Have you ever stopped yourself just before stepping on an ant? Have you ever looked at a small spider and reconsidered squashing him out of existence? Have you ever thought Sea Monkeys’ really lived in small kingdoms underwater?
… (Did anyone get the Supernatural reference?)
Do you look at creatures that are smaller than you and feel a certain empathy toward them because they did something out of the ordinary, unexpected, something that made them stand out? They made you feel sorry for them and cruel for killing them and you paused and stopped yourself? You let this one go because you had a moment where you bonded?
I believe everything around us is a lesson of God. And so…
Lisbeth and the Ant…
My daughter’s bathroom at our apartment has had some ants sneak in. There have been maybe 20. They are gone now, but for some reason there was something attracting the ants to her and her boyfriends bathroom.
So, my little Lisbeth was squishing ants in the bathroom. (Who wants an ant crawling up their pants while trying to potty?) She had already killed maybe five or six when she was about to squish the last ant in this final group, but stopped herself. The last ant began to run in circles, fearing for his life. He suddenly stopped and looked up at Lisbeth. He just stopped, as if realizing this was it. His little ant face and feelers twitched and then he looked up at her. “Fine, I will go gently into that dark night slayer.”
Well, this made Lisbeth feel sorry for the ant.
She had a bonding moment.
Of course, she ended up killing the ant anyway, but there was a moment.
Hah, the anticlimactic ending!
[EDIT: Okay, I found out a week after I posted this that my daughter did not kill the ant. She felt sorry for the ant and so I’m sorry if I made it seem she was a cold blooded ant killer. She is obviously more merciful.
Okay, on with the story…]
God and the Ant…
It got me thinking after Sarah (I’m just going to call her by her real name and no more pseudonyms, despite loving the name, Lisbeth) relayed this story about us and God. Yes, its like we’re all these tiny ants crawling around and every so often we get into his private space – his bathroom.
Before you all guffaw at the metaphor, please let me make my case.
Okay, so because this world is so big and this is God we’re talking about, God’s bathroom or den or entire house could be the metaphor of where we are walking around, but you get the gist.
So, we happen to be the one ant who stops and looks up at our creator, or possible destroyer with one stomp of a foot, or our person of power when we have no power in reality? What if we happen to be the ones who notice God? The one ant who asked to be shown mercy? The one who suddenly wakes up to the fact that we are just tiny ants and there is a God that could strike us down if that’s what He/She wanted to do. But this God is better than Lisbeth (a.k.a. Sarah) the Ant Killer – whom we now know was convicted for a crime she didn’t commit – and would never do such a thing…but, we really don’t know that. Do we?
I’ve been thinking over why do some people seem to have a “relationship” with God and others don’t? Why is it that some people couldn’t give a damn of heaven or hell (a place I don’t believe exists, but…that’s your choice), or if God exists or not? Why do some seem to accept atheism so easily and others will fight tooth and nail throughout their lives trying to prove faith and God? Why are we all so different when it comes to having a relationship with God? A creator? No matter if you believe in the Judea-Christian God, the Allah, the Supreme Higher Power, or Alien super races that have bred us? This is what I wonder.
Why do some care and some not care if there is a God or not? Does it matter? Does “you” recognizing the presence of “God” matter in regard to your life and possible after-life?
I think our decision does matter. Please, you are free to question what I write, but I hope this makes you think.
Let’s pose this…
I think either we choose to keep running and eventually get stepped on, or we decide to stay on the outside and not enter God’s space – just live and let live – or, we choose to walk forward, look up and start bonding with the one with all the power. We choose to communicate with this God and therefore it sets us apart from the other ants.
Think about this: Do you simply spend time talking to your creator? Do you ever consider that maybe God wants to hear from you? Maybe God wants to know that you care enough to talk to Him/Her. Perhaps this is the only difference between you and the ant that got smashed. You decided to stop and talk to the one who holds life and death in His/Her hand.
Maybe because of God’s kindness, empathy and concern, that’s all God really wants. What if God made a race of humans with free will because God wanted these humans to seek Him/Her out throughout their lives?
Again, you are free to question anything I write. I am simply postulating some ideas.
In my belief system, I believe there are tons of dimensions and universes and angels, demons, and all types of creations in the expanse of God. Now, this is not set in stone because only a fool says they know all and know all the answers. And so, I pose questions and conclude that I am sure of one thing – there is a God. That’s all I am sure of, but how we relate to God and how God relates to us I am never ‘quite’ sure.
Let’s say all the creations of God know God for a fact. They hang out with God. It’s not an issue.
Let’s say God gets bored one day and decides, “I want to see if there is a creation that will seek Me out, love me, want to be around me, without knowing that I am the Creator of all and the most powerful being for a solid fact. What if I want a creation that wants me so much they seek me out, rather than knowing I’m here as a given?”
There are other beings and creations that are bothered that God thinks highly of us. We are the creation that are too dumb not to just plainly see God. It must makes us seem so dumb to those who know God. Maybe there are some that like us and some that don’t. But we are God’s favorite creation. We are the apple of our God’s eye. God even sent forth a Son (one of many sons and daughters), Jesus Christ, to relay this message of love that God feels for us and wants us to spread to other humans.
Jesus Christ had to be born at a certain time of earth history where the message would spread. There are others who have had messages from God like Jesus Christ, but certainly none as popular. There are even some who received messages from demons (texts written on lies or half-truths), or written from their own bias, from their own imagination, and have been as popular, but Jesus Christ had the true message. We know this because other messages have been from the standpoint of hate and judgment, and God’s message is from the standpoint of love and mercy. Mercy is gray, but judgment is black and white. Mercy understands and judgment is unbending. Everything about Jesus’ message is based on the fact we are all in this together and judgment places levels and castes and “they” against “them.”
Immediately after Christ’s death on a cross the message was being scrutinized and manipulated for power. Jesus knew this would happen – its so like humans.
God knew this, and God also knew there would still be those who would seek. There would be those who would search ancient texts and then talk to Him/Her. God is Spirit and so God could obviously speak to those who chose to ask and seek.
There are two ways to know another person.
If you are a journalist and about to interview someone for a biography what do you do?
Knowing God: The Biography…
First, you research what is written on the person from all the past information you have available, and find out everything you can on this person; and then second, you interview the person and keep talking to them.
This is how you get to know your subject.
What is the true personality of God? We find out that God is not a judge, but merciful. From the very beginning when God decided not to smite, but enlight-en.
Judgment came in the form of humankind seeing others, starting with the other sex and onward. We all live this judgment. It’s called the cruelty of humankind. Comparison. One-upmanship. Always either judging another according to how we think it should be or how we think it shouldn’t be.
Judgment kills. Mercy gives life.
We see it in court systems and how municipalities are run. We see it in life at every turn by those who carry hate and power and greed toward their fellow human and even toward the rest of creation, animals and the environment.
We want people to pay. We want justice. We cry out for justice consistently.
We kill the ant.
God chooses not to kill the ant but give it mercy.
But why? Why? In the same way you judge another you have already judged yourself. (That’s based on some Scripture, but I can’t remember where…possibly Romans 2.)
But even more interesting is that there are those who decide they want to know God. They want to see God. They want to spend time talking and meditating with God. And so God builds them a little ant farm and makes sure all their needs are met, and God loves to look over the little ants. They recognize God when He/She feeds them and does things for them.
These individuals finally wake up to the fact that there is a God and they are in awe of God’s awesomeness, and all the other creations and this earth God formed for us to enjoy. These people are the seekers and lovers of God. These are the mystics and dreamers with their heads in clouds and at His feet when His Spirit indwells a faithful prophet and son. These are the Mary’s of the world. These are the Gandhi’s and Martin Luther Kings. These are the ones who know there is more.
These are you and me, if we seek God with fervor. We are just like Jesus Christ. We are not him – of course not. There was only one Jesus Christ. But we are just like him in that we are sons and daughters who are able to love our God just as wholly and fully. The same Spirit who indwelt Jesus Christ is the exact same one which indwells us. So then…?
So…?
