NO MATTER WHAT...LOVE

If your only goal is to love, there is no such thing as failure. So wrote Fr. Richard Rohr in his today's "Daily Meditation."

I read that and immediately thought of yesterday's "God Calling" entry: Love, Joy, Peace, welcome these. Let no personal feelings, no thoughts of self banish these. Singly, they are miracle-producing in a life, but together, they can command all that is needed on the physical, mental and spiritual planes.

Both quotes say the same thing, in effect. Rohr's was written yesterday, the other was received by Two Listeners circa 1932.

I then picked up my  "God Calling," and read a note I wrote in 1986: My mind connected today that I, the Christ, is Nancy, who appears today to be my nemesis...the lesson is to love the nemesis...not to win over it, nor to beat it at its own game...love it.

Same message as Rohr's today and the "God Calling" one of the early '30s. 

In fact, we could open the Bible, or any authentic mystic's writings, at any page and find the same message, and be just as deeply moved and awed by that message. We could go back as far as the written word goes and find the same message, i.e., Love!, written somewhere, I'm betting.

My point being...if that single fact is true, that love is the answer no matter the problem, just look at the universe today...look at the planet. Look at our own life! I personally have at least three people who are doing it wrong and would benefit positively with outside help, namely, mine...according to me. 

Ah, but here's my good news: My 1986 note ended with,  'Agree with your adversary quickly' is my goal. I'm glad I knew to go to my instruction book, the Sermon, because there was no way I could just turn on the love. That's why we have instruction books. The bottom-line advice is excellent, but we need specific directions on how to get there. It is up to us, then, to follow those directions.

Just as an aside, I'm pleased to remember that my co-worker Nancy and I parted on friendly terms.  If your only goal is to love, there is no such thing as failure.

Thank you.

GOD-CHANGE STARTS WITH GRATITUDE

Love, Joy, Peace, welcome these. Let no personal feelings, no thoughts of self banish these. Singly, they are miracle-producing in a life, but together, they can command all that is needed on the physical, mental and spiritual planes. -- "God Calling," January 30

Ponder that. What if peace, love and joy really do command all that is needed on the physical, mental and spiritual planes? We'd surely need to change our way of living..."and if that ain't enough, change the way we strut our stuff."

According to me, all God-change starts with gratitude...specifically, gratitude for that which we're resisting! Long-ago lesson learned: We'll never let go of anything until we accept it as our own.

A likely starting point, then, would be to detach from our own self...our sense of lack in particular. We must needs build on our inner sense of abundance, a.k.a., enough. For that is all abundance is really...enough, a consciousness of enough. More than enough is the fool's path toward greed.

Living in a consciousness of peace, love and joy is living in God consciousness. For the walking-around humans like you and me, that is to aspire to...to aim for and laugh at ourselves when we miss. And learn to aim higher.

We'll never realize the power of those "wonder-realm attributes," however, hunkered down in our reasoning mind...resistant, fearful of life itself. We can live in a welcoming state and experience those uplifted moments of peace, love and joy. For it is those moments that beget more peace, love and joy.

Really, it is our choice.

Thank you.

GOD'S WILL, A SURPRISE UNTO DELIGHT

We often hear today, "All I need to know about God is It is not me." Actually, that is not all one needs know about God, but it is an excellent starting point.

I'm guessing the majority of us seek for God as we search for a security blanket...something tangible out there for us to hold to. The mental U-bie comes when, as Eknath Easwaran puts it, we "begin to find a source of security within ourselves." The gold is in the words "begin to find." For that marks the beginning of our changing mind...from chasing our security out there in money, men and power, and begin to realize that our source of security is within...unseen and unseeable.

That is the rock upon which we build our faith. Our ever-wavering faith. Which is another paradox for if our faith were not ever-wavering, the chances of us continuing to build would be slim to nil. We'd likely sit back, relax and wait for God's goodies to roll in.

God's perfect plan, never being our reasoning mind's first thought, will always surprise unto delight.

Thank you.

