I'm going to try to make this as simple as I possibly can. Ephesians 1:4-5, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." What is God's good pleasure? For Him to be our God and for us to be His people. For us to know Him as He truly is--as our heavenly Father. The "adoption" of children. Us being conformed into the image of His Son. Knowing that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. Knowing that Jesus--the beloved Son of God--is our true identity. Who is Jesus? God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's the stuff that makes God happy. He has always and will always love us. What He likes is when we know it and believe it. When we receive it and release it. What really gets God fired up (in a good way) is when He sees Himself in us. When He can express Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. Just as any true father is proud of his son when that son embraces who he (the father AND he the son) is. No true father wants his son to pretend to be someone he's not. Case in point: I have shared everything I am and everything I have with Logan. Some of it he picked up, some of it he didn't. Our musical tastes are very different. That doesn't bother me. I don't want him to be a clone of me. Or a robot. I want him to be HIM. I want him to be the best HIM he can be. So sometimes we listen to my music, and sometimes we listen to his. When I see him happy... that's what makes me happy. His pleasure gives me good please. And, listen, that doesn't mean I let him do whatever he wants at all times. He's nine. There's still a lot of responsibility on me to make sure he takes care of business. But at the same time, I'm teaching him HOW to take care of that business. I'm letting him be who he is, and I'm teaching him how to do that in the confines of the world we live in. Point being: God doesn't want mindless slaves. Remember when we talked about the love slave who was set free but loved his master and didn't want to leave? That's what God likes. He shows us a more excellent way and then makes it available to us. He doesn't force His will or His way upon us. If you have to beg for something, even if you get it, it's not worth it. If you have to force someone to do something, it's not real. God gave us His heart so that we could live a life of love. A life that flows from His heart beating with love in our chests. That's what makes Father God happy. Abba. Father. That's the picture we see in the relationship between God and Jesus. God and man. God and us. He is our Father. Knowing that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased is what gives Him good pleasure. That's why He did what He did on the cross. Jesus drew us out of Adam and into Himself, so that we might know God as Father and ourselves as Son. So that we might run TO God instead of running FROM Him. Adam ran from God. Hid from the presence of God. Jesus did the opposite. There is a more excellent way. His name is Jesus. His name is love. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving people is what makes God happy!

Have you ever the phrase, "A happy wife equals a happy life"? Well, in this case, when we're talking about a happy God, it's more "Happy kids equal a happy heavenly Father." I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why people are so interested in an angry, distant, taskmaster of a God who is always just waiting for us to mess up so He can get us. That sounds horrible to me. And it doesn't line up with Scripture either. Even when people talk about the "Old Covenant" God... guys... He went to great lengths to set up a system of animal sacrifice in order to keep His people OUT of trouble. And then, you know, He gave His only begotten Son. The true lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. He didn't want us to keep sinning, and keep needing it to be covered with the blood. He wanted the blood to run through OUR veins. He wanted us to experience HIS life. Look at 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." That, to me, kind of settles the "sin issue." Which is why I wrote a book called "The Sin Issue" (availabe now on amazon.com). We need to stop struggling with things that Jesus already dealt with. He took care of it so we don't have to mess with it. And you can bet that's a big part of why He's so happy. You can bet taking away the sin (unbelief) of the world by giving us something (someONE, Himself, Love) to believe in is a big part of His good pleasure. No true father wants to see his children struggle. I always tell my son, "Do your very best, and then if you need it, I'll help you." And that's only because "in the natural" it's important to have a bit of self-sufficiency. I want him to be able to thrive in his life. Our heavenly Father takes it even a step further. He wants us to call on Him in EVERYTHING. He wants us to do EVERYTHING in conjunction with Him. 1 Corinthians 3:9 says it like this, "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." Or, in the Amplified Bible, "For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God's building." Co-laborers with Christ. We don't have to do anything--ANYTHING--on our own. And, in fact, we shouldn't. It's His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He did that. Accomplished His mission. He always wanted to be our God and for us to be His people. That's how it is now, because of the cross. That's where we're at today. IN the Kingdom, because we ARE the Kingdom. Working hand in hand with God. Letting God work with OUR hands. Not trying to be like Him, but letting Him be Himself in us, and through us, and as us. And in that way, being OUR true selves! If you want to experience Jesus's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love... you have to trust in Him. You have to let Him live His own life in you. Nobody can live Jesus's life except Jesus. When He does it in us, we can experience and enjoy it. We can experience His good pleasure--you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. We can be as happy as He is!

The part about our key verse for this Rant series, Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," that we didn't even really get to look at yesterday, that I really like, is the "fear not" part. Because we, as a human race, are very anxious people. We live in an almost constant state of worry and fear. We have such a hard time living in the present. Either we're upset about the past (which we can't do anything about, except learn from it and move forward) or we're worried about the future (which we can't do anything about except take it as it comes and do the best we can with it). It's the old saying, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, that's why they call right now the present--because it's a gift." And, if you believe the words of Jesus, the thing is... we don't have to be afraid. We can be safe and sound in the arms of our loving heavenly Father. God's got this. That's the point for today. It's His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He wanted to do it... and then on the cross He did it. We don't have to wait for the Kingdom to come. It's already here. It's... us. We live IN the Kingdom because we ARE the Kingdom. We don't have to work for it, or earn it, or anything like that. In fact, all we have to do is seek it. Look at Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." But don't think of it in terms of seeking in order to find something you don't have. Think of it in terms of seeking to find out what you DO have! Think of "seek" in the sense of "explore." Explore the Kingdom. Think of it in terms of Ephesians 3:17-19, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." It's that USING of God's love that allows us to comprehend it. It's the seeking (of what we already have... what it was His good pleasure to give us) of the Kingdom that allows us to experience the Kingdom. And, listen, we don't have to have it all figured out. As long as we're rooted and gounded in love we can figure it out from there. We can know the love of Christ. In our hearts. A knowledge that passes knowledge is not just head knowledge, or book learning. It is heart knowledge. Experiential knowledge. It is knowing and believing that God loves us because we LET Him love us. Because we accept His love. Because we receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. And release it by receiving it. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Letting what's already inside come out. That is how we experience the happy God that "grace preachers" are so fond of talking about. A God who is happy because He successfully took care (and continues to take care) of His children. A God who wanted us to have the Kingdom... so He gave it to us. That's what the cross was about (and there's more to it than that, yes, but I'm just saying). God gave us what He wanted us to have. His Son. His Spirit. His life. His love. And He did it because He loves us. It was His good pleasure!

It seems to me that people like Joseph Prince and Joel Osteen kind of get a bad rap for preaching a "happy gospel." As if we truly are sinners in the hands of an angry God, and that's the kind of thing we need to focus on. To me, though, that's crazy. The gospel literally means "good news." I don't know where this idea of an angry God came from. Well, I guess maybe I do. There are some parts of the Old Testament of the Bible that could give you the idea that God is, at the very least, tempermental. But what we have to realize is that the Old Testament was written without benefit of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If "that" God looks a lot like man, it is probably because we were interpreting the unknowable through our own selves. We put things in terms that we could understand. We are tempermental, and that means God must be, right? Almost like we made Him in OUR image instead of the other way around. And that, by the way, is why so many of the things Jesus said befuddled His disciples. The last shall be first and the first last? That doesn't make sense. Love your enemy? Turn the other cheek? It was all so radical because He wasn't filtering it though human "natural" mindsets. He was bringing a whole new mindset. The mind of Christ. Now look at our key verse for this Rant series: Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." I always preach a happy God. And sometimes people will ask me why I think He's so happy. Well, not to oversimply it, but I think God is happy because He had a goal and then accomplished it. It was His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He gave us the Kingdom. He did what it made Him happy to do! Let me say it another way. All throughout that Old Testament, over and over again, God said what He wanted. I'll use Jeremiah 24:7 as an example. "And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart." That's it, in a nutshell. God wanted to be our God and He wanted us to be His people. Now. Fast forward to the book of Revelation. Which is an in-depth look at what happened on the cross. "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God" (Revelation 21:3 MSG). Mission accomplished! He wanted to be our God and for us to be His people. Now that's how it is. It was His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. So He did. Why? Because He loves us and wants us to have it. And that, to me, when you do something good for someone else... that makes you happy. We have a happy God because He expresses His love to us, and in us, and through us, and as us! He gets to enjoy watching us (and helping us) enjoy the gift we've been given. Think about Christmas--you parents out there--how happy it makes you to see the look on your kids' faces when they open the presents you got them. It's joyful for them... but also for you. It is more blessed to give than to receive. God gave it all. And He's happy about it. It was his good pleasure, and He is now enjoying the fruit of that labor!

This might seem like a weird way to end this Rant series, but I want to talk about Luke 12:29-30, "And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." When we talk about faith it seems like it's usually about big things. But here Jesus was talking about what we eat and drink. Talking about us NOT worrying about the basic human necessities. Why? Because God knows we need these things. I think the picture of God as our heavenly Father is such a good picture. Because it speaks of a provider. A protector. Someone who takes care of His children. And that, really, is what faith is about. It's not just the big things. It's being childlike. Not childish--in the sense of throwing a fit when you can't have what you want, or of being selfish and self-centered all the time--but in having full and complete faith and trust in your Father. When you're a child you can't do much for yourself. You depend on your parents... for everything. Before you can even talk you just cry. And that cry is used for everything. Hungry... cold... wet diaper... whatever. Any need you have, you just cry out. And then your parents figure it out. As you grow you gain more independence and responsibility. But as we grow Spiritually we simply learn to depend on God (on love) more and more. Complete submission. Complete trust. Faith is a trust issue. If you trust God, you'll do what He says. Because you'll know (and believe) that He has your best interests at heart. So don't worry. Be happy. Don't be of doubtful mind. Don't be double minded. Don't worry about the things that your heavenly Father already knows you need. He doesn't want you to live a life of worry. He wants you to live a life of abundance. And what makes the abundant life abundant? Love! What did God give us when He gave us His only begotten Son? Love! That's not what we need... that's what we have. That's who we are! So when it comes to living, just remember that to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. Be single-minded by setting your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Be single-minded by setting your mind on love. You can control your thought life. Look at 2 Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." I always say it like this: You don't have to believe everything you think. If you have a thought that doesn't line up with the love of God... let it go. Don't dwell on it. Don't fight it. Just let it go. And focus on those things that are good, and perfect, and acceptable--the will of God. Which, of course, is love. If you eye is single it lights up the whole body. We are the light of the world. God's light of love shines on us, and in us, and through us. What you feed is what will grow. What you focus on is what will dominate your life. What you magnify is what will manifest in your life. If you're always worried about getting things, you won't be able to experience and enjoy the things you already have!

Here's the key to the Kingdom, if I can put it that bluntly: Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." The way to not be conformed... is to be transformed. That transformation took place on the cross. We were sinners... then we got saved by grace... and now we're something different. Something new. We have been transformed. From sinner to saint. From unbeliever to, well, believer. And the way we experience that transformation--the way we BE transformed into what we've already BEEN transformed INTO--is by the renewing of our minds. By letting the mind of Christ (that is already in us) BE in us. By using the mind we've been given. Remember that verse in Jeremiah chapter 32 about God giving us ONE heart? It's HIS heart. His Spirit. His mind. The only way to be single-minded is for the eye to be single. To make sure that love is our priority by focusing on... love. That's what comes out of His heart anyway, isn't it? What else could? Genesis 6:5 says, "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Which, of course, is why we needed that new heart. David was a man after God's own heart, not because he never did anything wrong... but because he wanted to do right. It was David who cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). He was after God's heart. He wanted it. He knew there was something better than just what the world had to offer. His eyes were on the prize, if I can say it that way. And because of that, God gave it to him. Maybe not in the fulness that we have on this side of the cross--there are arguments on both sides about that, and I'm not trying to get into it here and now--but certainly Jesus said ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. God is always in the answering business. And, by the way, "no answer" IS an answer. Maybe not the one you were hoping for, but still. So we need to come to a place where we can understand the bigger picture. And the only way to do that is by letting the mind of Christ (again, that's already in us) BE in us. By USING what we've got. By BEING who we are. BEING transformed by the renewing of our minds. Letting go of old things that we have learned. Just because you learned it, doesn't mean it's right. People learned that the earth was flat for a long time. Until someone came along and proved it wasn't. When you know better, you can do better. If you want to. It's easy to stay stuck in that rut. Easy to continue on doing things the way you've always done them. But, again, that doesn't make it right. And if there is a more excellent way available to you... why wouldn't you grab it? Especially when it's being freely given. It is for you. It's at hard. Within reach. All you have to do is respond to the gift you've been given by receiving it and releasing it. Focus on what matters. Focus on love!

