Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive. They simultaneously increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver. ~ ACIM T-1.1.16:1-2
Julia's Risky Decision
Julia read and re-read the online comment someone had posted about her most recent blog article. “Who did this? It's so ugly! What's wrong with this person?”
She was used to the hostility people expressed on the Internet. It seemed no matter what a person had to say, there'd be someone who would object to it, often in the strongest terms filled with hate and profanity and insults. But this?
She called her fiancé at work. “Hey Kevin, did you see what some moron posted about my blog today?”
“Hi, baby. No, what did they say?”
Julia winced as she looked at the comment on her blog page again. “I'm OK with people saying 'your an idiot.' But this guy – I'm guessing it's a guy – well, here's what he said:”
“Ur so off base with all that new age crap. Here's what u need 2 know. Theirs some stuff that's real and stuff that's crap. The REAL stuff is down at the Ethers Shop at 193 Court Street. Go get some. Or get a life. Or die. I don't care. Just quit writing all that new age crap.”
“Ouch!” Kevin said. “You don't deserve that. Are you going to answer it?”
“I don't know. Maybe I'll just delete it.” She gazed out her bedroom window for a moment. “Why are there so many haters out there? I mean, I write my New Age blog to help other people. I don't want it to be a magnet for haters like this guy.”
“Well, don't worry about it. Whoever that troll is, he probably sucks at life and doesn't have anything better to do.” Kevin looked at his watch. “Honey, I've got a report due by noon. Gotta run. How about we go out for dinner tonight? I'll take you to that veggie place you like. What's the name of it? You know, the one that makes those kale and soy bean burritos?”
“Yeah. Curds and Curry Deli. OK. See you later. Bye.”
Health food was one of her passions. She could eat all the veggies she wanted and never gain weight or ruin her girlish figure as long as she was careful about the sauces. Even vegan restaurants filled their sauces with fat calories and carbs. Besides eating well, she read voraciously on every New Age topic she could find. She read books on astrology; books written by authors who channeled spirits from the beyond; books that delved into the power of pyramids and Tarot cards; and especially, books that explained the healing power of crystals. She thought the New Age lifestyle was the best way to live in harmony with the universe. She wanted to publish a new thought on her blog every day. But some days she came up short of a fresh idea, or just felt too lousy to bother.
The trouble was, she felt lousy on many days. Most of the New Age ideas she'd learned – like putting one's intentions out into the universe – just didn't seem to work. The whole “co-creating” idea, too, seemed a bit over-hyped. Sure, creating along with God seemed like it should work. But God didn't seem to want to take on His half of the load most of the time. And what about prayer? Wasn't that part of it, too?
Julia prayed a lot. She prayed about her wedding and was overjoyed when a flash of inspiration answered her prayers, showing her she could use the alignment of Venus and Mars to determine her wedding date. Then too, she had prayed overtime when Kevin dropped that bombshell on her just a year ago. But most of the time she wasn't sure who to pray to. Was it the impersonal universe, a loving universe somehow alive, Gaia the living Mother Earth, the Goddess Mother or God Himself, that old man in the sky? Her prayers flowed forth almost incessantly, asking for one thing after another, and without much concern about which deity she was trying to reach. Without knowing quite why, she had come to believe that love was somehow the ultimate force in the universe. So, she decided to love the right man when he came along. It seemed Kevin might be that man.
Julia and Kevin had been a couple for nine years. They'd met during their sophomore year in college. Their mutual interest in New Age ideas had served as the common thread that, in time, transformed their friendship into something more. Now, with Julia at age 29, and after surviving the near-devastation of Kevin dropping the “maybe we should see other people” bombshell a year ago, their love for one another had weathered even that storm. They decided to get married.
They had debated the exact wedding date. Kevin wanted to marry as soon as Julia could make all the arrangements, for he realized it's a woman job to choose the wedding dress, the maid of honor, the venue, the entertainment, the food to be served to guests and a million other seemingly important details that women obsess over. He hoped she could work through all those details quickly so they could begin living as husband and wife. After all, he loved the sexy nights they had been spending together. He worshiped her body, so hot and exciting. But he was crushed, then angry, when she told him she had decided they should abstain from any more sex until they were married and living as husband and wife with a wedding license that proved their legitimate relationship.
Kevin loved her because she was a truly wonderful vegan cook. He bragged about her to his friends. Man, you won't believe her cooking! She can whip up a meal to delight the gods! He loved her because she believed in him and encouraged him and said she wanted to be with him until the end of time; because she said he was the man she had always hoped to find. But most of all, he loved the feeling of her body pressed beneath his when they had made love, and thought that, in time, she would enjoy sex as much as he; that she would moan and writhe beneath him with passionate sensations running from the quick of her throughout her entire body, culminating in crashing orgasms that sent her to the moon and beyond. I love you Julia! You are my soul mate, Kevin told Julia each time he fell off her body, rolled over to his side of the bed and withdrew into a deep sleep.
But Julia won the argument on the abstinence issue and the wedding date. He would just have to wait for a resumption of their love-making. Then she explained the deep understanding she had gained through her study of astrology: that the two most important planets -- Mars and Venus – were far more than the tired “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” hack that had been used to sell books and perhaps even enlighten people to the differences between sexes.
She had said, “No! There's so much more to this! We need to get married when Venus and Mars are aligned. Any other time puts our marriage and our entire lives at risk. We've got to think about staying married for a lifetime. We've got to think about our future children. We've got to be sure our love lasts forever.”
Kevin had objected. “C'mon, Julia. Astrology is a load of crap. You can't use it to predict anything. That alignment of Mars and Venus? It's just a physical thing that happens every once in a while. It doesn't have anything to do with you and me! Forget about all that. Let's get married in June! That's the perfect wedding month.”
Julia had sat with him, trying to be patient, explaining the profound impact the alignment of the planets would have on the strength and beauty and longevity of their marriage. She had cast charts for each of them, then combined them using her synastry software to further emphasize the critical role those planets would play throughout their married lives, even into old age. Finally, she showed him the astrological charts that forecast the next alignment of Mars and Venus. She chose the wedding date when the planets would be in perfect alignment. She insisted it was the optimal date that would guarantee their never-ending love. They were to be married at exactly 3:17PM in nineteen months and four days.
“My God, Julia! That's a year and a half from now. I thought you loved me …” Kevin had said as he considered going without sex for so long.
“Of course I love you. But we need to wait until the time is perfect,” she had said.
... much more follows...