GOD'S WILL IS EVER PREFERABLE

When we have a need that, to our mind, is not being fulfilled, we look away from our reasoning mind to our soul-center.

If it is a need, not a want, we look in the wrong direction when we blame God for not fulfilling it. We must needs credit God as we turn our eyes inward. We look to our own self and see the problem is  our own lack of faith in God...in the fact that all things are possible to God.

For if we perceive a need, we must needs know unto belief that that need has already been fulfilled. We then remember and remind our own self of that fact. That reminder frees us to then examine our perception of the need. It has likely been fulfilled already in a way our reasoning mind would not have chosen...that our reasoning mind would have rejected even. We can see clearly now for we are looking through God's eyes.

That is how we come to believe that God's will is preferable to our will, no matter how God's will looks to the mind's eye.

Those with eyes to see will see...in a new and different light. And be grateful.

Thank you.

ON BEING AT ONE

Everybody's scandalous flaw is mine. -- Rumi

This to me is the exemplar of Oneness.

We talk being at one, we seldom walk it. We walk it when we least know that is what we're doing. We're looking to become the Lily of the Valley...when we already are, and also the Thorn on the Rose.

If it is true, "everybody's scandalous flaw is mine," then everybody's pearl beyond price is mine, too. We are the flaw and the pearl...there is no scandalous flaw apart from me, nor pearl beyond price separate.

According to me.

Thank you.

SURRENDER UNTO ACCEPTANCE

Rest and lean into the Spirit of God already within you rather than trying to pull an Infinite God into your finite world. This is a paraphrase from a recent Fr Richard Rohr meditation, and it came to me this morning as I was reading "God Calling." It was all about being a channel for God...to quote specifically, I cannot bless a life that does not act as a channel.

To act as a channel for God is to surrender...give up...detach. Love. Love not as an act, not as something we must learn to do. No. It is to BE. We must be love itself...and there's the free-floating joy...we already are love itself.

It is giving of that love, of our self, that brings it home to our reasoning mind and raises our consciousness.

The surest way to act on the love we are is to befriend the one who irritates our ego the most. The complainer, the gossip, the know-it-all, the one who talks for fifteen minutes without taking a breath and all fifteen minutes could be summed up in one word, "Me."

There. I just spelled out my duty roster: "Blogger, heal thyself." 

Thank you.

GOD'S "PROOF OF PURCHASE"

I have experienced this morning the essence of a two-track mind; i.e., the material mind and the spiritual mind running at the same time...duking it out, so to speak.

Naturally, Ruckus is involved...walking Ruckus and finding a "parking" space for him in all the snow. I found a cleared patch out on the front lawn, shot a thank you, and when he'd done his duty, I began to clean up. And fell over in the snow. Since I wasn't hurt, I started playing with Ruckus in the snow...with both of us loving it.

And here comes my two-track mind.

God in me was gleeful; I could sense the "Hallelujah Chorus" full-throat within me. My ego, however, had to enter in and was appalled...just sure that all the people in the surrounding buildings were standing at their windows watching me and judging that crazy old grey-haired lady out there wallowing in the snow...at 6:00 AM yet. God told my ego to hush already, my ego shot back, "Make me." My ego knows no deference.

Interestingly, Ruckus got tired before I did so we came on in.

Even more interesting, to me at any rate, I can still feel the pull from one side to the other. I focus on the free feeling of God in me playing in the snow, and it brings tears to my eyes. Then I think how I must've looked like a fool, what "they" must've thought, and I can feel my face getting hot.

Here's my gold...since Ruckus got tired before I did, I can be sure it wasn't my ego that won...and sent me inside. That's what I call God's "proof of purchase."  I love when I'm gifted with one.

Thank you.

ITS PRESENCE AND ITS LIMITLESSNESS

When our ego starts beating its drum slowly and mourning, "There's something wrong with me," we'll do well to remember to resist it not. Kiss it on the lips and welcome that message. Take comfort in the fact that there is indeed something less than perfect about us...it is our humanness.

