Author: Mary Cates Author

At the Michigan Miss Amazing pageant, held on May 6, 2023, my cousin, Alyssa, was asked to come and crown her successor and give a speech about her experience last year as a winner. These National pageants capture the wonderful beauty and spirit of Down syndrome people, and others with disabilities. Their achievements are truly “amazing”. The organization was founded by Jordan Sommer in 2007 and has been bringing girls and women with disabilities together ever since. Many parents and caring people work with these girls, and their dedication sharply shows the great achievements these special people have made. All of them are reaching their highest potentials as they learn, work, and gather together. Among my praise for all of them is also my praise for Alyssa’s mother, Sue, who has given her daughter every opportunity to succeed. I am proud of them, and feel honored to feature this article on my blog.

A

Alyssa has created “Happy Cards” which she sells and gives the proceeds to the Michigan Miss Amazing pageant. Standing with Alyssa at the display table is her happy Mom, Sue.

During my career as a School Nurse, I discovered the warm and loving spirit that these special people possess.

Congratulations to all the Miss Amazing girls and women.

I

It was a rainy day and I was trying to ward off a slight blue feeling. It seemed that the world and me were not laughing as much as we used to.

In the book: Seeds of Greatness by Dennis Waitley, he claimed that laughing increases endorphins and other good hormones that make a person feel good. I think he’s right. That rain day I was thinking about some amusing things that have happened down through the years, things that remain as funny memories and I got good feelings as I chuckled.

I thought about a time long ago when my husband and I decided that a little dog would be good for our six year old son, Maxie. The three of us went down to the dog pound and searched out the cutest dog there.

He was fluffy and just the right size. We brought the dog home and named it Boots. Sadly, Boots wasn’t working out. He was extremely hyper and untrainable. Maybe Caesar Millan could have trained him, but this pooch was too much for us. We couldn’t get him to do anything but eat and snap at us. Before taking the dog back, we had a serious talk with Maxie, to make sure he understood the reason the animal had to be returned.

About 3 weeks later I was doing some gardening near the front of our house, while Maxie was playing on the sidewalk with a friend. I heard a slow-moving truck coming down the street. Lo and behold it was the dog catcher traveling slow and looking for abandoned dogs. As the truck passed our house, Maxie took off running after it. I called to him but he kept running, so I dropped my garden hoe and ran to stop him. A neighbor joined me.

“Why are you running after the dog catcher?” I asked Maxie, grabbing his arm to stop him. He put the most serious pout on his face, and said, “I wanted to ask him if he could bring back my Boots.” I didn’t dare laugh because this was a serious thing to my young six-year-old. But later telling my husband about this, we both had a good laugh, although realizing that Maxie needed another dog. The scene was never forgotten, and several years later our entire family – including grown-up Maxie – had lots of laughs recalling this scene, and embellishing it every time it was remembered.

I felt better that rainy day as I laughed and thought of this. My spirit lifted and I began to feel the blues fade away. Truly, life is just plain better when you can laugh.

I hope you find many things in your life to laugh about. Share on one in the “Comment” box.

Laughter is good medicine.

Is it possible to morph – to change your personality? I’m not talking about transgender. I’m talking about changing your behavior and personality to please yourself and make you feel good about yourself. Can a person try on different characters and gain who they want to be? Believe me, I’ve tried it many times. Did it work? Maybe for a moment or two.

To be honest, sometimes in social events, I end up feeling like I am in a toxic workplace rather than enjoying conversation and fun. I’m sure you have been there too. Most likely we’re all playing a role depending on the situation. So when forced to be something I’m not I hide my discontent and remain on stage and play a role. The big smile comes out, I give the bear hug and plant the kiss on the cheek. The real “me” is not always in operation.

You and I can only guarantee that the real “us” will be in operation when we are with people we feel safe to be ourselves. But even alone, sometimes the real person is not there.

The sad thing is that some of the people who are in our lives tend to make us fall into the traits about ourselves we want to change. Over and over again we try to accommodate our best wishes, but can’t change. It’s the same principle why diets don’t work and the fat comes back. We can’t change our traits and urges, or stop them from creeping up on us.

For me, simply surviving is not enough. I want peace and joy. The answer to this dilemma is in the Bible. The Apostle Paul said: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. It is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me? CHRIST JESUS! (Romans 7: 24 & 25 paraphrased)

We will never be perfect no matter how hard we try. We will never be satisfied with ourselves. If we could, Jesus would never have gone to the cross. For sure, we need to strive to be like Christ, but depend on His saving grace when we fail.  

Established Social norms are probably the most effective way to manipulate human behavior. They govern general customs, laws, and fads – even beliefs and attitudes. Their best intent is to bring functioning order to society, however, the negative effects are that they cause conformity. But something bigger than established social norms is well on its way.

