Throughout history many have spoken about being “Saved.” To every individual this means something different, although generally it is considered a religious or theological term. For me, being “Saved” means recognizing there is a Higher Power, that I as a human am not God, and that, for me, in my particular experience, Jesus is the one who offered Salvation.

Other religions or philosophies come at it from a different angle….but generally I think being “Saved” involves some sort of transaction of asking for Forgiveness from a Higher Power. The “asking” part is vital, because it means that one recognizes there is a need to be forgiven.

Some folks feel that so much religious dogma has been shoved down their throats, that they almost strangle on the thought of being “Saved,” or asking for “Forgiveness.” The very mention of these things makes them uncomfortable and, sometimes, angry. I wasn’t raised with ANY religion, so when the moment of being “Saved,” happened for me I was truly surprised. I was alone, and not expecting anything…..I simply asked Jesus for Forgiveness (I wasn’t even exactly sure why I was saying the words!) and I told Him I would never leave Him again. Blammo! What happened next was unbelievable. I saw Him, and He put His forehead against my shoulder, and I felt a tremendous sense of relief (from Him) and, believe it or not, what went through my head was two things. One was that His robe was made of a kind of beige muslin (I had heard that Jesus wore bright shining white robes…this wasn’t what I saw…I saw a much humbler attire!) and I also sensed that He was a little “weary.” I remember thinking that Jesus must be a VERY busy man! I got the impression He works almost all the time…not many vacations!:)

Later that evening I told a friend of mine what had happened, and the tears started flowing uncontrollably as I talked about it. I don’t know why…I guess it touched me very deeply. I got baptized sometime later after that, and the same thing happened when the water poured on my head….the tears. To this day I don’t understand the tears, but I know they come from a very deep place.

I understand if people think it isn’t necessary to be “Saved,” especially if they have had religious dogma stuffed into them. All I can say is I think it helps to clear the Soul for the way forward, and it humbles us into remembering that although all of us are connected, and we are all part of the Light, there is still a Supreme Being that oversees it all.

In Peace,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2013 Jennifer Avalon

Some folks think we are, basically, just a bag of bones. Flesh and cartiliage packed onto a skeletan that one day will crumble into, yes, a bag of bones. Whenever I meet an atheist, or someone who really believes this, I take a step back…..because I understand that there is a valley between us, that is hard to bridge….but, I also reach out a hand, when I can.

Many on the other side of the valley won’t outstretch their hand to me. I make them angry. Especially when they see my hand reaching across the valley. They think I am stupid for believing there is an Afterlife….they call me a fool. What should I call them? I don’t feel the desire to call them anything, actually. I figure that one day they will get the biggest shock of their life. They will cross over, and be stunned. For some, that will be the only way they will ever see the Light….AFTER they cross over.

I believe the reason we are given bodies in this world is to accomplish certain tasks, or missions. Also, for a chance to fix some transgressions. This earthly world of ours is the vision of all of us put together…so there is obviously a need to do some renovations!! The reason, I believe, that the Other Side, or Heaven, is so incredibly peaceful and beautiful is because there are so many Souls there who saw the Light before crossing, and chose to follow it on earth, and also there are so many Souls over there who, when faced with all the good and bad they did on earth, have decided to ask for forgiveness, or atonement, and have begun their true work. There are no distractions in Heaven. There are a thousand or more distractions on earth.

In the Universe of stars is God. All intelligence, all knowledge, held together by the glue of God. God is pure Love. He wants what is best for all of us. His love is like no other, and all of us are faced with that someday….that unconditional Love that puts us to shame, for all the mistakes and silliness we did in our earthly lives. But it is that true Love that heals us, and helps us to press on. How can anyone say no to God….to unconditional, pure Love. Those on earth who do terrible terrible things to others have said no to God…..

Unfortunately, we are stuck with language here on earth. To some, the word God makes them freak out.To others, the word Heaven sounds outdated. I think it is safe to say that we all understand, more or less, the word Love. If we remember nothing else in our lives, let’s hope we all remember that we come from a place of Love, and will return to a place of Love…..and that, in the end, it is our bag of bones that gave us the chance to fulfill that promise….

With love,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2012 Jennifer Avalon

Some places we stay in and visit we have fantasies about after we leave, that we could maybe live there on a permanent basis, and make a go of it. Other areas we drive through can have the same affect on us. Then there are magazines that show log cabins, or modern condos, in which we can see putting our legs up on the ottoman and spending the rest of our lives watching the flat screen from a hilltop, or in a valley, or near a beach. Most of us are rarely completely happy no matter where we live…..so then the question begs…is it really the PLACE that makes us happy, or the “concept” of a place?

When we think of mountains we think of fresh air and pine trees….when we think of valleys we see farms and fishing in streams and small villages…when we think of beach we think of sunshine and sand in our toes, and the trunk always packed with the picnic basket and beach blanket. When we think of city we think of modern high rise and great restaurants and pubs on every corner. Most of these “dreams” usually don’t include getting up in the morning and going out to find work, meeting new people, learning new terrain, and leaving behind what is familiar.

They always say never marry someone until you have summered and wintered with them…..perhaps the same is true about moving, unless you absoloutely have to. Maybe visiting a summer tourist place in the winter is a good idea, and a winter place in the summer…..that way when the leaves are off the trees and there’s nobody at the beach, you can see how the place really operates….and if you’re on the mountain in the heat of summer when the bugs are out and about, you can see if you can really stand it, citronella candles notwithstanding. And the city? Well, you better like noise, which some people do, and need. Each of us has a comfort zone inside, and that is what we all hope to find….

The “concept” of a “dream land” is universal, I believe. We are lucky enough in America, despite the economic and weather changes, to still have fragments of the “American Dream” left….there are still unexplored areas both in our minds, and in our hearts. We have seen the impossible become possible…we know, in our very DNA, what it feels like to start something new. We live in “Dream Land,”….and when we can get our heads out of our you-know-what’s, we can see that we are better off than most of the rest of the world. Anyone who tells us otherwise, be suspicious of. Yes, we definitely aren’t perfect…governments are made up of imperfect people….but, we have something that many around the world would give up their homelands for….we have Freedom, and the chance to dream without, basically, anyone interfering.

So when you get depressed and think we live in a country that is one step away from complete meltdown, turn off your television and go do something creative….because that is where dreams are made of, and that is the stuff of US…..we ARE Americans, the Dreamers….in Dreamland.

Love,

Jennifer Avalon

© Jennifer Avalon

When the Titanic hit an iceberg, and people drowned, ultimately, the Captain was held responsible. When a train crashes headlong into another, through no fault of its own, the Conductor is held responsible. When a school has a rogue student or coach that other kids have mentioned to their superiors, and nothing is done, the Principal is held responsible. It is the one at the helm of any organization that is held responsible, when things go wrong. The Leader often gets paid more than others to stand at the top…be an overseer…and granted there are perks, and position…but there is also a responsibility to try to make sure all goes well under their stewardship. That is called Leadership.

 A true Leader wants things to go well…takes pride in what they set out to accomplish. They are not afraid to be present. They are not intimidated. They will sacrifice a vacation to tend to problems under their governance. They are passionate about their job. They can go off script to answer questions because they know the ins and outs of what they tower over. They have taken the time to learn everything they can about the ship, train, business, country, etc. that they run. It is their passion…it is their mission.

A true Leader doesn’t want shame to glare over their stewardship. They try to bring the best and the brightest together to get things done. They make folks in an organization feel that they are all working towards the same goal, even if they have differing opinions. A true Leader has the grace and finesse to make both sides feel they have won. The last thing a true Leader wants is to have warring factions under the same roof. Just like in a family, a true Leader is able to remind everyone that winning means there must be compromise.

In times of great turmoil, true Leadership is needed. Not Leaders who try to blame others for failures, nor Leaders who hide behind their past accolades. A true Leader realizes that today is more important than the past, and tomorrow is more important than today.

