Observations from a Spiritual Journey - part 1

As a baseline for as we understand him, the podcast, Mike and Glenn took turns sharing their story. This last week it was Mike at the Mic, and what follows are thoughts based on a few snippets of his segment.

Some thoughts were touched on during Mike’s recounting; others were ideas we had as we re-listened:

Born into faith

The more people we talked to, the more we learned that those influential to us in our formative years helped shape our destinies, including our spiritual beliefs and activities.

Some of us are fortunate enough to have had spiritual giants, while others have been left alone to figure the whole thing out.

Whether we have good examples or bad examples of spiritual health in our lives, at the end of the day, it becomes our story based on our decisions.

What we have seen over the years is that real spiritual temperament comes out in times of tragedy. We stand in awe of those who turn to God when life has left them empty-handed.

Our stories include examples of faith in action; we are ever grateful for that. Our stories include those with the same last name and strangers crossing our life paths. Our stories have dejection, disregard, disobedience, and, ultimately, a timely decision.

Turning our heads and hearts toward a healthier spiritual direction is never too late.

The vastness of the universe

Logic wins for us. Somewhere in our travels through education and environment, we concluded that some power, somewhere, somehow created the earth and the stars. It just doesn't make sense that it all came crashing together by happenstance. It just doesn't make sense that it morphed into what it is over thousands or even millions of years.

With that belief, we set out to choose from the thousands of deities worshipped around the globe and landed on the One portrayed in the book called the Bible.

Left with our decision to follow the direction of that God, we have chosen to hang onto each word of that publication to the most profound degree of literal.

Did Jonah live in the belly of a whale for three days? Our answer is: Yes, that is what the Bible says.

Judgment vs. love

When people come into our lives, we tend to size them up pretty quickly. Are they being judgmental, or are they acting from a center of love? Being critical or caring? Are they curious or concerned? What is their angle?

Likewise, when we interject into somebody else's living space, we should ask similar questions; am I acting out of love, care, and concern? Are my motives pure?

This becomes so important because we influence one another.

We have been blessed that people have come into our life accepting us for who we are, discounting our defects, and loving us unconditionally.

What happens to our psyche when encountering the non-genuine is up to us. You have the power to physically and mentally move on. We move on to those that are a blessing in our lives and move away from all else.

In due time

We tend to want what we want when we want it. We have come to appreciate that God does not operate that way. We believe that God answers all prayers. We believe his answers are yes, no, or wait.

We didn't choose the magical moment that connected us to our creator. Yet, in our hearts, we believe that it was in His timing that our transformation began, and it will be in His timing that it will become complete.

Our breakpoint was that moment of surrender.

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Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast #2 titled “Mikes Spiritual Story” The podcast dropped on 4/9/2023. Click here to hear the podcast.

Photo by Daniel Lerman on Unsplash

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