Only God is perfect...and he lives within us, as does our humanness. Our life's purpose becomes staying our focus there in order for that knowledge to grow us to our full spiritual potential.

We learn to accept and to meditate on the Father within, on receiving his spiritual direction. We learn to pull back from  our human wants...to get mine before you get yours, to party like its overtime pay, to win and get credit for it.

That's how we build faith in the fact that we already have all the love, patience, peace and joy we shall ever need...and we only learn of its presence and its limitlessness by using it.

Thank you.

GOD, PARKING PLACES AND GRATITUDE

I am 18 hours into the Great Blizzard, and my reaction to it is...predictable. I am, shall we say, less than enchanted with the wonders of nature this morning.

Hey, looking for the gold, I just thought...I showed major ingenuity in finding a john for Ruckus. The snow is way above his entire body including his upright ears and tail curled  above his back. So I used my cane to clear off the top of a huge planter outside our doors...put him up there and let him walk in circles around the plants till he got the message and did his business. I cleaned up, and we high-fived.

Don't tell me God doesn't find us parking places!

Thank you.

I HEARD THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY

I heard the weather report yesterday...maybe the day before...big, huge, gigantic, HISTORIC blizzard heading my way: Two, three...and more...feet of snow expected. Get to the stores now...oops, you're already too late. At least 500,000 homes will lose electricity...no, more like a million...or more, no doubt more. Chances are you will run out of milk, bread, toilet tissue...air.

Took me back to the Beatles song, "I Heard the News Today," which spoke truth then...what, nearly 50 years ago?...and it speaks truth to the reasoning mind now. Yet we must not forget that the reasoning mind is not to be dismissed, ignored or poo-pooed. All those projections may well come true, and worse! If my memory serves me (which it rarely does anymore), poor Boston last year got hit with a mile-deep pile of snow due to a snow storm that would not quit. Yet there were people interviewed afterwards who were laughing about some of their scariest experiences.

My point being, the end result of historic blizzards is no different than snubs from friends...they are only as mind-bending as our reaction to them dictates. Usually, the hurt from a friend's snub lasts longer because we feel justified in our hurt and refuse to let it go. A blizzard is just for getting through.

My reasoning mind dictated that I get extra dog food (Ruckus is good for a month easy), and enough supplies for me to last a week which is the projected end date.

It is not what happens to you, it is your reaction to it that matters.

Thank you.

STAND CONVICTED OF GOD'S LOVE

To be taught by my hurts rather than keep them in my rues, regrets and remorses file...ah, that is the healing action.

To know the miracle-working power of love, i.e., God, only from our eyebrows up is to miss it entirely. That's akin to loving the words in the Bible because they are so pretty albeit utterly meaningless.

We can know it, but if we can't show it, we have not arrived at the conviction of God's love. We are missing the motivating power of that love...that which walks us forward and shows forth from within us.

The fact is that God is showing forth with every breath we take. We just don't see it. We can know God is love, God is within, but continue to pray for each of those...because we neglect to take note of it in our life.

Our life will change when we start acknowledging God in the little places, the "insignificant" gifts we miss when they are given. Be assured, God can wash our windows, find us a parking place, etc....if we have such a need.

I remember the time I parked under a tree at my vet's office, and I had to drive home with my head on my shoulder, squinting to see through the bird poop on my windshield. I was bringing my little Ari home and didn't stop to clean the window when I got home. That night there was a terrific storm...heavy rain all night long. Yes, indeedy...God washed that window!

That's the day I started acknowledging God in the cracks and crannies of my life rather than seeking him only on the mountain tops. Personally, I am rarely called to the mountain tops, but my life gets new cracks and crannies daily.

The lesson is to not file the contents of those cracks and crannies in my poor, pitiful, put-upon me file, but to stand on my conviction that they are here to teach me that God has already blessed them...then I can welcome rather than rue them. And laugh at me for ever doubting it.

Thank you.

