Who are the coolest people you know? Someone who, in the last inning, when his baseball team is sure they’re going to lose the game, strides up to the plate and hits a homerun? Or maybe a ballet dancer who can get up in front of a packed audience and dance flawlessly? Or maybe the coolest friend you have is the one who is so unique, so interesting, that she’s really fun to be with.
Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Ph.D., lead author of “Coolness: An Empirical Investigation” found that many people define “cool” with an affirmative answer to these questions: “Do I like this person? Is this person nice to people, attractive, confident and successful?”
Most people may not think to include spirituality in the list of qualities that make up coolness, but consider where kindness, confidence and success come from.
Ever think of Jesus as cool? Imagine you were there when Jesus stepped off a boat, and was confronted by an insane man who was angry, terrified of life, and had been cutting himself with stones. The man starts yelling at Jesus, telling him to leave him alone. Does Jesus avoid the man? No, he stands there, calmly praying and loving that man, seeing right through the ugly, scary scene before him witnessing the man’s true nature as the child of God. And the man was instantly and permanently cured. How cool is that?
Always unafraid, no matter how great the challenge, Jesus successfully overcame what seemed impossible to overcome, by knowing his sonship, or oneness, with the one supreme, all-powerful God, good. But maybe the coolest thing is that Jesus said we, too, could do the things he did, because God is the only power throughout all time and all space, and we, too, are His sons and daughters. It has been my experience that the more we understand this, the more we are empowered by Him to help and heal others, even people who may appear threatening or hopeless.
So get to know Almighty Life. Reach for the highest understanding of Spirit you can imagine. Step up to the plate and discover Love’s exhilarating power to help your friends and even strangers. It’s there for you in Jesus’ teachings and example, and you can prove it for yourself. Isn’t that cool? Very cool!
