IT'S NEVER NOT ABOUT GOD

I remember over 40 years ago when I got started on my spiritual journey saying to some friends, "If I'd known it was going to be this hard, I wouldn't have started."

I love that memory.

I look back now and laugh to think I thought it was my choice! Once I'd honestly made the decision to start on this path, the choice was made and given over to God to walk this journey with me, through me.

In looking back I also realize...yet again...that the hardest part of my journey, the most difficult thing I had to do  then, will ever have to do, is simply change my mind. I did not have to climb frozen snow-capped mountains, walk though 150 degree heat in the desert, go without food and water for weeks...I simply had to change my mind from "I can't" to "I can't, God can, knock yourself out, God," and then follow directions.

Someone asked me yesterday what I do when I wake up with Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is" in my head. I turn up the volume. I sing along with her. Loud. Ruckus gets raucous, I start laughing, and That Is All There Needs To Be. Just more proof that God loves me. My wish is that I loved Him half as much as He loves me. There...another song, "Half as Much," a good old Hank Williams' song. It's never not about God.

Thank You.

GET GRATEFUL AND BE FREE

Both of my daily readings today say, in effect, the same thing...that all our troubles begin within ourselves.

"God Calling" reads, in part, The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual. And Easwaran quotes Saint Teresa of Avila as saying, Learn self-conquest...you will feel your senses gather themselves together...like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey...God thus rewards the violence which your soul has been doing to itself.

It's a whole new day, a fret-free life, when we learn and accept that we are the source of all our woes. The freedom comes from realizing that we cannot fix this but that God can heal us, despite it. My self-determined objective and prayer had always been for God to make it unhappen. Another unanswered prayer becomes the blessing...if it could have unhappened, we'd miss the gift of realizing God's healing power.

My life, each and every single happening in my life, came by my invitation only. What we fail to see, to realize, is that it is our reaction to each and every happening that determines our thinking about it and thus our resulting life events...as we perceive them.

Our untrained ego-self will immediately go to the worst-case, "yes, but," scenario...children with serious life defects, the Holocaust (this was my personal yes-but favorite), child abuse, etc., etc., etc. It is important to understand that none of those is what is causing our problem with our life right this minute. Each is simply the justification for holding to the ego belief that our problem right this minute did not come by invitation, is not something we personally could have avoided and is not fair...indicating a closed mind and continuing "difficulties with life."

That entire line of thought is continuing reliance on our reasoning mind which is ego-based and will always legislate for itself. First thing, we get to learn to love paradox. It is not our personal strength but our personal weakness that leads us to freedom.

The daily discipline of sitting in silence with no request in mind...just go to God for God...is, to the reasoning mind, pretty much a waste of time. When Gertrude, who is the current personal source of woe, comes to mind, don't engage...detach. A simple, "Bless her, change me,"  lets it go. Four seconds later, here comes the thought of  a beloved pet who has a lump and it may be a mast cell tumor, and, oh please don't let him die.  Again, don't engage...detach. If he does die, "Thank You;" if he doesn't die, "Thank You."

"Thank You" is the ultimate, the ever and always, right answer to a reasoning mind problem. And we don't need to know why...another paradox...we only need to say it unto believing it. And we come to believe it by saying it...and receiving the blessing of a mind at peace.

I've come to believe that "Thank You" is the switch that turns my reasoning mind over to the care of God. And I am grateful.

Thank You.

OLD DOGS AND CHILDREN

There are but three things in this world worth a solitary dime:

Old dogs and children and watermelon wine. -- Tom T. Hall

I guess in my today's world, I'd have to say my three things are old dogs, country songs and watermelons. But it doesn't have that click-click, does it? 

I wish Tom T. were more on the scene today.

God bless and keep George Jones. I'll sure miss him...a lot.

Thank You.

PAIN IS A PART OF LIFE

Remember this: no one can keep you from the second half of life except yourself. Nothing can inhibit your second journey except your own lack of courage, patience, and imagination. Your second journey is all yours to walk or to avoid. My conviction is that some falling apart of the first journey is necessary for this to happen, so do not waste a moment of time lamenting poor parenting, lost jobs, failed relationships, physical handicaps, gender identity, economic poverty, or even the tragedy of any kind of abuse. Pain is part of the deal. If you don’t walk into the second half of your own life, it is you who do not want it. God will always give you exactly what you truly want and desire. So make sure you desire, desire deeply, desire yourself, desire God, and desire everything good, true, and beautiful.  -- Fr. Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, August 18, 2012: Adapted from “Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life,” p. 160, by Fr. Richard Rohr.

