Religion asks the infinite question, expecting a specific answer.
Spirituality asks the finite question in search of the infinite answer.

Good Morning my Friends;

I awoke this morning to find one of my small miracles is sick. I call our Cats small miracles because I’m simply amazed that given the human animals  proclivity toward extremes, that any other creature would choose to associate with us for their entire life. That is miraculous.

We receive Miracles and Blessing  every day and usually do not acknowledge they happen. Many of you may think; I don’t believe in a Supreme Being”.  Miracles and Blessing, in large part do not emanate directly from “God”, they arrive with the people and critters we meet every day. We may call it serendipity, luck, that something or someone arrives just when it is supposed to, but isn’t that how it works? Don’t we “pray” “ask” “think about” something, energize the world with our extreme desire for a situation to resolve itself favorably, and against the odds, a  Blessing or Miracle happens that may not solve the puzzle, but at least presents us with a more attractive alternative? In my opinion, failures happen because we are so focused on only one way for something to happen, we miss seeing the options (Miracles or Blessings) that are given to us. Proof that extreme order, control,  and extreme chaos, ignorance, are subject to the same narrow vision because both see only what they want to see, they miss the Miracles and Blessings, large and small that are life affirming and life changing.

Little miracle and blessings come in many forms. In the shape of a metaphor or aphorism. Like small furry animal with primal intelligence.  In forms of another guardian of this world. Or, just an intuitive or inspired moment. In whatever way Miracles and Blessing arrive,  see them, acknowledge them, allow them. They are guides that show themselves at just the right time and place. Events that are fulfillment of a wish, prayer, request, for the Giver or Creator of Miracles and Blessings to provide one.

They are not accidental. They are the results of energy in, converted, and returned. Ask and you will receive. The laws of thermodynamics explain the mechanics of prayer.

Have a week filled with Blessings and Miracles you recognize.   

Steven L. Johnson

Good Morning!!

Over the weekend I did a clean install of Windows 10 on my personal computer.  The whole process was quite involved. I have three multi-terabyte hard drives in my computer so storage is not a problem. The problem is I have way too many useless things stored. As I looked through the files on the main drive, I had to decide what to keep and move it to another drive. And while looking where to logically paste the data I wanted to keep, I discovered old files and programs I’d put away where I wouldn’t forget them, then promptly forgot them. Hundreds if not thousands of files from the early 1990’s to 2010. Most the programs I’d kept do not work on modern machines, they are only memories. Hoarded, useless stuff that is part of the past. I have a small attachment to those old things, but found it mildly exhilarating to erase them, to clean house, dispose of baggage. What I learned from their use is mine already.

How exhilarating might it be if we could so easily do the same. Decide to do a clean install on ourselves and keep only what is truly needed. To search through our experiences and memories, unpacking all the baggage, taking all the meaningless, self-defeating attitudes and  opinions and erasing them. Wiping the memory of the event and leave only what we’d learned from the experience. Not an easy task at all. Some of those experiences and memories are near and dear to us. Some irreplaceable and essential to the character we’ve become, most just clutter that hides our true character, promoting the deception we are someone we’d rather be.

You are at your core, behind the fortress of stuff you use to hide, perfectly and exactly who you truly are. The small voice screaming at you from hidden places, while you try desperately to protect it from a world filled with threatening events caused by everyone else doing the exact same thing, is you. It is not a perfect you in a religious sense, but it is perfectly you in a living and breathing sense that is the summary of your entire life. You are the embodiment of every choice, every decision, every love, every tear, every laugh, every song, every desperate cry you have made, and every influence, - You.

What of all this that is you, will you keep as essentially and personally you? What is it that makes you great? Keep that. What is it that makes you happy?  Keep that. What is it you truly love. Keep that. Decide to do a clean install with an exhilarated you.

There is no longer anything behind holding you, there is only what is pulling you forward.

Have a magnificent week!

This week we honor those who chose to sacrifice their time, and many their lives, to defend an idea they believed in. That choice was an act of love. Love for America, its people, and the way of life shared with other Americans. Regardless of all the divisive political rhetoric, when in a firefight color, religion, creed, friend or not, mean nothing. Only warriors protecting each other in coordinated effort, and the desire to live through the fight matter.  How will you honor your fellow Americans that sacrificed so much? Will you prove their sacrifice was not in vain? Is it only in battle we can act as one people, as red blooded Americans? Is the freedom defended, the freedom to take each other’s freedom? Have we forgotten what real freedom is?

In the Declaration Of Independence, a touch stone founding document, it is said that among these unalienable rights are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  All are intertwined. We each have the liberty to live in a way that makes us happy. My pursuit of happiness, so long as it does not deprive or harm another American, is mine to pursue. Because you think I should pursue something else is irrelevant. You pursue that happiness and I’ll pursue mine. You cannot deny, nor punish me for using my liberty and freedom to live and be happy. Nor can I be forced to subsidize your pursuits. True freedom means I choose for me, even if it’s the wrong choice, it my choice. My freedom to live my life as it makes me happy  is not yours to dictate. If you have a problem with my happiness, it is Your problem, not mine. You may not take my liberty to live happy because you have a problem.

Too many have sacrificed for our freedom, our Liberty, Our Life, and our Happiness for us to act contrary to what they sacrificed for. They honored their pledge to us. Let us honor them by maintaining and preserving the Freedom they sacrificed to protect.

Steven L. Johnson

U. S. Army RA 1968 -1976

I chose.

Steven L. Johnson

COO

AMTPA LLC dba American Motor Transportation Professional Association