Inspiration Content

Inspiration for a better future lies in a secret experience from your past which will energize your present and clearly define your future.

You've been busy lately. You've sought for a new direction, because for the first time in your life you really want the years ahead to count. My hope for you is, as you read of my experience, you will be inspired to take a similar path and make your future years the most meaning-filled of your life.

In keeping with the biblical direction to "Ask and ye shall receive" I have recently given time to finding real meaning in my life, eventhough I should have completed this task years ago.

I've made an amazing discovery.

Your life, and mine, is filled with a series of what I have called Refining Moments. In the middle of these is one KRM or Key Refining Moment. When discovered this KRM brings a flood of understanding of the meaning for your life and enables you to release a special talent to be a blessing to others.

In my moing prayer time in the forest at the back of our home I had been asking the Lord, for some months, to reveal the meaning and purpose for my life. Once I was prepared to wait forever for an answer,it came. In a most unexpected way. Some have said that you should be careful what you pray because sooner or later you will get what you pray for. I did.

I was reminded of an experience I had just after my fourth birthday.

Filled with expectation my mother was taking me to the State Fair. A visit to the Animal Nursery was promised and once again I'm back there, getting off the tram, with a beaming smile, being led by the hand to the ticket office where my Mother purchases our tickets.

I can see the bulls in the main arena and the colored tents in sideshow alley. I hear the drums summoning patrons to new and exciting experiences inside the tents.

And now I see a group of kids. Some in wheelchairs. Some standing. But all with bodies twisting and twitching in ways I had never seen before. Noticing my rising alarm, my Mother tells me they are the special kids from the Spastic Center.

As she explains that they will always be that way I begin to sob. Buckets of tears cascade down my little pink cheeks as I think of their suffering. I fall to the ground sobbing even harder unable to control myself.

I feel a pain deep on the inside and I want to get away from this place. I plead with my Mother to take me home. It seems to take a long time but eventually she walks me back to the tram terminus.

As we begin the jouey home one thought floods my mind.

I want to help make them better.

As I retu, across 53 years of life experience, from my time of reflection on the past, I realize that my central desire is still to help make them better.

I havn't done it yet but I want to. There is a fire in my desire.

I have been a bank teller, an economist, a teacher, and a youth worker but still I havn't gotten started. I'm sad I've yet to start. I guess that's a common experience for a babyboomer. However I am glad I discovered why I'm here on this planet.

In this Key Refining Moment I have understood my reason for being and the only action that will add real meaning to my life.

I have been inspired to fulfill my calling to "help make them better".

You can have your own Key Refining Moment. In eaest prayer ask and you will receive. Once you've received make sure to follow through and complete your special calling.

You will get inspiration for a lifestyle improvement .Use your secret experience from your past and it will energize your present and clearly define your future with wave upon wave of meaning.

You will finally have an answer to the age-old question, "What is the meaning of life?"

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There are discoveries all around us—small gifts of joy that bring moments of peace and renewal.

Yet it is easy to miss the small things of uncommon value and inspiration—the cycles of life in a thriving forest, the perfection of a brilliant flower, the purposefulness of a delicate butterfly, or the spiritual beauty within another soul.

If we would stop for only a moment to marvel at this blessing of life, we would find many heart-stirring discoveries where we least expect them.

A small shift in the way we view a situation can make a life-changing difference.

A purposeful change in perspective can spark a sense of freedom, spiritual vision, and peace of mind. It can uncover a life purpose that has gone undetected. It can heal a hurt that has burdened someone for years.

Take time to listen to the emotion in the voice of a friend, feel the warmth of the sunshine, or view the perfect design in the smallest leaf or a cluster of stars.

Become still.

Listen to the voice inside your heart without judging its message. What does it tell you?

Notice and acknowledge your feelings around any situation that might trouble you.

Then ask yourself, "How could I view this situation differently? What new perspective might tu this into a blessing for me or someone else?"

You will be pleased with the sense of freedom and peace it brings to you.

A lifetime of rewarding discoveries is waiting for all who will stop, look, and listen with faith.

� Copyright by Steve Brunkhorst. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular ezine bringing great stories and inspiring thoughts to brighten your day. Find many colorful inspirational nuggets to share with your friends by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com/nuggets/

I never thought I would get a personal audience with God, and then it happened.