I love the light. It is such a powerful picture of God and His love for us (which is really the same thing, because God IS love). The light of the world shining in us and through us. Jesus said HE was the light of the world, and He said that WE are the light of the world. Because it's the same light. The same love. The same Spirit. As He is, so are we in this world. And the light is what empowers us to see things as they truly are. When we allow God's Word (which is Jesus, which is love) to be that lamp unto our feet and that light unto our path... that's when we can see where we're going. That's when we can walk (by faith) in confidence. And that's how we get to where we NEED to go. (I put emphasis on it because sometimes where we WANT to go is NOT where we need to go.) God knows the end from the beginning. He knows the thoughts that He thinks toward us. Not evil, but peace. To bring us an expected end. See, He doesn't just have this great idea of what it should be. He knows what it CAN be. What He EXPECTS it to be. And our part to the Way of Grace that He has made for us... is the Walk of Faith. Going where He leads. Trusting Him. Trusting love. If you do what you do with love, out of love, because of love, for love... you will never go astray. Because His Word (again, Jesus... love...) will be lighting up your path. The key is to be single-minded. Yesterday we looked at Luke 11:34-35, and today I want to quote Matthew 6:22--which is pretty much exactly the same thing. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." What you see is what you be. If you only see love--no matter what or where or who--you'll only experience love. And you don't have to see it in the external situation. You can see it on the inside and let it out INTO the external situation. The fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. Like those three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace. "Didn't we throw three in there? Because I see four. And the fourth one looks like the Son of God!" Well, because it was. Because Jesus swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's always there. We just don't always see Him. Because we aren't always looking for Him. But we can. And should. Look at Luke 11:9, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." God doesn't hold things back. Especially not Himself (His love, which, again, is the same thing). "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). If He wouldn't withhold His beloved Son... why do we think He would withhold anything? He won't. He didn't. On the cross He gave it all. That's what love is--giving everything you have and everything you are. So we don't need God's love. We already have it. Being double minded is picking those flower petals and hoping we land on "He loves me" instead of "He loves me not." Reality, single-mindedness, is knowing that He loves us, He loves us, He loves us. He always has and always will. He shines that light of love on us so we can see the truth. So we can know the truth and experience the truth. Know and experience His love... and love Him back by loving each other!

Your thought life is so important. What you thnk, what you believe, what you dwell on, what you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. If you wake up and you're like, "Today is going to be horrible," well, it probably will be. And not necessarily because of anything that will or won't happen. But because of your attitude ABOUT what will or won't happen. Like my uncle once said, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." Now let's look at the Bible. Luke 11:34-35, "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness." Jesus said that. The red letters. And I believe He said it not to condemn us, but to teach us. Seeing is believing. What you see is what you be. If you look AT things, and judge them by appearance, you are missing out on what is real. If you look IN things and see what's really there, that's when you can judge righteous judgment. That's when you can see clearly. Because it's about light. You can't see clearly without the light of the world. The light of life. The light of love. When you see things singly--through the lens of love--your whole body... your whole world... will be full of that same love! When all you look for is love, that's what you'll find. Sometimes love CAN sneak up on you. Sometimes it CAN come to you unexpectedly. Seemingly accidentally. Because the God who is love is always sending it your way. But when we truly understand Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path," we can be proactive about it. We can, "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:5). Or we can utilize the truth in 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." It, like everything else, is a trust issue. If you believe God knows what is best for you, and has your best interests at heart... you can commit to His way. You can follow where His Word leads. His Word, of course, being Jesus. Being love. You can follow where LOVE leads. That's what it means to be single-minded. It's all about love. Seeing love. Understanding love. Knowing love. GIVING love. Because love IS giving. The Divine Order of things is knowing and believing. SEEING and believing. Seeing with that single eye. The eye that is focused only and wholly on love. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. So if we see darkness, we've moved out of the realm of where we're supposed to be. Remember Lion King? The shadow land? Simba's father told him never to go there. Told him that wherever the light touched... that was their kingdom. I think what happens so often is that we try to move out of our lane, if I can say it that way. We try to operate outside of our calling. We see something that, for whatever reason, we think needs our attention. And it really doesn't. We need to focus on what we WERE created to do. I can't do what you can. But you can. So if I do what I can, and you do what you can, then it'll all get done. Seeing is believing. Know and believe the love of God. Let Him love you and love Him back by loving others with that same love!

