I haven't made this blog a priority in the past, nor do I plan to make it one in the future but right now I feel like I should write and update on our happenings. Summer is upon us in full swing now that it is July. There are firefly's outside right now and the air is crisp and cool. I love that. We just got back from my parent in laws lake house this weekend. It is so beautiful up in Northwestern Maryland and I actually feel like I am getting away from the hustle and bustle of life. I've been deep in thought lately about my life and the type of person I am. It saddens me to think about the areas I fall short and how I need to be a better example to those around me, mostly my sons. I've been thinking a lot about the power of change and what motivates a person to change? Change that is lasting and permanent. I don't know what I've figured out quite yet except that people do have innate characteristics, talents, and personality...i.e. their own set of struggles and strengths. Desire is the motivating factor that will determine if we change or not, to become a better person. How does one get a deep desire to change? What if one is complacent in the way they are? What if a person recognizes the need to change an area of their life but doesn't have a strong desire to do so? What if they even know they should change and have a desire to, but don't take the next step? What keeps people from making that next step? How do you overcome that lack of motivation?
Our physical acts affect us mentally and spiritually. The music we choose to listen to, the things we choose to talk about, the movies or programs we watch. All of these physical environmental surroundings will affect our minds and spirits, which influence our desires.
You know the pain scale...rate your pain on a scale of one to ten? If ten people are all poked by a needle, they are each going to rate it based on how they are feeling already that day, how well they tolerate suffering to begin with, and a myriad of other experiences that have shaped their life up to that point. Most may say 2 or 3, some may say 5 or 6, it is all relative to each individual. I strongly believe that feeling the spirit is the same for us and how prepared we are to receive its promptings that day, how well they react to their past spiritual promptings, and the countless other experiences they have dealt with in their lives up to that point. If a one on the pain scale is bumping into a table and ten is as (my brother in law who is a doctor describes it to his patients), being burned alive while being ran over by a steamroller, then one on the spiritual experiences scale is feeling at peace or happy inside, and ten is speaking directly with God and Jesus, makes me wonder how many people may actually be experiencing fives or sixes on the spiritual scale while all I've even known is a 3 and a 3 would be my ten. In other words, what I would call a ten would only be a three to the prophet, or someone who has climbed up higher on the spiritual experiences scale. So I guess what I'm really saying is I think we can stretch ourselves further to have greater spiritual experiences if we prepare to do so and make the necessary changes in our lives.
