Thanking is good or bad depending on my motivation

Few days ago, I realized that thanking God is not good enough.
When I get up in the morning and say,"Thank God, I'm not dead.", if I am thinking about just me being alive for my own sake without thinking about those who dies, that's not good.
However, if I think I have a job to do for God and humanity, and God allowed me this new day to do that job for some reason, and thank God, then it should be good.
Indeed I have a work to do through my lifetime--the more I find the reason why God put me here at this time of history in this perticular place on the earth, the more my work would benefit whole mankind and God.

Another bathroom revelation this morning

I woke up late this morning. Somehow I couldn't hear the alarmclock. When I went inside the bathroom, I asked Him why I couldn't wake up on time. He told me that I needed to realize something last night but I didn't, that's why he wanted to get my attention so that I could catch that message. Here's the summary of that message:

I set my goal to live with God, attending His presence. But my focus was just God himself. However, He is the parent of all mankind, which means, parent cannot just exist disconnected from children. Parents always love children, concerned about children, feels joy and pain according to the situation of the children. Therefore, the right way to live with God attending Him is with the awareness of what He would be thinking and feeling about His children (especially when most of His children are in such unhappy situation) We cannot live with God without having awareness of the situation of His children. When one child suffers, parent's heart cannot be somewhere else, just relaxing by himself.

Then one story just came to my mind.

...Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' "Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into etrenal life." (Matt: 25: 34-46)

bathroom revelation this morning

I woke up at 4:40 this morning and went to the bathroom.
As I was washing my face, God started to talk to me. He said that if I set a goal for the day, I have to be serious about that goal. It shouldn't be just a lip service. Why? It is because when I say to Him what I want to accomplish for today, He also says to me, ok let's do it. Then He never forget what I promised Him to do, and He will make every possible effort from His side to make it happen, by setting up many different situations. However, if I am not serious about the goal, and fail to pay conscious attention to what God may be doing, then His preparation will not bring what is expected to happen. Therefore, if I am not serious about my goal, it is very rude thing I could do to God.
Ok, God, thank you very much for your guidance. I will take it seriously, and practice from now.
Always pay attention to what God may be doing, and whenever you notice that God is asking you to do something, never fail to say, "Yes" So, like I said before, "Say Yes to God; One Yes at a Time"

Thanking for the bathroom is still not good enough

This morning I woke up with a good feeling, shouting to God, "Thank you, God. I'm not dead!" as usual.
Then, all of a sudden, strong feeling came to me, saying that it is not good enough to just thank something that you can appreciate. When you say, "Thank you God, I'm not dead!", what is your idea to those who dies? You are not thinking about them, but only thinking about your "fortunate" situation. In other words, you are just being selfish when you say to God, "Thank you." What an irony!
Well, maybe this is pretty much high level of understanding God's heart. I can still start from what I can do at this point--to thank God for what you can appreciate--just like an innocent child. I think that's ok. Even I heard that someone said that you should be like an innocent child in order to go to Heaven. We can start from there humbly, and the more we appreciate God, the deeper our relationship will be, and the deeper part of God's heart will be accessible to us. Such heart--like a parent. When one child suffers, your heart aches. Then I cannot just say thank you God without paying attention to that child.
I think it takes time, and we can do step by step: Say Yes to God; One Yes at a time.

Is there oxygen after death?

We discussed if there is a bathroom after death yesterday.
How about this question: Is there oxygen after death?
I have heard that there is no oxygen after death. But there is air for sure. However, the content of the air is not like oxygen or carbon deoxide but instead it is something like "love."
That means; we will be breathing "love"--inhaling "love" and exhaling "love"
So, we need to be able to inhale "love" and exhale "love"
Thus, we need to develop our capability to receive "love" and give "love" through our limited life with our physical body.
In other words, we need to be able to feel God's love (inhale) through everything around us--nature, food, people, situation, happenings, good moment, bad moment, happy moment, sad moment, chllenges, difficulties, etc. etc... This takes a training (this will not happen automatically)
We also need to be able to give love to the people (exhale) This also takes a training.
So life is an opportunity to go through this training, so that we can freely breath God's love. Then surely we will find ourselves happy, and we will be prepared to go into the next world.
The key word to begin this trainig is, "Thank you, God!"

Is there a bathroom after death?

I was worrying about this question.
If there is one, that means whatever bothersome process surrounding bathroom in our life here will continue for eternity?! --such as diarrhea, constipation, getting panics in search of an existence of a bathroom, getting clogged out, etc....
However, I have heard that we don't need to worry about those things at all when we get there. Of course, there will be delicious food over there, but we will not be eating food to maintain our physical existence, but rather enjoying taste and tasting God's love behind them. Thus, we will not need to do either #1 or #2; we will just enjoy eathing whenever we want to eat.
On the other hand, I have heard another news, too. Yes, we will surely do #1 and #2 over there, but the difference is that after we do it, we will just need to waive our hands and they will be gone!
Anyway, this is still my lifetime research topics. What will it be like in the world after death. Please let me know if you know something...