TO KNOW AND TO SHOW TRUE KINDNESS

True kindness finds a way to turn ill-will back not with a snark but openly, with a smile. That's the hidden pearl in kindness...it brings a smile to the lips of all concerned. That's probably because true kindness has no ego in it...it's of God, not of self.

To me, that continues to be true. When I read it, my heart smiles. And the golden nut of it is "true kindness has no ego in it." That word "true" being the search engine.

Kindness for convenience sake is all well and good, but its search engine is ego. It's less hassle to the ego-led to just smile, agree and keep on moving. The problem being when ego is the leader, we never know when it's going to whip back on us...decide we were taken advantage of, no doubt looked like a fool standing there grinning like an ape, we coulda, woulda, shoulda said.... And a resentment is born.

Our constant vigilance must be keeping our thoughts spiritually attuned, out of the mental mixing bowl where we wind up hurting our own feelings and looking for someone to blame.

Our reasoning mind can be redirected...with diligent practice and willingness. Willingness simply to know and to show true kindness. For our reasoning mind, that's a toughie.

Thank you.

TURN, TURN, TURN

What if our nemesis, that which has been our dreaded fear our entire adult life, that which we have prayed for years "please release me of this" and "thank you for this," sometimes simultaneously...what if that is, as God Calling promises, the "answer" God is "already preparing" for us?

There. That is exactly why we cannot change our mind all on our own. Wanting to...needing to...are as ashes in the wind to our nemesis. A power greater than us, greater than our power to imagine, is our turn-to.

And God does not care how and/or why we turn to him, what name we call him even...again, he is not like you and me. Turn to him in faith, turn to him without a hope, turn to him in love, turn to him with hate in our heart...makes no never mind to God. Just turn to him.

In other words, just turn away from self.

Thank you.

WITH FAITH AS OUR FOUNDATION

Try with a will or fall by the wayside. -- Anonymous

Try with a will, with faith as our foundation, I suspect is the key...faith in other than I, me, my, mine...faith in other than my wants.

We are told that to have faith in the wonderworking power of the Lord is all we need or will ever need. Our focus, therefore, must needs be on deepening our faith.

A deepened faith is a faith grown into fact, into the fact that our wants have already been met. They are usually unrecognizable because the way we had in mind would only benefit us. God's way is for the benefit of all.

Deepening our faith is not about self-interpreting the Bible, or any other spiritual tract, but living with a listening ear, waiting on the Lord to enlighten us...however, whenever, wherever, with whomever he chooses for us in order that we may detach from our own self. 

Welcome the beggar, kiss the leper, love the enemy...s/he may well be the messenger God has sent to deliver to us our wants...transformed into our needs.

Thank you.

LOVE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES

If we love only the peacocks of the world...the beautiful, the clever, the well-off...we will never know love...the healing-ness of love.

We must needs seek the world's magpies, the laughing hyenas, the mockingbirds, the jailbirds. Seek them for our own sake...to love them. Not to correct them, not to teach them, but to correct us, to teach us to love them just as they are. Kiss them on the lips...and welcome every irritating, distracting characteristic about them. For each one is you, each one is me.

If we cannot love the less-thans in all their distracting, irritating, mean and sullen ways, we will never feel the wholeness of love itself. We will continue to live on the surface of life...i.e., feels good, love/feels bad, not love.

We must go deeper to a higher Source...to become One'd so that our desire becomes to love like God loves...without boundaries.

Thank you.

SO SEEK

According to me, a sore winner is harder to take than a sore loser.

A sore loser sits and sulks and looks uninviting...so we avoid him, walk on by. A sore winner, however, suckers us in with a happy face for having won...then keeps letting her world know that she was done wrong. Since the wrong-doer even admitted it, that proves she was...is...a victim. UH-OH...avoid her, walk on by.

The best guide for resentment-free living is to be the first to admit an error of our own, the last to point out an error of another. Be the first to reach out...not to strike like a snake but to envelop with love like an old friend.

It's a hard lesson learning that we are one hundred percent responsible for our own attitude, and resentment-free living is one hundred percent reliant on our attitude. It does not matter whether we win or we lose...it is our attitude about it that will determine our happiness. And whether we draw others to us or they avoid us, walk on by.

