Still the same person deep inside


rayraydI remember as a child I would befriend anyone at a drop of a hat, I didn’t care about your religious beliefs, color of your skin, nationality or if you were the same or very different from me. When I was a child all the prejudices and complications of having different religious beliefs were not a concern to me in any way. I accepted everyone as is and if you didn’t like me or were cruel to me I just would avoid you until you were friendly and nice to me. Forgiving others for me as a child was second nature and accepting others as they were was my first nature. Now that I am older I still pretty much follow the same philosophies as when I was young, the only difference is I have to fight all the influences of the world as I do. Seems when we grow up we start making a simple process much more complicated for reasons that yet elude me.

I believe a lot of the problem with us when we grow up is we begin embracing the fear we shrugged off as children. Instead of letting go of fear and embracing compassion and understanding we embrace fear. The fear we faced as children was easily shrugged off because we had faith in our family, friends, other human beings and in a higher power. As we grow older we lose faith in one or not all of those things or at least our faith is weakened considerably as we grow older. I looked at everyone and everything as a part of my world and a part of a large family as a child. No one was a stranger and if you were a stranger it wasn’t for long. Some say that was naïveté and ignorance to the dangers of the world, I say it was faith in my fellow humans, compassion and understanding at work.

003The only times I was mad at others as a child is when I believed someone was being treated unkindly or unfair. I didn’t seem to like people taking advantage of each other, bullying each other or causing some kind of pain to others. But even though I would get mad and if I could stand up for the oppressed I quickly forgave the person or persons doing the wrong. Seems I lived in the now and let the past go easier back then. It is amazing how much we can learn from our youth both from the good things and the mistakes we had made. Though I know its impossible to be a child again and think exactly like I did, I can try to embrace the better qualities I lost during my years of life. I can revisit the memories of who I was and re awaken the child within me. Though I have grown up I am still the same person deep inside, I can shed the fear and the need for complication within my life.

Who I was as a child is the core of who I am now. It is that core which I must embrace and it is fear and the complication complex I must shed.
Ray Barbier

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I am worth no more or less than any other


eye Sometimes I find I am way to sensitive and get hurt too easy, it is because how much I care about others and some of it is my desire to be accepted. Though I have come a long way in the insecurity department, I don’t rely on other people’s opinions about me or if they accept me or not as much as I used to. A lot of the reason I don’t get bothered by it as much is I have learned to accept myself as is and realize my family, friends and love of my life are the only ones that matter in the end. Not everyone will like me or accept me, but those that do I will cherish and embrace as a part of my extended family. Self confidence and self-worth have been issues I have dealt with since my teen years. Now 44 I am finally getting a grip on reality and the truth of it all. I walk in faith now instead of fear and know God accepts me and loves me and so do those I love.

I am worth no more or less than any other and I am as confident as I need to be. I can do what I need and want and that is all that matters to me now.

God’s love heals, builds character and inspires all.
Ray Barbier

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God gave us a wonderful home and we should cherish it


001With the Mayan Calendar countdown to zero pending in our minds and all the shows pushing doom and gloom there is a lot of people living in fear of the end. Fear not the end of the world it will come when it is destined to come, waste no time worrying about what can not be changed or avoided. When we get too involved with the fear of the end of our lives and the world we forget to enjoy the time we have been blessed with and to thank god for our blessings as well. Fear is a tool of the darkness to distract you from your relationship with god and away from walking in faith. If we spent as much time living in and for the glory of God as we do in fearing death or the end of the world just think how much better this world would be. Instead of embracing the fear we would be embracing God’s love and spreading his love to all human kind. If we spent more time fixing the problems of our world than we do worrying about the outcome of our mistakes we may be able to improve our world.

0992012 may be the end or the beginning of the end of the world but if that is so then there is not one thing we can do to change that fact. All we can do is focus on the here and now and live our life with love and in faith. We should take our role as stewards of this beautiful blue planet more serious than we do. Clean water, Clean Air, Woodland Preservation along with the preservation of all the living creatures including ourselves should be our main focus. God gave us a wonderful home and we should cherish it and try to preserve it for the future generations.

