I BELIEVE…

Words have great power. They have power move us in so many ways. They can move us to anger or to tears, to fear or to courage, to hatefulness or compassion, to war or to peace. In the course of my life I have used words to move from one point to another. To be honest I have used words to move other people from one point, opinion, thought, etc to another. We tend to underestimate the effect that words can have on us.

Take for example the simple words, ‘I believe…’ As a precursor to the right sentence it has an ability to move us from inaction or action or vice versa. Today those two words have settled on my mind, like a burning ember that will hopefully take light and turn into an inferno. I say hopefully because at times word magic, if I might use that term, losses it potency. Why? I am not sure. Perhaps because in time, the meaning we derive from it losses its luster. But then I think that there are powerfully words that continue to burn and sustain us through all our lives.

But back to my personal revelation, I do not consider myself a born again Christian. That is not to say that a person cannot change from being one kind into another. But I guess it goes back to what I said before about the power of words. Perhaps, words, in the form of descriptions we give our self, are like markers that designate an end of something and the beginning of another. Anyway, I was at the gym today and I began to ponder the words, ‘I believe’. I thought to myself how powerful those two words were. As they rolled off my tongue there seemed to be a natural shift in my mental perspective – a paradigm shift no less. Challenges became opportunities, desperation became hope and fear became faith.

I began to add those words to sentences and gauged my feelings.

“I believe in myself” I felt hopeful, confident.

“I believe I have God given abilities, natural gifts” Again I felt confident determined, even courageous.

Then I said. “I believe in Jesus Christ…” I paused. I felt a bit confused. Now you must understand that up to now, I never really took Jesus to heart. Mainly because I felt Christianity was hypocritical. I also have a natural aversion to what I see as “We are the only true religion” mentality. This is not to say that I did not believe in God either. In fact, I believe in God very much. It’s just that I have a problem with him having just one messenger. But as I was pondering this it felt as if Jesus was saying that it did not matter what vestige he wore whether it was Buddha, Vishnu, Osiris, that the basis of all things good was love, compassion and kindness. At that point I felt, I was on a buzz. So I took him to heart, literally, I envisioned him in my heart, giving me strength and hope.

I will end this here but I think there is more to say. Particularly about adjusting your sail or changing course.