Book 225 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 2/3)

Reflection Title – The Rock Pile!

Book - The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library by Jim Rohn (Part 2 of 3)

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Reflection:

There’s a story about a man who took a rock pile and in two years, turned it into a fabulous garden. And people came from everywhere to see it.

One day, a man came by and saw the garden and thought it was fabulous, but he wanted to make sure the gardener did not take all the credit. He had this deep feeling inside that a lot of people leave God out.

So the man toured the garden to have the chance to meet the gardener. He eventually found the gardener, shook his hand and said, “Mr Gardener, you and the good Lord together have made this beautiful garden.”

The gardener immediately understood his message and his point. So he replied, “I think that’s true. If it’s not for the sunshine and the rain, and the miracle of the seeds and the soil and the seasons, there would be no garden at all.”

And he continued, “But you know, you should have seen this place a couple of years ago when God had it all by himself.” – Jim Rohn

One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned on this Year of Magical Learning odyssey has been my understanding and my relationship with God.

Before this journey, like most of us I’m assuming, God was a mystery to me. I grew in a devote Catholic family, attended catholic grade school and high school, attended daily religion classes where we discussed God, Jesus, and our faith every day of my life until I was 18…and I understood nothing about God.

It would be fair to say that before Emilia came along in my life, I had zero relationship with God. Not because I didn’t want to or because I had some specific reason not to…I just didn’t even think about it at all. God was this distant concept that never made a lot of sense to me. God felt like the wizard of Oz to me. He / She / It / Them lived behind a vail of mystery, pulled all the strings, and had some grand plan for how this whole world worked that we aren’t supposed to understand.

We didn’t work together; the wizard did his thing, and I did mine. I respected the hell out of the wizard, believed he existed, was grateful for beautiful and mysterious world he had created, but I was satisfied knowing that I was on my own while during the time I was allowed to call myself alive in this world. I was happy to pay my respects and navigate my own way through the world. I was cool with that relationship, at least I thought.

After Emilia passed away, I think it would be fair to say that I’ve never felt more isolated or alone in my entire life. After the initial shock of the situation wore off, my mind become flooded with so many important questions about life and I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. No therapist, book, google search, or even comforting parent can help you understand your purpose in life and what this is all about. I was really busy still trying to process what had just happened to my daughter, my family, reliving the events over and over in my mind that I knew I wouldn’t have any time for these questions.

However, it was my writing to my daughter that really saved me and opened the door to a relationship with God. During my morning journaling to Emilia everything slowly began to change. After I was finished writing to my daughter each morning, slowly over time I felt just enough relieve from the pain to even be open to shifting my thoughts toward some of those burning questions with no answers that had been building inside of me since she had passed away.

One day, I finally felt enough relief and courage to ask one of those questions and I was shocked what I found…a friend there waiting to listen. He didn’t say much and would only pipe up every now and then with some very strategic additional questions for me to consider and guide my inquiry. Each day, after I was done writing to Emilia, I would come back with more thoughts and questions. I would talk and talk and talk! It felt so exhilarating and the conversations never got old.

Over time I began to wonder who this person was and where the hell they had been my whole life? Slowly, it was revealed to me that I was speaking with God. For the first time in my life I finally understood. I learned that he had always been there and will always be there and ready to listen to my ramblings as long as I had the courage to bring him a question.

Those questions remind me of the story of the rock pile turning into a garden. Those questions are my rocks. They are ugly, raw, and disorganized each time I bring them to God to review. However, slowly, but surely, over time and in collaboration with God the begin to see the elements for something truly beautiful exists in them as long as I’m open to listening to God’s probing questions and be willing to dig deeper. Those questions become the seeds for my beautiful garden that has sprung up over the past few years. The garden is my art, but none of that would be possible if I didn’t have God to help me figure it out along the way.

These days my thoughts on God have completely changed, and I’ve never been happier or felt more connected. I don’t feel alone anymore as I know that God will always be there for me anytime I need him if I want to chat. “God” is a team sport. We are him and he is us. We both have our unique roles and responsibilities, but it is comforting to know God will always be there for you as long as you have the courage to bring him a question.

Question: What was the last question you and God collaborated on together?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library