At the point of unexplainable is where the miracle of God appears. That's from a note in my "God Calling" dated 8/31/12. I doubt it is original but I didn't note the author. It just gives me hope this morning what with the state of my world...the politics (Trump), the weather (Harvey), Comcast (enough said). I'm reminded of the old hymn, "Someday We'll Understand."
Pondering it, though, "at the point of unexplainable," I believe, is when we run out of "I know." It's when we're feeling hopeless and helpless, and that's not a feeling, it's a fact, we are indeed hopeless and helpless. The reason being: We've run out of "I know."
I doubt many (any?) of us would ever turn to a power greater (positive or negative) than our own self if we never ran out of "I knows." And some of us don't. And some of us take longer than others.
Ah, there's the paradox and the pearl beyond price. It matters not whether or if in this lifetime we run out of "I knows." "I know" is just another path to God, it's just a roundabout way of getting there. But aren't they all? Even the Buddha, even Christ Jesus, even Saint Francis did not get there, to God, in one step forward.
At the point of unexplainable is where the miracle of God appears, then, is our "thank you" at the point of crash-and-burn for we know gratitude even as. That cannot happen in one step forward. For which we can be grateful, we'd miss all the love and laughter if it did.
Thank you.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
TWO WORDS...LOVE, LAUGH
He comes unbidden to the open heart. -- morning blinding flash of the obvious
Knowing truth and doing truth are for sure two entirely different things. Then there's doing it and living it...doing it as a one-shot deal is hard to hate, but it is a one-shot deal. Living it? That's as we breathe, without thought, no hesitation...yeah, perfection.
I don't doubt God would love to see perfection in all of us, but fortunately he does not demand it...I like to think that's because it'd take all the fun out of his days. (It gives me great comfort to know my God has a sense of humor.)
Not for a minute, though, do I believe that God enjoys our tears and travails, I just can't see him getting all bent out of shape about them. Mainly because he knows the end of the story. And the end of the story for each and all of us is always a wonderful thing.
It may well take a lifetime or ten...or more...before we get to the end of our particular story, but as long as we always cling to the truth that spiritual principles can solve all our problems, what matter how long it takes?
With that as our guide, it is our choice how light and loving our journey will be. Especially since all we really need to remember is to love and laugh.
Thank you.
Knowing truth and doing truth are for sure two entirely different things. Then there's doing it and living it...doing it as a one-shot deal is hard to hate, but it is a one-shot deal. Living it? That's as we breathe, without thought, no hesitation...yeah, perfection.
I don't doubt God would love to see perfection in all of us, but fortunately he does not demand it...I like to think that's because it'd take all the fun out of his days. (It gives me great comfort to know my God has a sense of humor.)
Not for a minute, though, do I believe that God enjoys our tears and travails, I just can't see him getting all bent out of shape about them. Mainly because he knows the end of the story. And the end of the story for each and all of us is always a wonderful thing.
It may well take a lifetime or ten...or more...before we get to the end of our particular story, but as long as we always cling to the truth that spiritual principles can solve all our problems, what matter how long it takes?
With that as our guide, it is our choice how light and loving our journey will be. Especially since all we really need to remember is to love and laugh.
Thank you.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
THE FATHER KNOWS OUR NEEDS
The study of truth is the smallest part of our life's demonstration. Far too many students study too much. It takes a very small statement of truth to spark our consciousness into action, and it is that action that brings about the development of our spiritual consciousness. It is not what we read that does it,; it is what we do with what we read that does it. -- Joel Goldsmith, "Consciousness Is What I Am," pp 67-68
And there it is. Not until I quit seeking for the "right" spiritual author, book, Way was I freed from my own feeling of limitation, looking back and longing for the freedom of my chains. I no longer seek new books, authors, ways to reach enlightenment...which doesn't mean I don't read new material, I do. But my focus is on doing what I have learned.
The Sermon on the Mount was my first third-eye opener...whatever I read from that point on unto today must agree spiritually with the Sermon. That's my test of the newbie's authenticity to me no never mind if it fits another or even a million others.
According to me, we are all on the same path going in different directions. No matter the direction we take, God is our goal whether or not we know it.
The Father knows....
Thank you.