If you seek you shall find. Be careful. You might really find God and then what will you do? What will you do when you figure out God is real? What will you do when you see with the eyes of love, and thus see the eyes of hate looking back at you? What will you do when you see the world is not as beautiful as you’d have hoped? What will you do when you finally spot all the ugly and hate-mongering frothing from the mouths of power hungry political figures and leaders, or simply the manager at your store, or co-worker? Any little bit of power over another begins to corrupt even the lowest on the social rung. Big brothers killing little brothers? Cain and Abel stories and those like these.
Will you love?
What would Jesus Do?
Haha, well Jesus died on a cross because He did see with the eyes of God, and He spoke the words of God. That’s what it got Him: a quick death sentence. Of course, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. What is death anyway? Its simply a passing from one form to another. Never let death worry you. We all die.
“You are forgiven.”
Christ became known for being a sacrifice to forgive sin. Why? It is because the church wants you all to believe that you need them to be forgiven. It gives the church power. If the Christ message is one of forgiveness then you have some guilt and owe something. If it’s simply a message for one and all about waking up and loving others, than the church loses it’s power.
So, “You are already forgiven.” That’s a given. Christ wasn’t a sacrifice, he was a mouthpiece and messenger. He wasn’t a redeemer. He was the redemption. He told people, “yeah, sure, you want forgiveness – here.”
Christ was great at being sarcastic. Much of that is recorded in all the writings on when Christ was here. It must have been so frustrating for him to be plopped down with all this knowledge among such a patriarchal backward society. It’s almost worse than being plopped down in Texas or Louisiana in this day and age. Oh, how he must have been face palming consistently at how the ‘disciples’ just didn’t “get it?” I think Mary got it and that’s why he hung out with her and a lot of women.
Christ didn’t forgive anyone. He knew they were already forgiven since the creation. He was just telling them again why God created this world and humankind. Read and find out. Read it in context and realize what Christ was really trying to say.
I listen to Christians speak now and what they say sounds so silly and misinformed. They hung Christ on a cross, resurrected Him and then went on to worship Him for all the wrong reasons. They built powerful religions over his death and resurrection. They spent billions and billions of finances erecting temples and idols, and TV shows and products to sell. Christ sells. The cross sells.
Religion, not just Christian, sells itself by others feeling guilty, or ashamed, or that they haven’t done enough works. It’s all about doing things to please God.
God was telling us that “I’m here. I’m alive. I hear you. Love. Love me and love one another.” That’s all. Stop sacrificing. Stop killing. Stop saying that you heard me thousands of years ago, but that you keep making it up as you go along. Stop using me to prosper your own agendas.
The Ant farm…
And still the little ants, the simple little ants go about their lives in their little ant farm, but every so often one little ant looks up and notices the one who cares for them.
I was watching our Pomeranian, Fuzzy, listen to us talk. We’ve owned so many dogs, but sometimes there is just that one dog that seems to really get what you are saying and watches you as if all of their life depends on you. This is the dog you tend to get attached to and form a closer bond with. And that is how Fuzzy is with me. I love this little dog more than I’ve loved my other dogs. I’m sorry to be so biased, but it’s true. And I think this is possibly how God is with us. The ones who give God our time, He/She does listen and begin to care for a little deeper. I think that is why Jesus Christ was loved more than others. Jesus truly loved and listened to God. It makes me admire and love Jesus.
God wants US to talk to Him/Her. God wants us to love Him/Her. God likes us. So start getting to know God, little ant. Look up and see the one who cares for you. It will amaze you how your eyes and heart and ears will open. Seek and you shall find.
Jesus Christ sought and found. God knew Jesus was coming to be born. God knew Jesus was the Son who would finally deliver the truth. All was set on the stage for God’s message to come. Did we listen?
This is the message:
Love trumps hate
Mercy trumps Justice
Kindness trumps cruelty
A gentle word trumps a rude word
Joy trumps gloom
Hope trumps despair
Truth trumps lies
Goodness trumps ill will
Life trumps death
Peace trumps war and fighting
This is what Christ was trying to tell us. This is what was supposed to be in the Talmud, and if you look closely you find this message in the Pentateuch. This is what God wants us to know and there are a lot of false religions and belief systems that deny this truth. There are also a lot of belief systems that understand this truth. Followers of Christ are not the only ones who know truth. But, its about time we start paying attention to why Christ came, because he had a message to give and share that is worth listening to.
