If you have an e-mail address and friends who e-mail you regularly, my guess is that you probably have been a recipient of a chain e-mail at some point in time. You know those ones that always start out with something so very sweet? But then as you read on, they draw you in with that hook and ask you to send the e-mail on to at least ten friends, including the person who originally sent it to you, for some special condition to be met. Just the other day, I happened to receive one of these but after sending it on, I realized it was time to put an end to ever doing it again for one reason and one reason only. These e-mails are usually based upon the one feeling I’ve been trying to remove from my life and that’s GUILT.
In case you are one of those who don’t know what I’m talking about because you either don’t use the Internet or because you’ve never received one of these, here’s the e-mail I received in my Inbox that triggered all of this.
“Twenty angels are in your world. Ten of them are sleeping, nine are playing and one is reading this message. Please Read…not joking…God has seen you struggling with something. God says it’s over. A blessing is coming your way. If you believe in God, send this message on, please don’t ignore it, you are being tested. God is going to fix two BIG things tonight in your favor. If you believe in God, drop everything and pass it on. Tomorrow will be the best day ever. Send this to at least ten friends, including me, if I don’t get it back, I guess I’m not one of them. As soon as you get five replies, someone you love will quietly surprise you…”
So what are YOU reading in this e-mail? Are you seeing any of that guilt it’s trying to provoke in you? Well I do and unfortunately, I have been falling for it in e-mails like this for years. But thankfully though, the spiritual work I’ve been doing on myself has finally helped me to see how my sending this out yet again did nothing more for me than take me in the exact opposite direction I’ve been heading in lately.
Guilt is a energy depleting feeling and it’s also extremely unspiritual. It’s something I grew up with in my alcoholic family. It’s something I endured through many toxic friendships and relationships, And it’s something I’d prefer to remove all traces of from my life like these chain e-mails.
Here’s what I believe are the real truths in this chain e-mail…
1. God sees us struggling all the time but that’s usually for the fact that we hold onto control and do our will instead of God’s will more than not.
2. God blesses each of our lives every single day except most of the time we are too busy to see it.
3. God only tests us in things that will help us spiritually grow to become more filled with love and light and to see if we have learned certain lessons from previous situations.
4. God fixes things all the time for us, but they don’t come in our time or through our demands. They come in God’s time and not because we are diligently sending out some chain e-mail that declares to God, “Well I sent this e-mail out God, so where’s my two BIG fixes!”
5. God asks us to drop our selfish and self-centered behaviors to help out one another, but sending out a chain e-mail like this is really just another selfish and self-centered action because of the reward it promises to the sender in doing so.
6. God’s guidance in life can lead to having every day be one of the best days ever but that entails removing self-will and leaning more on God’s will.
7. God wants each of us to love each other but not in guilting someone to e-mail another.
8. God loves you every single day just as much as deep down your soul loves God. By slowing down, you’ll see that God can quietly surprise you all the time.
While this is just one chain e-mail with its own set of guilt-laden messages, there are many others out there circulating that I don’t know how or where they originated. All I do know is that they continue to become more and more creative with deeper and deeper hooks to draw people in. They use that guilt and many other negative feelings to keep them going from person to person. So if you are looking to live a spiritual life, the next time you open your e-mail and see one of them in your inbox, I encourage you to take a moment, breathe, and do what I did when I got another one of them a few days later after the first. Delete it, and move on with your life with a big smile knowing you’re not only helping yourself in doing so, but so many others too.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson