The Tryin Times was born in the darkness of the pandemic, when all media slowed down into a chopped and screwed version of our typical American slot machine TV show. Gamification has taken over social media, as we all continue to play the game as mystery surrounds answers to questions at the top of the food chain of which we have no control. It’s easy to get afraid lately. It’s easy to give in to fear lately. That’s why the Tryin Times began, and why it’ll never go away!
It’s easy to run and hide from the Lord, so why is it so hard to see when we run?
Gratitude is that wet frog in the back of your throat, and I theorize that’s also where the true light of God is trying to get out. When you have something emotionally burdening, overcoming your psyche, painfully burning your chest, it is difficult to be grateful. When you feel guilty, it’s not easy to be grateful. When the red flair of evil and brimstone begin to pool through your veins with great disdain and hate, it’s not easy to be grateful. When you have no one to talk to, and your days have become short and dark, and you don’t know where to go, it’s not easy to be grateful.
Gratitude takes practice.
Gratitude doesn’t last long for most of us. When we do accomplish something, especially something we work hard at, it’s almost impossible to not feel a bit of natural, organic gratitude. That’s easy.
Like anything in life, we get good at it the more we do it. I was told over and over as a boy that I could “do anything.” Who else out there was told this?
What if that wasn’t a lie?
What if we really can do anything?
What have you ever wanted to do that you haven’t?
I mean REALLY wanted.
The older I get, the more I see that in this matrix, anything we REALLY want, we either try hard enough to get, or find an excuse not to.
Sure there are limitations in life, physical and financial limitations, and obstacles to overcome, but think about something you REALLY wanted that you achieved.
How did you feel after achieving it? How long did you feel that way? How long until the feeling of gratitude was washed away into another challenge or another obstacle? Remember the initial soak of achievement, and relishing in the warm grace of victory?
I can assume that the work you put into the achievement lasted longer than the crowning at the end of it, as everyone then went on to go home and Norm the janitor was forced to come in and cleanup your party.
Think about how long you worked, just for a quick jump into a public pool of validation. All for Norm the janitor to get to spend a few hours picking up the mess. Your glory, met with a mess of a cleanup for someone else. All those people clapping, and they all went on to go home and move on, as if it never happened.
Gratitude takes practice.
At some point in life, we accomplished something that nobody cared about. At some point in life, we did something that we felt everyone “wanted us to.” and did not feel this great warm grace of gratitude. At some point in life, someone didn’t give us that thanks that we deserved. When you try so hard at something, and fail, or succeed without validation, it’s definitely hard to be grateful.
What is it we are all here for? If money was the answer, then it why would it cause so much conflict, fear and pain?
It’s not easy to be grateful when you don’t have what you want. Maybe it’s not to earn the most money created by man but to create the most gratitude created by man.
Intelligence and richness are 2 words open for interpretation.
I recently I found myself describing intelligence as nothing more than to have learned and/or executed something that someone else has not. Richness on the other hand, often is shrouded in the level of someone’s financial or possessional wellbeing in our matrix.
When you consider the possibility of the mind, and potential of the mind, you start to see that maybe no man is richer OR smarter than another, but has opened the potential of the mind, that much further. I understand that genetics plays a factor, but one can argue nature and nurture til the cows come home.
For my example, I have 2 young babies.
Baby 1 is born in a trailer, with a young mother, jobless father and little to no food other than what keeps him quiet.
Baby 2 is born in a mansion, with a mother who’s full time with 3 nannies, a father who earns high income, and the boy has anything he wants to eat, whenever he wants it.
What life would you rather have?
Now, let’s take a different perspective.
On the babies’ respective first birthday party, they are swapped.
Baby 1 is moved to the mansion, where the 3 nannies abuse the boy mentally and physically into form, the full time mother develops a drinking problem, and the father eventually leaves with a younger woman, separating the boy’s life into two families forever.
Baby 2 is moved into the trailer, where the young mother and father celebrate every small victory, are grateful for every morsel of food, and eventually attain enough growth financially to move into a nicer town house in a safer community.
Now what life would you rather have?
The mind is infinite, and the matrix is confusing, as we have seen surgeons perform groundbreaking surgery to go home to no applause and robotic wizards on Jeopardy rattle off answers and earn dollar after dollar every weekday at 7. Intelligence to me means opening your mind to the infinite possibility of God’s Grace, and understanding that we have absolutely no control over it.
Intelligence is considered in our society “valuable” as many professions who practice for years earn higher salaries (and debt) for their valuable time spent “practicing.” They earn high income, but they create gratitude.
How rich can you make your soul if you spend time “practicing” being grateful?
You see, the older I get the more I start to understand that the ability to be grateful in the face of adversity, to be thankful for the obstacle, to be proud of the life you’ve been given to live, that is what makes someone RICH.
The man who creates the most gratitude is the richest man in the room.
The richest man in the room is the man who says I have nothing, but I am grateful. The richest man in the room is the one who says I can do anything.
The richest man in the room is the one who faces every fear, and fears no obstacle, physical, or financial limitation.
The richest man in the room is the most grateful.
Finding gratitude in moments of darkness isn’t easy, and it takes practice. But when you start to relinquish your control over every thing and every one else, and start to recognize that though you are driving YOUR story, God is driving OUR story.
The faith that God exists, the faith that you matter, the faith that you have purpose, the faith that God is protecting you, that is the gratitude that costs nothing. That is the gratitude that can save the families in each scenario presented above.
What’s amazing about God’s grace is, both babies presented above can at any point relinquish control and can live a rich life, with the presence of faith, gratitude, and God’s love, despite the scenarios. This is the freedom we all possess as we grow into adults. The never ending challenge of finding gratitude in the face of adversity.
The freedom to find the light in the dark, or to hide in the dark. That is your choice.
I have always believed in God, since I was a boy raised in Catholicism. The mystery of faith has always inspired me, and though I’ve strayed from the truth, a re-commitment to studying the mystery has ignited my spirit and given me a constant desire for truth and wisdom. The light of the Lord is always just waiting for you to step back into it.
Nowadays I pray daily, and every day I pray for different reasons. What I find most gratifying is praying for those around me, who spend so much time giving me reasons to be grateful.
I am a man aged 31 and will turn 32 next month, and I am still learning life as though I am the boy learning. “Intelligence” or truth to me at age 32 has become more of a choice, an option of sorts, a game.
The more our world rots into pain, the more my spirit rises to fight the darkness that seeps over our communities and shine the light on the truth. The more I want to compete to make the world a better place.
The truth that good is always going to overcome evil in the end, and that is something to be grateful for, but it needs soldiers right now. It needs people to play for the right team. Since choosing to play this game for the good side, I have something to be grateful for every day. God.
I am not financially rich. But I am grateful.
I am not the smartest person in the room, but I know God knows I am here to help someone who is.
If you ever need someone to talk to or want to contribute to The Tryin Times, the door is always open and I am always here.
Make time for God in your life and you’ll be amazed with what he can do for you.
God Bless.
& Thank you to every soul out there who’s helped me be thankful for the graces God has shed on me so far!