Sages' way of bathroom

One honorable man taught me how I should go to the bathroom.
He didn't lecture it on me, but somehow I found out how he does the bathroom:

1. I noticed that whenever he comes out of the bathroom, it gets cleaner than before his entering it. He cleans whenever he goes into the bathroom. Why? It is because he wants the next user to have a pleasant and joyful experience and to become happy.
2. He uses only one sheet of toilet paper or two at most. Why? It is because he wants to save papers. He knows there are many people in this world who could not have even a piece of paper. Thinking about them, he cannot peacefully use too much paper.
3. He doesn't flush water all the time--only when it's needed. Why? It is because he wants to save water. He knows there are many people in this world who could not have even a drop of water. For many people, the only water available is dirty water, and they get sick all the time. Thinking about them, he cannot peacefully use water as he pleases.

Thanking is recognizing and appreciating

Thanking is to recognize what God gives to me, and to appreciate what he gives to me.
Thanking is, thus, the beginning of my conversation with God.
He already gave me so many things starting from my own life.
The more I thank, the more things I start to see which I didn't see before as His gift.
Then I start to see so many gifts around--not only things, but also the situations
God prepares so many different situations for me to grow,
and to be mature, then I will be filled with joy and happiness
Therefore, I'd better open my eyes wide
so that I can see His love
Many times I cannot recognize His love because it comes from totally unexpected direction, or in totally unexpected manner; better open my eyes...
He hears our prayer and absolutely responds to us (maybe not in a way we expect)
Here's a good example:

This is the conversation from the movie, "Evan Almighty"

....This situation looks like an opportunity.
If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient?
If they prayed for courage, does God give them courage, or does He give them the opportunity to be courageous?
If someone prayed for their family to be closer, you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

Therefore, when you get up in the morning, the first thing you do is to say, "Thank you, God! (I'm not dead.)" Then anything happens to you, you say, "Thank you, God." And then stop to think what you can thank God about. I mean, you have to be open to notice God's love from anywhere, in any kind of manner.

What if my wife throws away the rose which I gave to her?

We discussed that you lose nothing by thanking.
Today we discuss that you gain something by thanking.

Suppose you love your wife so much, and one day gave her a gift with all your heart--a rose!
Guess what. She threw it into the garbege can! How would you feel? Of course not so good.

What if she received it with so much joy and gratitule?
You might be so inspired to even give her more.

How about in the case of our God?
Whether we believe it or not, He has given us so much--air, light, food, healthy body, beautiful flowers, nature, ability to appreciate things, etc. etc.
If I take it for granted and not offer my appreciation, how would He feel? But if I recognize what He has given to me and appreciate it, how would He feel? Would He feel the same or different?

Our relationship with Him could become so deep, personal, and intimate. However, it is totally up to me how I develop this relationship. Like every human relationships, it should start from recognition of the other and appreciation for the other, which would help deepening the relationship. Thus, thanking God is just a beginning of building this amazing relationship of God and me in this universe which goes even beyond our phisical life on earth--eternity!

You lose nothing by thanking

When I say, "Thank God for protecting my left knee!", do you think God is really doing it? Or, is it just my imagination? In fact, there are two possibilities.

1. God, in fact, worked to protect my left knee.
2. God did not protect my left knee. It happened by accident.

In case of 1, if God really did it, then it is very natural thing to be thankful. God will also be happy when you thank Him about what He did.

In case of 2, if God did not do it, and then you start thanking Him. God may be surprised, or shocked. He might say, "Oh, my God! How can he do that?" He might be feeling this way, "I was feeling sorry as the parent to have to see my child bleeding. I couldn't help him because of some reasons, but as I see him thanking for what I did not do. I feel so bad.

Imagine if someone thanks you so much for something you didn't do. How would you feel? You may feel indebted.

Thus, at least you can catch His attention because not many people do this to him. When you get His attention, His heart will get attracted to you, then you will get Heavenly Fortune.

So, you will not lose, but will gain.

Coming out of the bathroom

Even outside the bathroom, there are still things you can be grateful.

Imagine when you are walking, suddenly you were tripped by a stone on the road and fell down. Now your right knee started bleeding. What would you do first?

Of course there are lots of things to do dealing with this situation. However, what is the first thing you could do?

It is to say, "Thank you, God."

You may say, "What?"
"What are you thanking for when you are bleeding and in pain?"

Yes, you would say, "Thank you, God, for protecting my left knee!"

Yes, there is always a reason to be thankful. And whether thanking or not is totally up to me. This is an amazing part. If I thank, I will receive tremendous power in doing whatever afterwards. If I don't thank, you will still do what you need to do to deal with the situation. Therefore, thanking or not is totally my choice. In other words, I am given an amazing source of power all the time, but to access or not is my choice. Nobody will push you or force you to make that choice. As far as you voluntarity choose to make that choice, your life will be more protected, and happier. This is one of the amazing blessing we have as human being. We could go on to say even this:

Who is making me happy? Who is making me unhappy? It is me, myself who choose to be either happy or unhappy. Nobody else, nothing else. But I still need to talk about the reason why thanking will give you amazing power. What is the mechanism of thanking? I will be back...