Carpe Diem,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

I wake up in the morning and get out of my bed (a business made my bed, mattress, and sheets) I brush my teeth (toothbrush, thank you business) I take a shower and dry myself off (thank you tub and shower installer business, and, oh yes, the water business) Every moment of my day I am interacting with a business product. I drive my car, get gas, eat lunch, work….without business, I would probably be living, well, I don’t even know where, because without the construction business I wouldn’t be in a house, and without the car business, I wouldn’t have a car. And yet there are some amongst us who put down “business”….big business, is what they often site, but the real truth is, without big business there are no little businesses, and without any kind of business, we have nothing. We might as well all go back to living in caves (if we can still find any) and hope we haven’t lost our hunting skills, and, oh yes, we better have a natural source of running water.

We foolishly take for granted what we use every day to live. And the funniest part of all is, the folks who are often against big business are the folks who can usually AFFORD to moan about big business. The truth is, “big business” hires people, pays taxes (contrary to what folks say) which means they contribute to the “entitlements” of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, because their workers and they are paying into those systems. Try having Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid without the businesses who pay into them with their employees….entitlements couldn’t exist! So I get really frustrated when some folks try to twist the truth about what’s going on with “big business.” Taxes are lower in communities where there is a “big business.” More people are employed, even in smaller businesses, because small businesses grow up around big businesses. That’s the way it works. Ever notice what happens when a “big business” leaves an area? The steel mills in Pennsylvania, for instance? Ever seen it? Empty storefronts…gone are the mom and pop restaurants that fed the big business workers….foreclosures spring up on the lawns….etc.etc. Domino effect.

Whenever people moan about “big business” I think of the ungratefulness they are actually expressing. Big Business can often employ people out of the country now…and why wouldn’t they, if they don’t feel the American people appreciate them anymore? And sometimes, to stay in business, they have to employ overseas. America has not been business friendly now for a few years….. which is what’s hurting our economy to its core. So beware of those who are against business….you might be very surprised by the size of their bank accounts, and/or that deed to the chalet they own in southern France. You might be shocked, actually.

Our country needs a pro-business attitude so it can get rolling again. Without that, we will never have enough of a tax base to support the things we hold dear. And we don’t need to “raise taxes on the rich,”…that will only send them elsewhere. We need businesses to not feel FEARFUL anymore about hiring people. Fear is causing this recession/depression. It’s all so simple….but you would never know it by what you hear in most of the press. Really simple.

Wake Up,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

What is pain, and how can it be measured? Is the person living in the desert with no food or water worse off than the person stuck in a valley with flooding and tornadoes? Both suffer…both experience pain.

 We often feel we can quantify pain….mine is worse than yours, or, mine couldn’t ever match yours. Truth be told, the pain of losing a home is probably not as bad as the pain of being molested…a pain that involves the soul. A building can be rebuilt….a damaged soul can take a lifetime to repair. And yet many of us feel that if we appear to visibly have more than others, we don’t have as much pain as someone who visibly has less. But it’s all about what’s going on inside of us.

 When we lose someone we care about, that is a pain of the soul. All the money in the world can’t bring them back, so we feel the loss. If we lose something materially, we can often replace it. And even if we can’t, we can often move on, and get the help to do so. Where do we get the help to fix a damaged soul? And how does anybody see the cracks, to help in the first place?

 We come into this world naked, and we go out naked, whether we like it or not. We bring nothing with us into this life but our bodies and souls, and, I believe, we leave with the same….but with the imprints of those we have loved, and who have loved us, with us…..in our souls. That is all the treasure we can take with us….and the more we have of that, the richer we are….no clothes, no houses, no bank accounts…just Love. The pain of life gone….

 So what really is pain? The lack of Love…demonstrated by those who hurt us, sometimes including ourselves. When a flood or tornado hits, there are often neighbors who demonstrate real Love….when a soul is damaged, there are people who can help also. The trick is to recognize that pain is pain, no matter where it comes from….and only Love can cure it.

