The Path in the Portrait

An individual paints a portrait. It is good. It is at once something new, yet it is in the artist's own image. It contains what the artist has seen with perhaps a hint of what he has dreamed possible. Within the portrait is a path. Where does the path lead? The path is symbolic of the unknowable future.

One is the creator, the other their creation. We can think of these two existing in different dimensions, one obviously higher than the other.

So it is with God and man. We exist because of our Creator. He is fully outside of the dimension in which we live, move and have our being. He even lives outside of time. Think of this as the painter never literally walking along the path within their portrait.

The Bible exists for reasons we can only guess at. Some say that the first five books in their original format are literally the foundation for our world's existence. I can see this as a likelihood. After all, in the beginning was the Word... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Such glimpses into infinite spiritually should cause one to pause in open mouthed wonder.

We cannot know the future. We are told that acting on our desire to discover tomorrow can be the ultimate crime. We are told that borrowing worry from potential onward pathways adds greatly to our sorrows.

The Bible was validated by prophecy. This happened long ago. Only the true living God could have foretold future events in such detail. The people of God experienced it and as a result cherished and protected the Word. Today we live in the fulfillment of ALL the promises. We get to enjoy the fruits.

Unfortunately, some part of us looks back with longing to that other time. We want prophecies to be part of our lives. In this dreamy imagined scenario, we think of ourselves as the prophet, the one in the know. Secret knowledge is something we desire. We ignore the reality that chances are we would be on the outside looking in.

Plus, in doing this we lose the path. Actually, we arrive at the same predetermined destination, but we have lost all the good God placed there for us to find. We walk in darkness and believe it is right. At the end of the day, we feel the weight of negativity that we have brought upon ourselves. Having limited our vision to our desires rather than the gifts, we now have neither.

We each have a path, just for today. It is from the mind of our Creator and He has painted one just for me, just for you. It contains wonders that we can barely understand. God's world is filled with good. Our problem is that we insist on redefining good. We are creatures who have tasted the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we think we know best about everything. But, we do not.

Only when we stop believing in our interpretation of good can we fully experience the higher good. The good that can only come from a higher place, from a higher being, our Father. There is no excuse for not loving Him fully, with all of our being. Unfortunately, we all have trust issues.

It is never about the other person being good. It is not clever to discover the flaws and even the evil in anyone else. Yet, we pat ourselves on the back for this all too often. Other people are not to be focused upon in this way, never. Yet we are industrious in doing this very thing. We focus on individuals we know; we focus on individuals in the news; we focus on 'stars' of every stripe. Then we pick at their flaws.

How incredibly silly!!!

There is a reason we do this. We want to withhold trust and this process of finding fault becomes our proof set for "No one is worthy of absolute trust".

Well, duh!!!

There is no proof needed for this. The assumption should be that everyone is born under sin. Therefore finding this out about anyone is no revelation at all. It is NOT NEWS!

But there is One who is worthy of every ounce of trust we can manage. If we were capable, we could freely give infinite trust, that is, infinite love to God. Sadly, we get confused.

We find in the portrait something that we wish were different. We believe in our way rather than His. We fool ourselves into believing our way would be best. We wish to be God rather than be thankful for His good truth.

Dern.

"Let go and let God" is a phrase coined by one of the original Alcoholics Anonymous members. It certainly applies here. We first need to know that we need to stop believing in our own definition of what is good. Then we need to believe that CAN stop. Then we need to believe there is Someone who is committed to helping us do it. Then we need to believe there is Someone who will ever and always make this "letting go" worth it. Each day is a new portrait with a new path. If we practice every day to trust God for All good things, then we shall see the result. The result is Love, Peace, Joy, etc.

Do you wonder why the twelve steps have become so famous?

Down the road of those steps is helping others. This too is a key that can unlock doors to allow goodness and light into one's life. God knows, others could use some help. Actually, so do all of us. We each have doctorate in how others are flawed. Either help them or let it go. You are not required to always help everyone, beware of that TRAP, but help someone. Just remember it is not the first step or the second, etc.

Like Jesus says, "First remove the plank from your own eye, then you shall see clearly to remove the speck of sawdust from your fellow traveler's eye". Amen?


(you better) Love someone well today (for your own sake)

Bobby

PS- too preachy? Y/N? Hmm, its Sunday!