"Why Why Why?"

This week I had two people ask me how to get closer to God. One person, (my mom), stated that it simply just left her. I told her that it was more about her drifting away. The world gets so busy and eventually distracts us. We don’t have time to even sit and enjoy our coffee before it gets cold anymore. Our world is dominated by worldly distractions and if you’re lucky enough to have spare time to sit, meditate and focus on God, then you’re the luckiest person alive. Another friend, (which I will not disclose her name) asked me the same question, however her faith and background is of a different religion. Circumstances and trouble came crashing in on her, leaving her depressed and distant from God. In general terms, so that our faiths didn’t clash, I suggested that she should do some breathing exercises with visualization and focus in on “God” - aka - meditate. It’s much simpler to use breathing exercises than refer to meditate, because sometimes people get funny with that term. Too “zen-like” and cooky for some.

Last year this time, I was in a really bad place - place being my mind, my heart - I was hopeless and almost lost faith in God. I accused God of not listening to me or answering my prayers. The thing was: the prayers that I prayed were not of God’s will. They were selfish prayers that would have put me in a much deeper downward of a spiral. Sometimes, be thankful for prayers not answered, because we might get what we “want”....not what we need.

“We can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for.” -1 John 5:14-15

How can God be present when there is so much bad in this world? How can God let this happen to us? How can all these terrible things, like the shooting at the Holocaust Museum by a very hateful man happen, or all of these awful school shootings by some isolated and rejected teenage kids come to pass while God is still watching over us? Is He watching over us or does it come down to simpler terms: God gave us free will and the freedom of choice? The truth of it all is that there is good and evil in this world. We need both. Without them, there would be no purpose for it all, no challenges to overcome successfully, as well as no reason to come to God. Without tribulations, some people would never get to even know God. We’d live in a world of no worries, no troubles, no adversities or hardships. Things would come too easily for us. Everyone would live equally as one and wouldn’t need to better themselves. We wouldn’t need God.

Why are we here?

However, even if things are going well, God still wants you to come to Him. And mind you - it’s not like you have to be some religious zealot rambling on and on all throughout your life talking about “religion”. In fact, religion is just a bad word to me. I’m human and if you met me in person you’d think someone else had written this post. I’m “real”----I don’t pretend to be some high and mighty spiritual being. In fact, I’m hardly that. (As most of you already know!) I’m just trying to get closer to God myself and maybe have someone relate to it all. I make mistakes and do things that God may disapprove of. Sound familiar?  These things are why some people are scared to seek God. Thoughts like, “Well God won’t talk to me because I did this or I did that”, can have you distance yourself even further away. Most religious people who “pretend” to be good are usually the ones who are hiding a whole lot.   And, who are we to judge, right? We all fall short. God wants us the way we are. He wants us to come to Him - not pretend to be somebody else. Do you think God won’t notice we’ve changed our entire being just to pray to Him? Think about it: God sees all. He knows what we do every second of the day so why wouldn’t we come to Him “as is”? He accepts you more than you think. Be real.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.” -Ephesians 3:12

We worry about the purpose of life and what it all means, when we really should just be focusing on how to do it better the next time around. Our troubles make us stronger, which enable us to make better choices for the next challenges ahead. I stopped trying to figure God out and decided to have him figure me out instead. It just works better. I’m done asking, “why why why” and have begun accepting all the things that come swinging my way - whether good or bad.

Truth be it, science will always contradict religion and spirituality. There is no scientific evidence of “faith”. Blind faith is what some people call their “truth”. If your mission is to try to figure it all out - you’ll be like a fish trying to understand algebra. It’s impossible. Why do you think our world is disrupted with so many wars? Most of it are holy wars. Nothing is proven and nothing is concrete. You can try to debunk it all you want but without faith, and more reliance on the world and scientific evidence, your soul will constantly scream out, “why why why”?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.” -Proverbs 3:5-6