Christmas is slowly fading from our house. After all the celebrating and traveling, our house is starting to return to normal. We’ve put away new gifts, eaten the last of the Christmas cookies, begun to take down the decorations, and now we’re looking to focus on a fresh year. A New Year is a chance for the entire world to collectively share hope, optimism, and faith in something better for all people. New Year’s Eve has a way of dissolving boundaries and removing some of the barriers that we live by just by observing the celebrations in other states, other countries, and other homes, that happen when the clock ushers in a brand new year….12 new months to fix what isn’t working, 12 new months of blessings that lie ahead, 12 new months for God to continue the good work our Creator has begun in all of us.
Of course the word resolution is talked about, used in advertisements, and for some, it is the beginning of forming new plans, setting new goals, or a tool to help you regain the focus you lost. Looking at the word resolution through a new lens, you can’t help but see the world
Solution pop out at you. All of us believe that we have some kind of “problems” that need
“solutions”, and a New Year begs for new solutions. Some of the “problems” we face come with very simple solutions and some that we run up against seem too overwhelming to even comprehend the possibility of a solution that works. Some of our problems are personal in nature, some involve our friends and family and some problems seem to be on a much larger scale: violence, hunger, poverty, the homeless, illiteracy, addiction, disease….you get the picture. I believe that every one of us desires a new year that will bring some new, innovative, and even exciting solutions to our problems. Every problem has within it, the promise of a solution.
It would be very easy to overwhelm ourselves in the problems our world faces. It is not as easy to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the guidance God offers us, the direction God whispers to us, the grace God bestows upon us, and the plans of happiness God dreams for us. God doesn’t hide any of the solutions we need from us. God doesn’t hold in “secret” how to fix our problems. God doesn’t delight in watching us struggle trying to figure out how to fix what isn’t right. God doesn’t withhold any information from us when it comes to improving our world. God isn’t testing us to see if we’ll finally get it right. God is constantly giving us the answers. God is forever telling us how to fix the mess we’ve made. God is sharing every detail, every answer, every step to solving every problem from the “smallest” to the “largest” problems.
When we take the time to stop talking about our problems and begin to listen for the answers to the solutions we pray for, long for, and yearn for, the answers we need are right in front of us, inside of us, and all around us. They are clear, they are understandable, and they are ready to be put to use. At the heart of any problem that requires a solution is this: We are not separate from anyone and we are not separate from God. When we can understand in our minds and feel in our hearts that you are me and I am you, every last problem that we face can be dissolved- dis-solved.
Just yesterday, Clare came to me with a “friend” problem at school and she was seeking solutions. Eight year olds have a lot of “friend” problems to deal with. Clare was trying to include a student that has behavior problems into a group game ,and one of her friends wasn’t willing to include him, and started to exclude Clare from the group. Clare told me that she tried to get the others to see that it was important to include him in the game because we are all connected. She was doing her best to “treat others as you would want to be treated”. Her problem is that she is afraid she will lose friends over her decision to include someone who is different into their activities. Clare’s “problem” sums up all of life. How do we include, love, and accept someone who we perceive to be “different” into our own perception of life? The other girls were acting from this belief: We are separate from everyone else. Clare was acting from: We are joined in heart and mind to everyone. (trust me, this is one of Clare’s better moments…she doesn’t always take the high road) Clare didn’t realize it, but what she was trying to get the other girls to see was that Clare believed herself to have the behavior problems and she would want to be welcomed into the game because when she welcomes him, she is welcoming, supporting, and loving herself. Clare is that boy and that boy is Clare.
Our world could completely change if our actions always stemmed from I am you and you are me. When our inner world truly “gets” this, our outer world will heal, and every solution we could ever need will be clear, easily applied, and we will actually begin to see and feel the results of a new way of being in the world. I am you and you are me is the key to the kingdom and opens the gate to a new paradise. I am you and you are me is what joins earth to heaven.