And there it is. Not until I quit seeking for the "right" spiritual author, book, Way was I freed from my own feeling of limitation, looking back and longing for the freedom of my chains. I no longer seek new books, authors, ways to reach enlightenment...which doesn't mean I don't read new material, I do. But my focus is on doing what I have learned.
The Sermon on the Mount was my first third-eye opener...whatever I read from that point on unto today must agree spiritually with the Sermon. That's my test of the newbie's authenticity to me no never mind if it fits another or even a million others.
According to me, we are all on the same path going in different directions. No matter the direction we take, God is our goal whether or not we know it.
The Father knows....
Thank you.
Monday, August 28, 2017
WE ARE GRACED WITH GRATITUDE
Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. -- Seneca
Feeling stuck? Been feeling stuck for awhile? That's when our reasoning mind goes into overdrive, and whoa! The solutions that come out of an impatient (scared) reasoning mind, defy God and common sense.
We decide to move...across town, across country, anywhere just move it on down the road. Or, no. Better idea. Go to the doctor...something is clearly wrong, get a pill. Or, no, wait...maybe therapy...or, better yet, a pill and therapy.
When we're in that stuck place, feeling kinda like our skin is on crooked, rarely, if ever, do we turn to God with an entirely open mind. Meaning, really and truly wanting God's solution. We turn to God asking for our own idea of what we need...a job, a mate, more money. All of which may very well be true!
The good and the bad news both together: God is not going to gift us with a job, a mate or more money. We go to God for God and that is all. There. That is the spiritual answer which defies the reasoning mind. We go to God for God and that is all, and at some point, not on our timetable, we find we have enough...of whatever we need, we have enough.
So, our answer is to not look out there for a solution to stuck, but to stay right where we are and look within. Seek our answer from the honorable force within. That honorable force is our core of gold. And there is an honorable force within else where would we go to get it...Target? Tiffany's? Saint Patrick's Cathedral? The Church of What's Happening Now? We can search high, low and in between, yet until we turn within...doubting all the while but desperation has just become our friend...we will remain in our self-determined objective, i.e., stuck, wanting a job, a mate, more money.
If we are seeking still more spiritual growth, just when we know we are unbearably stuck with no hope of ever breaking free, we are imbued with grace.We realize gratitude for everything in our life just exactly as it is right this very minute. And we whisper, "Thank you."
Thank you.
Feeling stuck? Been feeling stuck for awhile? That's when our reasoning mind goes into overdrive, and whoa! The solutions that come out of an impatient (scared) reasoning mind, defy God and common sense.
We decide to move...across town, across country, anywhere just move it on down the road. Or, no. Better idea. Go to the doctor...something is clearly wrong, get a pill. Or, no, wait...maybe therapy...or, better yet, a pill and therapy.
When we're in that stuck place, feeling kinda like our skin is on crooked, rarely, if ever, do we turn to God with an entirely open mind. Meaning, really and truly wanting God's solution. We turn to God asking for our own idea of what we need...a job, a mate, more money. All of which may very well be true!
The good and the bad news both together: God is not going to gift us with a job, a mate or more money. We go to God for God and that is all. There. That is the spiritual answer which defies the reasoning mind. We go to God for God and that is all, and at some point, not on our timetable, we find we have enough...of whatever we need, we have enough.
So, our answer is to not look out there for a solution to stuck, but to stay right where we are and look within. Seek our answer from the honorable force within. That honorable force is our core of gold. And there is an honorable force within else where would we go to get it...Target? Tiffany's? Saint Patrick's Cathedral? The Church of What's Happening Now? We can search high, low and in between, yet until we turn within...doubting all the while but desperation has just become our friend...we will remain in our self-determined objective, i.e., stuck, wanting a job, a mate, more money.
If we are seeking still more spiritual growth, just when we know we are unbearably stuck with no hope of ever breaking free, we are imbued with grace.We realize gratitude for everything in our life just exactly as it is right this very minute. And we whisper, "Thank you."
Thank you.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
RESPECT...FORGIVENESS...LOVE...GOD'S WILL
Respect. According to me, respect is the missing ingredient in the daily living of most in today's world.
All it takes to show respect is to be as concerned for the well-being of others as we are for our own feelings. Ah, feelings. Feelings are the false thermometer of life.
In the '60s, the word was, "If it feels good, do it." So we did. See where that got us?
