The Gift

We have all received the gift of life!…

The Gift...In entering into a life on earth we have all received a very special gift! Some will honor this and some will not, simply because for some…it’s hard to be humble!

From this gift, we are bestowed many additional gifts that come in many other forms throughout our lives.

As an example the gift of wisdom can be given to us but with it comes an obligation to use that capacity for the furtherment of God’s good works.

Another is the gift of our physical attributes from our mother and father’s genetics and in receipt of this gift we also inherit an obligation.

With every blessing comes an obligation to humble ourselves and recognize that in all the unique forms of our many gifts that an obligation also exists. That obligation is to fulfill our responsibilities to exemplify respectful mannerisms in our personal behaviors so that we dignify God’s good works through each of us!

God’s Good Works…?

For some of us humility doesn’t come easy and because one’s life can all to often become focused upon exclusively “self“, it can also become only about one’s self in a way that excludes virtually everyone else.

One key challenge in life is to not become sedimentary in that of letting life’s experiences settle out and become solidified into a hardened heart. In using such a metaphor I’m describing how the earth also under immense pressure has become hardened rock in the formations of it’s subterranean geological structures.

Thus in the same light our characters and personalities must continue to offer a willingness to remain as mold-able clay while we take form during the spinning on the potter’s wheel of life.

How do our obligations appear…?

Kindness, compassion and empathy all come from a keen awareness for our obligations to attempt to fathom the plight of another, correct?

This requires exchanging places, at least for a moment and contemplating how you would feel as if that suffrage that inconvenience or that catastrophic event was actually happening in your very own life!

Realize that for some, such humility is extremely uncomfortable and in order to remove those unsettling effects one needs to make a choice. The choice is to either just disengage from emphatic considerations or to find the love that exist inside of us in order to extend the hand of assistance.

In disengaging, one would generally need to render a verdict exclusive to an internalize justification for one’s own convictions. In making such decisions, one’s actions could afford them with the narcissistic liberty of making peace with the sentence being handed down.

Or…in abstaining form passing such a verdict one could engage a fellow human spirit and offer a warming cup of confidence that may be able to keep them from shivering in the darkness!

The Profile of Narcissism….

In the exclusivity of “self“,…what we are choosing to do is to refuse to dignify God’s gifts with a reciprocating acknowledgement for all the gifts of which we’ve received. This is what should go hand and hand with having received our blessings because saying THANK YOU…is obligatory in exhibiting proper etiquette and showing good manners, correct?

In failing to reciprocate acknowledgement we are basically choosing to cash out of life and file for moral bankruptcy. In essences we are relinquishing all responsibility for the further payments that are due on the promissory notes that are held against all our blessings!

God’s blessings are interest free and when we fulfill the obligations to be loving and caring the debt is proportionally paid and begins to grow in a form of “cosmic currency” from the dividends and annuities deposited in our individual accounts.

In putting it into so many words, it really doesn’t appear to be very honorable to do any less, now does it? Yet we see so many familiar examples of morally bankrupted individuals all along our life’s journey,…hum?

As an example, imagine that you’ve just drove up to a traffic light and you see a Panhandler with his hand out. Now…while setting in the comfort of a fully air conditioned luxury sedan that has a full gas tank and a beautiful home that you’re headed toward you have two choices. One is that you can choose to just nod your head in rejection and disgust or two you could recognize the “OPPORTUNITY”!

In the first choice, you can dismiss the opportunity with the same conviction as Judge James Roy Bean’s swift gavel by simply passing down the sentence of hanging by neck! And as the light turns green the car’s exhaust pipe will spew out a blast of foggy tailpipe emissions that will assist us in creating further obscurity. That self-perpetuating foggy notion shall also allow one to distance themselves from any further contemplation while accelerating to a new destination.

As one’s foot exerts more pressure upon the throttle a proportional distancing separates the sedan from the corner. What appears in the rear view mirror is a full view of the hovering radiant 100 degree plus heat that is shimmering off of the black asphalt, while the Panhandler shuffles one foot to another…hum?

Not a thought about how short that distance was from setting in the car’s comfortable seating position to that of standing on a corner with a hand out,…hum?

Why do you think that is, why doesn’t one just take the opportunity to live life one moment at a time? Well in too many cases it’s simply because one becomes intoxicated with the entitlements of self-privilege. It’s a slow and methodical weathering of the soul that can result in allowing ourselves to become distanced further and further from our responsibilities to one another as we push our foot down further and further on the acceleration peddle of life!

In stripping away the last tattered shred of dignity one such lost soul might just place an index finger upon the window switch and offer further condemnations…”Get a job man!”…

As the sedan pulls away that unique moment and that unique opportunity to bestow empathy rather than casting judgement shall also pass. An opportunity to acknowledge one’s blessings of living a comfortable life that was seemingly exempt of misfortune has evaporated in the time it took to change the signal from red to green!

The Face In The Mirror….

Metaphorically speaking this example evolves from an imagined personality who has immersed one’s self into a hazy fog absent any refractive light that could reflect a self-image from the mirror. Actually if one could freeze-frame the finger painting “self” portrait and truly see how a corrupted loving soul would appear absent unconditional love well, it would all become very clear!

The profile of narcissism’s silhouette can cast long shadows upon our souls and these shadows are fearful of the light. The light is love and the light comes from God and if we accept his love by acknowledge our responsibilities for the greatest gift well, then his light shines from our humanness and offers hope to the world.

There are contingencies to our unassuming “free” choices to be good, bad or indifferent.

In the characterization of such mindfulness realize that what transpires in that nanosecond interaction between the span of our cerebral synapse can also become an incidental expense. If allowed, that numbing weakness shall become a form of neuropathy that takes up residence when invited and these contradictory forces can make unhealthy choices for our souls dietary regimes, while appearing delectably palatable!

We can become prone to a dysfunction of the soul by feeding it poison which shall also cause a numbing of our peripheral nerves and confuse toxic for tranquility. This of course is only a temporary state of mind, as the masking of this disease seeks refuge in the comfort of exclusivity!

The fear of being taken advantage of and the assumption of a duty-free ownership for one’s blessings being self ordained are a simulcast contradiction although, one can all to often fail to recognize the transparencies for what is actually being broadcasted!

The belief that “thyself” is entitled to such exclusivity is in fact taking ownership of all that is and all that shall be and in doing so one shall also be limiting themselves to only what shall come from singular!

This utter absolute form of unshakable confidence is what takes charge of one’s own destiny, and it is in the exclusion of everyone and the inclusion of exclusively one’s self that one can afford themselves the liberty of becoming judge, jury and executioner!

In making such a statement and in living in such a way what are the benefits and what is denied? As it really only comes down to what is going to be the expense for the contingencies to our choices that are being made.

If one could only see that all that is denied in living such a life, absent such truthfulness, is a lessening of our fullest capacity to unconditionally love, then one might respond differently…hum?

For after all,…who would want to exhibit such a blatant example of untruthful transparency, even one who had become totally immersed in one’s own self image?

If one could see the unconstitutionality in cosmic law in denying another a fair trail, then one might see a different responsibility unveiled, possibly one without any strings attached?

Maybe by loosening the bonds of conviction and the unshackling of one’s restraints to a jaded and callused heart, it might help to provide a clearer reflection to take place!

The Lesson

This is the lesson, this is the challenge and it can be as simple as reaching inside a pocket full of plenty and unconditionally absent any evaluation of who may or may not be worthy and just let it go!

If by chance you are one who struggles with this well then, why not experiment for a while and change up your game?

Why not just try to “change” your perception of others that make it easy to cast judgement by the way they look or dress or…hum?

Maybe that pocket “change” nuisance that just keeps accumulating on your bureau has another purpose in defining the weight of your soul?

Possibly by stopping that pattern of quick witted conviction and seeing how the opposite reaction feels then one’s confidence in one’s own convictions could just see how brave they really are?

Possibly by identifying the source of one’s “fear” one could truly engage the experiment of life? For after all, isn’t life really just the opportunity to become introduced to ourselves, to become known, to be defined and to come to the realization of just exactly what kind of giver, taker, lover or hater resides in the core of our soul’s character…hum?

What do you have to lose, maybe some “change”?…Maybe by conquering those fears of being seen as a easy mark one might come from the shadows into the light. In doing so,…the real value might be exposed in that loose “change” that one holds on to so tightly?

Maybe one might actually develop an alternative meaning, as in a homograph that gets misplaced in a sentence. And here again, the choice would be to replace or misplace a word in a sentence or a verdict as in a sentencing?

Is it change in coins or is the change in cosmic currency that paves the way to God’s loving kingdom…hum? It is the translation that can evolve from the cents in change or the sense in change, which may expose us to our own transparencies?

Look into your heart my friend, for this is where the most vibrant colors of your character’s palette of finger paints can be truly appreciated. Let your soul’s complexion glow so that God won’t have any difficulty recognizing you when you return home someday!

Forgive those who trespass against us and deliver us from evil, AMEN“.

Jesus Christ knew that the first hurdle we’d encounter,..would be to deliver ourselves from the destructive nature of our own free will…The choice is ours and ours alone…We may scribe either definition for the meaning in the measured weight of our souls.

We can be an opaque reflector that’s refraction obliquely defuses the intensity of God’s love by placing “self” in front of the lens or we can be an interface between God’s loving medium and choose to magnify the conductance…

In doing so,…our worth will be weighed from how brightly his love can shine through the transparency of the lens of our soul…Let God’s light shine brightly today through you, in you and with you!

Michael Chaffee

One thought on “The Gift”

  1. That is an amazing story. Thank you for the phone call this morning. We appreciate the positive feedback. You made our day! Have a awesome weekend.
    Josh & Jamie Summers

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Writing with the Veiled…