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A Life of Choices: The Choice That Is Life Jane Mullikin
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We
have a lot of choice in what our lives will or will not become. We have
a life to live in order to make one choice. That choice is an ongoing
journey based in love or based in hate or fear. That choice is
ours. It takes many of us an entire lifetime to pick a
racetrack and make the choice to run that particular
race. Others make it very early, and those who make a choice
for love live in beauty, while those who do not choose love can be
exposed to ugliness beyond comprehension.
A life being lived in love and beauty is not necessarily apparent from
the exterior. We cannot look at the next person and determine what kind
of life they have by their beauty, their possessions, or their
"luck". We can only know their quality of life if we are
given the opportunity to see their soul. Very rarely does the spirit
allow such exposure.
Because of this opportunity (or necessity) to make a choice, depending
on how we feel about it, we walk side by side on this earth as
strangers. People living in close proximity, with similar
environments, background, and heredity, can be living in very different
worlds. Side-by-side they walk, appearing similar to those
they know, yet one has within a black hole filled with turmoil and pain
while the other is living with an internal warmth and joy that cannot
be adequately described by words. Those who have not made a
solid choice are likely to see glimpses of both worlds without fully
understanding the implications until they seriously begin the search
for the right track.
We can choose to be guided by that still small voice within. We can
choose to help those around us, gaining our pleasure through seeing
their lives enriched. If we turn selfish and expect to be rewarded for
helping, we lose out on the joy of the unselfish gift. Our lives are
not based in love.
We can choose to be proud and to be greedy. We can choose to manipulate
our environment in order to gain riches. Then we are based
in the external world. That still small voice does not operate in the
external world. This selfish lifestyle can lead us down a road of lies,
lust, and into ugliness and despair.
We can live in the spiritual world of love and beauty and still have
favor like wealth, fame, and beauty as long as we have not taken them
through greedy selfishness. We can live in the spiritual world of love
and beauty when our physical lives are a mess. If we have faith in the
guidance of that still small voice within; if we willingly follow its
leading, most unexplainable sense of joy, serenity, and
security abide within us. We know we are spiritually safe no matter
what happens to our perishable bodies.
We accept the concept of the perishable body and the eternal
spirit. This forward looking attitude gives us grace, hope,
and power in the knowledge that no matter how difficult the hurdles at
the beginning of the race, smooth sailing is ours for
eternity. By loving, caring, sharing, and serving with that
constant sense of spiritual joy within, we can experience a joy that
will continue to expand, never diminishing, throughout eternity.
Also visit Jane Mullikin's web site, Spirit-Finding Hope in a World of
Uncertainty, at http://www.hopeandspirit.com, for more stories of
spirit, hope, and inspiration. |
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Date Submitted:
1/2/04 |
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