(Please note: this posting has somewhat of a religious flavor to it, for which I do not apologize. I am a religious person, but this message is not about religion. If you don’t believe in God as I do, feel free to insert the word “universe” or “the universe” wherever you see the word “God”.)
One of the things that has held me back for much of my life was a common, yet devastating, misconception. That is, that the things you need the most will be the things most likely to be provided to you. I believe in a kind and loving God. I believe in fairness. So I frequently operated under the delusion that if I needed something very badly and prayed for it really hard, it would be provided in ample quantity. That is how a lot of good people see it. If you really, really need something, and you’ve done what you can to deserve it, and you ask God to bless you with it, chances are you’ll get it. Right? If you don’t truly need it, he’s less likely to bless you with it. That’s fair, isn’t it?
So it would stand to reason that God would bless the poor with greater abundance and withhold some of his blessings from the rich. And yet, look around, is that what you see happening? Often times, don’t we see the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer? That hardly seems fair, but when you consider the laws of attraction, it actually makes sense. What people don’t understand is the importance of faith, or even what faith is. The scriptures repeatedly talk about the fact that prayer without faith is not effective. God is not a conservative God with only a limited number of blessings and abundance to impart. Is God limited? Does he not have access to everything in the universe?
I believe in a God of abundance. He has limitless blessings to impart to those who are prepared to receive them. One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in this life (one that I’m still trying to master) is that being in a place of NEED actually pushes away the abundance that I would have received if I had more faith. If you ask for something with full faith that you’ll receive it, it feels like you’ve already received it. To be in a place of need and desperation while you’re asking for something, you’re sending out the message saying that you really don’t think you’ll get it. Isn’t that the opposite of faith? If you have a need or a desire that you pray about and you have a firm mindset that it will be granted to you, then that feeling of almost having it sets aside any feelings of need or desperation, thus putting you in the right vibration and state of mind to receive it. I believe that’s the unwavering faith that the scriptures tell us is a prerequisite to obtaining blessings that we’re seeking for.
If you haven’t grown up with that kind of thinking, it can be a difficult transition to make. Even if you see the logic in it, it can be a challenge to apply it when the waters of your life become horribly turbulent and it feels like everything is falling apart. Yet with practice and focusing on correct principles, it can become a part of your life. It can feel like you’re just now planting a garden when you’re already starving to death. Too little, too late to save you from your current catastrophes. And yet, it’s necessary to start the process so that your life doesn’t continue to be a never-ending string of disasters. You may have to start small, but every step that you take in the right direction will help get you out of the hole you’ve dug for yourself.
So how do you get started? Here are some key things that you can start doing now to turn around your thinking and put you in the proper state to receive abundance and joy:
- Exercise gratitude. Look for things to be grateful for, no matter how small. Think twice as many thoughts of gratitude as you do about things that you lack or are difficult. (Eventually you’ll want to get to the point of never thinking in terms of lack.) Gratitude is the key to joy and attracts abundance.
- See abundance. Focus on the abundance of the universe and the multitude of blessings that are awaiting you. Avoid the temptation to focus on the lack.
- Think in terms of what you hope to get, not how terrible things are without them. Feel the feelings of already having the things you want. Focus on the solution, not the problem.
If you work on making these things a regular part of your life and the way that you think, you will see positive changes in your life. They take practice, and sometimes they take time. Remember that you can’t harvest a garden this afternoon that you just planted this morning. Even still, it’s very important that you think in terms of having the blessings now, not in the future. Otherwise, it will stay in the future and always out of reach. Think in terms of the blessing being on its way to you right now. You may not know exactly when it will arrive, but it’s coming. So you can feel the joy and antici
pation almost as if it were on your doorstep right now. There is only such a thing as now as far as the universe is concerned. We operate in a world of time though. So some patience is often required.
The purpose of life is to experience joy. Joy is not just feeling good or having fun. It comes from wisdom gained through experience, even harsh ones. It comes from gratitude – for all you’ve been given, even unpleasant experiences. It comes from a decision to be happy – as opposed to being a victim of whatever circumstances life hands you. It comes from loving and receiving love. It comes from seeing the universe as abundant and giving. Lastly, it comes from aligning your life with principles of joy and happiness.
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