Saturday, November 22, 2008

Where the rubber meets the road


We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

~ Abigail Adams ~
I have been thinking about prophecy lately. Prophets were not "fortune tellers" or "foreseers of the future" in the way we seem to think these days.
Prophets warned people what would happen if they continued down the path they were on and didn't change their hearts or minds or ways. Their messages intended to guide people into better behavior and prevent catastrophe. Sometimes the people listened. Sometimes they didn't. Sometimes they gave lip service to change, but continued what they had been doing all along.
Here we are again. We have been getting warnings for some time now about what will happen if we don't change our ways: Global warming. Energy crisis. Pollution--air, water, earth, our bodies. Relationships--personal and global. Economic collapse.
We are at a big choice point in the stewardship of the planet. Just because the apocalypse was prophesied, it doesn't mean that we have to make it come true. We can choose another way. Will we?
Or will we give lip service?
When I was a kid, I remember being scared to death with "hellfire and brimstone" sermons. Is the world really coming to an end...here and now in my lifetime?
I remember being panicked hearing sirens while I was at school. Did someone drop the bomb? Will I be stuck here unable to get home to my mom?
Quite frankly, I am tired of being scared all the time. It doesn't work on me any more as a way of controlling me. I choose another way.
I have heard the warnings. I get the point. Now, let us rise to the occasion and do what is required of us to turn at this choice point toward all that is good and right.
Greed is out.
Love is in.
Cruelty is out.
Kindness is in.
Waste is out.
Sharing is in.
Rape, pillage, and plunder is out.
Stewardship is in.
War is out.
Peace is in.
That's what I'm gonna do. How about you?

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

Brilliant post. I have an item shared on my blog that I got from one of Marianne Williamson's blogs, actually written by Deepak Chopra, inviting people to make a vow, a commitment to non-violent thoughts, words and deeds. If 2 people take the vow and invite 2 others to join them, in no time at all, there will be hundreds of thousands of people taking a vow of non-violence. Imagine how that might change the world! It might even make it seem less scary to be in this world. http://www.deepakchopra.com/

Love & hugs....your sister