MY NEW SHOES ~ A Praise Poem – Part 6
In Praise of Praise

Who says God is dead?
How can that be?
God is Life for all to see
Yeah, God is Life in all people,
All creatures – all things.
God is Life!

Not a judging being out there or up there.
I touch my chest and feel my heart beating
I give thanks and praise my Life
I praise my parents from whom I sprang
I praise my parents for providing me with necessary things.
God is Life!

I give thanks and praise my Life
For all my ups and downs.
I praise my adversities and all the
Pearls of wisdom I have gained.
I praise my God for giving me Life.
God is Life!

I praise the sadness I have felt
For how else could I know the meaning of joy?
I praise the disappointments I have had,
They really weren't so bad
For how else could I understand the accomplishments I have done?
God is Life!

I praise my eyes that I see the blue of the sky,
the sun shining down on me.
I praise the rain
I praise the night
Filled with stars, planets and UFO's
God is Life!

I praise my body – fat or thin.
When I praise all pains dissipate
Into a blessed peace.
I praise my laughter and that of others
It lightens my spirit and dissolves my load of cares.
God is Life!

I laugh with glee when the essence in me
Kicks my butt
To move me out of my rut
Telling me Change, Change, Change!
Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

Each morn when I awaken
I praise the God I Am
I give thanks for this beautiful day
I give thanks for my Life.
Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." Henry David Thoreau

EASTER - HAVE YOU RISEN?

In the Christian world, we celebrate Good Friday – the day that Jesus supposedly was crucified and then the following Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. I find it interesting that the two events never are celebrated on the same day of the month as we do Christmas, Thanksgiving and Presidents' Day. Easter Sunday is the day when many deck themselves out in new clothes and go to church even though they rarely go throughout the year.

When a lie is told enough times, and accepted, then it becomes a truth. Later when facts and truth are revealed, the believers cry blasphemy! This is not saying that Jesus did not die or that he ascended. It is possible. When I headed this article "Easter – Have You Risen?" – it is in the context that have you taken responsibility for your past mistakes, errors and sins?

From the Christian pulpits, it is reiterated over-and-over that Christ died for our sins. I do not accept that, because Jesus came in as a mortal man and when he died, it was some years later that the Apostle Paul labeled him Christ. No one at the time of his death accepted that he was a divine being. It was a mortal man that gave Jesus the label of Christ. Mortal men wrote and preached this unproven story. I cannot accept that one man could die for the sins of the world. One only has to look at the turmoil in the world today.

For centuries this story has been perpetuated from the pulpits and in the Catholic Church. It is a rule in the Catholic Church that people must go to confession and confess their sins to a priest who is also a mortal man. After confessing, the person(s) leave and go out and repeat their actions again. It does not make sense to place the burden of forgiveness and atonement to one man. Isn't it time that everyone took responsibility for his or her actions and their sins?

Isn't it time we took Jesus down from the cross and placed him in a position where we apply what he taught in our lives? It would appear that from the pulpits that Satan took over and we hear more about Satan or the Devil than we hear the teaching of "Do unto others as you would have them to unto you." Another great teaching is "Love your neighbor as yourself." Both of these great statements are in the Sermon of the Mount – the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of the Book of Matthew.
From the pulpits, rarely is it taught to not discriminate against people or their beliefs. Nor is it taught to allow others their beliefs and life styles. Instead, each sect of Christianity thinks their particular peephole of the whole is the only way and that if others do not believe as they do, then it is a sin and these disbelievers are of the devil. Where does love come in? Where does treating others the way one wants to be treated come in? Where does the freedom for women enter?
Shakespeare wrote in his play Julius Caesar, "The evil men do lives after them, and the good is oft interred in their bones." The evil men do leaves a trail – a wreckage of lives and we cannot blame it on the Devil or Satan. As Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here."

The celebration of Easter originally come from the pagans who revered life, the earth and celebrated it at the vernal equinox in honor of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre or Eostre. She was the goddess of fertility and life in all things. Yes, she represents the feminine aspect of life and fertility. The early Christian fathers hi-jacked this sacred event for their own purposes.

Now, more than ever is the time we each take responsibility for our own life and actions. We cannot respect or love another until we love our self and respect who we are. Life is an inward journey looking out. What do we see? What we see in another is something that is within self. Why not look for the god in everyone? Why not look for something beautiful in another? Why not do random acts of kindness? Whatever we do, will lift us and return to us a thousand fold. Then we can say, "I have risen."