 With Love,

 Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

 Where is home? As the eternal question asks, is it where the heart is? Is it where you have to be because of work? Is it where you grew up, but left behind? Or is it somewhere in our imaginations…a place that we all long for, but can never quite seem to be fully satisfied with, on earth.

We buy or rent a house…after a while it seems like “old hat.” Been there, done that….what’s around the corner, on the other side of the wall? Does a vacation take care of the wanderlust in each of us, or does it spur us to want to continue the search for “home.” For some, home is where they grew up, went to school, made friends. And even if most of their friends move away, they still consider their plot of land and four walls to be “home.” Nothing wrong with that.

For others, “home” is truly wherever they hang their hat….can be for many years, can be for only a few. They get to know some folks, and keep in touch with them after they move out of the area, via internet or phone. They fix up or decorate each new place with vim and vigor, but when they leave it looks as if they have never quite been there. It’s quite interesting to see how each of us views “home.”

Some people need to be near water….be it a lake in the mountains, or an actual seaside place. Others can do just fine in the plains, or the desert, or on a farm. But each of us does need to be in a certain environment to feel more “at home.” Have you ever noticed that when you visit a friend in a cabin or house in the mountains, they will have a picture, almost always, of the beach, hanging somewhere in their home? The same goes for the beach folks…somewhere you will find, even if it’s in the bathroom, a print or photo of the mountains. This is what makes me wonder about human nature…are we really forever wanderers on this planet, until we finally go to our “true home,” which is, of course, Heaven. Finding “Heaven on earth” is very difficult, and I think that’s why we long to, or do, dust off our shoes sometimes and “move on.”

Sometimes it is only a vacation we need, just to recharge and come back refreshed, to enjoy our lives. Other times it is a wake-up call that we need to find a new job, a new place, or a better way of living. Life affords opportunities for those things to happen, especially during these times, when so much is in flux. But the strangest part of all is, when things are in “flux,” we feel we need “home” more than ever….

Go Home,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

There is some doubt as to whether there is “more intelligent life out there,” among scholars and laymen. I personally am in the middle on the subject. I hope there IS, because at the rate we are going on this planet, we may need a spaceship to climb onto and soar away into the atmosphere! I am more inclined to think that because God made us, He also created the Aliens, or Beings, perhaps to help “keep an eye on us” at times, when we are doing truly potentially harmful stuff…like inventing atom bombs, and such. They say that spacecraft appear over areas where potentially dubious experiments are occuring, and also where mankind is in major conflicts, or about to be. Why? Are they watching over us, observing our latest moves? Or are they simply a figment of multi- millions of folk’s imaginations?

Some feel that even the subject of Aliens is anti-Christian. I do find it interesting that recently the Pope declared Aliens our “Celestial Brothers and Sisters,” or something to that effect. What does he know? I take that to mean that “They” are here to possibly help, not harm. Also, that because they inhabit the same universe as us, they must be part of God’s Creation.

God created the Universe, and everything in it, according to us as Christians. If that’s the case, then we must take all of that, the “Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” as part of God’s Plan. I think what is difficult for some of us to handle is, how could a species be more “intelligent” than us, by being able to manufacture spaceships and the like with materials we haven’t even invented yet, according to some of the articles I have come across. How is that possible, we say? How could anyone be brighter than us?

If you were able to have a “Bird’s Eye View” of this planet, what do you suppose you would really think? If you could see all the conflicts at once, and yes, all the good deeds too, how would they balance out? If you cared, wouldn’t you keep an eye? If you didn’t, wouldn’t you never even bother to look down?

Just thoughts on a controversial subject…something to get your mind off the evening news!!

May the Force Be With You:)

love,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

 This week we look forward to the start of a new year, untouched, like a slate that is unmarked and clean, just waiting for us to paint our thoughts and impressions onto it. Many of us will start to compile a list of New Year resolutions…setting goals for 2011. For a lot of us, by the end of January many of those goals start to unravel, and we become discouraged, wondering why we should continue on the course that looked so bright at the beginning.

