With knowing hands, I opened the old lunch sack. There it was in my own hand writing on a piece of scratch paper. All the wants I had wanted years ago and, I knew before I even read what I had written down, they had all come true.
What is this elixir of good fortune? Simple, it’s a God Bag. You write down on a piece of paper all your wants. And be honest. You put this list of wants in a paper sack, use a box if you want, write “God Sack” or “God Box” on it, tuck it away in a drawer or any good hiding place, and forget it. What you are doing physically, metaphorically, and symbolically is turning your wants over to God, and letting him (her) take care of them. What you are doing subconsciously is taking ownership for your wants, or setting yourself up mentally for working toward them.
Over the course of the last thirty years or so, this is the third God Bag I have made. (Hmm, one every 10 years.) I then find the God Bag when I’m moving and packing up drawers or cleaning out cupboards. There it will be. I open it up, and read what I wrote down years before. Lo and behold, everything I had wanted, or wished for, has come true. This has happened three times.
The first time it happened, I was shocked beyond belief at the realization that I had achieved everything I had wanted, and hadn’t even realized it. When it happened a second time, I was beginning to see the pattern. By the third time, which was during the move Ginnie and I made recently to the farm, it was getting to be old hat. In other words, it doesn’t take complicated lists of goals—short term, mid-term, long-term—that you stick on the bathroom mirror to remind yourself of daily, or hang above the door so that you see them on the way out, or listen to on a car player to keep yourself motivated. These are all popular techniques that work to some degree. But, everyone else that uses that bathroom, walks out that door, or rides in the car with you, are privy to your goals, and may question you or try to talk you out of them “Oh, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
And, you soon get tired of those memory joggers anyway, and don’t pay attention to them. It’s amazing that I can brush my teeth, or do the things I do in a bathroom to get ready for the day, and not even read the list that’s stuck in front of my nose.
It’s January, the month of resolutions. Weight loss, stop smoking, completing that college education, are all common resolutions, as are daily exercise and eating right. The problem with resolutions are that they may be too public. A God Bag, on the other hand, is personal and private. You don’t share it with anyone, therefore you can get down-and-dirty honest with the most important person in your life—you. What do you really want? Put it down on the list, even if it’s selfish. What’s your wildest dream, even if it’s grandiose? What do you dislike about yourself that you want to change? Put it all down. Tuck it away in a God Bag and forget it. Let God take care of all that stuff. Let His or Her will be done — not yours.
Miracles happen every day. There’s no reason why they can’t happen in your life. God is an equal-opportunity miracle worker. His light shines just as bright on the sick and poor as the healthy and rich.
Unlike the prescription for six-pack abs, the God Bag really works.
Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com