Have you heard that accident rates go up when drivers talk on cell phones? In many areas this practice has been outlawed for this reason. Yet drivers have been talking to passengers in their cars for as long as cars have been around and this does not appear to cause a problem. What is the difference? A cell phone conversation is different from one in person because it lacks a sense of immediate presence, and this makes a real difference. Can you think of other areas in which presence is important? You do not see me, but can you sense my presence? Are you aware that I am always with you?

Are you looking for something glorious and magnificent? My early followers were. They would have been happy with a conquering king to deliver them from occupation and oppression. Do you think that some were disappointed with my teachings about lilies and sheep and coins and birds? Are you? Many of my messages I closed with the words, he who has eyes to see, let him see, or he who has ears to hear, let him hear. My audience was hungry for the Kingdom of God, and my message was that the Kingdom of God is all around you in everyday life if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. Do you?

Do you find that everyone laments the problems in the world, and has strong opinions about what is wrong, and firm ideas about what needs to be changed? Do you? Do you think the world would be a better place if you ran it? Beware of this conclusion. Recall all the times in history when those who thought they had a better idea seized the power to implement it. How well has this worked out? My word tells you that I have ordained the powers that be.

Have you heard of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps? This common saying implies an intense self-directed effort but it is logically impossible to pull yourself up this way and the attempt  would only create internal stress. Does this illustration of physics have a spiritual parallel? Can you achieve your own spiritual awakening, salvation, and transformation? You acknowledge dependence on me for these things. Do you require the assistance of others as well? You do not exist in isolation and were not designed to live this way.