I couldn�t believe it when I got the message emblazoned on a rainbow of my dreams. God had decided to grant me an audience.

Oh the joy of it. I trembled in anticipation. I have been longing to have a personal meeting with God, and now it was happening.

My mind seemed scrambled in anticipation. What would I ask Him? I had so many questions. Here is a short list I came up with. One doesn�t want to take too much of God�s precious time:

1. Dear God will I be accepted in Heaven?

2. Dear God will you protect me from evil?

3. Dear God have I been a good person in your eyes?

4. Dear God will you hear my prayers?

5. Dear God will you grant me my wishes?

6. Dear God can I count on your blessing?

7. Dear God will you grant me good health?

8. Dear God will you help me defeat my enemies?

9. Dear God will you keep me from being lonely?

10. Dear God will you accept me as a Person of Faith?

God smiled at me and chuckled. He wanted to know why I assumed that he had all the answers?

I didn�t know what to say. I stuttered and stammered and finally in a hoarse voice that sounded more like a mummer I managed to tell Him that it was because I believed in Him and believed that He had all the answers.

At this point God laughed. The whole night�s sky seemed to light up with his merriment, and he told me that He would answer my questions as follows:

1. If you believe in me you have assured yourself of a place in my Heaven and of your dreams.

2. If you have faith in me as all-powerful, I will protect you from evil.

3. If you believe in me, how could I conceive of you as being anything other than a good person?

4. I hear your prayers and know your fears now as I always have, and those of all people who believe in me.

5. I will grant your wishes if they are in the public good.

6. You have my blessing as do all people of faith.

7. I will grant you the health and strength to believe in me and in your future.

8. Your enemies will be my enemies and since I love all mankind, I know no enemies, and neither will you.

9. You are not alone any more, for now you have found me, and I am always with you.

10. I accept you as a Person of Faith if you can lea to believe in me and be inspired by what you cannot see or understand.

And with that last statement God was gone and my audience was over in a flash of blazing glory.

But I accept that God is never gone from our midst and believe that he is always with us, do you? Are you a Person of Faith?

Do you believe in what you cannot see or comprehend?

Would you like a personal audience with God?

Do you have enough faith to believe in his presence?

Hurry, God may be waiting to hear from you!

Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box. (C) Copyright Arthur Levine 2006

Arthur Levine is a columnist for the Religion and Spirituality Forum of United Press Inteational, and the author of the Faith Patch Manual. To discover seven secrets of how to find more faith and preview the book, please access: http://www.faith-patch.com/stp/10answers

Are you ready for a change? Is it time for those plans that you've been thinking about for so long? Now is a good time for making plans, for lifestyle changes, starting over, finding new directions and developing as a human being. Now is a very good time for creating your own personal lifestyle and a life that you have chosen to live.

Let there always be cross-roads!
Let me tell you what I think about cross-roads. There will always be new cross-roads. And I really hope they will be many. How boring life would be if there weren't any new directions to choose. We would just be walking straight ahead and never find out what else there is to know. We would never discover the narrow paths that lead into something new and unexplored. If we always choose the straight long road we will not develop as human beings. We will not realize all the qualities and possibilities that we all possess.

Some cross-roads can be tough on us. We can be forced to change directions. Something happens unexpectedly and we move into a crisis. This will happen to us all sooner or later. The changes that we choose consciously are "better" than the ones that hurt, of course. But we develop and grow as a result of both.

I have experienced both kinds of cross-roads. I have lost near and dear ones, and I had no choice but to see it happen. I have also made choices of my own - choices that have changed my life in many ways.

By making conscious choices we are able to make positive lifestyle changes. Instead of letting things happen we can take control. We have the power to make changes.

I would like to encourage you in your decision to build something new, something better! I want to inspire you to see the possibilities, and I am convinced that you have the power to make positive changes in your life. It�s a choice. You can build a better life! You have the possibilities and the power to make positive lifestyle changes. No one else can make the right choices for your life. But you can.

It's time to start feeling better! You deserve it! Reduce stress, start exercising, change career, or lea something new and different for your own personal development. Start today by taking that first step to a more fulfilling lifestyle!

Remember: The only ones that never fail are the ones that never try.

About The Author

Ingela Berger started her own Inteet business Lifestyle Plans in 2003 out of a desire to inspire and encourage others to make reality of their dreams of a personal, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. Ingela has studied theatre directing, acting, history of art, history of ideas, health communication and leadership psychology. After some years working with art exhibitions and the theatre she went back to college and is now a health and lifestyle consultant.

Inordinately fond of history as I am, I�ve decided to write about it. Not about my first love--from an historical perspective, I mean--Medieval European History, or my second love, Russian History. Not even about the bloodiest day in American History, the Civil War Battle of Antietam, which should have brought the Union cause close to victory, but, due to incomprehensible blundering, ended in a strategic draw, breathing two more years of life, at least, into Lee�s Army of Northe Virginia. No, the history I want to write about is microhistory, i.e., MY history. Specifically, I wish to analyze, evaluate and discuss my recent struggle with cancer, and its meaning and consequences, if such may be found in that experience.

The B.C. to which the title refers is Before Cancer (or Before Chemo, if you like) and the A.D. stands for After Deconstruction. Those concepts and their respective meanings will take up the bulk of this essay.

But first, the salient facts: on February 28, 2005, just after my family�s retu from a ski trip in Lake Tahoe, I woke up at about 2:00 a.m. with an unstoppable case of the hiccups, followed by an attack of almost unbearable abdominal pain. An ambulance took me to the emergency room at Lenox Hill Hospital, where the doctors diagnosed a �perforation or hole in my stomach,� perhaps caused by an ulcer. They needed to operate immediately in order to save my life, but hoped that the surgery could be done laproscopically, so as to be minimally invasive. As the anesthesia was administered (for which I was deeply grateful), I could not have known that everything up to that point was, for me, B.C.

A day or two later (my memory is still somewhat hazy on the chronology of this period), when I was still heavily drugged, but able to speak and concentrate, I was told what the rest of my family already knew: that I had a poorly differentiated stomach cancer, known as linitus plastica, a cancer which, oddly enough, is more common in the young, and most prevalent in Japan. The cancer had been removed, as had my lymph nodes, and the lab testing was underway, with the results to be forthcoming in a few days. Just a few years earlier, my beloved father-in-law had died of stomach cancer, so I suppose I could be forgiven for some lack of optimism at that moment.

My recovery from the surgery (which was not only non-laproscopic, but required, in fact, the removal of every millimeter of my stomach, and the attachment of my esophagus directly to my intestines) was surprisingly quick and quite satisfactory, but as I was about to be discharged from the Hospital, my surgeon informed me that the lab work had confirmed his worst fears: that the cancer had infiltrated my lymph nodes and that, although he had removed all of them, the chances of metasticization were great. He informed me that my life expectancy without treatment was about three months, and that, with aggressive treatment, I might make it for as much as two years (although he had rarely seen that). In so many words, he suggested that I put my affairs in order and prepare myself emotionally for the jouey from which there is no retu (with all due respect to my believing Christian brethren, even He whom they believe DID retu, stayed only for a short visit).

This conversation with my surgeon marked the beginning of my A.D. experience. It is an experience, I expect, more or less common to anyone who has been told that he or she has a fatal disease, and it forces one to contemplate not only death (indeed, for me, that was the easy part), but more importantly, a world and a future, in which he or she will have no part. Suddenly, and without waing, I found myself crying. Not about dying. Not about suffering. Somehow, those things did not seem real, or tangible, or even important to me. But rather, what I found devastating was the prospect of not being able to visit colleges with my younger daughter, as I had done with my older one; of not being able to dance (and, as importantly for me, to pontificate) at my daughters� weddings; of not being able to attend my nephew�s Bar Mitzvah in Israel (then ten months in the future). And finally, of not being able to visit all those places all over the world which my wife and I had promised one another we would get to someday.

All of these considerations are deconstructing, to be sure. The prospects I mentioned were daunting to face, but, oddly enough, strangely liberating at the same time. Everyone�my friends, family, colleagues and law partners told me not to worry about anything, other than getting well. I seized onto that and instantly felt freed from the shackles of my career, the need to pursue professional success and ea money (I was, later on, to pay dearly for this extended holiday from reality). My wife and I, together with my brother-in-law, who had (God bless him) flown in from Israel at the drop of a hat and a few close friends, had begun some surreal discussions of emergency estate planning, including the desirability of an immediate sale of our home, the creation of various insurance trusts, and the like. My older daughter had been asked to fly home from college without being told why. My younger daughter, not generally being given to displays of emotion had, I was told, been crying into her pillow for several nights straight. My wife put up a brave front�she is, after all, an Israeli�but was plainly devastated. The rest of my family members, my mother, brother, sister, aunt, cousins, together with my family, by marriage, in Israel and their respective families, reacted as one would expect: with varying degrees of worry, disbelief and fear.

In the meantime, I was, mercifully, functioning on a copious supply of opiates, to deaden the post-surgical pain. It worked some benefit on my psychic pain, as well, and I was able, through the haze, to become inured to the idea that I was about to embark upon a fight for my life in which, it seemed at the time, I was unlikely to prevail.

People visited me both at the hospital, and later, during my convalescence at home, in droves. I simply do not know how I could have coped without the support of my family and friends, both here and in Israel, and in particular, the support of friends and people whom I took to be mere acquaintances from my synagogue, Kehilath Jeshurun, in New York, together with its professional staff of Rabbis and others who visited, called, wrote and prayed for me. Cousins in Chicago sent out e-mails to their yeshiva friends to put my Hebrew name on their mi-shebeirach (prayer for the sick) list, and my daughter�s Chabad Rabbi in Buffalo, together with my own Rabbi in New York, Haskel Lookstein, still pray for me regularly. I cannot even imagine how anyone gets through an experience like this alone, yet I know that people do. Part of the deconstructing experience was the realization, not only of how much I meant to people, in a way of which I was completely unaware, but of how much they meant, and still mean, to me. The support of this myriad of people has had a salutary effect on me, in that I try to take friends and family less for granted.

After much research, both by me, and by friends and family members, I began to interview oncologists, and narrowed the field down to two. Both reviewed my files and ran tests on me and, to my surprise, and immeasurable relief, advised me of their strong disagreement with my surgeon�s prognosis. They agreed that, although my type of cancer was serious and, indeed, life-threatening, the surgery, coupled with an aggressive treatment of chemotherapy and radiation gave me good reason to hope for a complete recovery. After deconstruction comes reconstruction. I underwent the recommended treatments, and, 14 months A.D., am, as far as my tests can determine, cancer-free. I attended my nephew�s Bar Mitzvah in Israel this past January, and have taken my daughter to various college visits. As to whether I will dance at my daughters� weddings, or take the �Grand Tour� of the World with my wife, well, that�s very much in God�s hands, on a great many levels. I do not, and cannot know whether I have beaten this thing, but I do know that if there is more adversity to come from this disease, that I mean to go down fighting.

The difficulty now, lies not only in being vigilant about a retu of my disease. That is, of course, self-evident. The trick is to take from this experience the lessons it has afforded me about priorities, and to live those lessons. Easier said than done. The path of least resistance, of course, now that the immediate threat has receded, is to go back to old pattes of B.C. thinking, which focused on making money and engaging in material pursuits: A nice house, nice car, nice clothes, expensive vacations, etc. My personal relationships, B.C. were certainly important to me, but as much (I am somewhat embarrassed to say) out of a chronic and childish need to be loved, admired and approved of, as out of more altruistic motivations. A.D., I still like nice material things. If anything, I am now more interested in nice clothing as, at 165 lbs., (80 lbs. less than my all-time high) I have the physical attributes to look much better than before in off-the-rack outfits. But I would like to think that my love of things material is somewhat more in perspective now. I approach those desires more in a carpe diem sort of way, than as goals in and of themselves. As for my personal relationships, I try to appreciate my family and friends more. I do not always succeed, as my wife, above all, will attest to. Reconstruction, after all, (particularly MY reconstruction) is very much a �work in progress.� But I keep in touch (e-mail makes that extremely easy), and have grown much closer to some people whom I have known for most of my life. I find myself in the synagogue on a daily basis. Many around me don�t understand what they see as something of an obsession, but for me, it suffices that I understand; I NEED to have a daily conversation with the Almighty, both to thank him for my recovery to date, and to ask for its continuation. Moreover, it is a mechanism for seeking the well-being of my family, my friends, the Jewish People, my Country, the State of Israel and humankind, all of which have now seemingly become infinitely more important to me. I don�t know of anywhere else where one can hope (or dare) to place so tall an order.

