Are you Enjoying the Journey?

What are your thoughts on embracing the notion of True Responsibility, as set forth in the commentary below (i.e., the third/last excerpt from Chapter X/The True Responsibility of Supporting Others - from my book, A Glimpse of Heaven: The Philosophy of True Health)?
Certainly, a lot of us commonly do not embrace and/or 'enjoy the journey.' We are afraid of changing how we look at things, how we view the world - we intrinsically fear the effort and repercussions of looking objectively at our internal and external environments. We become in-effect, addicted to our world view, and any deviation from our false sense of comfort and security prompts a seemingly innate uneasiness. We allow ourselves to focus our attention almost exclusively on our destination… ignoring the sights along the way - in fear of looking at things in an unblemished fashion. We gather an unhealthful sense of contentment and false security in believing that we know everything, and/or everything we think we need to know about the drive down the same street we have driven hundreds or thousands of times, literally…or analogous of life in general. We reach for, and faithfully clutch onto a perceived-to-be safe and comfortable plateau - a living death while alive. This is not to sound or be harsh: This sad commentary is just that…sad, truly so, when contrasted with wonderfully healthful possibilities of realizing levels of mastery in our lives which are within our reach…higher and higher levels…never ending until the last day, the last moment of our existence here…and maybe in the beyond.

Embracing the notion of taking True Responsibility for ourselves and supporting others' abilities to do the same, enables us to realize greater levels of clarity. It is a bit of heaven which we can glimpse. This level of insight necessitates a healthful philosophical and practical way-of-life in which we can foster ongoing growth - inclusive of a level of mastery over the skill of exercising effort: in these traditions, coined True Effort.
Through True Effort we can learn to gather a True Appreciation of Mastery. In this outlook, being masterful does not include absolute perfection. It means we can gather valuable ever-evolving skills which are congruent with truly deep awareness and appreciation thereof. This practice is requisite of a formidable exercise of free will and self-discipline - true love of, and appreciation for, the miracle of this endless opportunity. Most importantly, it can only be accomplished when we are regularly and selflessly supported in our ability to succeed - AND we do the same for others. It is truly healthful diplomacy, whether between individuals, groups, societies, or countries. It is an appreciative acknowledgement that we are all in the Same Boat. This is True Health…it is the art of life - living it as such…on this Earth together.
Some may say that it sounds as if 'it doesn't get better than that'…but accordingly it does…impeccably so…on-and-on, e.g., Heaven/Perfection - if it exists - a 'place,' so-to-speak, where there is no time, no space, no distance - nothing to hide behind - more than a glimpse of heaven - more than True Health.
None of us can do it alone, but individually, we can take responsibility for ourselves by exercising necessary levels of 'true effort' which empower us to continuously improve - while supporting others' ability to succeed - better insuring that the 'boat' remains more stable/sustainable: As reflected in earlier chapters, "The primary fault of mankind is the notion that you are there and I am here." Accordingly, we are not just in the Same Boat together - we are intrinsically connected in ways which we cannot rationally understand - ways we can only witness.
If all of this is true, it requires True Faith to put it into practice - inclusive of faith in ourselves and others - devoid of the Three Portents/harbingers of all bad tidings: hate, greed, and ignorance. Faith such as this IS True Health. Let it shine.
Bestow a string of faith,
For faith we might have,
Unto the jester of light
In the comedy of reflections,
As we stand upon this stage,
In awe of
Endless,
Encompassing,
All.

Dr. Glen Hepker 
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Someone Else’s Miracle

The apartment was small and tired, but at least Jenna had managed to keep a roof over their heads.  But now, two days before Christmas, she knew providing presents for her ten-year-old son Nathan was going to be impossible.  She glanced around the room, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.  How had it come to this?  First, the loss of her husband, then the loss of her job, piles of medical bills, and the final blow: foreclosure.  Jenna shook her head.  She never realized how quickly life’s roller coaster could plummet out of control.  She collapsed at the little kitchen table, and fingered a scrap of paper.  It was Nathan’s Christmas list.  His desires were so simple:  a kite, some games, and a baseball glove.  She dropped her head down on her arms and tried to cry quietly, so Nathan wouldn’t hear.

Suddenly his arms were around her.  “Don’t cry Mama,” he said.  “It’s okay.  I understand.  I’m all grown up now, and I don’t need all that Christmas stuff.”  He took his wish list out of her hand, tore it up and threw it away. 

Jenna pulled him onto her lap.

Nathan wiped the tears off her face.  “Mama, we can still have eggnog and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, right?”

