Choice

I was flipping through the channels last night and ran across a show with a raspy voiced woman preaching. You know the show...a woman standing up on a stage, with her pulpit, bible and adoring audience. So to amuse myself, I decided to watch for a while. To my surprise, she actually had a lot of interesting things to say, minus all of the scripture quoting. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not the most religious boy in the choir, but I do have a strong sense of spirituality and Ms. Joyce Meyer was hitting on a few topics that I have often thought in my own mind. The main difference however, is that she continued to say "do it for God, be good for God, be strong for God" and I focus on myself...selfish you ask? Not at all. The only one who is going to pick you up from the floor of the bathroom after a night of drinking, or be in there with you during that important interview, or make that call to the guy you've been interested in, or force yourself into the gym, or to finish that last mile, or to frankly, get out of bed in the morning, is you. A lot of Americans may think its easier to create a fall back or think that they are not worthy enough to just do it for themselves or think for themselves, so in comes God. Do it for God, be good for God, be strong for God. What is that? Do it for yourself! Be good for yourself! Be strong for yourself! No, I'm not saying that having a higher being to answer to is a truly bad thing, or makes one weak, but interestingly enough, when good things happen, people thank God. When bad things happen, why don't they blame God? Damn you, I didn't get that job! I drank too much! I lost that race! I had a car accident! It’s always, your fault then...you need to follow God more closely, they'll say…very lopsided if you ask me. In listening to Ms. Meyer, I did see a semblance of congruence between our belief systems. I believe you must focus on yourself, your inner forces, and your conscience. She says that God lives in you, and therefore you must please God. Are we speaking the same language? Perhaps. The difference is that I praise myself for the good and I am disappointed in myself for the bad. I don't blame myself, just know that in life things happen and I have to move on. Having God inside you, can provide a crutch, a reason to please Him and not to move yourself forward. Either way, you have a choice. Make decisions that please yourself or that please your God, but at least recognize that complacency and indecisiveness to push yourself, for whatever reason, will leave you spinning in place and in the end you’ll continue to fight the uphill battle.