THE DEPRESSED PEOPLE

They were depressed, in constant pain.

Numbness and discontent bent their smiles.

What they wanted to become in life was an obvious impossible task…it was too much to ask.

Their lives were repetitive and hopeless. Boring routine, they went in circles. Their dirty mirror became their only friends.

Nothing seemed to matter, each day was a battle. Every sprinkle of joy they had experienced was forgotten…what used to be was rotten.

They wanted to leave their lives, as that became the unexpected gift of their existence.

Their little worlds were worthless and confused…. they felt used and abused from the chaotic battle of their reality.

Yet, one day, only briefly…. a beautiful memory appeared within their hopeless minds. It was a quick boost of serotonin. The memory that they had forgotten became as clear as the moment itself, though only lasting a few seconds.

this nostalgia was like a light switch, flickering on and off periodically. It was spontaneous throughout the following weeks…giving them unexpected hope to cope in their downward slopes.

Over time the comprehension sucker punched their numb emotions, it was in slow motion…a potion that was needed for a much-needed mental promotion. The memories were a small lit match to a dry forest, a path in the opposite direction to the mental coffin they were locked in.

These series of memories debriefed their anxious souls, giving them the ability to comprehend the beauty of existence, that there is little distance to hope…no need to form resistance.

they looked in the mirror and saw something incomprehensible to their souls.

a smile?

who is this, who is that person smiling?

They comprehended that beauty, peace and hope is still a part of their reality, the book they were in didn’t have to be a tragedy. Hope snuck its little head back in their emotional front door, their hearts core wasn’t so sore.

their memories helped them remember that joy is real…that as long as it had been experienced before it can once again be lived.

That joy is real… no need to despair.

-Jarom

The World is in Short Supply of Angels

The suffering you’ve felt has been tremendous.

Your emotions have been picked apart, laughed at and trampled on.

The physical body that surrounds your broken soul is hurting and never can find comfort.

Suffering has forcibly become your new best friend, which isn’t the way it’s supposed to work.

Your world has become a monumental chaos. Stress is building day after day.

How can we possibly cope with this?

The future version of yourself needs the current one

If you are still alive thirty years from now, what will the end result be?

Who is that individual?

Will they be angry, depressed, bitter and sad?

Will they be full of bickering and complaints?

Will they hate the world and people because of the suffering they went through before?

How will they view the suffering you are facing right now?

Will they look back on the current stress and suffering you are going through now and know it was necessary to who they became or feel bitterness towards it?

The beauty of suffering is unmatched

Suffering is beautiful. Suffering is change.

Suffering will inevitably cause one to change. It changes our minds in incomprehensible ways.

Without your current pains, rather it be anxiety, depression, sickness, fear, overcoming hate, addiction, insecurity, heartbreak, injury, death from loved ones…you will not become the person you want to become. It takes more than simply wanting to be someone…it takes something called “experience” to achieve such a tremendous goal.

What do you honestly want to be 20, 30 or 40 years from now? a bitter, grumpy person who is obsessed with image, money and/or themselves…or someone who is seen as an angel to others…who people will look up to and need? Which one do you hope to become?

A Short supply of Angels in the world

The world has enough “cool” people. There are already enough rich people with “power”. There are enough people who obsess over validation and have fame. We already have Enough people who bully and hurt others for laughs and jokes.

There is an oversaturation of pride, hate, resent and “mind my own business”. Enough people who seek personal gain at the cost of other’s wellbeing.

There aren’t enough angels in the world. There aren’t enough people who lose their precious time for others. There aren’t enough people who seek to bring a light into others’ lives and give them hope. We are on a short supply of people who forget themselves to make people around them happier.

We lack enough of these angels, as they aren’t seen as cool, trendy or status symbols. They aren’t usually rich. Many go unnoticed, which isn’t glamourous or flamboyant. The journey to becoming an angel isn’t easy. It’s hard, and the life of an angel is the opposite of what society says it should be. Yet Angels are the happiest people, as they know content. They know it very well.

