My Little Piece of Heaven on Earth
On my 60th birthday, a friend asked me, “In your heart, what do you care most about?” I sat there silently, and I said that I had always wanted to help animals in shelters and disabled veterans who are on the Helper Animal Waiting List find each other. I shared that I believe that a new kind of co-creative training modality could be developed to facilitate speeding up the training process at a lower cost, that animals loved to help, and that this would get more animals out of shelters and to our disabled veterans. I said that I wanted to be a part of the development process and also fund a foundation that did this work. I clearly remember saying, “If I could get this off the ground, and the foundation was secure forever, I could die the next day and be satisfied that I made a difference on an issue I really care about.”
Looking back I realize that every time we rescued a kitty (and we rescued 5 of the 6 cats we were gifted with), we were already on target for this mission. Every time we unconditionally loved and accepted one of our kitties and worked with them where they were, we made another preparatory step toward actualizing the foundation. From our experiences with our rescues, we learned to better value individual animals, to be more unconditional, to apologize to our kitties when we are short with them, and how to take excellent care of animals, even when we didn’t feel we had the money or time. We learned to use every resource we had to support our cats, as we learned and grew together. We learned to think outside the box to create more resources, including vet care for the two who have health issues. What a training ground for the Paws To Help foundation!
Folks, I have always believed that God hears every word we say and that every word is a prayer. I also believe that all prayers are answered. I think our journey with the kitties shows this blessing in action. We are eternally grateful for each of our little ones and thank God for the opportunity to share our lives and work with them!
I haven’t yet actualized all the funds to formalize Paws to Help. But, everywhere I’ve gone over the last two years, I’ve talked about it. Animal trainers, vets, and organizations that help disabled vets all over the east coast are in my Rolodex. I keep in touch with them all periodically. Too, when God gave me the opportunity to put my time, energy, and focus on the cats so that I could explore my commitment level, we all stepped up to the plate.
Your Heaven on Earth
So, what do you care about? What problem would you solve, if you had the time, energy, and money? Do you care about the ecosystem, water quality, helping abused children, feeding the hungry, rescuing abused spouses? My Message to you is simple, “Don’t wait until you are ready! Start now!!!!” You can always do the research, volunteer with an organization already doing some of the work you want to see accomplished, give a dollar to a foundation that supports your cause. Everything you do to actualize your dream goes toward creating good.
You aren’t powerless to change the world. You aren’t powerless to solve a problem you care about. Once you get clear that you are going to be a part of the solution, every day you will be given opportunities to get one step closer to actualizing your heart’s desire. That’s how it works on Planet Earth!!! That’s the Secret — once you get clear on how you want to contribute to creating Heaven on Earth, the way will come to you one step at a time!!!!!