My greatest distraction is fear.

For me, it has always been fear: Fear of failure, fear that the challenge is too big, fear that no one cares, fear that I'm alone in my hopes and dreams for a better life, for a better world, fear that it will all come to naught, fear that it just doesn't matter.

Here at Gaia (Zadsters!), such thoughts seem out of place. There is such a hopeful, positive spirit in the words and deeds of the Gaia community--may I say, family. But in the larger, often more selfish, cynical world around us, well, you know . . . it ain't easy.

FEAR: "False Evidence (or Education) Appearing Real" . . . I've learned to keep that four-letter acronymn close at hand, so when I sense fear creeping into my heart, distracting me from my life's purpose, I recall that the enemy's best weapon is lies, deception, and half-truths. These lies contaminate the soul and weaken us. For me, the antidote is prayer. When I feel fear, as soon as possible, I pray.

ASAP = "Always Say A Prayer."
 
The seeds of purpose (and greatness) that God plants in are hearts are meant to grow and bear fruit. Fear is the great distraction, the dark cloud that obscures our vision and causes us to lose purpose and hope. A short conversation with the creator unfailingly reassures me, and restores my confidence. If I am doing His work, all will end well, and whatever work I'm doing will bear fruit in His perfect timing.

So fear not, and hold fast to your dreams!

James

We are one, our minds linked to the mind of God.  Everyone, by birthright, as surely as they have the right to breathe, has access to genius and the power of God.  This power changes lives from the inside out.  Collectively, we have the power we need to transform the world to a place of joy, compassion and love . . . living in peace.  The kingdom of God is within us!  

You can't deny the images presented in "An Inconvenient Truth," images I can confirm from a lifetime of flying above our earth.  No argument can explain away the cloud of pollution that blankets every major city on earth.  Or the crumbling ice shelves of Greenland and our ice caps.  The evidence of man's damage to the environment is irrefutable.  The only legitimate question is what to do about it?

I believe we can have a clean environment and abundance--just not the way we have been doing it, savaging the earth for cheap resources and manufacturing goods without regard for the ecological price of production.  This is the habit of industrial society, and it is proven to be unsustainable for more than a fraction of the world's population.

The best way to end a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit.  To reduce global warming and clean up the air we breathe, we must find alternatives, new ways to heat & light our houses and modes of travel that don't put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

To put this into perspective, we don't have a global horse manure problem.  Why not?  Because we don't use horses for mass transportation.  The point is, we can create new forms of transportation and electrical generation that do not pollute the air.  The universe offers unlimited resources in response to our imagination.

I think it is clear we have reached childhood's end.  Between the population explosion and global warming, the poisoning of our air, land and water, the death of vital ecosystems that support life, we need to wake up if we are to survive as a species.  Our survival is at stake.