The hardest lesson learning is that we, all on our own, relying solely on our own brain and will, cannot change our own mind, much less our attitude. Ah, but God can and will if sought.

Thank you.

THE GOD OF MY UNDERSTANDING

[The following is my blog of March 1, 2011, reworked.]

I am reminded again that my God is MY God, the God of my understanding.

I suspect sometimes I am chasing my interpretation of Joel Goldsmith's God or Eknath Easwaran's or any number of others'.

While using others' tools is fine…beyond wonderful…every time I use one of their tools, I need to be open for MY return…when I don’t get what I am interpreting that the other got, I feel a failure…and miss my gift.

This is also true about mentors and friends. As has been written, they but point the way, it is ours to do the heavy lifting. Another's words, inspirations, ideas are another's gold. We each must find our own within our own self.

Thank you.

GOD IS SO GOOD TO US

It is not life and its difficulties you have to conquer, only the self in you. -- "God Calling," January 14

Amazingly, I first noted that line in 1991...meaning, I underlined it because I "got" it. I noted it again in 2005...meaning, I highlighted it in yellow because I really "got" it. I just noted it again in 2016...meaning, I underlined it again and drew a smiley face out to the side.

The great and glorious news is I knew the smiley face for "thank you, God." Because today I am doing that...poorly, half-way most times, but by golly I have hit it out of the park on more than one or two occasions since 1991. And, from my toenails up, I am happily aware that I could and would never have been able to do that all on my own.

Here's the joy: Remembering when I gave over, let it slide, agreed with my adversary without trying to curry his or her favor...did not win. Conquered self!

The rest of the story: It took single-minded focus, prayer and effort for me each time to even consider heading in that direction...while knowing, knowing, knowing better. Not to mention that none, not a single one, of the times that I gave over were anything but bumps in my mental road, each of which I could have made my own personal "stand" for me. For my rights, for taking my own part, for not letting him/her run over me...willing to drop friends like used Kleenex.

The secret for how, when and why God is so good to us revealed: When we align our will with God's will and drop our own will by the wayside. That's it. Our heart, soul, body and brains can and will get happy, sing, turn cartwheels, dance...all because we don't get our own way anymore.

Thank you.

ON BEING IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT

According to Rohr this morning, "Jesus came to show us that it is our human experience that we must and can trust. *** But most of us are still shooting for the stars. We are looking at ascents and 'higher states of consciousness' and moral perfectionism, while Jesus quite simply comes 'and lives among us.'"

The rest of the story, according to me, is that those of us "still shooting for the stars," and the "higher states of consciousness" are doing so by trudging the path laid out by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon being the instructions for how he came and lived among us...therefore, how we can live peaceably among others.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but to live peaceably among others means learning how to give over...give in...resist not. It is never about getting, it is all about giving. And we cannot do that on our unaided muscle and/or mental power. We need and we have a higher power who can and will do for us when we surrender our very self to It. We resist not.

Nonresistance does not come easy, mainly because its only requirement is that we cease. Detach. Divorce ourselves from our own opinions. Trust. Let go. That is only possible as far as I have found by trusting my body, brains, bones and soul to Almighty God and letting him live my life through me for me.

And that does lift us into a higher state of consciousness while we continue to live in the material world. I'm guessing that's what being in the world but not of it means.

Thank you.

UP TO OUR ELBOWS IN ANGELS

Relationships break down not because people are bad but because they are illiterate in love. To become literate in love, we must learn how to reduce our lifelong preoccupation with our own needs and feelings. -- Today's "Words to Live By," by Eknath Easwaran

Again we are reminded that the source of all our woes is never out there, and our living in the slings and arrows of our youth...or our yesterday...simply proves our preference for pity rather than love...self-pity to be exact. (I heard someone once say that the seduction of self-pity is that it is so sincere...how true is that?)