Angels are produced from suffering. Angels help others because they themselves felt tremendous pain in their lives at one point, allowing them to fully embrace empathy. Angels comprehend suffering, which gives them one of the most potent tools in reality to light up the lives of those around them. Angels rejected bitterness and hate when life got hard…instead using that suffering as fuel to bring light to others.

We are in desperate need of angels.

You are becoming an angel.

Smile through the suffering.

-Jarom

Our Relationship with Christ: A Powerful Analysis

The relationship you have with Christ is like a moving conveyer belt. On one end of this belt, we have God, and the other…Satan.

This conveyer belt is constantly going in one of the two directions. It is never turned off. When we sin, this belt is flipped to Satan. Even when we aren’t “sinning” in a direct way, but our minds get too absorbed in other things, the belt slowly reverses back to the adversary. Each second of every day, we are going in one direction or the other. Almost all of our decisions we make in life will bring us closer or further from Christ.

There is no way to press stop on this conveyer belt. It is in constant movement in one of the two directions. Every imperfection that engulfs us is pulling us in the wrong direction. The goal is to minimize this flipping of the switch…to keep it going only one way: to Jesus the Christ.

The relationship that you develop with God is variable, always changing…never paused. Do not forget this friend. The decisions you make every hour of every day, in some way, impact your relationship with Christ.

Satan Knows You Well

Have you ever been so busy with work, school or other responsibilities, that a week races by…only to have you sitting in guilt at the separation that subtly occurred? If you’re really close to God, even having one full day go by without him crossing your mind sufficiently is enough to create chaos from within. Satan, many times, works quietly and precept upon precept…he doesn’t act in such a way that is extreme or chaotic.

For example, the chances that a man who is close to Christ will wake up one day, out of the blue, with the intention of cheating on his spouse is virtually nonexistent. Satan slowly worked on this man, first sourcing a single thought…. then one becomes two… maybe this man clicked a link online showing him pornography, or replied to a direct message that he knew was crossing a line. Maybe he was absorbing Satan into his subconsciousness when he went off to a bar…or allowed his emotions from an argument to win him over. Satan had this man’s destruction all planned out, watching him as he ruins his life.

Satan is either (debatably) extremely intelligent…or just dumb with thousands of years of experience. I’ve argued this idea in my mind countless times, which direction the arrow points in these two possibilities. I lean to the latter, as the simple fact he attempted (and still does) to engage against a perfect God is a projection of his radical ignorance, stupidity and low EQ (emotional quotient). Regardless, he knows you very well. He is hyper focused on your every move, tediously influencing you by tossing thoughts into your mind…and even initiating emotions to persuade. He is a master at this. He wants nothing more than to see you afraid, hopeless and discontent. He smiles and laughs at every sin you engage in. I repeat, when you do something that you know is against God, Satan is laughing at you.

Just ponder with me, all the horrific acts of violence and evil that’s occurred on planet earth. The nightmarish wars, from the Civil war to World War 2. The Bullying of the innocent. Domestic abuse and broken homes, filled with tears and broken minds. Drug addicts, who would rather die than seek intervention. The drowning insecurities that make young adults feel depressed and pointless. Consider That the same entity who promoted, smiled and laughed (and still does) at these things is the same entity who you side with daily when you sin.

The Anatomy of Sin

Every sin we commit is a reflection of our love for Christ.

The brutal truth is when we sin, we’re essentially cheating with the enemy, and doing it right in front of our savior’s face. Each time we sin, or backpedal the other way, we’re doing nothing unique from what Judas and Peter did. We are rejecting our savior for our own personal gain, pleasure and self-preservation. Did not Judas backstab our God for a little cash? Did not Peter reject he knew the almighty God because he was scared for his reputation and safety? At its core, our moments of sin are nothing less than creating a different path, one that walks opposite of the Savior.

This doesn’t mean we don’t love God because we sin. That would be a logical error…a false dilemma fallacy. Someone can love their peers and still make mistakes; those mistakes do not immediately equate to a rejection of their love for the person. What it does mean is that the relationship needs to improve, grow and mold into something stronger.

Sin isn’t a complicated thing to understand. Sin is anything that is not the will of God in your life. Christians seemingly look at Sin in a very specific manner, which is understandable. Do not lie, steal, slander, fornicate, do drugs, bully etc… But the reality is the mindset of “I didn’t fornicate this past year” isn’t an accurate representation of what sin is. instead of looking at sin as a checklist, consider observing it in your life as a direction, overall. The conveyer belt analogy pinpoints it well. Every “sin” that we committed is only parts to the overall movement to or from Christ.

We all sin, A LOT. Even the most spiritual believers sin daily. Satan has fine-tuned us for destruction, making sure to expound on every weakness we have. He attempts to stomp on the parts of us that are spiritually cracked and fragile. He knows how to manipulate your brain chemistry through thoughts and emotions. He uses this as a weapon against you.

You must Be aware of who you are, of the thoughts that are produced into your consciousness, of the weak spots your soul has. Become a master of awareness, of knowing when Satan is influencing your soul.

Conclusion

Ultimately, when we pass from this life, what many people consider valuable will be meaningless.

The moment we leave this life, in that very moment, your social media accounts will be worthless. The likes, follows and cute Dm’s will be nothing. in that moment, all the petty drama you were involved in will cease. The drug called “validation” will be puffed no more. All the overtime work you put in for more income will be worth as much as the same dirt you are buried in.

The only thing that will matter is how much you turned to Christ for your stresses, pains, fears and salvation. He will be all that matters..

-Jarom

The Great Ethical Dilemma: Relationships and Standards

You finally meet the man of your dreams.

Finding him was impossible…until it wasn’t. He is everything you could have asked for…your checklist has no empty spots. It isn’t just his looks, but also his ability to communicate and his intelligence.

As always, you have your emotional guard up. This time around though, it seems to be dropping far more rapidly than usual. He seems to say all the right things at the right time. The cold heart you handed him has begun the process of defrosting.

After several months of deep conversations and fun dates…you commit to him. A few days after your fairy tale beginning…a conversation comes up unexpectedly.

The smile falls off your face as soon as you hear it…“I do not want you to go off to clubs”.

This comes as a shock to you. No man in your life has ever cared about you going off…enjoying life (as you should). Your girlfriends all have boyfriends…and they seemingly could care less about it. The social circle you’ve created would immediately see this “perfect” man as a screaming red flag.

Your whole life has been filled with beautiful (at times chaotic) moments with your rowdy friends. The theme of your life is to be in the moment, to party hard but work hard. This sudden contradiction in ideas is a sucker punch to your excitement.

“Why does it matter to you if I go have fun? You already seem controlling.” The passive reply from your mouth is full of offense and dissatisfaction. The butterflies you felt were hit by a fly swatter and left for dead.

“I’ve never had a woman go off to clubs and I cannot believe this is an issue for you” is his firm reply back.

You hang up on him, hop on TIKTOK and watch as many bias videos as you can in regard to justification for this issue of yours. By the end of the night, you’re certain that he is a control freak and a narcissist. The idea of breaking it off has already begun and you’ve just started.

My opinion is right…yours is…wrong?

What started off as a cute conversation between to love birds has now turned into an ethical dilemma: Who is right when both parties create their own subjective standards for their relationship?

One of the biggest flaws within relationships is that of standards. We all have developed our own personal set of standards for ourselves and our relationships. What we deem to be fine to do in a commitment is very much personal for each one of us. To counter this, we also have certain matters we set that are wrong and unethical to do within a commitment. Ultimately, many commitments are swamped with anxiety, anger and resent from this conflict of interest. Ethics are already a sensitive subject…and two parties finding mutual agreement on them can skyrocket into many negative emotions. For many, negative emotions are just the nails being put into a coffin slowly…the end of their relationship is inevitably going to happen.

