May I Help Ministries
"Every man, woman and child has a ministry"
Infinite Hope
Emily Dickinson once said: “If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. You can gain more control of your life by paying closer attention to the little things.” ~Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet.
Yes, It’s easy to worry. Worry in itself accomplishes little. In itself worry can cause unnecessary anxiety and stress etc. This article is about faith and action: Hope Really! One day at a time. One action at a time. Individually and Collectively.
You are an important part of our world. Do not worry.
And, yes it’s important to take life seriously and for us to do our best. After all, let’s say: if one is sitting on a mat on one side of a road and wants to reach the other side. One could likely wait sitting down for a great length of time and find that they haven’t moved very far. Worrying alone won’t get us there. Yes, action is necessary. For most of us we just have to go through the motions of “getting up and walking”.
It is one thing to say: do not worry. Another thing to practice… Hint: it’s an exercise.
If we desire to achieve something it takes action. Again, get up and walk. If one has difficulty walking… it is important to find the means or tools to achieve our goals. Worrying without action avails us little.
Most of us are very capable and resilient people with access to many resources. We have language, community and often resources to aid us (if we just put it in our minds to access them). That is: we need to take action.
The human experience can be dark and disappointing. It can be full of trials. Don’t lose hope. Have reasons to get up. Reasons! Do your best (I know that you are)…
You are an amazing person. Don’t let life grind you down too much. Energize yourself. Remember the Spirit of the younger you: with all your dreams, goals, aspirations!
Inside, you are a deeply beautiful person and WE need you!
All of us have unique gifts and have much to offer. Please share your gifts. Please!
United, together: we can ALL contribute to a more beautiful, loving and healthy world.
No conflict can ever truly be won with hate. As someone once said: “holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” ~Buddha.
When we decide to love our neighbours as ourselves: we will then be able to pick up our mats, figuratively get up and walk across the streets of this (OUR) world… Collectively our world will find healing One human being at a time. This is true success.
This is not too complex. Let’s just take a moment(s) to simplify. One word: Love. Practice. Again, it’s an exercise.
If you find yourself having difficulties: pray and/or meditate in a way that you may find comfort and purpose. If you think that you do not know how to pray or meditate: have faith, you do!
Just trust your “GUT”. And if you still do not understand. Have more faith, ask, seek and knock. You will find what you’re looking for. Again, indeed you are one very gifted and resilient BEING. Just do it. Do not worry. Have faith. Walk in action… You’ll see. We will all see. I/WE believe in you.
Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough worries of its own… Do what you can today. Little by little. One thing and then maybe another etc. One day at at time. Again, it’s an exercise.
We may not all be exactly the same as the next person or have the same gifts, abilities and means to achieve our goals… But as humans, we have a general resilience and when we practice faith (in action) we can quite literally move mountains in our lives.
Individually and Collectively we indeed can and will work wonders, build Community and change our world for the better. Say Amen to that! Amen.
In closing please remember:
“If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. You can gain more control of your life by paying closer attention to the little things.” ~Emily Dickinson
&
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you for BE-ing!
Love,
Aaron
Start where you are.
Here is a simple and useful quote to live by: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can”. ~Arthur Ashe
We all have dreams… The question is: are we living them? and if not: what is preventing us and what are we prepared to do!
Are we living a life that counts, of course we are! However, are we making all the difference(s) that we’d like to make?
How about at home?
At work?
With our friends?
In our community?
Some more questions that we may also want to ask ourselves: What is our message? What kind of impact would we like to make? What would we like to change? And… do we feel it’s too big or too small: and why? It’s also important to ask: What do we want out of our ministry for ourselves?
Now, will we do what it takes? (yes!) What does that look like? Who will we include? Why?
So… back to the opening quote by Arthur Ashe: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can”.
You have dreams: Live them!
“Every man, woman and child has a ministry”. ~May I Help Ministries
Please consider sharing your ministry with us. Thank you!
There is only one of you!
One And Only You
Every single blade of grass
and every flake of snow-
is just a wee bit different…
There’s no two alike, you know.
From something small
like grains of sand.
To each gigantic star
all were made with THIS is mind:
To be just what they are!
How foolish then, to imitate-
How useless to pretend!
Since each of us comes from a MIND
Whose ideas never end.
There’ll only be just ONE of ME
To show what I can do –
And you should likewise feel very proud
There’s only ONE of YOU.
That is where it all starts
With you, a wonderful, unlimited human being
~James T. Moore
How “we” think about stress matters.
Are you… or is someone you care about: stressed?
May I Help Ministries has come across a few resources that we’d like to share with you. Check them out! They just may help…
Attached is a Ted Talk (YouTube) video called: How to make stress your friend | Kelly McGonigal.