We would do well to hold to the idea that those with whom we're in conflict are our angels in disguise. That's how we become literate in love. Those angels' sole purpose is to help us grow spiritually...they ease us into looking within to find what’s really causing our upset. Then with God’s help to right it.

There are going to be days when we will feel we're up to our elbows in angels. Remember, it's a lot easier to pray "thank you" when it's angels, not alligators, we're dealing with. And it is our own attitude that makes the choice.

Thank you.

THERE NEVER IS A PROBLEM FOR US TO SOLVE

I would guess that everyone wants to have peace of mind...to live without stress...to be happy. Unfortunately, we not only want peace,  no stress and happiness, but we want it 100 percent of the time, and we want it gifted to us.

The spiritual fact is that all of these are available within us 24/7, but we can only access them by giving over to another.

The giving over is done not from the head but from the heart, and it is not done once, twice or even thrice. Once we give over to s/he who may be a momentary bane in our life, we must needs continue to think and act as if s/he is our new best friend. [I know from my own personal experience that this is true; it works, I have experienced it...more than once.]

We can be grateful that our hours of spiritual discipline can and will remind us that we need...yes, need...to get off our own cracked track, thinking only of self, and remember that our decision to give our will and our life over to the care of  God still holds. That God still has our back, and we need to think only of and for the benefit of others...our current irritant and others.

This is where a self-determined objective must get gone...mainly because self is still in control. Detach from self-determination and rest in the fact that our problem was never a problem to God, only to our self. It isn't that it has already been solved...it never was.

The only way to act on that is to react to nothing. Extend peace, love and joy to any and all. and know each for our angel.

Thank you.

AGAIN...I'VE GOT GOD'S WORK CUT OUT FOR US

My friend Gertrude needs to know....

More rightly, I want to tell Gertrude....

The thing I need to remember is that whatever Gertrude, or any of us, needs to know, we will learn through the perfect source, God's will and word.

My blinding flash of the obvious, It is not my message to carry, it is my seed to plant, makes that perfectly clear. My seed to plant is what I show forth...not what I say, but what I do. All the pretty words in the world without like action are just pretty words, mocking the speaker.

The trouble with waiting for God's will and word to make their way to Gertrude is...she's driving me bat-belly crazy right now.

Sometimes I feel like God enjoys toying with me...because I can preach a good message. Like, it seems just a minute ago that I was quoting, "If someone hurts you and  you're sore, there's something wrong with you, too." Isn't that profound? Sometimes I can sound almost as good as the Trumpeter...the devil made me write that.

Who's kidding whom? I just wish Gertrude would shape up. 

Sigh.

]

Thank you.

"AMAZING GRACE," GRATITUDE'S THEME SONG

To be free...to be free of me...that is the only object we each must be free of...that which is known by each of us as...me.

Free of me means being free of my thoughts about me...those less-than/better-than thoughts about me.

Less-than thoughts just beat us up, usually in the dead of the night, usually about deeds done, words spoken, sometimes years ago, sometimes yesterday, but done. Over. Can't take back. And surrender is not an acceptable option...we haven't beat our self up enough yet.

Better-than thoughts are our hurt and/or angry thoughts resisting the you-done-me-wrong words or actions of an intimate. Those that pierce our heart...we should know when we land on that phrase alone that we are in victim territory...but it hurts too good to stop.

The seldom looked-at fact is, when we get into that compulsive mental rehashing of our hurt, we are invariably reacting in kind. We become that which we decry. It is cosmic, but it is true. That is because there is no God there, there is only me...me with my favorite pet, Ego. Ego, who only knows and constantly says, "Somebody [else] has got to pay."

We very well know the answer to our persistent thoughts...less/better, makes no never mind, they are resistant and, therefore, compulsive. The question we must needs answer is: If all of that is true (that being what we're compulsing over) what is wrong with me that I cannot...no, will not...accept it?

Again we come to that mental fork in the road...continue thinking on this? Or pray our thank you prayer? 

Then, no matter our choice, hum "Amazing Grace."

Thank you.  

PRACTICE THE ART OF FLOWING

My morning blinding flash of the obvious: Leave, stay, or learn how to flow.