THINK THE RESENTMENT THROUGH

I was talking with a friend yesterday who was describing the new love of her life as a "spiritual Nazi." What an oxymoron! My mind has been setting her straight ever since. The term "Nazi" is not, can never be, a positive in any context...according to me.

This morning, while journaling, I found myself starting a rant on that...I stopped me and wrote instead: "I am resisting the word 'Nazi.' If the f-bomb, which I use freely, is just a word signifying nothing (which I maintain) then so is 'Nazi.' Welcome it and be at peace."

My job now is to remember that unto breathing it. Because if I do not remember that, I am perfectly capable of unconsciously taking it to the outside of enough where I will decide my friend is somehow lacking. Next thing either of us know, we are at odds and our friendship is in jeopardy.

Just another "think the resentment through."

Thank You.

ONE WITH THE POWER OF LOVE

I truly regret that I have no idea where I got this, but it's my truth:

If you can't “get” being one with the Father, can you accept being one with the power of love? For that is all that is necessary.

If you keep listening to the love, if you keep receiving the love, trusting the love—even with all your limitations, with all your unworthiness, with all your limited intellect or whatever you feel holds you back—you start to experience within yourself a sense of possibility. Whatever life is inviting you into, you have this sense that it is still okay and, even better, that you can do it! 

Thank You.

NOTHING IS PERSONAL TO US

He prepares a place before me in the presence of my enemies....from The 23rd Psalm.

My enemy is not Sylvia Schloppenhauffer who bad mouths me, who is ugly to me, who treats me with contempt...my enemy is that within me that shows forth as Sylvia's uglies that I resist by bad mouthing her, being ugly to her, treating her with contempt.

It is for me to realize Sylvia as my angel who carries these uglies of mine for me to see up close and personal...for me to accept without resistance, by neither cursing her/them nor currying her/their favor. 

I see me and I know we, the miraculous comfort of oneness.

Thank You.

PRAY GOD WINS

The Way to Peace by Swami Sivananda: 

If anyone speaks ill of you, praise him always. If anyone injures you, serve him nicely. If anyone persecutes you, help him in all possible ways. You will attain immense strength. You will control anger and pride. You will enjoy peace, poise and serenity. You will become divine.  

From The Sermon on the Mount at Matthew 5:

43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. 

44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, be good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you: 

45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendth rain on the just and on the unjust.

I am learning and can do that fairly well...as long as others in my world are well aware that that is what I am doing. It's when someone "persecutes" me, I be nice, and everybody thinks that that one has gotten over on me...there's when my ego starts arm wrestling with God. Sometimes all I can do is pray God wins.

Thank You.

KNOWING RIGHT AND DOING RIGHT

I wish knowing right and doing right were simultaneously equal in my thoughts and in my actions. Sometimes I feel like I know the right thing to do just so I can sit in judgment of me for not doing it.

I did have a blinding flash of the obvious this morning that helps bring my thoughts to heel; i.e., what if, when Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan," he was referring to his own thoughts, his own reasoning mind? So, no matter who it appears is suggesting what, it's our own reasoning mind that makes the choice.

Shades of  "The devil made me do it."

Thank You.

CONQUER THY HEART

If thou canst walk on water

Thou art no better than a straw.

If thou canst fly on the air

Thou art no better than a fly.

Conquer thy heart

That thou mayest become somebody.

-- Ansari

Geez, I remember in college, Friday after last class, we'd all be heading for the Tavern yelling, "Let's all get drunk and be somebody!"

Who knew all we had to do was conquer our heart, purify our intentions, and we'd get there...and without a hangover.

Thank You.

WHAT IF DOWN IS UP AND UP IS DOWN?

What if everything in the world

were a misunderstanding,

what if laughter

were really tears?

                  Søren Kierkegaard

      [Søren Aabye Kierkegaard]

                             (1813-1855) 

Ponder that.

Because sometimes doesn't it seem that that must be the case? 

