How to Think, What to Say

I don't want to be one of those people who take forever to get to the punch-line; or like a soap-opera that moves ahead like a limping snail, drag out the climax forever.

What I really want to do is just tell you what you need to do to get God's attention. Because it's what you and me and everybody else, more than anything, really wants to know. And once we leave aside the old "God isn't listening" or "doesn't care" conceit, or better yet, kill and resurrect it for a vital hope that can believe that He not only listens but also, really-really wants to answer us, well then, hey, why delay?

So this is how we reach the brand new beginning of a brand new life and even better change: ASK GOD FOR HELP.

That's really it, the it being so fully it because implied within it is such incredible, powerful change; change of a sublime, supernatural nature that has to occur first within you in order for you to even mount your simple plea. Change in other words that involves deeply, interior-ly, your ability to choose and make distinctions; the ability to distinguish, for instance, your need for change, and that in your present condition (i.e., living life your way) you truly lack what it takes to change really much of anything at all.

Asking for God's help also means that you've wrestled with pride and found it wanting. Pride makes the bearer blind (The Bible tells us it comes before the fall), which is why it takes a miracle (on the scale of the one that keeps the carnage out of everyday morning rush-hour traffic) to poke a hole through its dense screen large enough for the original you to see through.

There is a mountain of self to overcome to reach the high place where God awaits us, where we can say, Please God help me, and know that we mean it for all we're worth. But once said, the weight indeed will start to lift, the burden shift, and the muck begin to slide away.

-- m1230

(more up... )