Monday, July 28, 2008

Mani and Lofa

Mani sat on his front porch and held his head in his hands.  Today was just another day of summer.  It was the end of July, but to Mani, it felt like he had already endured six months of hot, dry weather.

Occasionally, Mani lifted his head to look for clouds.  On the one hand, he hoped it would rain to break the heat and water the grass, but on the other hand, he was nervous that his roof would leak again.  So far, nothing was going right for him.

That same day, Lofa went out for a walk.  She was a free spirit and went wherever the wind took her.  This particular day, she was guided to Mani’s street and saw Mani sitting on his stoop.  She saw that Mani looked sad and this made her curious.

“Hello!”

“Oh, Hi.”

“I’m Lofa!  How are you?”

“Hi Lofa.  I’m Mani.  I’m okay, a little sad.”

“Why are you sad, Mani?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I love long stories!  I have all day, so why don’t you tell me your story?”

“Are you sure?  Okay...”

Mani’s energy perked up just a bit.  His story was not a happy one, but it felt good to tell it to someone.

Mani’s story started when he was a young boy.  He told Lofa how his father would teach him all about construction.  He even helped Mani build his first tree house.

Then, when Mani was a teenager, his father said it was time for him to start building his own house.  “I’ll build you a foundation and then we’ll start gathering wood, metal and glass.  First we’ll build the outside walls, place in some windows, and cover your house with a roof.  Then you can work on the inside.”

For the first year, Mani and his father worked on the outside of the house.  Once it was done, Mani’s father let Mani work on the inside all by himself.  “Now if you need some assistance, I will help you, but by now, you have everything you need to build the inside of your own house.”

For all of Mani’s teens, he worked on the inside of his house.  On his 18th birthday, the house was fully functional and Mani moved in full time.  That’s when things got interesting.

By living in his own house, Mani started to gain insight as to what he liked and what didn’t like.  For example, when he started playing sports, he realized that he needed a closet for all of his equipment.  And after his dirty clothes piled up, he needed a laundry room.

So throughout his 20s, Mani continued to work on the inside of his house.  He moved walls around, added bookshelves and reorganized his home to match his lifestyle.  Just when he would finish a set of plans, his life changed just enough to inspire more modifications.

When Mani began his 30s, he decided it was time for some bigger improvements.  He needed more space and decided to add a couple of rooms to the back of the house.  He now had a nice car, and so added an enclosed garage as well.  By age 35, Mani had what he thought was a really nice house.  His friends came to visit often and complemented Mani on his fine craftsmanship.

But soon, Mani realized something was missing.  He had this nice house, but he lived alone.  “I would love to have a wife and maybe even a family some day,” he thought to himself.  So he started praying.

“Dear God.  Thank you for helping me create such a great house, but I am lonely now and would love a beautiful wife and family to share it with.  Can you help me?  I only know how to build houses; I don’t know anything about attracting a mate.”

Now at this point in his story, Mani had to back up some.  He explained to Lofa that the whole time he worked on his house, he also talked to God.  His relationship with God, in his terms, was pretty good.  He talked to God often and knew that He was around.  He started to learn to trust his intuition and knew that was God talking back to him.  So he listened and heard that it was time for another serious remodel.

The project required two basic aspects:  accumulating skill and materials, and then building.

The first inspired change was to put in a skylight.  “To attract what you desire, bring in more light!”  So one weekend, Mani climbed up on his roof and cut a hole in it.  He installed the skylight, but as it was his first time, there were some issues.  The first day it rained, water leaked into his home, but a few minor adjustments later, and that was taken care of.

The light was amazing and at first Mani was very excited.  “I am going to meet a beautiful woman and she will love how lit up my house is!”  But no woman came.

In fact, with all of the added light, Mani was better able to see all of the flaws in his house.  Many of his walls had cracks and some of the paint was chipped.  His house was functional, but looked weathered and dated.  “God, I added a skylight like you said, but now I don’t like my house very much.  I see all of these little things that aren’t as good as I would like them to be.”

“What do you want to do about it, my son?” God replied.

So Mani went to the hardware store and bought more supplied.  “I am going to patch my walls and give them a new coat of paint.  I am going to improve my building skills and make my house better than ever.”

God just smiled.