 

We should take our jobs as stewards of this planet serious and preserve this miracle planet for generations to come.
Ray Barbier

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God gave man power in love, hope, faith and compassion.


His Only-begotten Son and the Word of God 1885...

Love, one of the most powerful emotions and a great gift from god. We should love God first before all others especially ourselves. Then we should love the family, friends, the rest of humanity and then we must love ourselves. Loving ourselves last is a reminder not to have a prideful love or a love full of vanity for ourselves. Loving God first reminds us to give all the glory to Him and to keep our focus on him as well. Love is one of those things that has no limitations except for what you put upon it. It has no boundaries or limit in quantity and can be shared with all living things. Love is one of those gifts that keeps on giving and it has proven to be viral, the more you share love the more it spreads.

Love can cure ailments of the mind,, heart and sometimes even the body. God’s love can cure-all ailments if it accompanied with faith. Faith is the belief in God’s love and promises so in its own way faith is also love. God gave man power in love, hope, faith and compassion he gave us all his love through the life and death of his only begotten son Jesus. Forgiveness which Jesus taught is one of the many forms of love God gave us and wishes for us to practice. Love is the key, the answer and the power that we should embrace.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 K.J.V.

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Each day is a blessing and a gift


HPIM0622My eyes open to see another day, the stress, fear and aggravation of yesterday is gone and the hope, faith and anticipation of another blessed day of life fills my heart and soul. What happened yesterday is left behind and no regrets, sadness, pain or frustration of days gone by will interfere with this gift of life for another day. I don’t live in the past nor do I live in the future, I live here and in the now. So no worries of what might be or what could have been will influence me. All I have is thankfulness for yet another chance to live, love and experience this world and its wonders. Yet another chance to make a difference, to make a mark on this world and to enjoy the day with those I care for and love.

Each day is a blessing and a gift, cherish it and give thanks to God for another chance at life.
Ray Barbier

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A Letter to my self : Self-Compassion


018 I am writing this to let you know how special you are, I know you have a lot of shortcomings and you’re struggling each day with things you don’t like about yourself along with a few bad habits. I know sometimes you feel sad and lonely and I want you to know that everyone goes through that from time to time. Stop trying so hard to be perfect, for no one is perfect. Just know no matter how bad it gets, how hard life tries to be on you and how bad you think you are everything is going to be ok. You may not be perfect, but you are a pretty good person. Try to forgive yourself for those things in the past you regret and then forget them for they belong to yesterday. Just remember this most of all, no matter how alone and unloved you feel there is always one person here on earth that will love you and be with you. I will always be there and will always love you. Even if I fail you know for certain Jesus and God will never fail you, they shall love you no matter what.

Sincerely you friend

Me, Myself and I

Raymond Barbier

God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish


Symbol of the three Abrahamic religions.

The world is in darkness,the world is trying to extinguish the spark of light in all of us. Those that promote hate, prejudice and intolerance are trying to keep us from finding the light we have in this world. In this world of darkness there is a light to be found.  God created a spark of light within us all and most of us are unaware or unable to feel its presence anymore. When we were children that light was bright and made life wondrous and beautiful. We allowed the world around us to cover the candle within us and we need to uncover it. Place that candle on a candle stick for all to see and so it can force the darkness away from us all. We can not allow the distractions and road blocks the darkness throws in our path to get in the way of being the beings of light god wants us to be. He wants us to be peaceful, loving, compassionate and full of hope. Things such as greed, lust and fear stand in the way of most of us and they keep us preoccupied and distracted from happiness and peace.

Three religions that were spawned by the one true God, yet those three religions still are distracted and preoccupied by their differences instead of being tolerant of each other. A house divided against itself surely will fall and that is the case with the three religions if they do not learn to co-operate or at least tolerate each other. We all serve the same God, even though we have differences in beliefs on some subjects that are sensitive we can learn to accept one another. We are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God and we should love one another regardless of our different beliefs.  I am a firm believer in freewill and the fact God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish. Of course if we choose the wrong beliefs there will be a price to pay. This though is the price of freewill and is something each of us should consider when choosing our religious beliefs. I will not state which belief is the right one for only god knows the answer to that question and it isn’t my place as a mere human to answer. I believe as I do and respect the religious beliefs of all others in hopes they will do the same for me.

