The Bible says:

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

-

Man is thus addressed as a spiritual counterpart to who the Creator has given ears, so that he can hear the message.

-

Eyes to see clearly with the vision of a Divine being.

A heart for love and understanding and compassion.

Yet, with all of these divine gifts, we are ungrateful.

When you and I come forth we are complete yet incomplete. How do we become complete?

-

By being fed and nourished. Food develops the body. Words develop the mind. Just as we must eat the right food to grow right physically; we must read from the right material, to grow our minds properly.

In the darkest mind there is a spark of light. In each of us, there is the essence of the Supreme Being.

The same God who brought that sperm through that tortuous journey to meet the egg and become you and me; that same God will deliver us, so never give in to the darkness of despair, and hopelessness.

-

Jesus is a witness, not that God is coming, but that God is present. Jesus gives man a glimpse of his potential. Jesus is not here for you to worship him; he is here for you to follow his example, that where he is you may be, because if you follow that example Jesus is only manifesting what is really in yourself. He is the perfect example of human potential. He was born of a woman and came through the vicissitudes of life, just like you.

God does not desire hardship for us. Furthermore, it is His desire to please us. Even so, we can find no life form that came in to existence without a struggle.

Whether it is the lowest form of insect or man himself, we see that overcoming adversity is a necessary part of life, since life cannot come into being without it.

-

We must struggle in order to obtain our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to meet with God. Difficult is an essential factor in the journey from being a speck of dust to being one with God.

We know struggle must take place by understanding what struggle causes us to do. Without struggle, you cannot bring out of yourself that which God has deposited within you.

-

It is something that has to be brought out and it is a struggle overcoming difficulties that manifest your own gifts and your own sublime qualities.

What God has deposited in us is the potential to be one with Him. On Him alone must we rely.

The bird must obtain its balance before it can fly. This is a sign to us in nature that part of the ordained struggle for us includes overcoming the difficulty we must encounter in order to achieve balance; this difficulty must be faced and overcome in order to proceed on the journey to meet with God.

God brought things into existence for the sustenance of man before his creation. That is, we did not earn the things we need and use to sustain life, but out of his beneficence, God gave them to use. Out of His beneficence, He has taught us expression, for this is necessary to our spiritual development. Our ability to read, write and speak is a Divine Gift to each one of us for spiritual and mental sustenance. Just as the vegetation of the planet is for our physical sustenance.

-

God placed in male and female, a natural inclination towards one another (biologically, physiologically, spiritually). He also placed this inclination, in another way, between mother and child. The power or force that is the source of the inclination is a need in the two (man and woman; mother and baby) for one another. The need caused us to incline toward that which will fulfill the need. The baby needs the milk in the breast of the mother and she needs to give the baby the milk, in. order for each of them to be in a balanced state of health.

If we fall in love with a man or a woman because a need we have is fulfilled through creating a bond, then what should our feelings be about the one who has provided for all of our needs - who, indeed, is the Creator and Sustainer of the man or woman we love, as well as ourselves?

-

If we call our loved one on the phone every opportunity, how often should we call on The One which brought us into existence from a speck of dust out of His love for Himself and us?

We should think of Him not only once a day, or even 5 times a day, but moment to moment.

-

Let us analyze this situation:

Why do our relationships in life invariably bring discontentment, dissatisfaction, and in most instances, dissolve?

It is because our inclination towards other human beings is not a primary inclination; it is secondary. We cannot find fulfillment in any secondary need if we ignore the primary need. Our primary need is for God. Though He is the true center of our existence, we have replaced Him with secondary needs which cannot be successfully done.

When we set up gods beside God, not only do we bring about the degeneration and destruction of those relationships, but we destroy the hope of a relationship with Him.

Then what is the means by which we learn to love our Lord the way we should?

-

How is any true love created, nurtured and brought to fruition?

By repetition of those actions which increase the bond that is love.

The child sucks from the breast over and over again. Each time the child draws the milk and the satisfaction that comes with it, the child's love for its mother grows: her love for the child grows as she draws satisfaction from giving him the milk.

-

Our love for God, is nurtured from repetition of acts of devotion to Him. Each time we pray and draw the incredible feeling of happiness and satisfaction that comes from prayer, our love for Him grows. Each thing we do in His way increases our Love.

And as our love for Him grows, we recognize Him as the True Center of our existence and the Source of balance for our lives. Once we are right with Him, do we have a hope of right relations with others.

The desire to attain a goal brings us face to face with difficulty. When we undergo the trial of difficulty the trial maybe so intense that it extinguishes the light of the desire to attain the goal.

As we embark upon the course of building the will, we see the importance of keeping alive the light of desire. For the will is exercised only as long as there is a desire. Continuing, perpetual desire generates continuing, perpetual exercise of the will.

-

Without desire, we have lost the nourishment to strengthen our will, which weakens and is ultimately starved to death. Before we can build our will our balance must be achieved, so that we move forward with God as the center of our existence in our conscious mind and in our hearts.

A child who is crawling does not realize he has the ability to walk until he performs the act. What triggers his conscious and deliberate action of walking? Desire. His mother call him, "come to mommy" and out of his desire to do so, he stand; he wobbles; he achieves his balance; he walks. Or, a brightly-colored ball is place in his range of vision. He is delighted; he wants to touch it; he wants to pick it up and handle it.

-

His desire for the object leads him to exercise his will to overcome whatever difficulty he must overcome in order to walk.

In the history of Noah, we find the definitive portrayal of a man with a strong will to do the Will of God. The nourishment for his Will was his Desire to please God. While his knowledge was limited, his Faith was not. His Faith in the Lord was manifested in his consistency at his task. His ultimate objective was God; his specific objective was to build the ark. His desire set the path of the direction of his efforts. There was opposition to Noah and those with him. The chief of the people mocked him and caused the people to mock him.

But the mockery actually strengthened his will. Will is Power. In the physical body, it is the muscle that is power. As we exercise muscles and develop them by lifting weights, we exercise the will in the same way by overcoming resistance, if we don't meet and overcome resistance, our will cannot develop.

-

You cannot be a champion without an opponent. That is, we can all think we are determined, but how determined we are cannot be determined until opposition comes.

Opposition is vital, necessary. Without opposition, it cannot be proved that a tender plant cannot just be plucked up out of the ground. When we go to pull on it, we find out it is rooted in the ground; it has a strength that is not apparent just looking at it. This shows us that God is with the plant, which is of His Creation.

Until we have tasted the fierceness of opposition, the depth of our roots in the Faith will not be manifested.