Is it possible to live without really living?  The answer to the question is an obvious yes!  In fact, we have all been at that place of realization, where we know that this is exactly what we are doing a lot of the time.  We are busy with activities and agendas, but feel as if we are getting nowhere – really fast.

Stop trying to understand and explain everything!  We feel as if we have to understand and have an opinion about everything that happens.  We think that we are somehow less valuable, if we allow something or someone to pass by without adding our “two cents”!  The reality of life is:  Some things are not for our understanding, they are simply for our experience.

There are some things in life that cannot be explained, only experienced.  One of the most difficult challenges of life is to try to explain an experience or experience an explanation.  The reason this is so difficult is because experience is personal and unique to the one that experiences it.  I cannot put my experience on you and you can’t put your experience on me!

Let go and let God!  Learning to enjoy the experiences of life is a beautiful thing, that allows us to enjoy a major part of why we were created and allowed to experience human life here on this earth.  Someone said:  “Let go and let God!”  This is simply a beautiful way of saying:  “Enjoy the experience!”  When we learn to “Let go and let God!”, an amazing freedom unlocks the door for miracles to flow into, through and out of our lives.

Can’t Be Explained, Only Experienced!  This natural flow of the miraculous does not require explanation, because it cannot be explained, only experienced.  Life happens!  You can allow it to unfold in the amazing way that our Creator created it to unfold, or you can fight it every step of the way and live in continual frustration.  I say:  Let it unfold!

Enjoy life!  Life was not meant to be endured, it was meant to be enjoyed.  Here are four steps to practice today and in the days ahead that will help you to get the most out of this wonderful experience called life:

1.) Let it be!  Whatever is, is!  What will be, will be!  Just learn to live life in the moment and let one moment take you to the next moment when it gets good and ready to take you there.  Be honest with yourself:  Where is all this striving getting you?  Jesus gave us this advice:  “25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  -Matthew 6:25-27

2.) Stop working so hard and start allowing life to unfold!  Stop wasting so much energy trying to accomplish what you think you need to accomplish to make the world look and feel the way you think it should look and feel.  God already has all of that taken care of.

3.) Relax, let go and live open-handed!  If you really believe there is a Creator, then you must also believe that He has a purpose and design.  So stop the madness!  Get out of the rat race, because even if you win, you are still a rat!  Relax!  Actually take and make time to sit and enjoy still quietness or quiet stillness.  During these times of still and quiet – practice letting go.  Letting go of what?  Whatever is getting in the way of you relaxing and enjoying this life that God has given you.  Live open-handed.  I call this “palms up living”.  Live to receive whatever God has for you.  If you are trying to hold on to everything, then you cannot receive what God has for you and God has something for you – all the time!

4.) Stop worrying about what should be and start enjoying what is!  What good does your worry do?  Our worry does not add, it actually takes away.  You cannot worry and enjoy at the same time, so you have to make a choice.  Life is life, so what are you going to do with the one that you have been given?

Everyday on the way to school, I try to share a thought that will challenge and hopefully encourage my daughter Gracie to grow into the something special that I know she was created for.  This morning I shared this thought with her:

“Never underestimate your power to change yourself and never overestimate your power to change someone else.”

I have noticed in my own life that I have spent a lot of my energy in trying to change other people.  The purpose of trying to change them was with the goal of trying to get them to come around to my way of thinking.  I have also noticed that most of this time was wasted, because I did not succeed in helping to change much of anything.

We have to learn that trying to change someone else is a waste of energy, but trying to change and grow ourselves is certainly an investment worth making.  The reason that we are not all that successful in changing and growing our own lives, is because our energy is often divided between trying to change ourself and others at the same time.

Instead of wasting energy in trying to change others, we need to put all of our energy and effort into changing and growing ourselves, so that we might be all that our Creator created us to be.

The beautiful thing about this way of thinking, understanding and focusing our energy is that it helps us to get to a better place of living and better situates us to help others to a better place of living.

It may seem like a very small shift in thinking, but it is a shift that can have a huge impact, if we will get it.  Take some time to think about your life and the changes that you need to make.  Stop worrying and wasting energy on everyone and everything else.

Focus on you and on fulfilling the purpose and calling of your life.  You will be amazed at how much more enjoyable life can be, when you stop wasting time and start investing time.

I hear a lot of people talk about love.  It sometimes bothers me to hear how carelessly we throw this word around.  When I actually stop and take the time to contemplate love, I cannot help but realize that it truly is one of, if not the most amazing of all miracles.

And speaking of miracles, there is another great and often missed blessing.  Everyday we are surrounded by miracles.  In fact, I think that miracles are one of the greatest expressions of love that flow from our Creator and into our living.

We cannot begin to understand God, but we can take the time to appreciate Him and all that He does for us.  We can stop taking so much for granted.  Everyday He expresses His love to us with and through miracles.

When you begin to notice some of the miracles that you are blessed with everyday, you will soon discover that it is His love that inspires these blessings.  To put it simply:  You were created by God in His image.  You are a spiritual being made in the image of God.  As His spiritual creation, you get to live in the flesh and grow in/through the human (physical) experience.

This life that you are living is a miracle.  A miracle that has been given to you by your Creator.  If you will learn to listen, then you can hear His voice and it will guide you in a very specific way into the best way to live and grow in this human/physical experience.

The human/physical experience is limited to your life time here on this earth in this body.  At some point the human body wears out and that is the end of this experience, but not the end of you, because you are a spiritual being and your spirit does not die.

These are some wonderful and beautiful thoughts and these thoughts are miracles, more expressions of our Creator’s love for us.  Make some time to see some of the miracles around you and make sure that you appreciate our Creator’s love.