Honoring Life As A Journey

One of my favorite spiritual teachers is Story Waters, author of many books, CDs, and channelings including "The Messiah Seed" and "You Are God. Get Over It!", a title that just makes me chuckle every time I think about it.

Story posts daily "Thoughts for the Day" both on his website and on Facebook. I thought his last two daily posts were particularly thought-provoking and worth reproducing here:

Thought for the Day, Sep 25, 2009, by Story Waters:

To sacrifice for another is to take away their power, their choice, their own journey of discovery. It is to live someone else’s life rather than your own. No matter what the short term benefits may seem, to sacrifice is to simply delay the moment when you will take back whatever it is you are sacrificing. There is no dream or wish of your soul or heart that exists to be sacrificed. Live without sacrifice.

Thought for the Day, Sep 24, 2009, by Story Waters:

Know what love is: what it is to truly love someone. It is to desire, and act, to make them more 'their' self and not more 'your' self. It is to fuel and empower them, but not direct them. You are love. You are free. Free your love. To love is to free.

Both remind me that we cannot live someone else's life for them—nor they for us—no matter how much we think our way is better. What a wonderful world we are creating as we allow each individual to be who they are for themselves, support them in their journey, and be available for them when and if they seek help or guidance. That doesn't mean not saying what is true for us in any moment, it means being able to say what is true for us in a way that doesn't demean others, but instead empowers them.

It's a tough thing to remember, but looking from the standpoint of "the bigger picture", no one needs to be "saved". We can offer opportunity, but it is everyone's right to accept the opportunities before them or not. By honoring each other's journey we honor our own, no matter what that journey looks like in any snap-shot moment in time.