Jenna nodded, hugging him close.  It was a ritual handed down in their family, the reading of the traditional poem accompanied by gingerbread and what her husband had dubbed “The Nighty-night Nog”.

 “Of course, Nathan!  We’ll always be able to have that.”  She buried her face in his hair, but abruptly jerked her head up.  What was that noise?  She slid Nathan off her lap and motioned for him to stay put.  Jenna crept toward the front window and peeked through the blinds, but saw nothing amiss. She unlocked the front door, eased it open a crack and peered out.  Everything looked normal.  She started to close the door but something caught on the bottom.

It was a small, yellowed envelope.  She picked it up and flipped it over.  It was completely blank.  Was it really intended for her?  After all, they had just moved in.  They hadn’t met many neighbors yet, except for newly widowed Anna Smith, a young woman whose circumstances were even worse than their own.  She had a son Nathan’s age and a new baby.  Jenna closed the door and lifted the flap on the envelope.  She pulled out a Christmas card with a picture of a starry night on the front.  As Jenna opened the card, money fell out!

Her hands shaking, Jenna scooped up the bills and counted them.   One, two, three, four!   Two hundred dollars!  It was a true Christmas miracle!  Where had it come from?  Who put it there?  Why?  Still trembling, she read the message inside:   Someday, when you can, be someone else’s miracle.

Jenna threw open the door and ran outside, hoping to catch her benefactor, but she was greeted by nothing but swirling snow.  Shivering and choking back sobs, she ran back inside and laid the money on the table.  Now Nathan would have a Christmas!  She could buy gifts to put under the tree, and some to put in his stocking.    Excitedly she said to him:  “Look!  It’s a miracle!  A real one!”

Nathan gazed, wide-eyed, at the four bills.  He picked up the card. “Be someone else’s miracle…” he spoke the words slowly, under his breath.

“Yes!  Nathan, someday we’ll return the favor.  I promise you that!”

Nathan continued to stare at the card.  “What about now?” he whispered.

“What do you mean?”

 “Mrs. Smith,” he said simply.  “She needs a miracle too.”

Jenna’s eyes welled with tears.  Nathan was right.  One hundred dollars was more than enough for the two of them.  She was ashamed she hadn’t thought of it herself.

 She replaced two bills in the card, slipped it back in the envelope and taped the flap down.  She handed it to Nathan.  “Shall we sneak over there and slide it under her door?”

He grinned, bouncing up and down.  “Yes!”

After they returned, laughing harder than they had in a very long time, Nathan sat down to write out a new Christmas list.  Jenna sat beside him.  She picked up a pencil and wrote a personal ending to the poem she would read on Christmas Eve – and for many Christmas Eves to come:

“…and laying his finger aside of his nose,

With these final words, up the chimney he rose:

‘Be someone else’s miracle,

And never let them know….’”

EPIC Award Finalist Violet Rightmire (Debra Webb Rogers) is the author of two novels:  Dancing in Time, a time-travel romance, and A Windfall Christmas, an inspiration romance.    Visit her website: http://debrawebbrogers.com/

LIife is an Amazing Song

It is a wonderful book of a young boy’s life during the war times in Finland at his grandparents in Oulu, North Finland. Later he was sent to Orsa in the Dalarna region of Sweden. After several years with foster parents in Sweden, he finally returned back to Finland to his mother, sister and brother in South Finland. It was a happy homecoming after some seven years absence, but it was a shock. He found his family’s life to be hard and raw. Food was scarce. They lived in a tiny firetrap apartment building. His mother worked as a prison guard and with her meager salary was barely able to support the family. His father returned from the war and immediately announced that he wanted a divorce from mother. After that he disappeared from their life without any financial support.
Not long after their misery, there was a change when mother regained her old position at the Internationally famous Hotel Aulanko. The family moved to the hotel’s premises, into a solid large log cabin. Now life turned out for the better. The hotel years were exciting and uplifting. Life was beautiful again.
A “miracle” happened to the boy, at age seventeen, when he received an invitation to America, with all travel and living expenses paid, plus schooling in Philadelphia.
He embraced his new life in America with vigor - in the land of opportunity- becoming a successful business man years later.
The book is a memoir in the tradition of Angela’s Ashes, My Life as a Dog (Swedish book) and a hint of Tom Sawyer. 
Enchanting- Sad-Uplifting-Refreshing-Humorous
John Raikkonen is the the Author of a new exciting memoir about Finland during the Finnish-Russian war, year 1942 to 1945 and the after effect.