JOIN ME IN BEING A SHIFT-CHANGER

Yes, I have created the For Freedom Now Project and what does that have to do with being a Shift-Changer? Everything. I have long had a love affair with words and during my lifetime, I have come to understand the power of words. Some words are weak such as 'maybe' because in indicates indecision. Two words that I have used in the past and I know others use it constantly are 'cannot' or 'can't'. Cannot or can't indicate that something will not happen or will not be done. I recently heard someone speak about someone out of work and the statement made was "he can't get a job." Well, as long as 'can't' is used, he won't.

So, how can we change bad or unhappy situations around? It only takes two words to change anything as long as these words are spoke or thought sincerely. These two words are the foundation of the For Freedom Now Project. The first word is love or LOVE and it carries within it a powerful frequency when said with sincerity. Masaru Emoto has proven through his experiments that by placing the word Love on the outside of a bottle of polluted water, that after a short period of time the water will become clean. Now that is power! Love is Source power or as some will say God-power.

Gratitude is another powerful word. Gratitude goes hand-in-hand with 'thank you' and especially when spoke or thought of with sincerity. Gratitude carries a frequency that can also change many things. The ancients knew the power of gratitude and this is why blessing our food and blessing others was handed down through the ages. Gratitude or thank you when spoken over a meal or a glass of water or wine, can change the molecular structure.

The Freedom Now Project is very simple and all that is required is a commitment to focus or pray once a day (or more) using the words love and gratitude and encompass the world with these two words. These two words will link us mind-to-mind and when done with thoughtfulness and intent, we can shift the awareness of the world from abuse, poverty, war, enslavement, bigotry, prejudice, rape, and enable the world to evolve into something greater. This is the time to heal our woundedness. Now is the opportunity to heal and give to the world a shift that will lift it up into something evolutionary.

Again, please join me in this project. For more information: http://www.forfreedomnow.weebly.com/

Bettye Johnson

LOVE AND GRATITUDE

I have written about love and gratitude in previous articles, and I cannot stress the importance of creating our life with the powerful frequency of Love and Gratitude. It can override any situation when evoked sincerely. We are living in trying times on this planet and societies have become steeped with fears, judgments, prejudices and control. Where did these beliefs/attitudes come from? There really is not any one culprit, however various religions have done much to perpetuate these and it is time for us to look at our religious beliefs. Religion and spirituality is not the same thing. Religion is man-made while spirituality comes within with a direct connection to that which created us. Some may call this connection God, Allah, Buddha or whatever name one wants to place on it. All plants, animals and water respond to love and gratitude. Even the earth responds to love and gratitude. This is ancient knowledge.

I have gone through a period of my life where I was judgmental, had prejudices , thought I was a victim, anger, jealousy, and I realized that those emotions and attitudes did not serve me. No, they made me sick and miserable. This is when I began my awakening as described in my book Awakening the Genie Within. I have discovered that to live a balanced life that my main tools are observation, love and gratitude.

We can change our lives by observing our beliefs, attitudes and emotions and discarding those that no longer contribute to our well-being or happiness. In speaking about love, I am not addressing romantic love, or parental love. I am writing about universal love and when we can place a non-biased love as a blessing on people, places, events, our food, our drink, our animals, plants and this Earth, we have altered the frequencies and a blossoming occurs not only in our self but also in others.

Love has many attributes such as kindness, acceptance, understanding, allowing, with no judgments or prejudices. I have learned that the more I put into action these attributes that my life has less chaos. I have learned for myself to mentally stand back, observe my reactions, and then choose to change them. It is a challenge at times to observe situations, which spawns herd mentality. It takes courage to step out of the box, but it can be done. Complacency stagnates love. It lulls one into a false sense of security. I have realized that there are times to speak out on issues, but there is also a time when to keep silent and observe until I realize that something wonderful may come from this.

Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation. It is also acknowledgement of a benefit received or will receive. I grew up in a household where we said a blessing for our food at every meal. I never understood why and it appeared to be a rote action. A true blessing is one said silently or vocally with focused intent. The blessing of food, drink or anything is also ancient knowledge. The pagans used blessings and gratitude long before the Christians. There are many stories of people who gave a blessing, a prayer of thanks for something they knew they would receive.

From my perspective if more people would begin blessing their lives and the people in their lives along with their possessions, jobs, the problems would fade away because showing gratitude for everything opens doors to new possibilities. Margaret Cho stated it quite well, "Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone's life forever."