I have recently had the privilege of experiencing one of the most profound healings of my life – certainly the most powerful of the last several decades.  In my prayerful resolve to get well, it became clear to me that I had to clean up several areas of my life, for it was those areas that were the cause of the problem.

I knew that once I truly tackled the job of spring-cleaning my human thought, I would be immediately better and this was, in fact, the truth of the matter.  I went about the task like a man determined to clean out a closet on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The physical problem was intense, so it was clear to me that the healing work would have to match the enormity of the problem.  So I sequestered myself in my room for three days and did little else but study, ponder and pray.

I’ll write about this experience a lot now because it was such an Inspirational moment for me in my life.  It conclusively proved once again the incredible power of prayer as a total healing agent in a time when the world clearly leans towards medical and holistic solutions.

In this case, no medical or holistic solution could have possibly turned the experience around as quickly as prayer did.  Anyone would call this a miracle; however, I choose to think of it as a completely natural outcome of the science and truth of God’s love for His image and likeness – man, me.

There were many steps for me in this process, far too complex to explain in one blog post, so I shall concentrate on just one of the steps tonight – the resolution to become a better man, or more simply put, to be a good boy.

The physical problem was clearly the result of some pretty shoddy thinking on my part.  Some of it was confusion that I have lived with for most of my life.  Some of it was negative stuff that has recently snuck up on me and taken a hold in my thought.  And some of it was stuff that I discovered and came into contention with as I sifted through my mental closet and took a hard look at every aspect of my life.

I looked at the way I treat people, at a recent penchant in life to be critical of others, at a disgruntlement of some of the work I’ve been doing, at my sexuality, at my level of giving, at my deep personal relationships, and even at the way I was thinking each night as I went to sleep.

In each of these situations, once I began to explore them, immediate errors of thought and action came up for me that were impossible to ignore.  The physical problem was severe and so the immediacy of pain and disease were a catalyst to my impetus to deal strongly with everything that came up negative.

At first I was a bit overwhelmed at the mess in my closet.  I thought, “How can I possibly clean all this up?”  But the physical problem persisted and continued to worsen dramatically and so I stayed at it and kept identifying problems of negative thought.

In the climax of the physical problem, when fear had its strongest hold and the material picture was at its most dramatic, this thought came to me.  “Be a good boy.”  I guess my mom must have said this to me on my way to school every morning for a couple of decades.  I said the same thing to my son over and over throughout his childhood.

“Be a good boy.”  What a simple answer to all my problems!

Sometimes I struggle with the concept of God.  Who doesn’t?  The enormity of the word, the sheer magnitude of the concept is often much more than I can get my arms around.  When it all seems a little much, I find that if I change the word “God” to the word “good”, I’m a lot better off.  For example, instead of “God is my life”, rather, “Good is my life”.  Sometimes I can’t get a grasp on loving God, but I can understand loving good.

So now I have my New Year’s resolution.  I’m resolved to be good, better.  I’m committed to goodness.  I’m going to work, watch and pray to live in goodness every moment, every breath, every heartbeat.  Can I do it?  Well, so far I’ve not been able to, but the constant watchfulness and the resolve to handle every thought up to my highest ideal has made a dramatic difference in my life.

Old habits slide in before I know it, but I’m getting better at catching them.  Old temptations continue, but I’m determined to see through this new resolve and so the old temptations are pretty easily dealt with and overcome.  By raising the stakes of my life, I find that I’m happier, healthier and right smack in the middle of a personal reformation.  A re-form-ation.  Perhaps some would call this the process of being reborn.

I do know this:  In order to truly accomplish this goal of being a better person, I’ve had to slow my life waaaaaaaay down.  I’ve needed to study and ponder goodness.  I’ve needed to sit quietly every day and meditate, pray and think on these things to re-form my mind on a higher level.

In order to truly commit to this endeavor, I’ve had to understand that these errors of thinking that I’ve been practicing are just not worth the rehearsal.  In all cases, what I thought I was getting, turned out to be really bad for me even though it often felt good on one level or another.  I’ve had to deal very straight with myself — usually my misguided ego – and often sacrifice supposed pleasure for the straight and narrow.

I know, it’s one of the oldest lessons in the book, but we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that we can get away with things because nobody knows or it’s not really hurting anybody, when, in truth, it’s hurting us and somehow the universe knows.  I’ve come to realize that you can’t get away with nuttin’.  In the words of John Lennon, “Instant Karma’s gonna getcha.”  The good we do equals the good we receive.  The bad we do equals the bad we receive.  Forgiveness only comes in the destruction of the sin.  There’s no getting’ around it and only a fool thinks differently.

So I’m going to live less foolishly.  I’m going to be a good boy.  I’m going to progress in my thinking and evolve as a man and therefore protect myself from sin, disease and death.  What other choice do I have?  None.

As I have resolved my conflicts, my thought has clarified, my love for my fellow man has enlarged, my honesty and integrity with myself have become more realized.  What’s most interesting about this process is that it’s not difficult; it’s easier.  It’s all the old confusions that made life hard.  Now that they’re disappearing, life is simpler, clearer and things just seem to work out.

It all makes sense when ya’ really think about it.  No miracle here – just natural law in action.

And along the way to reformation, I was healed of a seemingly overwhelming physical problem in ‘miracle’ time.  God does not deal in time.  Time is not a part of God’s kingdom.  Time is a human thang.  So time has nothing to do with this healing.  Time played no part.

When I became a good boy, I became healthy.  That took no time.  It was immediate, because the physical problem was the illusory result of a mental cause.  Once the mental cause was clarified, there was immediately no cause any longer, so the time it took for my body to heal was no time.  There was simply no cause, so no result.  In the moments where I became a good boy, I became a well boy.