 We all have to live on this planet together, we can do it as brothers and sisters in peace or continue to go down this road of mistrust, hatred and of war. The choice is there for each one of us to choose and hopefully most of us will choose the path of peace and of love than the one of hate and war. Let us all be adults and civilized, let us live together as a great family and as the unique human species we are together in harmony.

Raymond Barbier

Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.


p10186We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. This verse tells it all, we may make all the plans we wish but in the end God’s will is absolute. God gave us freewill to choose what path of life we want to follow and how we want to live our lives. His will is still present during this time and we have the freedom to choose his will above our own. If we look at God’s will like a straight line coming from the beginning of time to the end, it never wavers or changes course. Then we can see small chaotic lines going every which way around the outside of gods will and those are the will of humans. Some merge into God’s will and others just aimlessly wander until they disappear.

p10182
Commit you actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. When you live your life for God then all the plans you make are in Christ therefore they shall be successful. All things are possible in Christ and nothing is impossible for  God.  Jesus came to help redeem the sinners and heal the sick of body and of spirit as well. He offers salvation as a gift to all who desire to receive it. To be saved is simple for all you have to do is accept Jesus into your heart and embrace the salvation he offers.

 

The choice is yours, to live a life dedicated to your creator and your Lord and savior or a life for your own lusts and selfishness. Let God help you think in a righteous way and may your heart not be hardened by this world and all its cruelties .

God Bless

Raymond Barbier

Embrace that spirit of hope


p10329 We tend to look outwardly for our happiness, love and for acceptance. God gave us all the tools within us to be happy, love and be loved. Pretty much anything we need to be or do is within our own selves, God gave us everything within, it is only the matter of having the faith to utilize what we have been blessed with. We can not find happiness from an outside source if we can not even embrace the happiness god gave us within. It is hard to love anyone or anything if we can not embrace the love God gives us deep inside. Once we learn to have faith in and embrace the gifts god planted within our souls we then will not worry about acceptance because we know we belong to God. As long as we don’t allow the distractions on our modern lives to get in the way and we don’t fall to the spirit of fear we shall live a happy and successful life. We must embrace that spirit of hope and the sound mind God blessed us with. We can not allow those in this world who try to make us believe we are hopeless or condemned without salvation. They wish only to drag you down with them, we shouldn’t have hatred for those people for we should pray for their souls and show them the compassion we are taught by Christ‘s teachings.

Look within yourself for the blessings god blessed you with and do not fall for the traps of our modern world.
Raymond Barbier

The words you speak, the actions you take and how you treat others is what truly defines who you are


003 When our life comes to an end do you want to be remembered as the person who was angry and full of bitterness or as the person who knew no stranger and brought happiness or compassion wherever they went? Will they see you as a great loss to the community or just another poor soul they knew. So many get caught up in greed and self-satisfaction only to find themselves either disliked by many or forgotten by all those around them. No person can be positive all the time but we should strive to be positive and to be an example for others around us.  How we act and how we treat others is what we are judged on by our peers and will be the defining factor of how we are remembered after our time is up.

Though it may be a bit grim if not morbid to think about how others will remember you in the end, but that is part of being a mortal being as we humans are. All of our possessions, wealth and personal triumphs will be forgotten but how we lived our life along how we treated others will remain beyond our lifetime. Some will  wonder why would it matter what others remember you as after you die? Well I guess to some people it makes no difference, for as I am concerned it not that important but if I am remembered it would be better if it was in the positive. All we really have here on earth that no one can take from us is who and what we are and how we decide to interact with the world.

I guess the point I am trying to get across is that the words you speak, the actions you take and how you treat others is what truly defines who you are. The question is how do you want others to perceive you while you are living and how would you like to remembered in life as well as beyond the grave.  Walk through life the way you would like to be known and remembered. For how you walk through life and what path you choose is your own choice to make and so is how you are perceived and remembered.

The law of attraction says that similar things attract one another. Murphy’s law says that if it can go wrong it will. Life does not always go by the rules  and seldom does it follow any of the laws.
Raymond Barbier