I am working hard to rebuild my professional life. My illness and resultant inability (or unwillingness) to focus much on being a lawyer for the better part of Year 1, A.D., cost me, and I need to redouble my efforts just to get back to where I was. I mean to do that, and quite a bit more. Luckily, I have recently joined a firm, in which a number of the partners are old friends, supportive, professional, and understanding. I have no doubt that I will land on my feet. Also, luckily, I am very good (I apologize for the immodesty, but this is truth time) at what I do. My clients, and potential clients will be well-served by me, and will be lucky to have me representing them.

So, can cancer actually be good for you? It seems a flippant, and ultimately, perhaps, a stupid question. But the answer, I think, is that it can be, provided, of course, that it�s the kind you can recover from. That�s obvious. What is less obvious is the beneficial qualities of the lesson or lessons one can take from such an experience. I can attest, of course, only to my own experiences. I now celebrate a second �birthday� on February 28, the dividing line between B.C. and A.D.

Even the most fleeting glimpse of the Angel of Death can teach us something about priorities, if we are observant enough to lea the lesson, and are wise enough to �walk the walk� on an ongoing basis. May God grant me both the strength and the perspective.

Warren R. Graham

Copyright 2006

Warren R. Graham is a New York attoey with the Firm of Cohen Tauber Spievack & Wagner LLP. He is a frequent writer on a variety of topics, including legal matters, political and religious affairs. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his firm or its members. Additional information on him may be found at http://warrenrgraham.blogspot.com

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25).

We have all encountered what we feel is injustice. We only perceive what is happening at this moment, and that is colored by our own prejudices. God works in the whole of human history--past, present and future--so what we see or feel happening right at this moment that seems so outrageous and unethical is set in a panorama of sacred history. It helps so much to remember this.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17). God originates good and controls evil, and that is the essence of His justice. We could go insane--indeed, some do--if we didn't believe that somewhere there is ultimate impartiality. "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny" (Psalm 73:16,17). Only God knows the end from the beginning.

He understands because He experienced the greatest injustice on earth. Still He could say, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Perhaps this is the most ethical utterance made by Man for man. It certainly spotlights man's inhumanity to man. Yes, Father, forgive them...and forgive us, too.

"The Lord is a God who knows and by him deeds are weighed" (1 Samuel 2:3b). Only God can possibly know motives, a knowledge necessary for honorable judgment. "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). Since we can't be everywhere and see everything, it is best that we leave the judging to God. He is holy and therefore incapable of judging from any wrong reason or rule. Our righteous God is farsighted and sees all, while we are so nearsighted, so spiritually myopic, that all we see is what is happening right now and its seeming unfaiess.

Oh my God, I'm not immortal anymore! What happened? Where's my neverending youth? My long summers? My bright future?

Gone, gone, and... wait a minute, there's still future left!

Repeat after me:

I refuse to fall over and let the wagons pass me by on this dusty trail through life, so I'm going to hop up, brush off the dirt and get going! I can still catch an exciting ride and spend some great time with interesting folks who share this long, winding trail.

Sometimes I get confused, with no focus, no specific goal. I find my time being wasted by bad little habits. I can empty my pockets of all those time-wasters and let them fly in the breeze like bits of useless paper. They'll drop and be forgotten, trampled by wagon wheel and hoof. Ground back into the dust where they belong, nevermore to travel with me.

I'll look ahead with optimism. I'll lea to adapt. I'll ride INTO the possibilities of the future, not UNDER the uncertainties of today.

I have time to see my dreams come true, time to make them real. I can see the horizon, the destination of the sun, the vastness of my life ahead. So much land I can cover, so many places to go.

I will move in sync with time. It will never pass me by. My heart will beat as the seconds tick, and my wheels will roll as hands of time tu. Time to do, time to be, time to see.

Some things will pass, others will remain. I remain, and while I remain I will try things that no one else has tried, do things people say I can't do. Succeed in ways I was told I couldn't succeed.

All is not lost. Nothing is gone except my fear and uncertainty. Those are the things I do not need. I shed them off and settle into the saddle of my life, in control of my tus and my steps.

I pull my hat down to shelter my eyes from the setting sun, not setting on my life, but illuminating the trail ahead, preparing the way.

Shining on my future.

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Drew Vics

Drew Vics is an artist, writer and musician living in New Jersey. He writes for Myeyez.net -- A Webzine, part time, and released a self produced debut CD, No more waiting.