Now, it seems the word is, if it feels anything but ego-satisfying (i.e., warm and wonderful), drop it. See where that is getting us?
I love the Prayer of Saint Francis, especially "For it is in forgiving that we are forgiven." I'm thinking forgiveness is just giving respect where we had been withholding it. Interestingly, just this morning I read, Without forgiveness nothing new happens.
All it takes to show respect is to be as concerned for the well-being of others as we are for our own feelings. Ah, feelings. Feelings are the false thermometer of life.
In the '60s, the word was, "If it feels good, do it." So we did. See where that got us?
Now, it seems the word is, if it feels anything but ego-satisfying (i.e., warm and wonderful), drop it. See where that is getting us?
I love the Prayer of Saint Francis, especially "For it is in forgiving that we are forgiven." I'm thinking forgiveness is just giving respect where we had been withholding it. Interestingly, just this morning I read, Without forgiveness nothing new happens.
The new that happens is we give over to another, we cede the will to be right, we say, "Yes, thank you."
Being respectful, showing respect, is forgiveness stripped of self. The very respect we give invites respect in return. Like the man said, it is in forgiving that we are forgiven.
Q: Why is that so hard for us to do?
A: Because it is wholly spiritual. Our reasoning mind cannot get us there, never mind our "want to."
We go to God for God, and that is all. Then, and only then, can our life become a spiritual fountain of peace, love and joy where respect and forgiveness flow without thought.
Yes, thank you.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
SELF-DISCIPLINE...OUR TICKET TO RIDE
It is said that old age ain't for sissies, and OMG how true that is. What isn't made much of is the fact that the spiritual life ain't for sissies either. Like not responding in kind to a snarky comment...an unfair snarky comment (there are fair ones?). Personally, I tend to suspect that walking on water isn't a whole lot harder...both being impossible to my reasoning mind. It isn't that "not responding in kind" means keeping my mouth shut...that's the easy part...but there are no points in Heaven for my closed mouth with a snarky mind. That's just breeding grounds for a resentment, a.k.a., Ego Heaven.
The thing of it is, it is possible to be unfairly judged, found wanting and shunned as punishment, and not live in either blame of another or shame of self because of it. That is called "peace of mind." And, for a fact, self-will cannot get us there...self-discipline is our ticket to ride.
According to me, there is no spiritual growth without self-discipline, and self-discipline starts by making a decision to sit and wait on the Lord. For however long the Lord wants us to sit and wait. I say again, the Lord goes slow in order for us to keep up.
Spiritual growth entails ego-deflation in depth. We can usually recognize ego-thinking by our wants. We want pay back, to get over on, make her sorry, shame him...win, in a word. Or make 'em lose, either one will do. That's ego thinking, plain and simple.
First lesson: There is no win/lose spiritually, there is only win/win. Sounds easy-peasy. Second lesson: It is not.
It takes emptying of our self, detaching from our self. The time it takes depends entirely on how long it takes us to realize we cannot do that. We learn neither battering rams nor pitch forks will aid us, we must go to God. And with a sincere heart. (Here's a clue: If our sincere heart feels like a broken heart, we're on the right track.)
Although it is a hard lesson learning, it truly is the pearl beyond price: Our grayest days are our blessings in disguise. They are our guarantee of a bright future, that time when we can look back in grateful wonder at how beautifully our life shows forth.
God is so good to us.
Thank you.
The thing of it is, it is possible to be unfairly judged, found wanting and shunned as punishment, and not live in either blame of another or shame of self because of it. That is called "peace of mind." And, for a fact, self-will cannot get us there...self-discipline is our ticket to ride.
According to me, there is no spiritual growth without self-discipline, and self-discipline starts by making a decision to sit and wait on the Lord. For however long the Lord wants us to sit and wait. I say again, the Lord goes slow in order for us to keep up.
Spiritual growth entails ego-deflation in depth. We can usually recognize ego-thinking by our wants. We want pay back, to get over on, make her sorry, shame him...win, in a word. Or make 'em lose, either one will do. That's ego thinking, plain and simple.
First lesson: There is no win/lose spiritually, there is only win/win. Sounds easy-peasy. Second lesson: It is not.
