All You Have To Do Is Be

About the Book

This book arises out of the author’s profound conviction that each human person has been created deliberately and caringly by God and marked for an experience of life that is truly meaningful and fulfilling; and that at any time or at any point in our journey of life, God can awaken us to our calling and potential, and can transform us into who we were meant to be. “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it to the full,” Jesus declared. That’s what we call the “Gospel” (which means, in the original Greek of the New Testament, the “Good News”) of Christ. Tragically, however, too often, when we reflect on our actual experience, our lives seem like pale reflections, indeed, of the vibrant, vital, and richly-satisfying lives we aspire to know. Thus, the game-plan of this book – which is to provide a panorama of attitudes, characteristics and conduct in keeping with the realization and expression of the optimum person any of us can be. This is not, however, a “How-To” book in the usual sense, as though the concepts outlined may be taken and employed as a guaranteed means of attainment of the kind of personhood we seek. Rather, it might better be described as a “Let-It-Be” book in the sense of saying “What if your life were aligned on these markers towards fulfilled personhood? What would that mean for your inner person, for your soul?” The greatest answer to that is, “It could mean a true transformation of your very being.” That fact was borne home to the author when one reader of the manuscript, in critiquing it, observed that she was helped in seeking to implement more purposefully in her own life the ideas suggested by the various chapters because they then seemed to glow from within rather than to be simply “laid on” from without. The same reader noted something about the arrangement of the chapters (which is the simple plan of using the alphabet from A to Z.) “It would have been better,” she said, “if the concluding postscript, And Finally, had been placed at the beginning of the book, rather than at the conclusion.” To that observation I would simply say that any reader should of course feel free to read the chapters in any order selected or preferred. Perhaps the case could be made that the third chapter, which may be termed a Christian manifesto, should be moved to the lead-off spot to provide the groundwork for the entire volume; but I have left the order just as it came from the author’s mind and pen in keeping with what seems to be a logical and easily comprehended arrangement, rather than trying to re-order or re-invent the alphabet. In any event – however and whenever and in whatever sequence you, as the reader, may choose to peruse this book - there is one hope and prayer that comes from the heart of the author to you. And that is, that for you this book may provide the entrance into a life-enhancing and life-enriching and even a life-changing experience as you find yourself resonating to what is essentially God’s invitation to you to BE the person you were meant to be.

About the Author

Tom Caldwell has worked in a number of settings, in each of which he has related closely and meaningfully with persons in all walks of life. He has been a human relations supervisor in industry, a high school English teacher, and, primarily, a minister in both New York State and Canada. He holds degrees from the State University of New York at Oswego, McMaster University in Hamilton, and St. Paul University, Ottawa. He now lives in Brantford, Ontario, where he holds the title of Honourary Minister at the historic First Baptist Church.