Freedom as Spiritual Activity

(A Matter of Choice)
I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight.  I have responsibilities to fulfill today.I am important. My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

Today I can feel sad that I don’t have more money or I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

Today I can grumble about my health or I can rejoice that I am alive.

Today I can lament over all that my parents didn’t give me when I was growing up or I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns or I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

Today I can mourn my lack of friends or I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.

Today I can whine because I have to go to work or I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.

Today I can complain because I have to go to school or eagerly open my mind fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework or I can feel honored because the Lord has provided shelter for my mind, body and soul.

Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor who gets to do the shaping.

What today will be like is up to me.  I get to choose what kind of day I will have!

Have a Great day…
(Unless you have other plans)

• We are our biggest obstacles!  If you are really struggling with this, then you need to stand back and look at your own childhood.  We have talked about this in another Beacon series that focuses on getting rid of things that have held you back.  Sometimes those things (our biography!) creep back in – if this is the case then we should be working on them again!  Go back and work on our Poo to Light series (for Beacons).
• Quotations from “Education Towards Freedom” by Frans Carlgren
  0-7: Children have the urge to imitate
  The moral qualities the child absorbs are decisive for his/her future, good or bad. If this imitation is neglected, the person will always remain an imitator and will be an unstable and dissatisfied person who follows anyone and anything
  7-14: The child wishes for an authority figure
  If this not satisfied, we can never make up for it. (**I believe you can work to over come with through prayer/meditation – learning to control your will) Children who made their own decisions and judgments during this time will grow up to be insecure, will mistrust and challenge authority, have inner weakness, and will remain unproductive.  They will seek substitute inappropriate authority – rock stars, movie stars, political leader.  They will lack stability, and it will make it hard for them to work with others.
  14-21: The child wishes to test and understand the outside world and his/her existence.  They need people with-whom they can have warm spiritual contact in an unauthoritative manner.  If they become bored with school, or it offers no room for individuality, they will suffer with a lack of interest in their fellow human beings and will not be able to contribute to the collective social and economic life as adults.
• From Steiner, “The Driving Force of Spiritual Powers in World History” – “Everything calls upon the human being today to be a whole human being, not only to surrender to passive ideas which stream to him from the outer world, but to unfold inner activity, to experience the life of thought, the life of ideas too, with inner activity, with the will.”
• From Steiner – “…when you begin to see that you cannot do so it is then that you lose heart.  That is the point my dear friends — do not lose heart: know that it is not the momentary success that matters; it is working on and on with iron perseverance.”
• Find Freedom to meet our needs – the seven fold way (as described “Homemaking as a Social Art” by Veronika van Duin)
  1. Aim for good physical health.
  2. Recognize our place in the human race – we are all equal
  3. Realize that thoughts touch us as much as words – send positive thoughts into the world.
  4. Acknowledge oneself as a valid and effective individual spirit.  Self confidence grows with the knowledge of self.
  5. Adherence to resolutions made until a new one is made or needed.
  6. Experience gratitude for all living things, for life itself and the world around us. Gratitude is an attitude of the soul, not an action of a person.
  7. Recognize that these attitudes of the soul enrich the spirit.