It takes emptying of our self, detaching from our self. The time it takes depends entirely on how long it takes us to realize we cannot do that. We learn neither battering rams nor pitch forks will aid us, we must go to God. And with a sincere heart. (Here's a clue: If our sincere heart feels like a broken heart, we're on the right track.)
Although it is a hard lesson learning, it truly is the pearl beyond price: Our grayest days are our blessings in disguise. They are our guarantee of a bright future, that time when we can look back in grateful wonder at how beautifully our life shows forth.
God is so good to us.
Thank you.
Friday, August 25, 2017
INTENTIONAL IMPERFECTION, OUR SPIRIT LINE
The Christian mind eventually had little respect for the ubiquitous disorder in the universe, unlike most native religions—for example, as here in New Mexico where the Puebloan clown deliberately breaks the perfect symmetry and seriousness of the sacred dance or the intentional imperfection that must be woven into the authentic Navajo rug (this imperfection is wisely called “the spirit line”). -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," August 25, 2017
As I read Rohr this morning, the question flashed, What if President Trump is God's "intentional imperfection" for America...God's "spirit line" that is the crack in our country that lets the light in?
To my mind, he surely fits the mold.
Whether he is or not, the answer is the same...if the kingdom of heaven is within, and we are told to seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, then we must see it not just within our own self, but within each and every other self...the pure and the impure, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust...for those comparisons are just for the benefit of our reasoning mind. There is no pure and, good and, just and, in the kingdom of heaven.
There is just the whole Navajo rug with its spirit line...its intentional imperfection woven in for the benefit of you and me.
I started this morning pondering what my spiritual quest would be for my coming year...wow! Not to mention, whoa! God sure has his work cut out for me.
Thank you.
As I read Rohr this morning, the question flashed, What if President Trump is God's "intentional imperfection" for America...God's "spirit line" that is the crack in our country that lets the light in?
To my mind, he surely fits the mold.
Whether he is or not, the answer is the same...if the kingdom of heaven is within, and we are told to seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, then we must see it not just within our own self, but within each and every other self...the pure and the impure, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust...for those comparisons are just for the benefit of our reasoning mind. There is no pure and, good and, just and, in the kingdom of heaven.
There is just the whole Navajo rug with its spirit line...its intentional imperfection woven in for the benefit of you and me.
I started this morning pondering what my spiritual quest would be for my coming year...wow! Not to mention, whoa! God sure has his work cut out for me.
Thank you.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
THE ETERNAL GRACE OF GRATITUDE
Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.- somewhere in the Bible
That one has ever been my Waterloo. I almost wish it said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven"...period, end of sentence. Or have added, "if you don't you'll die...an ugly death." That would get our attention. But I read "all these things shall be added unto you," and there's me with my wish list.
Here's the kicker. I have experienced "all these things" being added unto me. No, I do not have a money tree in my back yard, a loving man in my bed, eternal peace in my heart and mind. The fact is, on this my 46th year of freedom from my favorite poison, I'm just north of blissfully happy. Any closer and I'd probably be risking ego heaven.
Over the years, I have come to realize, and to more fully realize each day, that we were born with the secret to a happy, joyous and free life sealed up inside.
It is our attitude.
We each, and only we, have control over our attitude because we have free will. And who's kidding whom? There have been times when I've wished God hadn't been so generous with the free will. Why else would I get all up in my head unable to decide if I'd rather have the kingdom of heaven or all my wants? It is to love and laugh.
God's gift to me over the years is the constantly aborning realization that the kingdom of heaven is within me right this instant. It is known as an attitude of gratitude. The grace of gratitude is our beacon, it transforms everything...it especially transforms the grayest of days into a beacon of hope.
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
Thank you.
That one has ever been my Waterloo. I almost wish it said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven"...period, end of sentence. Or have added, "if you don't you'll die...an ugly death." That would get our attention. But I read "all these things shall be added unto you," and there's me with my wish list.
Here's the kicker. I have experienced "all these things" being added unto me. No, I do not have a money tree in my back yard, a loving man in my bed, eternal peace in my heart and mind. The fact is, on this my 46th year of freedom from my favorite poison, I'm just north of blissfully happy. Any closer and I'd probably be risking ego heaven.
Over the years, I have come to realize, and to more fully realize each day, that we were born with the secret to a happy, joyous and free life sealed up inside.
