Ah the seventh day. God rested on the 7th day of Creation.
Where do we find peace in this world?
Is it to be found within ourselves…this same self that cannot even accomplish the good that we will to do…sometimes even doing evil that we don’t even want to do? Although that certainly doesn't stop a lot of very convincing writers from exhorting us to look within ourselves to find the answers. I guess they think that thanks to that unintelligent, unmonitored, freestyle event called evolution, every person who is born has universal truth encoded on their DNA. Tried looking within myself for answers - came up empty and miserable.
Do we find peace in a supplement? Ginkgo, Noni, Aloe, Algae, Acai, Alfalfa, Chlorophyll, Cranberry, Maqui, Royal Jelly, Spirulina, Greens, Reds, Proteins, and on and on and on…
Do we find rest for our souls in meditation? Yoga, Tai Chi, posture, focus, concentration, contemplation, bells, drums, chants, incense, candles, sounds, smells, music, atmosphere, the great outdoors, and on and on and on…
Is it in the heart? Is it in the solar plexus or the spleen? Is it between our ears or between our legs or sitting upright on top of our heads? Is it first sight, second sight or the third eye? Can you enervate peace? Breath it into being or capture it in a dreamcatcher on the wind?
Thirty two years ago I reached beyond this world and asked for help from the only source of help in this universe and without reservation or hesitation I was given a peace that I have never understood nor can I describe except to say that it abides with me and lives in me.
I have friends who have struggled to find the Secret to peace, happiness and prosperity seeking it among the stagnant pools of tradition or the poisoned wells of self aggrandizement. In their zeal to know and understand, they have swallowed the first lie believing that they themselves have the power within themselves to control the universe and draw good unto themselves. At best they are a bit foolish. At worst they become ensnared by a deceitful lie that masquerades as the truth; false light leading the unwary off the path and into the tangled wood.
Who would want to drink from the muddy waters of man’s philosophies and vain deceit when we are offered living water from the author of life? Not me and hopefully, not you.
@ 2010 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
There is a place...
There is a place of peace and serenity, a place that is within and yet just beyond this world – a place that exists and yet is not seen. You and I have the ability if we desire to visit this place.
We visit it in thoughts and dreams, through music and reflection, waking sleeping, walking, lying down and looking at clouds.
It is always a choice – whether we stay only in the world that we see or make the effort to visit the world that is just beyond the veil.
For many this world is shut off. Like Alice unable to enter the garden, these poor souls alternately grow larger and smaller but are never able to enter that which they can only peer at through the keyhole of the locked door.
We however who by the grace of God have accepted the sacrifice of the lamb of God; we who follow the righteous one, God’s only begotten son. We, without any effort to grow larger or smaller, enter freely through the door of the sheepfold and go in and out and find pasture.
If the world knew the pleasure of His company, the joy of His fellowship and the absolute serenity of His presence, they would not seek to find the half-truths being hawked at the carnival sideshows of pseudo-spirituality that only lead the unwary off the path and into the three ring circus of confusion.
The path to holiness, the path to salvation is not the world’s path to enlightenment: far from it. Following after the lie of the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air – or lord of the wind if you will - these impoverished and hungry souls take the bait and are ensnared by the good forsaking the true. A mess of pottage, a game and they are gone absorbed into what they think is the universality of oneness only to realize too late that they have sold their soul for a glimpse behind the curtain when they could have kept their life and walked in triumphantly with the Lord Jesus Christ to reign with Him forever. Even so come quickly Lord Jesus.
@ 2009 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
We visit it in thoughts and dreams, through music and reflection, waking sleeping, walking, lying down and looking at clouds.
It is always a choice – whether we stay only in the world that we see or make the effort to visit the world that is just beyond the veil.
For many this world is shut off. Like Alice unable to enter the garden, these poor souls alternately grow larger and smaller but are never able to enter that which they can only peer at through the keyhole of the locked door.
We however who by the grace of God have accepted the sacrifice of the lamb of God; we who follow the righteous one, God’s only begotten son. We, without any effort to grow larger or smaller, enter freely through the door of the sheepfold and go in and out and find pasture.
If the world knew the pleasure of His company, the joy of His fellowship and the absolute serenity of His presence, they would not seek to find the half-truths being hawked at the carnival sideshows of pseudo-spirituality that only lead the unwary off the path and into the three ring circus of confusion.
The path to holiness, the path to salvation is not the world’s path to enlightenment: far from it. Following after the lie of the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air – or lord of the wind if you will - these impoverished and hungry souls take the bait and are ensnared by the good forsaking the true. A mess of pottage, a game and they are gone absorbed into what they think is the universality of oneness only to realize too late that they have sold their soul for a glimpse behind the curtain when they could have kept their life and walked in triumphantly with the Lord Jesus Christ to reign with Him forever. Even so come quickly Lord Jesus.
@ 2009 Joseph Ricciardi Jr
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