Lets get better with stress!
NOTE: Also, below this Ted Talk video there is another Rethinking Stress Toolkit link.
Also, below are some more resources that May I Help Ministries would like to share with you. We hope that this may help you or someone that you know.
Stanford SPARQ: Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions toolkits translate research into step-by-step activities that drive psychological, behavioral, and societal change. Explore individual toolkits to tackle specific problems, or dive into a collection to take on bigger issues. Then measure your impact using each toolkit’s evaluation materials.
The Stanford University: SPARQ Stress Toolkit: (Link: Click Here) Note: this Stress Toolkit will take some personal effort… We hope this helps!
At May I Help Ministries, we believe that: “Every man, woman and child has a ministry”. We request that if you have helpful resources… please consider sharing: using the Contact Us Menu (Link: Click Here). Thank you!
Victoria Maxwell, Crazy For Life Co. (Bio and Professional Resume).
Victoria Maxwell (BFA/BPP*), self-proclaimed Bi-Polar Princess, is one of North America’s top speakers on the experience of mental illness, recovery return to work and dismantling stigma. She lives with bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis, and has been presenting her workshops and award winning one-person shows across Canada and the States for more than ten years. She’s also a blogger for Psychology Today.
For information about her shows and workshops or to purchase DVDs of her plays, please visit: www.victoriamaxwell.com. To read her blog visit: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/crazy-life (*Bachelor of Fine Arts / Bi-Polar Princess)
Our Purpose is lived: One day at a time.
Good day Everyone,
Like many of us… I too have my struggles. Lately, (for a while now) I’ve not felt well enough to write and/or post new content here on May I Help Ministries.
Thank you for your patience and for “hanging in there”. I will NOW try and put together a few words, sentences of brief explanation and then some words of hope and/or inspiration.
Inside my being, I have felt very sad, troubled. I’m hurt over personal life experiences and for All Life. However, I must add that I live with gratitude too.
Depression and life challenges are not easy for the person living with them (as well as for those who care for the individual).
Life can be difficult. Life is difficult. If anyone says it’s easy… well, I don’t believe them. This is not to say that Life is not beautiful. Because, in so many ways, Life is beautiful. At least that’s an important focus to meditate on.
It’s important to remember: Our attitude is a very valuable possession. Realistically, at times we seem to control our attitude and at other times it seems to control us. Life, huh! It is difficult when one feels down and close to hopeless (to just snap out of it!). The dark and horrible thoughts that accompany depression: just suck!
NOW: A long time dream and vision I’ve had for my life is: to add value to our world through a life of service etc. However, as a good friend and mentor recently shared with me: “in order to be of service to ‘Others, One must be of service to self”. My friend said something like that… but in his own words…
Those previous words of wisdom combined with words of a “self-help teacher”: Q: “what is the similarity between fear and faith? A: they are both imaginary..” This did speak to me… briefly giving me an idea… As its all in my head… then just maybe I could just flick a switch in my mind and it will all be better! I mentally tried this idea… Sadly it didn’t work for me. Not yet anyway! This doesn’t mean: give up… Today, I’m not ready for that.
It is true that “We do need to be of service to ourselves”. Additionally, I recommend to live and practice your personal faith. As that too is very important (at least for me). It is also important to count our blessings. I for one am blessed to live in Canada. I have an amazing wife, family and friends. There are indeed so many blessings and privileges.
Sometimes, it is difficult to maintain the will to continue on. But… there are some additional things that have helped me.
Like:
The following is a personal religious experience. Note: your own experiences and beliefs are valuable. Anyway: Many years ago, I prayed to God… As I had come to a place where I deeply wanted peace of mind and to live in harmony with His purpose. I prayed that He (God) would give me a sign, something to “work with”. In my hands I had hold a copy of the Holy Bible.
As I prayed… (the following is rather dramatic) I fell to my knees… It felt as if there was an earthquake under me. I envisioned a Great Light. The Light then cut down the pages like a torn sheet… I had my fingers (of each hand) on a page of the Bible. My fingers had divided/split the pages. I opened the Bible there, looked and read… (one day I may share more on this… it’s really for me).
As crazy as it may be: that particular Biblical Chapter that had been revealed to me changed my life: Forever. This Chapter and other Holy Verses continue to give me pupose and indeed some strength during difficulties. Now, I realize that others may not understand… but thats ok! This was not their experience… it is mine.
Individually we have our own experiences and messages. They are ours! Each of us lives with our own purpose(s). We each have our reasons to continue to get up and to live our lives.
