What has changed through the years?

Well, much has changed. The color of my hair, my weight, my vision and other things. But what I feel has changed the most is my attitude about life, simply put, the way I look at things has changed. My looking at things differently has made some dramatic changes in my life. I feel for the better, even though some would argue that point.

The most drastic change I would say is that of my religious beliefs. You see, I was a Jehovah's Witness and I lived my life for the most part as one. Yes, that included knocking on people's doors at the break of dawn to give them what I believed to be good news. I also publicly spoke before hundreds of people on several Bible topics. I took this very seriously since I did not want to mislead anyone.

From about 1991 I began to change in my way of looking at what I had been taught and what I was teaching. I began to notice things I did not like or completely agree with. I won't go into any details about that. It was strong enough however to cause me to slowly stop attending all meetings and to stop teaching my childrn the way I had been. I still taught them right from wrong and I still believed there was a God, so this I still instilled on them. It was how I felt about God that changed. I started to view God as even more merciful than I was thught to believe. I saw a God who loved all people, regardless of their religion or lack thereof. I could no longer believe that God would destroy all those who weren't Jehovah's Witnesses, base on that fact alone. The God I got to see now is a God who loves all people and takes no pleasure in the pain and suffering of his creation. I used to believe in a total destruction of our present earth which would then open the way for a paradise where we, those surviving Jehovah's Witnesses, would live along with those brought back to life by Jesus Christ, to live an everlasting life. I still believe there will be changes in life, life as we know it, but I no longer believe the earth will be destroyed and rebuilt just for a certain religion. God is too good for that. I base that on the fact that he is our father, and what father would not give life and happiness to all his children if it was in his power to do so?

Other things that have changed are the way I look at things and descisions we make. For example, divorce is something I never talked about and to think of it as something I would do, was just out of the question. However, I see things differently now. I am also more accepting of people and the reasons they do or for that matter don't do certain things. This has brought about a more peaceful me. I can take things a lot better than I would in the past. No, I am not saying I approve of everything a person may do,, however, I am much more willing to listen and accept a new way of thinking if my way is flawed. I want to be a better , more informed individual. I want to learn different cultures and why people think the way they do.

We all have had our own share of pain and suffering in life and each one of us has dealt with it in the best way we knew how to. What a wonderful thing if we would share our coping mechanisms with others and learn from them as well.

Life is so short that we, I believe, need to love and become a person who others want to love and to be around. Never taking anyone for granted or looking down on those with less than us or being envious of those who have mor than us. We must live our lives the best we can and allow others to do the same....