How is it that that which I knew I needed more than breath itself, I got...and, guess who's sorry now. On the other hand, that which I dreaded, avoided, lied, cried, and pleaded for God to take away...wow!  I gave up the fight, and now it's how did I ever get so blessed as to be graced with this rare and precious gift?

That's the only proof I need to show my reasoning mind that it is a useful tool for God to use...but it's never going  to be the best driver of my life.

Thank You.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR HUMILITY

When I feel an inventory coming on, I want to remember that is my opportunity to grow in humility. I need to find my point of identity with the one I'm inventorying, for invariably it is there, and then get grateful. I can spend a long time on that exercise instead of with my ego's reasoning for inventorying whomever to begin with.

Then I thank God for instructions like this:

If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in Our Lord's presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed. -- Saint Francis De Sales

Thank You.

GOD IS THE REALITY

Hurt people hurt people. We stop hurting those forward by forgiving those behind.

Forgiveness is not a to-do action...it is a to-allow action. Set your mind to forgive and breed a resentment. Forgiveness is further proof that God is.

We are God's shadow...He is the Reality, we are the mirage.

Thank You.

OUR ONE TRUE GOAL

Once we get right within ourselves, all our outward is right.

Our only goal needs be finding, fully realizing, the Father within us, God. Once we realize the Father within, all our outward is righted.

Trying to fix our perceived enemy, if only by prayers for our perceived enemy, is probably necessary for our reasoning mind, but it takes our focus away from our one true goal…realizing the Father within us/without us, God.

Thank You.

LIVING IN OUR NATURAL STATE...AS LOVE

In my consciousness, all dogs are loving unless taught otherwise...all they want is to love us and to show us love. That may not be true in someone else's consciousness.

I am reminded of a weekend many years ago when three friends and I went to a country house of a friend. Two of us were having a mental disagreement with each other...meaning our lips were saying nothing, our attitudes were ugly. One of us was utterly oblivious to the ugly, and she had the best time ever. One of us was unaware of exactly what was going on so thought there was something wrong with her. She spent the weekend trying to make up for what she did not know.

That weekend is my Rosetta Stone for  realizing levels of consciousness, specifically, the importance in upgrading mine as soon as I feel resistance to what I am seeing, experiencing. That's just so many words  meaning I need to change my mind. That's all raising one's consciousness is, ultimately. We raise our consciousness by simply changing our attitude about whatever our mind is resisting. Which is not a self-help job...we must turn to a higher power, or at least a good friend.

I say often that the most difficult thing I've ever been asked to do is to change my mind. Our reasoning mind gets in the way when it links up with our ego and will not let go of its need to feel the self-protection in "But I am right." We consider ourselves evolved when we don't think "But you are wrong." Followed by a sense of superiority when we can allow that you have a point. I have the whole, but you have a point...all square! That's just staying in the ego-based reasoning mind, or going down that wrong road again.

Love, I believe, is our natural state...we are born as love. Not loving. Not into love...neither of which is true. But as love. It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't learn disrespect, the source of all our woes according to me, the minute the doctor spanks our bottom at birth. From that point distrust has entered our consciousness, and if we never get a sense of apology or amends or atonement...or love...for that disrespect, we set out on the road to pay-back. That's the long road back...the road of forgiveness, a.k.a, self-forgetfulness. There's a great song from "South Pacific" about we have to be taught how to hate. The same is true of trust...learning how to trust that we won't be spanked just for being born is the goal.

When we realize unto acceptance that the spanking (i.e., life itself) was not disrespectful, not personal to us, necessary for all, we are finally heading in the right direction, i.e, living in our natural state...as love.

Thank You.

LET GO OF OUR REASONING MIND

And I knew that that which we fear (that is, hate) is God appearing. We can never be free until we surrender our heart, mind, body and soul to It...to God.

Of ourselves, we cannot do that. Our ego is too strong...its only job is to legislate for itself for our protection, and its voice is loud.

We must go to God, that which we fear (that is, hate), seeking that which we already have...God which is love, pure love. Our reasoning mind can never get us there.

Thank You.

EGO-STANDARDS V. GOD'S STANDARD

[The following is a reprint of my blog of  April 14th, 2010.]

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I got a blinding flash of the obvious: “You need to lower your standards.”  Since my standards aren't extraordinarily high to begin with, I knew that could not mean what it seemed to say.  

