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1989-2014, Jodie Senkyrik)

“God said ‘Let there be Light,’ and so He created brains.” (The Rainbow Cards, ©, 1989-2014, Jodie Senkyrik)