My Easwaran's "Words to Live By" has as the lead quote today: In deep meditation the flow of concentration is continuous like the flow of oil. -- Patanjali

I'm taking it that flowing, to flow, is my guideline today. Learning how to flow is simplicity itself. On paper. Or when we're advising someone else on how to do it. Doing it our own self, however....

To flow is to move forward...one can't flow backward. And one can't stand still if we're looking to flow.

It is nonresistance. That's what flowing is. Nonresistance. And the reasoning mind immediately throws out its "yes, but...," and "what about...?" Going, of course, for the worst possible case scenario that has no likely chance of happening, but...what if? What if someone drives by as I'm walking Ruckus, hops out of the car, grabs Ruckus and drives off? Wouldn't I resist that? You can bet your bottom I would.

But why conjure up the unlikeliest? I could just as well project someone saying something with which I disagree with me replying, "You may be right." That's flowing.

Or I could imagination someone I less than love saying something snarky that has a built-in takedown answer just begging to be said. Am I willing to practice honing that reply to a humorous shrug...not to top, not to stop, but to flow?

Clearly, it's all about action...we can practice not resisting that which begs to be resisted, and not by using self will. We could just as well tape our mouths shut if we're going with self will. No. Practice not resisting by using spiritual principles. Practice thanking God for that which looks like a problem to our eyes but is his opportunity to shine using us.

Here's where we can say,  Knock yourself out, God. I'm willing, and you've got the power. There. That, too, is flowing.

Thank you.

EXPERIENCE LOVE BY LOVING

I wonder if the world doesn't seem to be in such a manic state...maniacal state, really...because we each as individuals have reneged on our personal responsibility to love. Period.

We can only experience love by loving. Loving in the dark and lonely places, in the bright and shining glades, in the head of the angry and the heart of the saintly. For, in our own heart, we each are the dark, the lonely, the bright, the shining, the angry, the saintly. There. There is where we must needs love...in our own heart.

Find that love. Then share it. With the unlovable. 

Thank you.

ON THE NEED TO LOVE AND BE LOVED

I read this morning that God creates us with a bottomless and endless need to be loved and to love.

That's a comfort and a hunh! both at the same time. Because in todays walking around world to have a bottomless and endless need to be loved and to love would be called excessively needy...or even stalking. We would be advised to get to a shrink already.

That's the difference between seeking head help and Soul growth. When someone comes to me for what-to-do suggestions, I never knock head help, but I usually check to be sure she is seeking still more spiritual growth with regard to the problem.

Still more spiritual growth without fail will turn us within in order to discover our decision based on self that later placed us in this position to be hurt. A person not ready to hear that can get a tish irate for he is still looking for an outside solution to an inside problem.

Seeking the answer to the satisfaction of our head invariably is all about finding the cause of the hurt...parent, boss, spouse, friend. Which cause may be true, but it won't get us free. It usually gets us one of two things (sometimes both)...justification or resentment...ensuring we remain our own victim.

Until we see, realize and accept that our reasoning mind's answers are the result of our invitation...our own personal, albeit unconscious, invitation...we will continue seeking mental solutions to our spiritual problem.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve. -- Joshua 24:15

Thank you.

HUMILITY...OR HOW TO STUDY WAR NO MORE

According to Fr. Richard Rohr, St. Francis fell in love with the "humility" of God, a word, as Rohr says, that most of us would not even think could apply to God.

I'm guessing the humility of God is in God's love of...everything. Because, we learn, God IS love. Being love, God cannot see, feel, taste, touch, hear anything but love. There is no resistance because there is nothing to resist.

Without resistance, there is no ego. Without ego, there is only a humble recognition that all is exactly as it needs to be...without any fixing, meddling, guarding against or pulling for.

Now that is humbling.

I wondered if that isn't also the bar to aim for, the unspoken goal of the Sermon on the Mount, actually. For it is only love, the absence of ego, that would allow us to "turn the other cheek," to "agree with your adversary quickly," to, in fact, "resist not evil."

