For easy review, here are the analogies used on LivingFullTilt.com.
Algebra
Imagine a student struggling with algebra. They don’t understand why they can’t learn it. They pay attention in class, ask questions, but it’s useless! Algebra remains a mystery.
It’s Friday, and they’re looking forward to escaping school for the weekend. They walk into algebra class and the teacher says, “Pop quiz on last night’s homework.” They sigh, shake their head and know they’re going to fail again. They silently ask: “Why am I so STUPID? Does God hate me?”
They get a tutor who teaches them to look at algebra from a new perspective, as if they were seeing with new eyes. Suddenly, an AHA moment…it clicks! This new perspective of algebra makes sense! They ask themselves, “Why didn’t I see this sooner?” smile, give a small prayer of gratitude, and confidently tell themself, “I own this!”
The following week they walk into algebra class and the teacher again says, “Pop quiz.” They laugh, smile and whisper, “Bring it on! I own this!”
Do you wake up each morning with an ‘I own this!’ feeling of being alive with joy and gratitude, wondering “How does it get better than this?!” If you practice LFT’s steps, you’ll master then put your spin on this approach to living Life’s Greatest Adventure!
If not, you’re missing what it’s all about!
Life seen as a Ballgame
Visualize a young excited child who feels fully prepared for their team’s baseball championship game. Leaving home, they imagine how the game will play out, the experience they and their team will have winning the game. Yet, on the way to the park, they witness a horrific auto accident, become distracted and their focus is lost.
Feeling disoriented, they suddenly grasp their team is immersed in the competition. They suddenly come back to the Here-Now and realize it’s the bottom of the 9th! Two outs. The game is tied and they’re going to bat! Will they regain their footing – their confident awareness in time?
If they do, they fulfill their earlier expectation and the team proceeds to a different league/level! If not, there will be another day that they will get another chance – another championship game theirs for the winning.
By engaging life from this perspective, we add another dimension to our puzzle piece that God is putting together. We add acceptance and love. Remember the quote by Viktor Frankl that the point isn’t what do we expect from life, the point is what does life expect from us?
Can you accept that is our greatest purpose? If not, as with the above championship game, there will be another time. A time to be brave, engage life with vulnerability, commitment, and rise to the occasion by practicing love for all.
Puzzle
You and I, everyone, and everything are like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle God is putting together. Our thoughts, words and actions give our piece its character: the color, texture, shading, scope and depth; the nuances of its character.
Imagine you have just opened a new box, dumping all the pieces on the table.
Three questions:
1. If you pick up one piece, any piece, does it fit anywhere but its own place?
2. Is any piece more important than another?
3. If even one piece, any piece, is missing, will the puzzle ever be complete?
Let’s consider the puzzle on macro and micro levels. At the macro level or God’s perspective, God is putting the puzzle together with everyone and everything as the pieces.
Simultaneously at the micro level, our piece is developing through our thoughts, words, and actions; what we initiate and how we respond or react; our challenges, experiences, intentions, words and actions give our piece its uniqueness.
God is emerging through our experiences and as facets of God, we’re emerging.
There’s no rush. Whether it’s one puzzle or a series of puzzles is unimportant. God is timeless. We, as sparks of God, are also timeless. God has always been, will always be; and as long as there’s God, there will be a you, a me, and a we.
I’d like to share a dream of a ‘Footprints in the Sand’ moment.
I dreamt I lay on my deathbed nearing my final moment dreaming I was a child on the beach walking with God holding my hand.
As we walked, my life appeared through a series of scenes. I noticed there were two sets of footprints when my life had been good, but at those moments when my deepest, darkest fears arose, I could see only one set of footprints.
I remembered those moments. I hadn’t understood what I’d done to cause God to leave me. With the innocence of a child, I asked God, “What did I do that was so bad you gave up on me when I needed you most?”
God turned to look at me, saying “Joey, I didn’t leave you. I could never leave you. You and I are one. My child, I carried you when you couldn’t walk.”