I realized that I was being told to lower my ego-standards.  It is in letting go of ego-standards that one reaches God’s standard…Love.

Deep in the center of one’s being is that standard which brings perfect peace. It is known by various names…The Golden Rule, Service, Loving kindness are a few. The practice of any one of those can and will bring one perfect peace, but, I've learned, one cannot practice them in order to get perfect peace…or indeed in order to get anything.

One practices love in order to love…ah, perfect peace.

Thank you.

THE ART OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...that is the current definition of insanity. Everybody knows that by now. It is gleefully repeated to others who are doing their insane thing, and, if we're wise, laughingly admitted to ourselves when we're the doer.

Why do we think, act as if, in fact, that the definition is the important thing?

Knowing the definition of insanity is, in truth, irrelevant. Before we ever knew the definition of insanity, we knew what we were doing...after doing it enough times, that is. Plus having loving friends drop a hint in our ear. That's when we truly began looking to change...other people seeing it in us and saying so.

I think it was when the definition became so popular, plus being attributed to Einstein, for heaven's sake!, that we got stuck in the definition. It seems it gives us permission to stay stuck. We forget, or never accepted, that the reason for the definition is to point us in the right direction; i.e., to stop doing our insane thing already. Or at least start thanking God for His help in stopping.

It all comes back to discipline...a word I still quake before, but I do seek it, I do apply it. Mainly because most every spiritual direction I've ever been given started with just that admonition: Practice self-discipline.

Learn to love discipline. - "God Calling," April 11.

Thank You.

LOVE, THEN LOVE, LOVE MORE

Nonviolence is the supreme law of life. - Hindu proverb

But what about our Second Amendment rights? Oh, it's Hindu...that doesn't count.

I will fight no more forever. - Chief Joseph

Just another uneducated Indian's ravings.

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you - Jesus Christ

And we know where that got him.

Just Do It. - Nike slogan

Love. In the face of our own selves...love.

Thank You.

KARMA IN ACTION

A truth: The ego-based reasoning mind will always oppose fourth dimensional thinking, a.k.a., the will of God.

Example: [This is a little vignette a friend shared with me recently, and I love it.] Way back in the day, when my friend was in the 3rd or 4th grade, she rode the school bus, and the bus driver was an obese, meaner-than-a-rattlesnake man. One day one of the other kids wrote on a piece of paper "FAT MAN" and taped it to the back of the driver's seat. My friend quick went up, took the paper off, tore it into little pieces and threw them down. The bus driver saw only that part, chewed her a new one, and made her pick up the pieces. She, of course, felt like a fool. She's over 50 today and has never forgotten that "I'm a fool" feeling. The knowing she had to destroy the hurtful note isn't remembered except as a vehicle for playing "I was a fool" in her memory.

There. That is my idea of the perfect 4th dimensional act being snuffed by the ego-based reasoning mind.

Think about it...4th dimension: even that young, she knew in her heart, soul and gut that that note would be hurtful to the driver and she had to destroy it before he saw it. Ego-based reasoning mind moved in immediately to show off how good she was (better than the note-writing guy, in fact) and she had to parade her goodness...for which the ego got punctured by the very guy she was protecting!

It was God who inspired the good act; it was not God who did the punishing. The Father within walked her through to destroying the hurtful note at which point her ego-based reasoning mind took credit. That invited the driver's ego-based reasoning mind (loudly shaming the one who was messing up HIS bus) to punish her. Karma in action.

I love this story.

Thank You.

PEACE OF MIND...OUR FOREVER GOAL

Here's my today's poser for me: What if consciousness is simply our attitude, and God is simply an attitude of gratitude?

That flashed yesterday and has stayed with me...a rarity. So I ponder it. At the moment, those are the only two things I can think of that are purely good, no downside, no exceptions, no matter what.

I'm reminded of the book, "An Interrupted Life," by a woman in a Nazi prison camp. My memory is of her being in a cell next to a man who was petrified of the oncoming...oncoming everything...and was very vocal about it. She realized, as the prison guards were nearing and he was getting more hysterical, that his problem wasn't the guards, the camp, the situation...it was fear, his fear that was making him crazy. She died in that camp, hence the book's title, but she died in a state of acceptance, calm.