Move over and make way for Artificial Intelligence (AI) which promises to not only influence social norms, but will influence your business and your life, maybe even the way you vote.

AI seems like the greatest invention of science, but the downfall is that depending on which type of intelligence the individual desires…..digital or palliative…..a person’s beliefs and convictions can be highly influenced to be what the machine articulates. In other words, what it has been programed to tell you.

My intent in this short article is to caution people to beware of satanic manipulation. By that I mean, things that are not of truth, and are not of God and the laws He has set down. Beware of habitual/persistent guff and terminology that pretends to cast logic, but in true reality is false. The human mind is a powerful thing, and constant progressive influences in business, government, social norms – and yes, even a personal character – can be manipulated. Without realizing, the person will wake up to find that they’re obeying a machine — running their business by someone else’s influence and dancing to a completely different orchestra than what they desired.

Artificial Intelligence will eventually become the giant that takes over the human mind and sets itself up as the world’s only god. It could become your god. Search it out. Be careful. Know who you are and what you believe.

All we know as finite human beings is beginnings and endings. We get born. We die. We also know that nothing (0) can be created by nothing (0). Every living thing has a beginning and an end. Therefore, it makes it difficult to fathom God — because unlike us, He has no beginning and no ending. He always was and always will be. No one has seen God, so we have to take His existence by faith.

We are born with an intrinsic feeling that there is someone who brought all that we are and all that we know into existence, and that someone, logically has to be God. This intrinsic knowledge is actually the beginnings of faith. Indeed, this knowledge has within it the power to move us to believe in God.

Well, what is faith?

Faith is something we all possess whether we think so or not. We have faith when we walk into an elevator that it will not take us up 15 floors and then plunge us to the ground. We have faith that what we eat at a restaurant is not going to poison us. We have faith that when we board an airplane we will land safely. Faith is basically a belief, an acceptance, a tenet of something believed to “be” and to exist.

There are 4 kinds of belief in human existence: behavioral beliefs, unconscious beliefs, conscious beliefs, and rational beliefs. In all 4 there is the element of “faith” and of “God”.

When we think about faith, it is logical to believe that the greatest entity within it is love, because love joins two or more together. So it must be in the mix of the answers we search for regarding God.

Looking deeper into faith, it can be explained as an apprehension which is steeped in both the unconscious and the conscious. An example of this can be explained this way: my husband says he loves me and he shows it by different acts toward me, but unconsciously I also know that he would fight and even die for me if I were attacked by a criminal. This scenario has never happened to me, yet I believe he would do this. I have faith he would rescue me and it comes from the entity of his love for me.

So, the meaning of faith exists in the reality of love, and is wrapped up in the conscious and the unconscious. It dominates in all 4 beliefs of human existence in which we operate: behavioral, conscious, unconscious and rational.

God is not conjured up into our minds by our human will, but is a sovereign reality of faith. All people have been born with the gift of faith, to use it, or reject it. In the Bible, Romans 1:20 says this: “For since the beginning of the world, God always existed and His invisible qualities and his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen by all human beings. Therefore, no one has an excuse to not believe in God.”

God is. God was. God always will be, so we should not press our finite minds to try and figure everything out. Simply, God created us to accept Him by faith, rather than by determinable theory, or fact-counting, or measurement. Your inner being knows emphatically that a Supreme Being called “God” created mankind and nothing (0) can be created by nothing (0). There has to be something first. That would be God. Therefore, we exist because of God and His literal words have done the creating. In the beginning of our world and universe God said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. He spoke and the universe came into being. He took the elements which he spoke into existence and created all living things, mankind included. He is the Almighty God, Creator of all.

To believe in God is in agreement with peace and harmony — a phenomenal rest to one’s mind and spirit. When we believe, we feel it. We know it as truth because the Spirit of God testifies to us that we are His creation. (Romans 8:16.)

You have probably heard these three words a million times: God loves you. Yes, He does! But the enemies of our soul work to cast doubt and questions. Peace comes simply by believing and accepting, and enjoying the honest truth that God loves us. Forget the questions of how and why, and concentrate on this truth: that if our lives on earth have no hope beyond the grave, then we are to be pitied because our Creator does not love us or want us. To believe that lie is pure misery because we are then alone and doomed to die. But that’s not how it is. God’s plan for the world and His human race is to give eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Believe this and accept Jesus as your Savior. It’s so simple many miss it. Simply repent of your sins, and believe. When you do, peace and security will enter your spirit and change your life from the darkness of doubt to the truth of light. You will be forgiven of your sins, and you will have eternal life. This is the promise of God.

I’m so glad you dropped in. Please feel free to leave a comment. Follow this blog for more searchable subjects. Also, check out my “About Me” page.