For about a year, Mani worked on his house some more, but this time, things were not going as well as he had hoped.  His skills were improving for sure, but every time he fixed one thing, two other things broke.  He had to remove his washer and dryer, pull out a bookshelf or two, and cleared out some furniture that was in the way.  At the end of that first year, he looked around his house and was frustrated.  “I can’t invite a woman into this place,” he said to himself.  “God, I need some assistance.  Can you help me find a professional so I can fix up my house?”

No sooner had Mani asked than help indeed showed up.  A flyer placed in his mailbox served as advertisement for a local handyman.  Mani’s excitement let him know this man was the right one for the job, so Mani called the handyman and invited him over.

“Well Mani, it looks like there are structural issues with your house.  The cracks on the walls are clear indication.  Are you prepared for these types of repairs?”

Mani wasn’t prepared and needed some time to think about it.  After a few days, he decided he wanted to learn more on his own.  The handyman taught him what to look for, so he broke into a few walls to figure out what the problems were.

“I need to get rid of some more stuff,” Mani thought to himself.  “I will never be able to fix this house with all of this furniture in here.”  So Mani moved more of his stuff out of the house.  He really didn’t want it any more anyway and so rather than store it in his garage, he just sold it or gave it away.  “I’ll buy new furniture with my new wife once my house is all fixed up,” he said to himself.

But as Mani looked around, he was a little sad.  His house was nearly empty and walls cracked open.  “I know I am doing the right thing, but how long is it going to take to get this all fixed up?” he thought.

And then the storms came.  One by one, storms rolled through his town and each one did a little more damage to his house.  His roof was in bad shape, the house had flooded at least three times, and now his walls looked worse than ever.

Mani finished his story by telling Lofa that that was pretty much where he was today.  “See that pile over there?” he said to her.  “That is all of the material I have accumulated for the house, but every time I ask if it is time to start building, God says no.  My house is pretty much empty now.  I’ve stopped inviting my friends over because there is nowhere for anyone to sit.  And since I can’t start building, I don’t know what to do.”

Lofa smiled and looked Mani in the eye.  She felt joy because she fully understood Mani’s situation and knew why she was guided to walk down his street.

“Mani, do you know why you are called by that name?”

“My parents gave me this name.”

“Yes, but do you know what it stands for and what it means?”

“No.”

“Your name is short for Manifestation.  You have spent your whole life manifesting the house of your dreams, but your dreams keep changing and so there were always new things to do with it.  Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I guess so.  But now my house is a mess.  It looks worse than it has the whole time I have lived here.”

“Do you remember what you asked God for?”

“Yes.  I asked for a mate and a family and a beautiful house to call our home.”

“Yes, but you asked for more than that.  Your desire was so pure, you have asked for true happiness and not just the physical manifestation of it.”

“I can see that, but I still don’t know why my house is falling apart and why God has not let me start rebuilding it yet.”

“Mani, what is the first thing that your father taught you about building a house?  What is the first thing that needed to be constructed?”

“The foundation.  In fact, I was too young so he built it for me.”

“So, do you think that maybe it is time for you to build your own foundation?  You have built this house upon your father’s foundation, but his ideas about what you needed were only his ideas.  You are a grown man now and you have your own ideas of what you want for yourself.  If you are going to build a grand structure, you need a strong foundation.  God has been gently guiding you to pull down the house you have built so that you can build a better foundation first.  In the mean time, he has also guided you to accumulate the skills and materials that you will need to rebuild the house when it is time.  Because you have listened well enough, he has not had to pull the house down for you, but you will not be guided to rebuild until you complete a new foundation.  Do you think you are ready for that?”

“My house is not worth anything the way it is, so I guess I am ready to pull it all down and start over.  But how long is it going to take to build it all back up again?”

“My friend, you will be surprised by how fast it can go up once you have the right foundation.  Remember when you asked for help and the handyman showed up?  You can ask for all the help you desire.  You don’t have to build it alone.”

“Wow, Lofa, thank you so much for this insight.  How is it that you know so much about Manifestation?”

“Aren’t you curious about my name and what it means?”

“Yes!”

“My name is short for Law of Attraction.  I work for God and bring to every man and woman what they ask for.  Most don’t understand how things work so they get upset about what shows up in their lives, but I am only following their requests.  For example, those storms kept coming because your request for the new house in combination with thoughts that nothing was going right created them.”

“I think I understand what you are saying, but I need to sit and think about it some more.”

“Good!  You do that.  God bless you, my friend.  The time is very near when you will be building again.  Keep asking for what you need and listening for guidance.”

With that, Lofa wandered further down the street and left Mani to sit and ponder all that he had learned...

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