What we think about another is what we think about ourselves. What we say about another is what we say about ourselves. The fault we find in another is the fault we find within us. What we believe about another person is strengthened in us. If we wish someone harm, we are wishing ourselves harm. When we congratulate another person on their accomplishment, we are strengthening and building up our accomplishments because what another person has accomplished is my accomplishment. When we give money to a charity, we have given money to ourselves. When we hug someone who needs it, we’ve hugged ourselves.
This profound belief that I am you and you are me could attract solutions to the problems our country faces. Think about what this would do to the negative attack ads in a political race. Think about the health care industry and how that would change …if you are sick, I am sick and when you get medical care, I get medical care. Think about domestic abuse. If I abuse you physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, I have abused myself.
This belief can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and extremely foreign. We are used to boundaries and borders of all kinds. 2012 could be the year to begin to believe in our oneness with God and everyone else. 2012 could be the year to break down the boundaries of our hearts and minds. The next time you are out and about, try this exercise. When you see someone else doing anything, re-mind yourself that it is you doing what you are observing.
When you are standing in a check-out line at a grocery store, and the lady in front of you is elderly, has difficulty seeing the money she needs to give the employee, and your kids are begging you for candy, and inside you are cursing that elderly woman instead of blessing her, stop your thinking, and say to yourself: I am the elderly woman, and I am having such a hard time seeing what is in my purse. I am afraid I’ll give her the wrong money. I am so sorry I am holding up the line. Bless her and you are blessed. Pray for her peace, and peace will fill you.
Another easy way to start living this belief, is to see everyone with your name written on a nametag on everyone’s shirt. See your spouse with your name on them. See your children with your name on them. See your neighbor with your name on them. Now, how would you talk to them? How would you interact with them? What words will use in the next conversation with them?
I have started to try and teach my children the I am you and you are me concept when they are playing, talking and learning about people, and trying to figure out life. I didn’t know if it was sinking in at all until I had that conversation with Clare. I don’t get it right all the time, but when I pray in the morning and ask God to make me aware that I am everyone else today, my entire state of mind shifts, and when I allow that shift to happen inside my mind and my heart, the outer world makes a shift toward peace, healing, forgiveness, and happiness. It is simply the golden rule spoken of, and experienced in yet another way. The I am you and you are me belief creates the miracle of my ability to see everyone becoming a gentle partner to me in my healing, my growing, and my happiness. Everyone is my soul mate… the friend, teacher, and guide to my peace and happiness.
Let us re-“solve” our world’s problems with the solution of a single, simple word: one.
I am one with you and you are one with me. It only takes one new thought to solve a problem.
It only takes one choice to change a situation. It only takes one bold action to heal a life. It only takes one thought of peace to multiply harmony and magnify love.
I am the homeless person wrapped in a blanket beneath the bridge I drive over everyday.
I am the neighbor who walks her dog every morning at 6am.
I am the person who I don’t want sitting next to me in the pew at church.
I am the child who won’t stop talking.
I am the girl whose father just went off to war.
I am the woman who checks out my groceries at Wal-Mart.
I am the elderly gentleman who cannot hear.
I am the single mother who is trying to raise two kids while working three jobs.
Oneness with God and each other is our power. Oneness with God and each other is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. When I approach each day with the thought that The God in Me Greets the God in You, that is the light that can never be distinguished, and the love that can never be defeated. Oneness is the underpinning of the Commandment to love one another as God has loved you. It was the realization of oneness that allowed Jesus, while dying on a cross, to say Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do. This oneness is at the heart of The Lord's Prayer - It is Our Father that we make hallowed together. It is Our Father that will provide our every need every day through us. It is Our Father that grows the kingdom in all of us because we are joined in heart and mind. And it is Our Father that gives us the grace to forgive so that we might be forgiven. It is Oneness that removes, dissolves, and eradicates any temptation toward evil because it is evil that takes over our minds when we forget that we are one with God and one with every other human being. In 2012, thinking and believing in our separateness from God and each other must end.
