You're Already There

I'm already there

Take a look around

I'm the sunshine in your hair

I'm the shadow on the ground

I'm the whisper in the wind

I'm your imaginary friend

And I know I'm in your prayers

Oh I'm already there

-- Lonestar, "I'm Already There"

God is not what this song is about.  It is about a husband and father, and love of family.  But, when I look at these words, I see the spirit of God that many of us enjoy and praise.

I get emails and calls asking for guidance or advice on life issues that are hampering one's happiness, their life, their ability to move forward, or to know God.  Some want me to tell them what to do, but I think they fail to understand that none of their issues is my life, it's their life.  I can tell them what I would do in my life, but they must make the decisions on what to do in theirs.  It's like asking a stock broker what stock to buy so they can be blamed when the stock tanks.  It's your money, why would you let someone else control it?  It's the same with your life.  But, when it comes right down to it, if you were to simply ask yourself why you want, the answer would probably have to do with happiness.  Everyone is searching for happiness, and why not?  Everyone wants to be happy.  But, it would seem, many of you get so wrapped up in looking for it that you continue to overlook the truth within yourself.  

You're already there.

I say these three simple words to people and they seem to do a mental shutdown.  It's like they look at the issues in their life and wonder how any of it could possibly equate to happiness.  They build walls around themselves then wonder why nobody is visiting.  They sink into a pit of despair and look for someone to pull them out, or join them.  I think some folks just don't want to believe happiness can be as easy as admitting they are already there; happiness already exists for them, and they are the only barrier.  It's as if they feel their life's ills absolutely must be someone else's fault, or someone else's responsibility, and they don't want to admit their only way out is through accepting ownership of their own life and the happiness that already exists for them.

"Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame.  Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you."

-- Ralph Marston, writer

For those of you looking for God, you are blind.  Many people wonder why God has abandoned us when, if they were to look inward they would realize, we abandon ourselves; we lost faith, not only in God, but in ourselves.  God never left us, we left God.  God gave us everything we require to be happy and yet, like selfish children, we want more.  What we have a problem wrapping our selfish minds around is the concept that God gave us the ability to get more.  Don't look to God for what you already have.  Don't ask God for what is already here.  Don't blame God for your laziness in not using the talent you've been blessed with.

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or to accept the responsibility for changing them."

-- Denis Waitley, motivational speaker, writer

God, happiness, family, and friends are already here.  They exist all around us but, if you don't see them, who is to blame?  No one, it is not a matter of blame but of responsibility.  The responsibility for being happy has always been yours.  The ability for you to be happy has always been in you.  We look for that which already exists around us and bemoan our inability to see or to understand that which is right in front of our face.

If your happiness is tied to material things, you will never have enough.  If your happiness is dependent on finding someone to share your life with, friends abound around us; maybe it's your prerequisites that need massaging.  If your happiness is tied to God, God is already here, you need only open your heart for there is no greater need than God, and that need has been fulfilled since time began.

“The real opposition is that between the ego-bound man, whose existence is structured by the principle of having, and the free man, who has overcome his egocentricity.”

-- Erich Fromm(1900-1980), psychoanalyst, philosopher

We need to start realizing that everything we need is here already.  Everything else is just emotional fluff that creates want and desire, and for what?  We purchase material "stuff" to fill an imaginary void created by the fallacy of emotional despair we convince ourselves we must be suffering from.  We create our emotional issues, the majority of which are in our twisted minds.  We seem to make up stuff to justify our misery so we can gather stuff, or people, around us to make us feel better.

“How pointless life could be, what a foolish business of inventing things to love, just so you could dread losing them.” 

-- Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, poet

Whenever you wish you were, remember you already are, you just don't know it yet.  Wherever you want to be in your life, remember you're already there, you just don't know it yet.  However you want your life to turn out, remember you're already on a path, you simply have to move your feet.  Why do you wish you were?  Why do you want to be?  Why is your life so?  These answers to the "whys" in life are already in front of you and, once you open your mind to reach for them, you have started on your path.

"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift.  That's why it's called the present."

-- Bil Keane (1922-2011), cartoonist, "The Family Circus" creator

Editor's Note:

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Frank Anthony Villari

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite.