Laci Ethridge Essays - Christianity, Philosophy Of Religion

Laci Ethridge Essays - Christianity, Philosophy Of Religion Laci Ethridge Professor Moore Religion of The World 3/9/2017 Explanation to the meaning of Shunryu Suzuki statement 'When you try to attain enlightenment, then you have a big burden on your mind. Your mind will not be clear enough to see things as they are. If you truly see things as they are, then you will see things as they should be.' Says Shunryu Suzuki. I had to reread this statement repeatedly before I could respond. First I couldn't figure out how to respond to this statement until I applied it to my own life. I am college student out on my own trying to figure life out. It was never my intentions of coming to Paine college but not having enough financial support has landed me here. I grew up in a single parent home with my mom picking up the slack my father decided to leave behind. She raised me and my three sisters the best she could, and although I didn't appreciate it then, I appreciate all her hard work now. My freshmen year at Paine was the moment I got a taste of reality of being on my own. I never focused on the big picture, all I remember was letting my hair down and enjoying all the freedom of being on my own had to offer. But as I get older its more to life than what I am seeing. When your acting out on free will its hard to understand the purpose God has put out for you. Believe it or not you come across people for a reason but you'll miss out on golden opportunities because you don't understand the purpose for you guise reasoning to crossing paths. It is very imperative to build a relationship with God and enlighten yourself. God is a loving being and he didn't create us to go through pain and hurt. Even though we are born into sin, a sinful lifestyle is not God intentions for our future. I believe God forgives our sins because he wants to build a relationship with us. If you don't feel conviction after committing a sin, then you should question who's leading your life. When the devil begins to work so hard to confuse your life he puts you through obstacles. And sometimes those obstacles may not be the easiest road to travel, but if you read the word of God and trust the word of God there isn't a road that will be hard to travel. The devil can turn off all the lights in your home and if you hold on to Gods promise you will make it. Also, you should never condemn yourself for your sins as I find myself doing. After overcoming hardship and hurdles I thought I would never overcome I decided to get baptized this year, January 17,2017. I thought it was time to turn over everything to the loving father. I'm not saying I became a saint after this day, but it was a new path I set out for myself. I know for a fact that God wants to use me to reach out to others. God has made my skin thick and my hurt pure. I realized that I'm not going through my experiences just because God doesn't love me, I am experiencing this because he needed me to start developing a clear mind and to accept things how they are and find the hidden picture through everything that I am going through. He wants me to deifier his hidden agenda for my purpose. And it is up to me to accept his challenge. That is what I got out of his statement.