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Meditations on God

  • Robert Van Valkenburgh

  • Shared Struggles

    It is okay to struggle. 

    We all do. 

    It is not okay, however, to take our struggles out on those around us. 

    We do not have to bear our burdens alone.

    But, we cannot force others to share in our struggles unknowingly or unwillingly. 

    Whether implicit or explicit, we need consent when sharing our pain.  

    Shared pain, after all, is a form of intimacy. 

    And, intimacy is not something that can be demanded of others. 

    It must be requested and agreed upon.  

    Failing to do this risks violating the recipient’s trust and their integrity. 

    It also exposes us to the potential for more hurt and disappointment when our pain is not received in the way we thought or hoped it would be. 

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    January 20, 2021
    intimacy, pain, relationships, struggles

  • Our History Is Not Our Fate

    There is more to us than our personal history. 

    What we have experienced is only a small part of who we are. 

    It is an even smaller part of who we are meant to be or are capable of becoming. 

    While our experiences inevitably shape our attitudes, opinions, and expectations, they are not the sole determining factor in these things.

    Everything about who we are and how we relate to the world is affected by our experiences. 

    But, we also have a say in the matter. 

    We get to decide who, what, and how we want to be. 

    Our histories inform and influence us, but they do not control us. 

    We must never let our will and our spirit be so broken by our experiences that we give up all control of our mind and emotions. 

    Our past is a foregone conclusion.

    We cannot change it. 

    Our future, however, is unwritten. 

    It is pure potential.

    We are pure potential. 

    Our fate is not dictated by what has been.

    Our fate is dictated by what can be, by what we can be, and by the actions we take to shape our future. 

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    January 19, 2021
    choice, decisions, fate, future, history, potential

  • Joy And Suffering

    We cannot escape suffering in this life. 

    Suffering is an inevitability. 

    It cannot be avoided. 

    It is in us and around us.  

    Suffering is inherent in the choices we make and the choices we do not make. 

    This does not mean that suffering should be sought out, celebrated, or enjoyed, however.

    While suffering is an inescapable part of life, it should not be the goal of our life. 

    Suffering should not be the central fact of our existence. 

    Our thoughts should not revolve around our suffering.

    Nor should our words be purely a reflection of how much and for what reasons we suffer.  

    There is much more to us and our lives than this. 

    If suffering is all that we see, feel, and express, we have surely lost our way. 

    We must find our way back to joy.

    But first, we must seek it. 

    Just as suffering is in us and around us, so too is joy. 

    It is up to us which of these we look for, experience, and reflect into the world from moment to moment and day to day. 

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    January 18, 2021
    joy, purpose, suffering, transcendence, transformation

  • Do More Or Do Better

    Most of us are struggling from day to day to survive.

    We may have hopes and dreams of getting ahead, but, without a plan or the means to execute it, we spend our time and energy doing things that keep us in the very position we wish not to be in.

    Doing more of the same in a world that is growing ever more complex will never get us ahead.

    In fact, as the world becomes evermore complicated and stressful, more of the same will only put us further and further behind.

    We cannot stay stagnant.

    If we want to get ahead, we have to find ways to do more of better or at least more of more, not more of the same.

    That is to say, we either have either find better things to spend our time and energy doing or we have to find more efficient and effective means of doing what we already do so that we can take on additional opportunities.

    None of this will happen on its own.

    Opportunities for growth and improvement are not seeking us out.

    We must take action.

    We must do the work to either create our own opportunities for growth and improvement or to put ourselves in a position from which we can seize them when they become available.

    This will not be easy.

    If easy is what we desire, we should plan to have very little of everything else.

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    January 17, 2021
    goals, progress, success

  • Facing Our Fragility

    As we transform into someone better, we will feel fragile. 

    We will feel uncertain and afraid. 

    We will tell ourselves that the solution to this fragility is to return to who we once were.  

    This temptation must be resisted. 

    It will not work anyway. 

    There is no going back. 

    There is only forward. 

    Even in our path forward, we have to make a choice. 

    We must decide if we want to risk everything we know and face our fragility or if we want to choose the dubious comfort of cowardice. 

    There are no guarantees either way.

    No matter what we choose, things may not work out. 

    Only one choice offers the possibility of a new, better life, however. 

    Even with this knowledge, our decision will not be easy. 

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    January 16, 2021
    comfort, fear, fragility, transformation

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