I think one reason it is so hard to accept a simple thank You as a worthwhile answer is that we expect the  situation, that which we're fearing, to change, as in stop. All thank You changes is us, not that which we're dreading, hating, fearing...experiencing.

It is, however, the change within that changes our perception of the problem, and we know peace...the one thing we've ever sought.

Thank You.

THOUGHTS THAT BRING ME COMFORT

It comforts me to know that I do not need to be a Bible-believer to take comfort from writings from the Bible. I don’t know a thing about Buddhism but I take comfort from many sayings of the Buddha.

Three singular thoughts from the Bible that I turn to a lot:

When we feel the road before us is too difficult:

Isa.45:2 - I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight....

When an unexpected or scary situation pops up:

Matt.14:27 - ....it is I, be not afraid.

When called upon to meet a life situation that weighs heavy over our head:

Job.23:14 - ….He performeth the thing that is appointed for me....

Thank You.

WAIT FOR DIRECTIONS

What a busy morning I've had...and it's all been in my head!

I've registered for a course, paid my $200 (which, may I say, ain't pocket change to me), and now there's some doubt that the course will be held. Already my personal uh-oh projector is sending signals that I'll not get my $200 back, they'll want to substitute another course, I don't want another course, this is the only course I can do, I am going to....

And I run out of steam because I really don't have a battery of ugly what I'll does to fall back on anymore.

So I said to God that I'd rather lose the $200 than fight about it...and I meant it. But then came the thought that that is just another self-determined objective masquerading as spiritual discipline...or, covering a bad motive with a good motive.

Before I ever heard of spiritual growth, I avoided hassles. Someone once said if breathing required more than an inhale/exhale, I'd be dead because I'd consider it too much of a hassle...which was true at the time. I still don't want a hassle, but I don't want a resentment more than I don't want a hassle, so I do for me today.

I pondered my problem, and knew that I really would rather lose the $200 than fight about it...that's the door to the right direction. I need to open that door within me for God to flow out and do Its thing.  I "prime the pump" for me by deciding what I DO NOT WANT God's will to be, in this case to substitute another course, then I work on welcoming that. I get there, then it really does not matter the outcome.

All I need know is that I'd rather have God's will done in my life than my will done in my life...then wait for directions. He knows where I am.

"Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt."  -- Saint Augustine.

Thank You.

SAY, BELIEVE: I DO NOT KNOW

I wonder if the reasoning mind, and most especially the well-educated reasoning mind, isn't the great impediment to spiritual growth, by which I mean God.

When I was in college, I took a battery of tests which lasted for hours (I remember it as days, but surely that's faulty memory), at the end of which I was found to be at the genius level. That label was the single hardest thing I had to overcome to even begin to develop a God of my own understanding. (Have I mentioned that I did not make grades in college?...whole 'nother story.) For me, apparently, "genius" equated to "yes, but..." when it came to God or matters of God.

I see that often today with people who sincerely want to believe in a loving God...but their reasoning mind just cannot/will not let go of the "facts" as they know them.

It is excruciatingly painful for a smart person to say, out loud and sincerely, "I do not know." It is even more painful to allow that there is Something that does know, is on our side, will fix the problem in the best way possible for us personally, especially when s/he has a hint that "the best way possible" according to It looks less than wonderful to him...is, in fact, an "Oh no, not that!" to her reasoning mind.

It is only by taking that leap of faith that we find that that less-than-wonderful is...wonderful. And all we really have to do is change our mind...in effect, hold our nose and take a leap of faith.

It was a great gettin' up morning when I realized that, for me, God's reality of good is more than often in exact reverse of my reality of good. I have had it happen too often to count...I dread, I pray my dread to not happen, it happens...it turns out to be my good.

I realized that I saved time and anxiety when I learned to welcome my dread. I started very irreverently (in case I looked like a fool to God) by saying/praying, "Knock yourself out, God...I'm trusting that which  I'm seeing coming is for my good. I don't know, and You're supposed to."

Obviously, my results were more than acceptable to me, or I wouldn't still be thinking, feeling, being, doing it...to the extent that today a simple "Thank You" suffices.

Thank You.

THE HUMAN CONDITION NEEDS GOD

"The human condition is such that we need to live by a higher standard than we’d naturally choose."