Subjective means varying, changing and not firmly set. If you are using the word subjective in regard to people…than whatever you are referring to would be dependent on each and every individual. A good example of subjectivity in humans is opinions. We all have opinions on different matters, and for the most part we are all valid in them. If I like pizza with no cheese, call me weird but I’m just as much valid as someone who likes extra cheese on their pizza. If I love pineapples on my pizza and you don’t…we both are right. I cannot tell you that disliking pineapples on your pizza is wrong, and if I did you would call me unethical and wrong. (as you should).

Let’s drag subjectivity over to our commitments and our standards within them. It’s no different than our favorite flavor of ice-cream. My set of standards are just as valid as yours. In the example above, the woman (I used you, the reader) is no more right or wrong than the man is in regard to the situation. If he says she shouldn’t go to clubs, he is right. If she says she should be able to…she is right. They are both right. They both have their subjective reasons based off their social circles and life experiences.

This creates an ethical dilemma, one that, if not fixed…can destroy a relationship.

The only way for two parties to come together and make sense of this would be to somehow find an objective standard somewhere, one that is firmly set and accurate. Since science cannot solve any ethical problems, there is no scientific peer review you can find that could possibly prove what objective standard is right for any commitment. Science has its hands tied on anything ethical…logic and microscopes do nothing within the world of abstract values such as these.

Whatever would create these objective truths would be something outside this realm. Something that would be outside logic, physics, time and space. In order to present anything ethical as factual for our commitments…it could not use science as its source.

If we all had one source of factual standards somewhere to go to, it wouldn’t matter what they felt or thought on something…they would know that following the objective standard is the only right way. What this would mean in regard to the club dilemma above is that one of these individuals would be factually correct and the other…factually wrong. Therefore, they could both look to this objective standard for assistance in these matters.

What could I possibly be talking about here?

You’re smart, I know you can figure this one out.

-Jarom

Blind Faith (a short story)

You’re in a dark cave.

You’re alone.

You left your phone in the car…no light or messages can be sent.

You’ve been yelling for hours in hope of some sort of rescue…all that’s heard is echos that seemingly mock you in return.

After hours of walking slowly through the dark hole… you sit down in tears. Hope has been defeated.

Your mind and thoughts are on the people you’re never going to see again. All the memories you will miss. “If only” is the constant phrase running through your chaotic mind.

To toss more wood to your mental fire…your prayers seemingly have been unheard. Absolutely nothing has changed. Based off your estimation, it’s been at least a day of turmoil. This unknown final chapter in your book of life was introduced with deep bouts of prayer to your “God” above. Hours of prayer in the darkness was your go to move at first.

You come to the ultimate conclusion that if you had never prayed in this cave…you would be in the same situation. In fact, all the prayers you had in your life for direction seem meaningless to you, in the moment. The faith you built for years was pointless.

You cry harder than you’ve ever cried before. The last time you whelped this bad was decades ago.

After some time, you decide to get up and start walking in hopes of finding an entrance or hear another voice. You’ve yelled for so long you cannot get any noise to come out. Tears have dried up on your face.

As you slowly walk through the physical nightmare, you trip over a rock and hit the hard ground like an acorn to a car. The fall is dead weight. You are, at this point, numb to emotion. You’ve given up on yourself. God, the one whom you gave your all to in your existence…seems to follow suit.

You have been walking in a physical nightmare now for hours and hours…nothing.

Nothing is happening.

God forgot about you. He either isn’t real or doesn’t care. There is no in-between.

Your hope is gone. There is absolutely no reason to continue trying. It’s over. You ‘re starving, afraid and depressed.

It’s all over.

You find a soft spot of mud, or what seems to be mud…and lie in it.

“This will be my grave, right here” you whisper to your broken ego.

its over.

its all done.

You tried.

Your whole life of building up your career…a waste. Your relationships? worthless. Nothing mattered. It’s done.

You stare at the darkness. It’s so dark, when you close your eyes nothing changes. All you can hear is the drips of liquid hitting the rocks around you. Oddly, you feel slightly relaxed for the first time. The adrenaline is wearing off. Exhaustion has somewhat of a calming effect to your hurt conscious.

As you lie alone in the cave…You suddenly feel a unique feeling of peace. It’s a beautiful feeling of comfort…of hope. The irony of feeling comfort in such a horrific time makes you giggle.

The feeling forces hope back into your hopeless mind.

It could be what you used to call “God”…but you’re certain it’s just another brain chemical. Regardless, this comfort gives you a potent boost to keep going. To move forward.

To put one foot in front of the other. To stay alive…just a little bit longer.

You stand up like a toddler learning to walk. You’re exhausted and drained.

One foot softly is put in front of the other and you slowly push forward. Pushing through the sadness and anger.

You walk… with zero evidence of getting out. All you have left is a sprinkle of hope that came from within.

You have, at this point in your chaos, blind faith with no results or evidence to lean on. Nothing to see…nothing to hear. Just walking in the dark once again. For whatever reason, you feel it’s worth the extra effort…and you don’t understand why. So, you just keep on walking.

Another hour of walking is your guess…then you’ll find your natural burial ground.

Then something happens.

You see a small speck of light far off in the distance. The distance away is monumental, making it look like a tiny star in the galaxy.

“hope”.

The drip of hope you had turns from a Prius to a Lamborghini. It skyrockets into certainty. Though far away, with numerous rocks and crevices ahead…that little speck of light is waiting for you.

You start walking to the itty-bitty light with new direction and motivation. As you walk…your eyes are hyper focused on it. That tiny dot is your entire future. Though small…it alone is all your hope, joy and peace. Your family…everything is on the other side of it. It is freedom and life.

The ultimate value of something so small comes across as ironic.

You trudge through foot deep water…at times going faster than you know you should. The fact you cannot see anything except the light makes it convenient to walk towards, at least.

Every so often your conscious becomes aware of the minuscule light growing bigger. With each passing step closer, the light fills out more and more.

Finally, after tediously walking through crevices and dirty water…you make it to the light. It had to at least been an hour of walking.

You stop.

The eyes that were blind the past day stares at the opening. You See trees and a cloudless blue sky. The siren from a paramedic is heard from miles away. Birds chip like they are cheering for you.

It turns out this is the same entrance you went in at…and your shiny blue car is parked. The anxiety that has been harassing you disappears as you run to the car.

“My phone!” you scream. “Nine missed calls?!” You’re too tired be anymore stressed…so you put the phone down and exhale.

The moment is absorbed slowly.

You made it. Pain and aches from the fall prick your peace. The nearest Emergency room should be the next destination, as frustrating as that sounds.

As your mind destresses…something clicks within you.

you step outside the car and fall to the ground in tears.

God, the one whom you rejected in what seemed to be your last moments…had to be there all along. The expectations you had in your mind were not his…but the end result was identical. If you would have died on the floor of that cave, given up then…the light would have never been seen.

You ponder why you walked from your burial ground earlier. Why would you robotically walk with blind faith?

Nothing was happening.

All you can ponder is the word “nothing” in your conscious. The feeling you had on the ground gave you a sprinkle of hope…but it took blind faith…and lots of it….to discover the blessing you wanted.

Without that blind faith, the final push…seemingly alone…you would not be here right now.

The scariest moment of your past journey was blindly walking without anything to see, feel or hear…but it was crucial to aligning your will with your creators will.

It was only then that your heartfelt prayers could be answered.

-Jarom