I think if we approach the New Year with a different perspective and keep a symbol or image in our minds it may be easier to stay focused and navigate the road ahead. I approach the New Year as a builder, a person who sees a piece of land, and the possibilities that can come forth. I look at the formulation of my goals, hopes, and dreams as a house…a beautiful shining building that by the end of the year I can be proud of. A builder needs tools, not just hammers and nails but Faith, encouragement, conviction and the belief that when you put your mind to it, anything is possible.

In January we start the foundation…we make sure it is strong and has the potential to hold what we place upon it. We make sure there are no cracks. Each proceeding month we add to our house…floor by floor we put in the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the heating system, etc. Sometimes we make mistakes, one room may not be wired right, so we go back, repair the damage and continue on. By the Spring, we see that our house is off the ground and rising. The contributions we have made to our house are beginning to show. People pass by and are amazed how fast the house is starting to come together…but little do they see the problems that we encountered to get to our level. So on we go, each day building brick by brick with the sky above us…and with each brick a feeling of accomplishment comes over us and a better understanding of the mistakes we have made so that we try not to make them again. God looks down and sees a person trying to push forward with a house of meaning and purpose. A badly built house with a weak foundation won’t stand very long…but a good house can last forever. God understands how hard it is to built good houses.

By the Fall, our floors are completed, and we are about to add our roof. We want a roof that will not leak, that can take the elements. If we have done all our work and done it well, by the end of the year we will be standing in front of a house amazed that we were able to accomplish this once monumental task. We look at each brick and floor and see a story. We see the set-backs and the over comings. It is possible to build a good house, God willing, with the right tools, and determination…All things are possible.

Good Luck with your house,

love, Jennifer Avalon

© 2011 Jennifer Avalon

Food…most of us have trouble living with it, and NONE of us can live without it. How many things in life have that much power? Very few things indeed.

For many, the memories of “Mom’s” cooking stays with us for a lifetime…we call that “comfort food.” Even if Mom made you spinach noodles on burnt rye toast when you had a cold, you would still consider that your “comfort” food. Food is attached to time and place and, especially, emotions. Give me a bowl of tomato soup and I will tell you about childhood and the flu, and how much that warm bowl of soup meant to me. For some, it’s chicken soup…or lentil soup. Soups are, for most of us, put in the “comfort” category. You don’t even need a utensil to enjoy it!!

Food…too much of the wrong kind can kill us, and not enough of the good kind can malnourish, or starve us. What other thing in our life has that much influence over our well-being? Not much, for sure. When I hear food prices might skyrocket someday, I mull over buying large bags of rice, and dried beans, and little pots to grow parsley (got to have those greens!) and then wonder what I can add, to prevent scurvy…you know, the disease they got on the Mayflower from not having enough citrus! Maybe I can buy canned mandarin oranges? I like those. Or just buy a bunch of fruity jams. If it were down to survival, I would have to consider only those food stuffs that are non-perishable….hmmmm….how many things in our lives have to be used within a certain period of time before they become dangerous to use or consume? Not many….

Food….a true love/hate relationship. It can be one of the most enjoyable pleasures in life, and can be downright devastating, like when one gets food-poisoning. I got so ill once in an exotic foreign country from either bad food or water I thought I was going to die….luckily, I lived to tell the tale:) During the experience I told myself I would never drink or eat again (ha!) These are the crazy things we tell ourselves to feel we have some control over the enormous power Food and Water has over us.

Food…part of the gift God has given us…earth to grow wheat and vegetables, trees to bear fruit and nuts, paddies to harvest rice, oceans to fish, etc. It is not meant to be taken for granted, nor abused, and yet we do both. When we don’t have enough of it we die, when we have too much of it, we die. Somewhere we are meant to find the balance. And for those who are without it, may you soon have enough food to be able to complain about it.

love,

Jennifer Avalon