When you go outside, you will see that some trees will have a special characteristic that will catch your attention, Especially if one is tall and has colorful leaves. Even in nature, it is hard to find an object that is perfectly beautiful. It takes a lot of catering and arrangement to create and present beauty.
There is manmade beauty and natural beauty, but beauty created in the natural way is more difficult.
Even though an oak tree is big, it started from a small acorn.
Over the years that it grew, it had to absorb many elements. In its growth it took many sacrifices and contributions.
There is an absolute necessary element that the tree needs to do before it can command respect as a great tree.
I must realize that there were several circumstances and elements combined to make its success possible.
It is a heartistic necessity to recognize and bow down to these elements which made it great. Both internal and external elements made great sacrifices to make just that one tree.
When the tree is grateful and humble before the elements which made him great, those elements would have respect for him knowing his position and then will gladly give more of themselves.
The small blades of grass that reside in the tree's shade would not be able to complain that the tree receives all of the sun light, but would decide to live with the inconvenience because the tree was grateful.
What if the sun decided to stop shining on the tree?
Would the tree still be in the position to be proud and great or would he become worried and anxious how he would survive without the sun?
What if the air stopped existing or any more water? How would the tree react?
This situation is just an analogy for man's relationships.
Should you walk pridefully and think that you don't need anybody and you exist independently? Or would you be meek enough to thank the sun and the air for sustaining your existence?
You eat food with your mouth and at the same time your skin is "breathing" sunlight; which is more delicious?
Let us think in a different way. You may think that you taste with your mouth but without the sun, your eyes would not even be necessary.
Without the air, you would no longer need your nose. Therefore, without the air, how would soundwaves travel? Without soundwaves, your ears would not be necessary.
Your mouth sacrifices many things from the outside for your survival.
Can you then be proud? Where did your arms and legs come from? They come from your parents and belong to them in reality. When each of you was in your mother's womb, you stole energy from her as you grew.
When you go to the store, whatever you buy, you receive a receipt, but did you get a small receipt from all of the energy your mother gave you? This is why you are thieves!
Can you truly say your body belongs to you?
Day and night you kicked and poked your mother, but you never apologized. Did you complain or did you have gratitude while you were in your mother's womb? After nine months of acting up in your mother, you were born.
But you still took nourishment and energy as she fed you.
When you were a little older, you were then fed complete meals by others. Can we still proclaim our bodies truly belong to us and owe no one? You never earned it.
Americans are prompt to say thank you, but how much more do you owe thanks to your parents who gave birth to you and attended to you while you grew?
If you were a restless or cranky baby and cried all of the time and demanded attention, you parents didn't demand you to stop, they would immediately comfort you.
Then when you became of age, you attended school for education. Your parents in totality take care of you for 18 years.
When you think deeply about these things, then you know that you are indebted to your parents for your well-being. Have you ever told your parents how much they served you or gave and terms of dollars.
The debt is so great, you would never be able to pay them back.
American teenagers act sometimes as if their parents magically appeared out of the heavens. They speak about the gap between the generations, and that they came into being without causing any trouble to anyone.
Many times young people think their parents just bother them and they place them in retirement homes with an attitude that no one needs the elderly.
The universe does not work in this way.
The world must harmonize.
A person never parallels the universal way when they claim things for his own selfish benefit and demand his rights.
It is a law of nature that while you are growing up, you are deeply indebted to your parents, and after you are grown and responsible then you repay that debt by taking care of your parents.
When you take a look into the past, what is it that you can be proud of?
You can be proud that you are indebted to your father and mother recognizing that you are also indebted to nature. You would show appreciation for the water, sun and air, because without these elements you could not even survive for five minutes.
We must be thankful for the world of plants and the animal kingdom.
Which person would the cow welcome: the person who thought of him as a potential steak, or the one who shows gratitude toward him?
Even a cow would rather be eaten by a gracious person instead of a greedy person.
God looks down at this self-centered kind of thinking and knows that He did not create this world for man's self-serving needs.
Do you think that your clothes belong to you? What about the jewelry you wear?
