Do you have needs in your life? If you answered 'yes' to that question it's a good indication you are having an identity crisis without even knowing it. We all learn from birth to get our needs met through hard work. We're taught to get an education and apply ourselves so that one day we can be somebody. We're taught to do the 'right thing'. In other words, we are all taught performance based acceptance (PBA). The one thing all the education in the world won't teach, is how to be alive. The world system is designed to always dangle a carrot in front of you and tell you that you can have this and 'then' you'll be happy.
There is a better way. Stop trying so hard and just trust Him. The dreams you have could be the thing that is keeping you from experiencing "THE DREAM".
Have you ever thought about what it really means to be alive, to live life, without thinking in terms of "The American Dream"?
I've been reading a book lately and one story struck me as something that's very relevant to what I want to communicate. There was a zen teacher and a disciple that went on a journey. They found themselves stopped along a trail resting, eating a simple meal. While resting, the disciple asked the teacher how to enter Zen, the state of aliveness.
A long while passed and just as the disciple was about to ask again, the teacher asked his student if he heard the mountain stream. The disciple wasn't aware of any stream because all his own thoughts about, what the answer to his question must be. In just a short while, the disciple began to let his own cares slip away and he heard the sound of moving water, far in the distance. He found himself alive and alert to everything around him.
When the disciple told the teacher he could hear the stream, the teacher told the disciple to "Enter from there". The disciple was alive and more aware of his true self, God and his surroundings than he had ever been. After a little while, he began thinking again and started to lose the awareness. He then asked the teacher what his answer would have been if he hadn't been able to hear the stream. The teacher said, that he would have told him the same thing, "Enter from there".
Don't underestimate the power of where we are right now. Wherever you are, "Enter from there". Right where you are is where you can enter into an aliveness that will top any thing the world has to offer, and it's free. The world may have cluttered the sounds in your mind, but the answer is far too simple for most people... "Enter from there".
God never intended any of us to put on any type mask in order to be acceptable to Him. His desire isn't to clean you up before He can use you. In fact, God does not want to use you at all- He wants to love you, right where you are. From a position of being loved and having only one need (Him), there are all sorts of things God may do through you. Don't over complicate or turn away from the gift God gives freely.
I am, David
