God’s Positioning System
This morning I woke up searching for peace from it all. I’m sipping my coffee as I walk through my apartment building to the library.
Yes, this old nursing home, turned apartments, still has the original library.
Blessings come in all sizes, I guess.
I sat down and scanned the shelves, and a book caught my eye:
Carpentry and Building Construction by Feirer and Hutchings.
As a guy who’s spent his whole life in and around construction, I’d never actually read a book like that. And for a second I wondered, Man… how much better could I have been if I had?
That’s when I noticed another book, Divine Alignment by Squire Rushnell.
My curiosity grew as I picked it up to see inside the letters “GSP” circled in blue ink.
God’s Positioning System.
The idea in this book is you can grow more closely aligned with God through your very own GPS.
It’s a novel idea, and I like it.
Maybe I’ll read it one day? Maybe today?
I change directions — I do that a lot. Is it my ADHD?
Yeah, probably. 😀
I put a load of laundry in the washer and went back to the library, and as I begin to read the first chapter, I change directions again — this time to being inspired to write.
What I thought about writing had nothing to do with the book, but the book definitely inspired me to think — relax — and enjoy the wonder of having a GPS to guide me through this weird but wonderful life.
Then the alarm went off — time to put my laundry in the dryer.
I go back to my apartment to make breakfast, and as I roll up my avocado, bacon, and egg wrap, I grab my phone, and these words come out of me:
“There are no enemies in this world, only those through which I choose.” —Stuart Simpson
I think it is true. Profound even.
I find myself being mad at a lot of things — my doctors, healthcare providers, political nonsense, government agencies, and really customer service in general.
These frustrations steal my joy nearly every day.
I don’t want to be frustrated, yet I am. I’m always searching for peace from it all. Yet, I rarely find it.
It’s merely one annoyance after the other.
We live in this complicated world-slash-place where everything is changing. It’s all automated and AI-generated and controlled, and I’m not sure if it’s actually for better or not?
I’m sure it’s not.
It’s not personal.
It’s not real.
We don’t actually talk. All we do is text, and email, and Google.
I feel like I’m losing control of everything. More than ever I’m being told how to think and live.
I can’t ever remember a time when I felt more powerless over my life.
Do you feel like this?
I bet you do.
I know it has to be me. I know I do it to myself. I choose to make enemies where they really don’t exist.
These folks, these people, these machines, these places, and these things aren’t really against me.
They are just there. Not for and not against me.
I have the control to do and say whatever I want.
I know this.
I’ve always known this.
Yet still, it’s so hard to actually achieve. How do I do this? How do I find peace in this digitally generated universe?
I use these digital tools, and they are useful, but at the same time they feel fake and unfulfilling. They lack substance and emotion.
They leave me feeling empty, overwhelmed, and broken.
Yet, I can’t be mad. They’re not against me — yet sometimes it can feel like they are.
How do I trick my mind? Or better yet, how do I remind myself that they are not against me after all?
I don’t know.
I may never know.
But I do know this — I’m trying. And maybe that’s enough for today.