When a person is proud and thinks that they are independent from others and their environment, nature would laugh at such a person. Nature knows that you could never exist by yourself.
The universe would never show any gratitude toward the person does not observe any thankfulness. Everyone has something to be thankful for in their life from the moment of their birth.
If there is a person that understands how much they are indebted to nature, parents, the world and knows his position the world gladly harmonizes with him.
What if you lived in the desert and all the sudden woke up to find that a tropical environment was being created before you in your presence. How much gratitude would you feel then?
Wouldn't you shout for happiness if all of this appeared out of nowhere one day? Would you take the world of nature for granted after experiencing the wasteland just beforehand?
Have you ever thought that there was a day where nothing was in existence, that time before God brought anything into existence? God said that everything was good when creation was complete, but what if you as His child took more pleasure and enjoyment in each thing that He did?
Would He gladly appreciate your expression or not?
God has existed from the beginning, so He would remember and appreciate you based on the historical perspective of millions of years. Would God say with your kind of heart that it was just good, or would He remember and appreciate you within His heart?
He would think that you were better than anyone in all of history for having so much gratitude for His work.
What if this type of person was not so valued in the looks department or was crippled? Would God appreciate them less?
No, this person would be remembered first in God's heart.
What about you, what is you first impression when you look in the mirror every morning?
Many women will shun looking in the mirror or have their picture taken. But no matter how you look, you should view yourself in the broader perspective in which God sees us.
Each of us sends out waves or vibrations to the universe and the world can communicate with you through them.
What kind of vibes would a person who appreciate everything send?
What about people who always complain and use people for their own advantage? This kind of person would repel everything in the universe because of that vibration.
The person who is always negative and dissatisfied with everything in site, bites everything including friends and family.
A dissatisfied personality always has long nails everywhere around their body to bite or scratch the universe. Doesn't it feel that way when you are around such a person?
Today there are definitely a great many people that live in such an unhappy state.
What about your heart?
On the other hand, when you realize your position toward your neighbors and relatives, you feel gratitude. Then instead of biting and scratching others, you only reach out to embrace them all.
This way, you are sending out infinite waves of gratitude out to all corners of the earth.
The ocean is wide, but it could not be greater than your mind of gratitude.
Your mind can be strong if you make it small, but if you make it large then it is larger than any ocean on earth!
In that case, the entire universe embraces you also with that quality of mind.
We each have millions of individual cells in our bodies that are similar to employees in a corporation. Each of these cells send out their own waves which all of nature responds.
Whatever vibe you send out, is how nature will echo you.
What kind of person do you want to be like: the kind that has infinite appreciation, or one that always has infinite disappointment and complaint?
This is why the Bible teaches to always have gratitude, as well as humbleness and meekness.
Can you count how many words you have used in your life up to this point? Can you measure what portion has been dedicated to speaking gratitude or for complaint?
We have a general tendency to complain, so most people would receive the sign, "I am a complainer." Don't you think this is the life most people lead?
But when you complain then everything in the universe is repelled by you.
Even your parents and friends wouldn't want to be around you if you complain all the time.
Would God be happy to hear it? Are your eyes, nose and ears complaining about the information that comes to them or are they appreciative in what they see, hear and smell?
If your body and mind are always full of complaint, who will welcome you? Not even your husband or fiancee, there is no exception. No one likes to be around such negativity.
If you were to place bags holding your complaint or appreciation, which outweighs the other?
Are complainers usually good or bad people? You don't like to hear this kind of judgement do you?:
But don't you think that evil-minded people also want to hear kind words from others?
Wouldn't nature also want to hear words of kindness and love, or would they tell you to stop? Even your pet loves to have loving reinforcement when they do something good. Even the simple words, "Good boy" brings such excitement.
Does your balance tilt more on the complaint or gratitude side?
If you are below zero, then nothing will treat you like a human being because you would be substandard, at the animal level of interaction.
Return for Tomorrow's Post: Recreate the Ideal World
This post was rewritten and derived form the speech Reflection Upon Life
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