It is our attitude.
We each, and only we, have control over our attitude because we have free will. And who's kidding whom? There have been times when I've wished God hadn't been so generous with the free will. Why else would I get all up in my head unable to decide if I'd rather have the kingdom of heaven or all my wants? It is to love and laugh.
God's gift to me over the years is the constantly aborning realization that the kingdom of heaven is within me right this instant. It is known as an attitude of gratitude. The grace of gratitude is our beacon, it transforms everything...it especially transforms the grayest of days into a beacon of hope.
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
Thank you.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
THANK YOU...REPEATEDLY
If I would remember any one of the four following blinding flashes of the obvious, I'd never suffer another resentment:
Just because s/he is wrong doesn't mean I am right.
God has to go slow in order for me to keep up.
Acceptance is simply giving God the courtesy of letting him go first.
Thank you.
And, again...thank you.
Just because s/he is wrong doesn't mean I am right.
God has to go slow in order for me to keep up.
Acceptance is simply giving God the courtesy of letting him go first.
Thank you.
And, again...thank you.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
GOOD INTENTIONS...GOD'S HANDS
But throughout history the wiser minds have understood that anger and moral posturing are not a good antidote to rage and fanaticism. Competing vitriols only build on each other. - David Brooks, "New York Times," August 15, 2017
Everywhere I look, whatever I read today, there's God's message for me: We have ceased fighting anything and anybody.
Everywhere I look, whatever I read today, there's God's message for me: We have ceased fighting anything and anybody.
I hope that remains true for me since it so often brings me back from the edge of my own anger today. No...I don't just hope, I intend....
As long as I leave my intentions in God's hands, I'm good to go.
Thank you.
Monday, August 21, 2017
WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE
If we are sincerely seeking the spiritual way of life (which, according to me, is to want God's will done in my life more than I want my will done in my life, and that is all), then we must needs give up...period. I was trying to think of what we must needs give up, and so many things came to mind that I realized it is everything...we give up, and all we need is added unto us. From within. Where it has ever been. Waiting for us to let go of our ego-victory wants.
We no longer seek to be a winner...we become a winner the instant we surrender our want to be a winner. To stay a winner, we seek to help another person become a winner. Fighting will not get us there...nor will talk. In truth, our reasoning mind cannot get us to this place. To our reasoning mind, to decide to not fight is to decide to lie down and let the other stomp us silly. Clearly, there is no God...or even common sense...in that.
It is a spiritual path we walk in order to change our way of thinking. We know and we know we know that we do not know. That God does know. That we must, because we choose to, seek the way of the Lord.
The way of the Lord is to love and laugh. There is a boatload of spiritual learning wrapped up there, and what a great sunshiny day when we realize that all the love, all the laughter that we will ever need is within us right this very minute.
What we are now learning is how and when to release them. The answer is: We love and laugh NOW. Every second that we are in the Now, Love and Laugh.
What we are now learning is how and when to release them. The answer is: We love and laugh NOW. Every second that we are in the Now, Love and Laugh.
Without God, impossible...with God, all things are possible.
Thank you.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
GRACE TELLS ITS OWN STORY
My great delusion was that if we followed great spiritual leaders, most of whom preach love as the answer, we would know, feel, be protected from hate and all its variations. No. What I continue to learn is that we must walk in a state of love through hate and all its variations.
There is no protection.
Bad news alert: If we feel the need for protection, we have lost our focus and are back in our reasoning mind zone. Good news follows: That is the human condition, to feel the need for protection. But to expect to live protected (i.e., fear-free) is why they say expectations will do us in.
There it is, the paradox. From our eyebrows up, we get the word: There is no protection. We expect, therefore, to feel no need for protection. And there's our gift...we find otherwise.
In a state of love, our expectation is upgraded to gratitude...gratitude for our troubled times. That is divine grace...unseeable, untouchable, scientifically unprovable...yet it carries us through unscathed in our heart, our Soul, no matter the "slings and arrows of outrageous fate."
There is no protection.
Bad news alert: If we feel the need for protection, we have lost our focus and are back in our reasoning mind zone. Good news follows: That is the human condition, to feel the need for protection. But to expect to live protected (i.e., fear-free) is why they say expectations will do us in.
