If Santa Is Not White; then God is Not a Christian

The hoopla over the statement that Megyn Kelly from Fox News made concerning the racial appearance of Santa Clause should not cause alarm.  The statements which she made should actually cause us to think more intently about ourselves, because it’s not just Megyn Kelly that sounds ignorant, many of us suffer from the same disease.

It’s the disease of microcosmic thinking. 

Why, as a nation that was birthed out of the pains of diversity, do we as Americans have such a microcosmic mindset.  The way we encounter life is based upon our cultural, ethnic, environmental and religious connections and then most of us turn these small connections into the way which we believe the world should operate as a whole.  When it does not happen in such a way, we criticize, judge, and disregard the so called “other” because we feel ultimately that our small little world is right.  Then, when our little world is challenged, we become frightened, offended, and instead of trying to understand we close the door.

 I am not agreeing with anything Megyn Kelly stated, but the reason why it caused such an emotional upheaval is because many were offended at how someone could claim ownership over an entity that holds humanity’s universal goodness in its pocket.  A cultural icon that represents hope, promise, and innocence…and saying only one ethnic group could represent such characteristics is a slap in the face to the democracy of America.

But it’s amazing how we do this same thing with the image of God.  Many Christians believe that they have the one true God and many Muslims regard the way they worship God as the light of what Allah truly embodies.  God is neither Christian nor Muslim, but like Santa, we want God to be what we are because we have attached our very self to the nature of who, what, and how God is portrayed.  For instance, it’s like a child that sees their mother for the first time offer love to another person and that child can’t believe that their mother can offer love to another person that is not them.

But God is God all alone without the help of any human being.  If every Christian, Jew, and Muslim vanished, God would continue to be God and operate as God. 

What am I saying?

We, as human beings whether American or not, must not believe our own hype and importance so much that we lack understanding and compassion for the ways of another.  We must stop looking at the world through a mono-colored lens that coats another’s experience with judgment and criticism and began to put on multi-colored stain glassed lenses which would help to develop us into the humanity we are so fighting to become.

We can talk about Megyn Kelly all day long, but why, when I am sure many of you do the same thing. Maybe it’s not about Santa, but maybe it is about God, homosexuality, education, economy…you have placed your foot on something and claimed it to be only one way while disregarding the voice, experiences, and humanity of another.

Now that does not represent the holiday spirit.  Does it?

Treat Life like it is a Pancake

Pancakes...Crepes...whatever you want to call these fluffy little delights that are so delectable.  

I do not like to cook, but love to eat; and pancakes is one of the few dishes that I do not mind making.  I would make them every morning.  There is something about pouring the batter in the middle of the pan and trying to create that perfect circle.  Then watching the edges bubble, which was a sign that it is ready to flip. 

Even if I did not make a perfect circle, I did not throw them out.  Even when parts were not cooked all the way through, I just cut those parts away.  But I would never discard a pancake because of it being imperfect.

Then as I got older I realized that pancakes/crepes go great with everything.  Its like they maintain their goodness while complementing the goodness of another ingredient. Whether its strawberries, whip cream, eggs, cheese, spinach, ice cream, bananas, tomatoes, pears…okay I could go on. You get the point.

Thinking about this today, we should all treat our lives more like pancakes. 

When things don’t happen perfectly we tend to panic and want to run and hide.  We stop living and begin to waste time thinking about how things could have been differently.  We begin to look for blame or blame ourselves which causes us to sit in one place and become stagnant, and whether water or a person; when something becomes stagnant it stinks.  

You stink because you become stuck on one thought instead of just learning from it, cutting away the bad parts, and continue to move through it.  Its just like I did with the pancake, I cut away the bad and kept the good.  You also begin to throw your entire being away because of a mistake.  Whether its a relapse, lost job, missed opportunity, failed attempt at something...we throw our entire self away.  You begin to think you are the mistake and not that you made a mistake.  

When something does not happen perfectly; when you get to a point in life and you are not where you would like to be.  When you are standing on the outskirts of your life and you feel further and further away from the dreams that you had as a child…well it sucks. But this is the time you must make a decision whether to settle or to fight.

Its at this point when you must cling to the goodness that you still have and through that goodness the possibilities will come.  The only reason pancakes go great with everything is because its filled with such goodness.  Attach your spirit to the good parts about yourself.  Do not keep replaying the mistakes because that is what you will see about the person you are becoming.  If you continue to do that you will never feel good enough.  

Your good parts are your talents, your gifts; the things that people would miss about you if you were not there.  If you do not know ask people what they think your gifts are, ask people why they like you, or why are they your friends.  People that you can trust because not everyone is worthy to be asked that question.

Do not stop living just because your life seems terribly imperfect.  If you concentrate on that which is good, you will again begin to see the possibilities that life has to offer you and only you.

Cheers my friend and continue living.

Must Have No Expectations

Black Friday just passed (if you live in the US of A) and it did not disappoint most people.  It started on Thanksgiving too, which I think they did last year, so there were more hours and chances to run out and buy stuff.  Mmm…did you do the Black Friday thing?  I remember one year I did it and I swear I had an asthma and anxiety attack in one.  I could not catch my breath; it was just too many people and I felt the greediness in the air.  It was like a thick dark cloud that seeped in the skin of each person turning once sane humans into possessed creatures.

But why is Black Friday so huge…Is it because of the sales? Maybe.  Is it because it’s a good time with friends & family? Could be.  I have a feeling it’s because people have an expectation about this day, which for many leads them into the holiday season.

It’s the expectation that this season will be different and the buying of items to make others happy and ourselves happy will somehow help us to float on a happy cloud the rest of the year.  Problems during this time even feel smaller because of the expectation of the holiday season.  It’s really contagious!!!

Expectation is an emotion that grabs at you; it grabs at your core.  It places you in the center of your hopes and dreams.  But here is the devastating part about expectations; it puts you in the middle of your personal fairytale that you then place on another thing or another person’s life. 

One of my mentors in my head, Wayne Dyer, mentioned in one of his books 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, is to have no expectations.  I know people may be thinking to have expectations is to think positive.  Think about times when you have placed expectation on something or someone.  What happens is we create a story surrounding how we think something should happen/ someone should act and we become attached to it.  Once we become attached to it when it does not happen, we become frustrated, depressed, irritable, and negative. 

There is no middle ground with expectations.

Here is how you have no expectations:

1       

              Understand that you have no control over anything or anyone; the only thing you have control over is yourself

2    

               Be in the moment.  Having expectations means you are trying to define the future and forgetting about the moments.  The only way the future can be successful is to be in the moment.

3      

       Be realistic.  Expectations deny the realism in the moment. 

4      

       Remember goals always have to do with you.  So goals are good.

5     

       Remember expectations have less to do with you & more to do with that which exist

on the outside of you.

6

       Be you!!! That’s the only expectation you should ever have in life is to be the best you, you can possibly be.

7    

     

 No Expectations!!!

  

I h            I hope you found this blog helpful.  I have had expectations before and I continue to fight against it.     

Ev            Every time I have expectations I miss the lesson and blessing in the moment.