Stop...Get Out...Go In

I'm back after having spent 21 days in Italy. The world was supposed to, but it didn't end while I was there. Obama is going to be president again, and people are are still talking recession and claiming depression. Some folk are experiencing health issues and still doing the same things that made them sick. Yet, in spite of the fact that all this stuff is going on, in spite of the fact that the money is still funny all over the globe, and every baby needs a new pair of shoes, all might not be well with the world but the universe is unfolding exactly as it should.

In regard to that trip to Italy I had an opportunity to reflect on my own spiritual condition, and thought  about how the bible is one of the most prolific and historical accounts of mankind that I've ever read. Despite the belief that it's the inspired Word of God, I had to acknowledge that it is still somebody else's story. No matter how it's expressed, it's inevitably the personal interpretation of the truth by each writer as influenced by their upbringing, their environment, their prejudices, their judgements, and their spiritual condition at the time. Not to say there is no validity in what they're saying, but whatever comes out of one's mouth is first of all their own understanding of what it is they're talking about. Secondly there's the subsequent hope that those who hear or read what they've said, will gain some type of benefit from what's being shared. Not to diminish their importance, but Matthew, John, Paul and them experienced the Presence of God according to their own understanding, and related what they felt as best they could according to what they had to work with. What we gain from their experience is dependent, in a spiritual sense, on where we are at the time.

Well, that time in Italy reminded and convinced me that we've got to get away from time to time, and find out where we are spiritually. The moments during our stay that remain most vivid in my mind are the visits to those more than a thousand year old cathedrals located in Milan, Trento, Pisa, Rome and other Italian cities. The outside of these edifices were awe inspiring, but to go inside and behold the massive marble sculpted columns, the towering gold embroidered ceilings, the 400 square foot oil painted murals that adorned the walls, and the sheer vastness and splendor of the interior gave OMG a new meaning. This, along with the thoughts of how much blood, sweat, and tears of both slave and artisans it took to erect and adorn these edifices, and how the money spent was probably that of the same people who toiled to make these structures manifest, sent chills of mixed emotions cascading through my very being. I remember grabbing my wife's hand while present there, getting down on my knees and thanking God for the unheralded blessings we have received because of our Creator's bountiful blessings of mercy and grace. I was consciously and vehemently assured and convinced that we have really done nothing to actually deserve all those blessings, except perhaps in our attempt to be obedient to what we feel is the so-called gospel truth. The spiritual essence present in those age-old Italian edifices, the knowledge that millions of pilgrims seeking the Presence of God for centuries had knelt in those same spots, and the hope that our homage, prayer, and thanksgiving would evoke some semblance of peace and well-being to our souls and the souls of all who labored to grant us an opportunity to be there, was more than enough to convince me that we were in the right place at the right time. Those relationship moments were undeniably what I needed to be reminded, that peace can certainly be gained by dwelling in the Presence of the Most High.

Stuff happens ya'll. All things are not going to be all right all the time. From time to time we must stop, get out, and go in. My friend Lisa shared that here lately she had not been in the best of spirits and a friend told her to literally take a hike. Well she took that hike, and upon her return became attuned to the knowledge that all was well. She had stopped what she was doing, had gotten out of that place of discomfort, and had gone in to that spiritual place of all is well. Lisa had spiritually prepared herself to go back from whence she came, in a far better condition than when she left. What was so amazing about the hike was that after her return, she realized that she had not actually taken a hike. She was still in her room and had simply gone to that spiritual place located inside herself.

You ain't got to go to Rome or anywhere else to get to that spiritual spot, because it's within. Some of us have already been there and can assure you that it's everywhere present. All that's needed is to go to a place where you can feel connected, where you can go in and communicate in a way that is comfortable for you, and where you can come out refreshed, renewed and ready for the world. We have all heard the truth at various points in our lives. Some of us have read and studied interpretations of it for years, and continue to do so as time goes by. All I'm saying is that we don't have to limit ourselves to someone else's perspective of what the truth is. We should make concerted efforts to feel it for ourselves, cause it's only then that we'll be truly able to live it.  If things ain't as you think they should be just STOP. Leave that pity party and get OUT of the funk you're in. Go to the woods, to the beach, to a quiet room in your house, or any place where you can go IN. The Presence is there and even if you don't feel it like you'd like to, even if it don't take you where you'd like to go;  just know that even though things ain't all that they could be, they are certainly better than they were. Right now, for whatever reason, you're right where you're supposed to be and as long as you keep it moving things are definitely gonna get greater later...Believe That!

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