May I Help Ministries is a huge part of my purpose. I deeply care about this vision/mission. I still desire to live a well lived life and one of service. I pray for experiences of lasting inner and outer peace. I care about you as a person and our world as a whole.
Fullfilling our purpose(s) naturally takes time, effort and work etc.
May I ask: Why do you continue to get up?… What gives your life meaning and purpose? What are some experiences have helped you? Please consider sharing… (Contact Us)
Our Purpose is lived: One day at a time. Continue to live yours!
“Every man, woman and child has a ministry”. Please share yours!
May God bless you and yours. Amen.
Thank you!
Ministry (the New World)
Ministry (the New World)
Greetings,
For the last week or more I have been pondering as to what to share next. In my heart I have felt many feelings that I’ve been processing. I will try and share some of these feelings (& thoughts) here NOW.
For those who really know me, really know me: for example, my beautiful wife… know that I have a genuine desire to co-create a more loving and successful world. A place of healing, with right-intent.
My heart feels immense emotions for humanity, for life, for God. To me humanity, life and God are in need of a true healing. I live with a broken heart for our world. I deeply pray for our healing.
People have told me that: Aaron, you can’t change the world or that: Aaron, you can only change little things.
To be clear: I don’t want to limit myself to small things. I know that I do not have unlimited power… However, I hope to have enough faith and energy to enable me to build others up, that we at May I Help Ministries will build you up, that we will build each other up and co-create a more healthy, loving world. That together, all of us: we will heal.
Like you, I am just a man (a human being). Often I think and feel that I am more, much more. Realistically though, I am limited in power and strength. Even though, I’d like to be a super-power, to be great and to be amazing. That’s the human condition (me, me, me).
I don’t want to be a megalomaniac as its not the most endearing trait to have. And, Who really wants to be a be an undesirable person. It would be foolish and difficult to build friends and form healthy relationships etc.
When I focus on my God and His teachings, I would like to be good, to be loved and to be successful in His eyes. NOW, I pray that the remainder of my life will be well lived and on-purpose. That I will be successful. Not just materially successful. But successfully in Gods eyes. That my life would be one of service.
For many years, I have desired to serve God and His people, all people. I have also been reluctant to share some of my faith and ideas of purpose with others. In some ways, I have been “stuck”.
I feel that religion is like a fire. It can warm a house, cook a meal and burn the house down. It can be misused to take advantage of vulnerable people. It can be a tool. It can be a weapon. I do not wish to use my faith irresponsibly. This has been a stumbling block for me. These feelings have prevented me from taking larger, longer more purposeful steps.
For many years, I have desired to have and practice the greatest gift possible. This gift is the gift of love. I deeply wish to master this gift. As a human being, living in this present system of things… this wish seems almost impossible. But, it is my dream. It helps me to be me. I want to be a good man (as impossible as it may seem).
As you get to know me… know this: I am far from perfect, I stumble daily as a human being. For example: sometimes I have a temper and things I say can be hurtful. Oh, to be human. We are all human. We all stumble.
If we are to improve our world and return to a more desirable state of be-ing… it is so important to meditate and pray for each of us to individually and collectively live with right-intent. To pray for All people and not for ourselves only. Many of us have been told: we must try and practice forgiveness. Let us try.
For most of my life, I have felt as if we are living in an “end times” reality. I still feel this today. However, this is where you and I come in. We can be that rain drop that converts into a beautiful waterfall. We can be the change in which we wish to see in the world. We can build our neighbour up. We can create a “new world” in which we can thrive. We can make a good life for all life. We can heal our world.
If we have a failing attitude… we shouldn’t be surprised with failure.
If we believe that we can change more than small things… That we can have an impact on several things on many levels. That if we practice loving our neighbour as ourselves and loving the very Source of All Life with our everything: we will actually co-create this new world, this new system of things.
Now, I am aware that this may seem too impossible, too grandiose. But truly, it is not impossible. You can, we can change the world. Yes, you and I. Believe it.
Everybody, needs a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to live and to continue living. If we do not have sufficient reasons to continue… we will not. The time may be late… but its not over. Let, me tell you something: Nature and Life is “resilient” (look that word up). You are resilient! Please never forget that! Your life has meaning, you have purpose. Thank Goodness.
What time is it? Well it is NOW. Capital NOW, it always has been. You are here for a reason. You continue to get up for a reason. You matter! You are valuable! We all are.
Please continue to read our posts, share and bookmark this website.
At May I Help Ministries, we believe that: “Every man, woman and child has a ministry”. Please share the love of your heart, with others, with God, with yourself and with us.
We’d like to hear from you.
May “the Source” bless you and your personal ministry, daily. Amen.
Aaron
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