When we’re searching for the Truth we don’t have to go far. The kingdom is within.

Subscribe now to Podcast of Prayer for Today

A couple of years ago I had one of those crazy travel days. It all started the day before when the Delta Airlines computer system went down – but I didn’t know it. Twenty years ago I would have called this situation a nightmare, but now I know it’s just part of my dream. I had 10 hours at Newark airport trying to get a flight to Atlanta. My original 8am flight was cancelled the day before when the whole Delta Airlines system went down, including their notification system, which didn’t notify me.

Oddly, when I checked in at the airport, they assumed that I knew my flight had been cancelled. Even though I was there at 6:30am, they checked me in for a flight that was leaving at 11:30am – 5 hours later, without mentioning to me that I was being put on a different flight than what I’d bought. Okay, that’s weird.

Somehow they didn’t think it was odd that I was showing up 5 hours early for my flight. My original flight was a 2 hour flight. They rebooked me through Cincinnati for a total travel time of 7 hours. I thought all this was pretty odd, but it was just the beginning.

10 hours after I had arrived at the airport on Tuesday I finally gave up trying to get on a flight that day. I had been bumped so many times and the current flight I was standby on had been delayed 3 times and was now delayed a full 5 hours. I had totally missed my two events that day.

When something like this happens, I could be upset. Many people around me were upset, but for me, it was just one of those days where I don’t know what anything is for. I’m trusting that the Higher Holy Spirit Self will let me know if I need to. We work on a need to know baiss.

Clearly, a lot of people were learning things. I was able to be helpful to a number of people who were upset. I was helpful simply by not being upset and being compassionate. I felt that, in a VERY real sense, I was there to hold the light. That’s why it was happening to me.

After having the whole day in the Delta section of Newark airport, I decided that was enough and I’d see if I could go to Atlanta the next day. I managed to get a flight, upgraded to 1st class, which was nice – or so I thought. Spirit had something else in mind.

I was seated next to a “born again,” “saved,” southern baptist christian. We ended up talking for 2 straight hours. We had some different perspectives on things and we talked about them.

He was very invested in his belief in sin, and I do not believe sin is a real thing.

He believed that making people feel guilty about their sins could possibly save them from sinning some more, and I feel that guilt only drives people to more painful beliefs and behaviors, i.e. more “sinning” and more guilt.

He believed that we can judge the people we Love and that it’s a necessary and good part of life. I know that Love and judgment are opposites and that judgment is always a cause of suffering.

We had a lot more differences in beliefs and understandings. It was a lively conversation. He really wanted to prove he was right, which I certainly understand.

I asked him if my brother had the right to sell me into slavery just because the bible said he did. And he said, “yes.” He started to really get into it with me about how if the bible said my brother had a right to sell me into slavery then that took precedent over any rights I had as a woman in the world today. He knew what he was saying was insane, but he was committed to being right and he didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Out of compassion, I didn’t need to point out that it was a pretty insane premise. He already knew he had stepped off the deep end.

I let him know that my main aspiration in the conversation was to support him in seeing that judging isn’t loving and “making” people feel guilty is not what Jesus taught.

He agreed that Jesus taught forgiveness.
Forgiveness and judgment are opposites.
Jesus taught us not to judge.
Judging leaves us feeling guilty.
Guilt and forgiveness are opposites.
Shaming people to motivate them is judging them and also trying to make them feel guilty.
Jesus taught us not to do that.
He taught us to forgive and to Love, no matter what.
Shaming people and loving people are opposites.

However, it’s not so easy to see these simple points if that’s not how you’re raised. Projection is perception. We see what we believe, not what’s actually there.

I began to feel that the reason I’d been delayed a day and switched to this flight was to sit next to this man and talk with him. You never know how the ripples that are caused by being compassionate will flow.

When we sat down, he’d been utterly convinced that judging was essential to living a moral life. By the end of our conversation, he could see that judging wasn’t loving and maybe it wasn’t the moral high ground, maybe forgiveness was. That was a REALLY big shift in only 2 hours. He really shifted his perspective and was willing to entertain that perhaps his shaming of friends and family to get them to stop being so darn sinful might not be the method that would best achieve his goals.

I didn’t make it my job to shift him. I can’t shift anyone but myself.

I did make it my response-ability to Love him and hold that he had the capacity to see the Truth that sets him free.

I could feel that he yearned for the Truth. People will settle for thinking they’re right and abandon the search for the Truth. I’ve done that. That’s an easy one because the Truth can seem hard to find when we aren’t interested in finding it.

Fortunately the Truth is written in our hearts and that doesn’t ever change. When we’re searching for the Truth we don’t have far to go. Phew! The kingdom is permanently located within.

We’re an expanding global spiritual community of prayerful people willing to be co-workers with God. We’re waking up together and finding freedom in our hearts. I’m so grateful for this!

If you find what I’m sharing helpful, won’t you please share at facebook and twitter to let others know? Thank you!