Love, the absence of ego, is all that is needed to "study war no more." Please and thank you.

Thank you.

TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

When wrong, promptly admit it...be the first to give over...just change your mind.  These are the words to heed if we are truly seeking peace of mind and want to live a joy-full life.

It has been my experience that changing my mind, being the first to give over, or promptly admitting I am wrong all require my ego to take a hike and my heart, soul, body and brain to align in one desire: to seek and do God's will in the matter.

I cannot change my mind about anything by just saying I'm going to or even that I want to...it is God's grace when I can upgrade my opinion about a celebrity for heavens sake. Paris Hilton almost sunk me, and we'll skate right on by the Trumpeter.

Same goes with giving over...giving over not from the eyebrows up, as in making nice-nice and thinking "fool," but giving over with love and a desire for the other's peace of mind. Likewise, admitting my wrong...promptly. God's grace. That's all.

Without the grace of God and all my angels, I'd still be fighting to the death with my sister about who was the rightful owner of that cashmere sweater...a fight that started when I was 16, she was 19, and the last time it was mentioned, we were both in our 40s. I could feel fire starting in my belly and see little sparks in her eyes...then we both laughed. At the same time. With neither of us having said a conciliatory word. Don't tell me God doesn't concern himself with petty problems. God is available 24/7...why wouldn't he make himself useful as needed whenever, wherever?

There is no limit to God's wonderworking power. If we will commit to when wrong, promptly admit it...be the first to give over...just change your mind, God can and will prove that power...and in the instant that we trust and move forward.

It's known as holding your nose and taking a leap of faith.

Thank you.

KNOW AND BE GRATEFUL FOR THE KNOWING

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. -- Eckhart Tolle

I had a scarifying experience on January 1, another on January 2, and today, the 3rd, I found Tolle's quote which I originally read in an "Agnes" cartoon on January 3, 2009.  I knew it was a keeper and saved it, folded in my "God Calling."

These are the "little" things that tell me my God knows my needs long before the need becomes evident to me. He knew in 2009 I'd need to read that, and it's been here for me ever since. The minute I read it this morning, I felt great peace settle over me.

I laughed as it occurred to me that consciousness continues to evolve even at age 77. The scarifying, the humdrum, the roses and rainbows...all come by invitation only and are for my personal benefit...how I receive them is evidence of my consciousness evolving.

I can know and be grateful I know, "It is I be not afraid."

Thank you.

WE ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE

Apparently, it is a hard concept to grasp but we always have a choice between feeling happy or feeling hurt...or feeling anything else for that matter.

I recall an experience I had back when I had the care and feeding of the IRS. A fairly wealthy friend of mine from my California days paid my plane fare to come visit her and her husband. At the time, I didn't have two pennies to bless myself with, and I of course had to give her a gift. I haunted used book stores, second-hand accessory shops...anywhere I thought I'd find an impressive brand name gift at a miracle price.

I found nothing. My fallback, failsafe idea was that I might be willing to part with my beloved sterling and turquoise bracelet...if I found nothing at all to give her. She was a fan of Indian jewelry, particularly silver and turquoise, so I knew it would be welcome.

Indeed, I found nothing else, so I wrapped my bracelet and gave it to her for Christmas. It never entered my mind that there are different levels of acceptable silver and turquoise bracelets. Mine did not make the cut. My friend looked at it with distinct disdain, thanked me, and that was it.

My gift from God right on the spot was that I realized I could choose to feel hurt at her response or to feel happy that I loved a friend more than I loved a piece of jewelry...how she felt about it was of no never mind.

I never had another thought about that until just recently when a similar event occurred to another friend. I had my experience to pass on to her, and she got it. What a joy! We giggled like teenagers at our freedom of choice!

God is so good to us.

Thank you.

TO REMEMBER

Our comforter...for use as needed throughout the year:

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 looms large, 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 - ”For He performs the thing that is appointed for me….”

Upon awakening:  I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice. -- Meister Eckhart

Thank you.