CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING!

First, I have to apologize for not posting this earlier, it’s always something that I forget about and it’s funny because it’s the one thing I really forward to. I also want to apologize for the grammar, rambling and spelling. I have the humor of a 5^th grader and the writing capability to go with it.

In thinking about this post I was trying to figure out (and I think what most of us are trying to figure this out most of the time) is what to do with these rocks that we carry. Do we destroy them? Do we keep the and not tell anybody about them? Or, do we just let them go?

I know that I used to have a hard time with my rocks and every once in a while I struggle with a rock. Sometimes it’s tiny, sometimes it’s a boulder; but, when you really get down to it, when I really sit there and try to look at everything, I figure out most of the time that these little pebbles that I’ve decided to pick up I should just toss out of my pocket and out of my life.

In reality, I don’t need to carry that weight. I do not need to sit there and fill up a bag, carry it on my shoulder, or stick it in the pockets of my pants, and walk around with a 50 pound weight because my life is full of pebbles. I should just toss them to the side, lighten the load and live my life.

So let’s try to figure out how to do that…

Let’s find an example. Let’s just pick a character, that we all know about, that had a bunch a rocks tossed at him, that was persecuted, whipped, beaten, pierced, tourtured and was hung on a cross. How about the ultimate person who had every right to say that life was really hard and not fair at all? How about this guy I love named Jesus.

However, I don’t know if your religious and if you believe in what I know to be true so lets take away all the old and new testament power that he could’ve brought down on the people that made his life REALLY hard. So to satisfy those who don’t believe in this example he now becomes a regular mortal man.

I’m not saying that Jesus was just a man. What I’m saying is when he’s sitting on top of that Cross bleeding, getting pierced, people spitting on him and being tortured. He could’ve called an army of angels with fire and brimstone The power of God that could “bring the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish” (Gen. 6:17). The God who brought “brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and the entire valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Gen. 19:24-25).

But he didn’t…

He looked out at all those people and said….forgive them.

His rocks were gone, he had dropped them.

Think about that, he had superpowers, he had God powers and he decided to look at those people and take the load of the cross, the stones that he couldn’t have carried through his life and toss them all aside for us….how great is that?

So when you look at him, without the superpowers, without the god powers, here’s a guy that is walking around the world and is preaching a four letter word that really can solve every single problem in the world then and now.

That word was love. His number 1 lesson, which he was trying to tell us and showed throughout his life, was….LOVE.

Take for and example, where I work I have somebody that I don’t particularly like to work with. They are not in a power position, but I’ve had people like this that are in power positions above me and make my world difficult. I used to carry that rock of stress of dealing with the person, having to answer to that person, working with that person, and I didn’t look forward to it. I didn’t like being in that situation. But, one day, I chose to take that rock and cast it off. To say to myself “There’s a reason why that person is just a difficult person, I just don’t know why”.  So I decided to look at it in a different way that said I don’t know what’s going on in their lives, I don’t know what type of situation there in and I don’t know what they’re having to deal with. I saw that they had projected their life into their own work situation and I was taking that rock and being a part of it. So, by getting rid of that rock I came to an understanding that “Hey, I don’t need to be short with this person, I don’t need to be angry at this person, I just need to take the rock toss it aside and be as loving as I possibly can to this person”. I knew with my heart that I was then doing all I can to make my life easier and hopefully help a person that needed to be helped.

This also works in other relationships.

With your kids, if they come at you in a sideways way (and you want to smack him upside the head because they don’t have the respect that they should); rather than reacting and being angry, I now choose to take that pebble that they tried to place into my pocket and tossed it to the side. I then approach them in a loving manner.

With my brother, I took the rock out the boulder out that I had in my pocket with regards to his alcoholism and tossed it aside. I then tried to headlock him with love, with understanding, with compassion; and, in my heart, I know that I’ve done everything I possibly can.

With the world political beliefs and the anger, despair, madness that is going on, I take that rock and I toss it aside. I don’t need to deal with that craziness, my world is here, my world is my family, my world is my friends my world is directly in front of me. Why constantly worry about that?

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that you shouldn’t stand up for your beliefs, whatever they are. And yes, there are people in this group that I don’t always agree with. But, I’m also saying there’s no real need to carry the rock of being angry because people don’t agree with you. I’m saying to take that rock, toss it aside, and approach it a different way. Try to realize that you are not always going to agree with people and that people have that right to disagree. However, in your heart; at the same time, ask yourself “where do I stand?” Are you really talking about that person, or that group, in a nice way? Or are you moving in a non-loving way? Are you approaching those people in a non-loving, confrontational, way? Are you placing your heart, immediately, in a non-understanding position? Or, are you saying to yourself “Yes, I do not agree with you; but, that’s OK”. You can have a difference of opinion. You just don’t have to be angry about it because, guess what, you have made that decision to not carrying that Boulder on your back.

Jesus had the lesson of loving one another, and spreading that love to as many people as you possibly can. So, flip that switch and get rid of those pebbles with love. When I really think about it I find that there truly are very few rocks in this world that you need to, maybe, worry about. For me it’s God, it’s my wife, it’s my kids and my family. Past that, the boulders that I may carry I try to keep to a minimum. Don’t get me wrong, I do worry about things. I worry about people that are hurt, people that can’t get out and work out (#CoopStrong), people who are just in bad situations, etc. But, it’s also rocks that I try my hardest to not carry in my pocket and maybe have some of its dirt remnant remain. I feel that if we approach these rocks and say “How can I help out”, try not to stress out about what you cannot do and approach them with love, you can then look at it like a logical problem and realize that sometimes “It is what it is”.

So my advice (and my rambling-sorry) basically comes down to this…If you feel like you’re depressed, you’re angry, you’re a sad clown lost in the gloom and  you don’t know what to do. Reevaluate what truly is important for you. If you lose your house, your job, your truck, your health all you really need is to look around and see what God is shining a light upon and that is really should be carried. Don’t worry; he is going to help you. There are people in the world in much worse situations than you right now. Take a look at that load that you’re carrying. The world would be a lot better place if people just dumped some of the rocks out that they’re carrying around. Then, take that extra energy you now have and spread a little bit more love than what you’re currently doing.

Flip the switch, dump the rocks and spread the love.

You don’t have to be a God or have superpower to do it.