Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Crazy photo this morning with the lamp reflection and the moon… today has me thinking about God’s will. As a recovering alcoholic and addict, the twelve step program provided by AA is a lifelong guidebook for recovery. Step 11 is one of my favorites: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” I had very little connection with God when I got clean in 1988. I had been agnostic my entire adult life until that point. It isn’t very easy to connect with God’s will if you have no concept of God. And to really define God you have to look inside through prayer and meditation and find exactly who and what that is for you, because no matter what you think no two people will view God in the same way. God is who we believe God is if we believe God is at all. God’s will for us is often presented as opportunities. All of us have two minds within us. The main voice that talks all the time – our ego. And the voice behind that voice that watches as life unfolds – our subconscious mind – our soul. We can develop that still, quiet voice within through prayer and meditation. And from our seat behind the ego, we can learn to look at things in life differently. Our egos are logical, and love security and routine. If we’re presented with an opportunity often the mental chatter goes crazy. Let’s say you’re in a charitable organization and the president has to relocate, so the group asks to to please take over. You have never considered it, you really don’t want to be president, and every instinct you have is to decline and just stay where you’re at. Most people would do just that. As soon as they ask you to be president, the internal chatter of all the reasons why this is a terrible idea would be deafening. But what if the grand scheme laid out for you is much greater than anything you’ve ever considered for yourself? What if you were so in touch with Him that you looked at things differently? It takes courage to surrender to God’s will. Because when God presents an opportunity, there will be no guarantees. And there will be a ton of resistance and fear regarding it as well. Years ago I was a Realtor. I loved my job. I was good at it. And one particularly bad day in real estate I looked though my emails and saw an offer to join the company I work for today. I had a lot of respect for this company as I was a client at the time. It might have been the only company with a shot to pull me away from real estate because I wasn’t looking for, nor did I want a new job. But it peaked my interest, so I called my agent and asked him about it. It seemed like a great opportunity to me. My head was going crazy, saying things like “it took you two years to build this real estate business and now you want to leave? Start all over from the bottom again? It’s way easier to just keep working here.”, etc, etc, etc… despite that, I went home and told my wife about it and instead of the reaction I expected (basically all the things my ego was saying), she said “I could see that”. I was shocked. So I applied for the job. And I was really uncertain, confused and conflicted about it. The application process took about 45 days. I was really on the fence. Then I ran into my agent in town one day, and he said “if you get an offer, just take it and don’t look back”. I knew in that instant that’s what I was going to do. Something about the way he said it… my subconscious got quiet and I knew this was one of those decisions now left in God’s hands. If I got an offer, I was taking it. I got an offer, I took it. Very early in my new career I told my wife “this job is going to change our lives”. And it totally has. It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. And one of the scariest. I had to just disregard all the fear and chatter about how stupid it was to leave a job I loved and was good at for “a better opportunity”. There was no guarantee I’d like being a financial advisor, or even be good at it. But I KNEW. Very early on, I knew it was meant to be. Everything I had done my entire life prepared me for this career. I love it. And this is the magic that sometimes unfolds when you surrender to what God has planned over what you thought you wanted. The more you’re in touch with your heart, the easier it gets to make head vs. heart decisions. Because the two sides aren’t always so clear. I hope all of you can realize God’s will today and always. Be aware of how and when opportunities arise in your life. Sometimes the greatest decisions we make are on the other side of fear…