That's in my notes, and I have no idea where I heard it or who said it, but it's clearly too brilliant to have originated with me. I do think it's an excellent reason to believe in a power greater than ourselves, which for me,  is a personal, loving God, alive and well within me, without me.

Thank You.

A LIFETIME AND BEYOND

The lesson to learn is that it is not the avoidance of a disturbing thought, word or deed, it is how we deal with that disturbance that determines our peace of mind. For that, we learn, is the basis for giving up fighting anything and anybody.

How we deal with the disturbance is by turning our spotlight within:

• How did I get here?
• What was I thinking?
• What were my motives?
• What was I expecting?
• Did I consider before wading into this that I may be wrong?
• How can I make peace within me that I may be wrong?
• That s/he may be right?
• That it really does not matter which because neither of us is 100 percent of either...right or wrong.

That is what is meant by restraint of tongue and pen for if we will take the time for those few questions, the flash of fury in our gut will have been banked for the moment. Then, if we use that moment well, it will stretch into enough time for us to take responsibility for our own feelings, thoughts and actions. 

A fight averted is God's will done right.

That is the lesson to learn...the learning takes a lifetime (and possibly beyond), according to me.

Thank You.

FINDING OUR WAY TO UNDERSTANDING

He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins. -- The Buddha

This is another arrow pointing us in the right direction; i.e., "We have given up fighting anything and anybody." 

We have to become totally, completely, unconditionally in personal agreement with that statement...it must become our watchword, our way of life...else it's just so many words. 

The key, I'm convinced, is in learning to laugh at ourselves...especially our ego-need to respond in kind, to react instead of act. Reaction takes no thought...action, if it is to be beneficial to us, requires "prior proper planning."

Prior proper planning begins with remembering "to control my instinctive reactions and feel compassion and acceptance for the other person, rather than ridicule and rejection." That just means finding our own way to understand the other person. I once heard that we can never hate anyone we truly understand...which does not mean we need to invite a practicing pedophile into our hearts, but it does mean we cannot hate him else we risk being eaten inside out by our own bile.

Another prior is remembering that the emery-board people in our lives are our angels. They rub us the wrong way which, if we're following directions, turns our thoughts from how wrong they are to "what is wrong with me that I cannot accept them?" This is where "thank You" is priceless...it's a quick reminder that this is a good thing, and we don't need to know why. It smooths out our negative reactions and helps to remind us that we needed this person in order to get over our own defect. 

To me, unresolved anger, usually parading as righteous rage, is just unresolved self-pity on steroids...it is the result of taking ourselves too seriously. There is great freedom in learning to laugh at oneself...my goal is that it become my fall-back reaction.

Thank You.

PRAISE IT AND BE GLAD

Now you are in a new realm of Mystery and grace, where everything good happens! – from today’s Daily Meditation of Fr. Richard Rohr 

A new way of thinking, living, acting, being: We begin to see everything that happens as good...as God's perfect working.

Things, happenings, events, thoughts, feelings...no matter how ugly, awful, terrifying to the mind's eye…we can remind ourselves that this, too, is God's perfection working FOR us, for them, for all.

We cannot find the goodness through our reasoning mind...through thinking, analyzing, talking...we can only find it through meditation, and then not on the problem! We can only find the goodness through the silent, patient acknowledgment of that which is is of God...praise it and be glad.

Thank You.

GOING FOR GRACE

I was once told that we have a choice in life: We can choose to become a highly polished acorn or we can choose to become a mighty oak...it's purely our choice.

That's one reason we no longer need regret our regrets. It will seem that every time we show ourselves off as a highly polished acorn, an ancient regret will float through our mind, and we will realize that we must turn ourselves again to still more spiritual growth, the one path to becoming a mighty oak. Our regrets are now our "Turn Around, Don't Drown" sign.

And there's the grace and the gratitude...it is only through spiritual growth that we can know that. It is only through spiritual growth that we can head in that right direction. Our reasoning mind did, does and will lust for the highly polished acorn every time.

Our goal now must be to keep cutting the lag time between lusting for polish and going for grace.

Thank You.

LION TO LAMB

My morning blinding flash of the obvious: I am [we are] the lion to the Lord's lamb. It is the lion that must learn to give over, to restrain himself, to train herself through the lamb to accept, not resist, the lamb…to become like the lamb.

To become the Lamb.

Thank you.