I mentioned this verse a couple of days ago, and it stuck with me. So, with the advice of my pastor ringing in my head, "Preach it until your heart is empty on it," I'm going to go ahead and dive in. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). I think we can all relate to this. Any time we're at war with ourselves. And I've long said the two hardest things to do in the world are: 1. Doing something you don't want to do. 2. Not doing something you do want to do. Going against your nature, if I can say it that way. But there key there is knowing what your new (TRUE) nature is. Which is what James 4:8 tells us, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." I don't want to get to deep into the "ye sinners" part. Because I believe a "sinner" is simply someone who doesn't know who they really are. Sin is unbelief. Not believing, or not knowing, the truth. The ultimate truth of the universe. That God is love and He loves you. But like I said, that's not today's Rant. Today I want to focus on the single-mindedness that comes from drawing nigh unto God. Look at Ezekiel 11:19, "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh." I will give THEM... ONE... heart, saith the Lord. We didn't each get a new heart, individually. We each got HIS heart. One heart. One mind. Remember that God only has one will, right? It is good, and acceptable, and perfect, but it is singular. His will is to love. What else could it be? He is the God who is love. What else could possibly come from His mind, or heart? He took out our stony heart--the Law of Moses which was written externally on tablets of stone--and replaced it with a heart of flesh. The New Commandment for the New Man. To love one another as Jesus has loved us. To receive and release the gift of God. Which is His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. Nobody can live Jesus's life except Jesus. How could we? But we CAN experience His life by letting Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. We can draw nigh unto God, with the blessed assuarance that He will draw nigh unto us. And, listen, God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. This isn't saying, "If you want God close you have to do something." God doesn't work like that. It's not about what we do. It's about who we are, and who He is. This is saying, "If you want to EXPERIENCE God... you have to focus on Him." What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you feed is what will grow. What you dwell on--or dwell in--is what you experience. "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us his Spirit" (1 John 4:13). His Spirit--the mind of Christ, which is already in us, which we can, and should, LET it BE in us--is how we stop being double minded. Focus only on love and experience only love, no matter what is going on around us. The fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. Let it burn like a Holy Ghost wildfire, consuming everything but itself!

When you don't know what to do, do what you know. Love people. See a need and, if at all possible, meet it. Live out of your abundance. Give what you've got. Be who you are. It's really not that complicated. We make it complicated when we don't embrace who we are. When we try to get something we think we haven't got--or something we don't really need--by being someone we're not. When you try to conform in order to earn something, you're missing out on the whole point of everything. Paul wrote, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2). And I always like to point out that God doesn't have three different wills. He is single-minded. Love, love, love. His will (love) is good, acceptable, and perfect. But what I want to key in on today is the be not conformed part. The be transformed (into what you've already been transformed into) part. The part is what equips and empowers us to not only do what we know... but know what to do. It's easy to get twisted around. To get caught up in... whatever. But at the end of the day, bottom line, it's all about love. It's all about giving what we've got. Seeing a need and meeting it. If you have two coats, and you see someone without a coat... that's easy math. And I like the way John made it super basic. He was talking about food and clothing. He wasn't talking about moving mountains. Unless, you know, you're the one without a coat when it's cold out. I've been there. I worked at a car dealership for a while. And I had, like, a zip up hoodie. But nothing winter suitable. And my boss--bless his heart--saw me one day and got mad about it. Gave me a nice warm coat with the dealership name on it. Like I said, easy math. And like I said, if you're the one shivering... for you it IS a mountain being moved. So don't think you're not making a difference, even in the little things. Because the little things are actually the big things. Everthing means something. Everything you say and everything you do is important. It is the choices we make that create our lives. That's why this question is so important. It's got a simple answer, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. And that doesn't mean that you can slip and slide on it. What shall we do then? Live a life of love! Give what you've got. Be who you are. Embrace who you are. You don't have to do giant things. You can do small things with great love. You don't have to wear yourself out. You can live out of your abundance. You don't have to be someone you're not. You can embrace who you are, and BE who you are. By giving what you've got. By giving yourself. And, again, that doesn't mean over-extending yourself. It simply means seeing a need and, if at all possible, meeting it. Don't freeze yourself to death. But if you have TWO coats (abundance) give one to someone who has none. We're all in this together. Helping your fellow man is really helping yourself. The tide raises all ships. Love connects us and binds us together. When we see ourselves, and each other, as One... that's when we can truly live this life as it is supposed to be lived!