Marty, the Angel Repairman

Written by Suzanne Solle


I was in a somewhat confused place in my life a couple of years ago. I had been unceremoniously ousted from my high paying marketing position two years before and was still struggling with a lot of "who am I and why am I here?" type questions. I didn't realize it atrepparttar time, but I was inrepparttar 122294 process of evolving from a person that lived almost entirely through my mind torepparttar 122295 person I'm becoming who lives from her heart and soul.

Of course, life marches on even when you're inrepparttar 122296 throughs of a personal identity crisis. At this point, fate had thrown me a broken dishwasher.

Our family's finances atrepparttar 122297 time ofrepparttar 122298 appliance meltdown were abysmal. Finally, after several months of dealing with mountains of dirty dishes strewn aroundrepparttar 122299 kitchen, I cried "Uncle". I bought a dishwasher withrepparttar 122300 remaining credit available on our credit card.

I was so happy whenrepparttar 122301 two young men showed up to install my shiny new best friend. It was stainless steel onrepparttar 122302 front, absolutely beautiful, and amazingly quiet.

Too quiet, as it turned out.

I used my sleek new companion several days in a row. Each time I finished runningrepparttar 122303 dishwasher and took outrepparttar 122304 dishes, they were still dirty. I calledrepparttar 122305 store to ask for help and they promised to send someone outrepparttar 122306 next morning to check intorepparttar 122307 problem.

Marty,repparttar 122308 repairman, showed up right on time. He was around fifty, slender and had a cowboy sort of air about him. I was immediately comfortable with him. He seemed open and friendly, competent and wise. We went intorepparttar 122309 kitchen and within five minutes, Marty had determined thatrepparttar 122310 installers hadn't opened a water valve completely, so there wasn't adequate water reachingrepparttar 122311 dishwasher.

I was relievedrepparttar 122312 problem was so simple and easily fixed. I thanked him and offered him some coffee. He accepted a mug, leaned back againstrepparttar 122313 kitchen counter and after taking a sip, asked me if I believed in angels. His question caught me off guard, it didn't fit with our conversation up to that point. I asked what prompted him to ask me that question. He said he'd noticed I had several angel and cherub paintings and figurines around my house and garden. I felt slightly disconcerted and avoiding his original question, I said yes, I did indeed collect them.

He then handed me a postcard from his tool box with information about a store in Independence, Missouri, about 45 minutes from my home. He said I should go there some time becauserepparttar 122314 owner had many angel objects for sale. I asked Marty how he found out aboutrepparttar 122315 store. He proceeded to tell me an amazing story.

About six months before I met Marty, his only daughter had been killed in a car accident on I-435, a nearby highway. She was a passenger inrepparttar 122316 front seat riding with a couple of friends. The driver's cellular phone rang and he dropped it while trying to answer it. When he bent over to pick it up, he lost control ofrepparttar 122317 car and slammed into a concrete barrier. Marty's daughter wasrepparttar 122318 only person that was killed.

Hypnotized by the Crowd ... Lost in the forest of beliefs!

Written by Edward B. Toupin


Overrepparttar years of growth and maturity, we become hypnotized by our own belief systems. We move through life underrepparttar 122293 influence of societal and religious rank and file. Parental voices fill our heads such that we believe in a stricter form of beliefs than did our previous generations as, for each generation,repparttar 122294 mind becomes less open and accepting and more filled with what is required to belong torepparttar 122295 crowds ofrepparttar 122296 past.

Our internal beliefs are likerepparttar 122297 external laws ofrepparttar 122298 judicial system. For every new experience, we develop a new node, a new rule or law, in our "sphere of intellect" that regulates how we are to react to a given situation. However, our minds are so filled withrepparttar 122299 parental and authoritarian voices of past experiences, from others, that we no longer have any room for our own experiences.

Our belief systems are built as children fromrepparttar 122300 experiences of our parents, friends, relatives, and neighbors. But, are these valid bits of knowledge and valid beliefs? They must be since we tend to hang on to them dearly even if they don't work for us. Perhaps, at some time, we could have experienced a given situation differently. Perhaps, we could have "at least experiencedrepparttar 122301 situation at all" had we not been so afraid to step forward and look intorepparttar 122302 vast darkness of our own taught beliefs.

We have become hypnotized byrepparttar 122303 crowds that move toward that which we think isrepparttar 122304 answer to our questions. But, we find, as we move along in this morass of other lost souls, that indeed,repparttar 122305 answer is not ahead ofrepparttar 122306 crowd, but withinrepparttar 122307 crowd. The answer lies within yourself.

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