Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 2, position 16075.
On a cool crisp morning an hour after waking up, I had just walked myself into the day. I made myself a cup of coffee and relaxed in my chair. I was having a different morning. It was easier for me to get up and roll out of bed. It was easier for me to get active and actually accomplish some things first thing in the morning. I printed a letter that needed to go out and I already had it in the envelope with a stamp, addressed and everything. That was rare for it only being an hour after waking up in the morning. I just felt like everything was going to work for me today.
I had struggled with something the day before though. It actually started a few weeks earlier. I received a letter in the mail that really perked my interest. It promised me a book for free. I had been chosen by a secret society and I would receive the book for free. Exactly! I started to look a little closer at the letter. I read every line carefully. The secret society was made up of celebrities and wealthy business people. They were all anonymous, but the letter claimed that if I knew who was in the society and who had chosen me to be a part of that society that I would really be impressed. Finally, I was urged to send the form back within a few days or else all opportunity of being a part of this society would be lost. Well, I was going to get a book that contained all the secrets of the rich and famous for free. So, I sent the form.
A few weeks went by and I finally received the book in the mail. It was a little over fifty pages. So, I can read that in a little over an hour. I started reading. Story number one told me that an ancient manuscript from a Greek society has been passed down from person to person and was about to be placed on my lap. Everyone who comes into contact with the manuscript lives a blessed life. It happens automatically even if you only read the bold headings throughout the thousand page book. Somehow the secrets that are contained within the manuscript magically enter your life and you begin to see differences right away.
Story number two was a heart wrenching piece talking about how this ancient manuscript can change your life. It was a testimony of a lady who was an actress and that if she were to reveal her name to me, I would know it immediately. She was given the manuscript by a Las Vegas gambler who couldn't lose. His life was so blessed that he could accurately guess what other people were going to do or what they were thinking. He was able to beat them at every game. He also knew that she would enter a library in an obscure place weeks from the first time they met. So, he left the manuscript there for her. When she found it, she was amazed. But as soon as she read it, things started changing for her. She lost weight and became more attractive. She fell into fortune and her husband fell in love with her more deeply than ever before.
There were three other stories, but you get the picture. Every testimony was a heartbreaking story of how a person was down and the manuscript magically landed in their lap. It changed their lives. Romance was better. Weight loss was effortless. Friends were flocking to them. They were amazingly turned into the most charming people on the face of the earth and they couldn't help but to amass great fortunes. The manuscript was that special. And it would only cost me...
A one thousand page manuscript passed down from the ancient Greeks containing all the secrets of the powerful and the wealthy would only cost me... I was a part of a secret society. I had been chosen because I had the traits. I was special just like everyone else in the society. I would be amazed when I attended the summit and saw who else was in the society. But, I had to keep it secret. No one was to know about our connection. The society could make millions of dollars and get a Nobel Peace Prize if they published the manuscript and let everyone have it. But, they weren't into making it public property. I could have it for...
Have you ever just wanted to believe in something so much? I put the little booklet back in the envelope it came from and I put the order form back in the envelope with it. I looked out the window and thought to myself, "If only something like that were true. If only something did have a magical ability to help me lose these few extra pounds and help me make better decisions so that the work I'm doing would make me financially independent if not incredibly wealthy. I wish something like that did exist!" I opted out of purchasing the thousand page, twenty three hundred year old manuscript. I would love to know the secrets if there were any. But, something was telling me not.
If I was chosen for this society, why wouldn't they just give me the manuscript? Everyone else in the booklet I read was simply given the manuscript. Why did I have to buy it? Plus, I had encountered this so many times before. The empty promises of secrets and becoming wealthy, powerful and famous. You lose your precious time and money learning that there are no secrets. You've just been played again like a pawn in a chess game. Regrettably, I had to pass. And I say regrettably because I wanted to know someone's secrets. I wouldn't mind being wealthy, powerful and famous. And I'd love it if it was that easy. All I had to do was learn the secrets and I would have a blessed life. Who wouldn't?
But, I had to go back to work. I had wasted enough of my time reading this free fifty page advertisement for a manuscript I would have to buy if I wanted to know the secrets. So, I went back to work. That night I slept comfortably. It was a decent sleep with no interruptions. That wasn't common. I woke up earlier than usual and made myself a pot of coffee. I went straight to work on things that I needed to get finished. I was getting things done before I'm even normally awake. I had a different kind of energy and when I thought about working out, it wasn't just a thought. It was going to happen this morning. It was a great morning. The coffee even tasted better.
I slowed down to look out the window and think about that manuscript. Had something from that booklet actually lit a spark in me? It said it was magical how it all works. If only something like that were true. But no, I don't believe that there is a magical secret thing.
And as I looked out the window still thinking about it, still thinking about how I wish there was some magical secret thing to make life so much easier for me, I had to smile. I may not have found the secret magic of the universe, I may not have been chosen by some secret society and I may not ever even see an ancient manuscript containing all the secrets of the rich and famous, but I still smiled. I had a new energy this morning. I had a new feeling. I'm going to be everything I want to be without that manuscript. I don't need any secrets. In fact, I'm already on my way.
"I don't need any of that stuff!" I thought and I felt a warm smile come over me like a blanket reassuring me. I was right and I knew it deep down in that place where the truth is burned free from the rest of the noise and illusion.
Now, I'm not a religious fanatic. I don't believe in any organized religion at all. I don't like the guilt trips you get because you don't go to church and you don't pay your tithes and you aren't at Bible study. I don't like people wrapping religion up into little boxes so that the masses can handle it. I don't like the freeze dried religion that makes people feel comfortable and less involved in the world. I don't like the dangerously fanatical religious zealots who would blow up abortion clinics and fly airplanes into buildings. I hate sermons about drinking and cults, premarital sex and gambling. I mean, can't I do anything? I don't go to church and I don't make it a habit of preaching, because simply enough I don't like church and I don't care for presumptuous sermons.
But, that warm smile was like an answer. I didn't need all that stuff of prestigious societies and ancient manuscripts containing secrets of the rich and famous.
"I don't need any of that stuff at all!"
"That's right son!" I felt it. I actually felt that. Like I was going to start being more motivated. I was going to lose those pounds and I was going to become more successful. And while I'm at it, I just might find that person who is right for me. But, I didn't need any secrets. I just needed that touch, the warm smile that covered me like a parent reassuring the son.
No. I don't go to church and I don't sit through sermons. I don't watch religious programming on the television and I don't subscribe to remedies that promise to make my life easier and more fulfilled.
But, I love those little touches of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment