Vows

I was thinking about the vows we often take in life. For some, the only vows they take are when they marry someone (if then). Others of us take vows in relation to our religions and spiritual beliefs. Sometimes friends make vows to protect one another no matter what happens (usually this is between about age 6 and 30 that these kinds of "Friend Vows" continue or at least until they get married or become priests or ministers or soldiers or lawyers or other things happen as they grow up.

Looking back at my own life now there were all these different types of vows that I took seriously, not always sucessfully fulfilled. But, it's true often we think we can do things that often we cannot for one reason or another.

After all, "Life is what happens while we are making other plans".

However, one of the vows I took that likely made the biggest difference in my life has been Ahimsa Vows which basically means you kill nothing living except in self defense.

For me, this really got going when I was a fire lookout in 1985 at 4000 feet on a peak and there were not screens in the lookout really so if I left the front door open for air all the flies and hornets around cattle or boars might come visit me and land on the inside of the windows. Then my alternate lookout told me she didn't kill any flies because she used to be a Catholic Nun. So, she showed me how to use a plastic cup and a piece of paper to save flies and hornets and how to take them outside. At first, I liked this idea because I didn't have to clean up fly blood and mess off the windows I needed to see out for my work. But then I noticed that not killing things that these Fly Spirits would thank me from freeing them from the inside of the windows. Then I came home and realized if I took spiders outside too if they let me that they didn't come back on me astrally and bite me in anger and fear. So, moment by moment I realized just how incredibly powerful not killing anything (except in self defense) actually was.

And living this way increases your spiritual and physical health and how well your life goes too I found which was the most amazing gift of all. So, some vows are actually much more useful than others along the way.

By God's Grace