On
Trust, Judgment, Kindness, and Eating Meat
by Donna Rose Stewart
Thursday
29 November 2001
On
Trust and Judgment:
I think the key for me in this life / world as it is (with all
its faults and shortcomings, etc. and with my idealism, perfectionist
tendencies, and the feeling that I was responsible for everything
that anyone did) was to learn Trust (of course, I am still in
process). In Trusting, I do not judge. I know that all I can do
is to be the best person that I can be, and to Trust that God
is in charge (not me) - whew, what a relief! Things are, quite
often, not what they appear to be and I learned to not look so
much at appearances, as I can not possibly know the big picture
and how it all fits together. If there is something I can do or
say to help someone, then I will know when the time comes (which
means that I also had to learn to trust myself - who I am, etc.
- and to listen to / honor the "still, small voice"
inside of me). I have also learned that by being who I am, people
will come up to me and ask me what I do to be the way that I am,
to look the way that I do, to have the energy that I have, etc.
They say that they want it, too. That's when I can tell them how
I live my life, etc.
On
Eating Meat:
I never liked to eat meat - I only ate it (while growing up) because
I was "made to" (and ate the least amount possible).
But they could only make me eat what didn't look like an animal
(hamburger, hotdogs, ...) because the thought of eating an animal
or a fish or a bird ... just made / makes me feel sick inside.
If it looked anything like an animal or an animal body part, there
was no way I could be forced to eat it (so I never ate chicken,
steak, ...). I was always "the black sheep" of the family,
community, etc. After being "on my own," I realized
there was no one to make me eat meat anymore and I just stopped.
I never missed it. That was in 1980.
Personally,
I never felt comfortable telling anyone that it was "wrong"
to eat meat. I would always say that it is wrong for me. What
is wrong for another person is between that person and God. If,
however, my opinion or belief is asked for, I will share it. Mostly,
I speak of my own experiences, journeys, etc. and what I have
learned from them. I, also, speak of that which I "just know."
I
think that we all have things that we just know, things that we
learn through someone else, things we learn by doing once or twice,
and that difficult lesson that we have to do over and over again
until we "get it." Basically, I think that everyone
is doing the best they can with where they are at the time. I
had to learn to think of myself in this way, also (as I've always
been very hard on myself). I would not even think of doing some
things now that I did in the past; but, I didn't know then what
I know now. I saw this quote once many years ago (no author was
listed) that has stayed with me, "Be kind, for everyone you
meet is fighting a difficult battle."
In
Light and Love,
Donna Rose
May
God bless you with His peace and grace,
Donna Rose Stewart
Copyright
© 2001, 2005 Donna Rose Stewart, All Rights Reserved
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