There it is, the paradox. From our eyebrows up, we get the word: There is no protection. We expect, therefore, to feel no need for protection. And there's our gift...we find otherwise.
In a state of love, our expectation is upgraded to gratitude...gratitude for our troubled times. That is divine grace...unseeable, untouchable, scientifically unprovable...yet it carries us through unscathed in our heart, our Soul, no matter the "slings and arrows of outrageous fate."
The pearl beyond price is to be carried through our troubled times with no one else knowing...and not telling. The Pearl will tell its own story.
Thank you.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
FIGHTING FOR PEACE? PLEASE.
People who live their entire lives inside of a system of competing, measuring, earning, counting, and performing can’t understand how the win/win scenario of the Gospel would even be interesting or attractive. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," May 23, 2017
I tend to believe that people who live their entire lives inside of a system of competing are those who cannot or will not accept that to cease fighting anything and anybody is the better way.
There are those who are well-versed in and are seeking still more spiritual growth who do not (and vehemently do not) believe in the "concept" of ceasing to fight. I don't choose to fight about it, but I do wonder how they marry what to me is two divergent points of view. Like me, they seek peace, but after all our words are thrown out and stripped bare, their answer is, because the other side deserves it, beat 'em...with a stick of wood or a stick of dynamite, makes no never mind which, but beat 'em.
I simply cannot get a mental picture of God going for a gun. Nor can I get a mental picture of me going for a gun when I have God. My goal is not to get more visible protection for the world...my goal is to trust more completely the invisible protection that already is and has ever been in the world.
I can't help but remember the great line from the protesters of the '60s: Fighting for peace is like f**king for virginity. Not to put too fine a point on it.
Thank you.
I tend to believe that people who live their entire lives inside of a system of competing are those who cannot or will not accept that to cease fighting anything and anybody is the better way.
There are those who are well-versed in and are seeking still more spiritual growth who do not (and vehemently do not) believe in the "concept" of ceasing to fight. I don't choose to fight about it, but I do wonder how they marry what to me is two divergent points of view. Like me, they seek peace, but after all our words are thrown out and stripped bare, their answer is, because the other side deserves it, beat 'em...with a stick of wood or a stick of dynamite, makes no never mind which, but beat 'em.
I simply cannot get a mental picture of God going for a gun. Nor can I get a mental picture of me going for a gun when I have God. My goal is not to get more visible protection for the world...my goal is to trust more completely the invisible protection that already is and has ever been in the world.
I can't help but remember the great line from the protesters of the '60s: Fighting for peace is like f**king for virginity. Not to put too fine a point on it.
Thank you.
Friday, August 18, 2017
ON LETTING THE LIGHT IN
It is as a broken vessel that I become one with God.
According to me, our ego seeks perfection and that is all. The problem being, of course, that it is our own idea of perfection that we chase, and ideas are like kaleidoscopes, ever changing. There it is, the proof that we follow ego at our own peril for our perfection excludes the crack that lets the light in.
It is that realization that leads to our breakthrough (at 40, 50, 60+) that we do not need seek "what we want to be when we grow up." That was never ours to decide.
I do not need to seek to learn how to stand silent when judged, that has been my path all along...and for way too long I prayed and cursed and cried at the injustice of it all. (The only one who can't laugh at that is my ego Lucy With the Football!)
The path we are on is the path God chose for us...he knew the rest of the story before we began it. There. That's the jump-for-joy news.
Thank you.
Where and how that line came to me, I have no recall, I just know (1) it is not original to me, and (2) it is true to me. It also makes it clear that it is no wonder the various references to "broken" and "error" appeal so to me.
Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" with the line, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in, just sings to my heart. And of course, before ever I heard of "Anthem," I heard the story of the Navajo who, when weaving their blankets, always made an intentional error somewhere in the one they were weaving...to leave a place for God to enter in.
According to me, our ego seeks perfection and that is all. The problem being, of course, that it is our own idea of perfection that we chase, and ideas are like kaleidoscopes, ever changing. There it is, the proof that we follow ego at our own peril for our perfection excludes the crack that lets the light in.
It is that realization that leads to our breakthrough (at 40, 50, 60+) that we do not need seek "what we want to be when we grow up." That was never ours to decide.
I do not need to seek to learn how to stand silent when judged, that has been my path all along...and for way too long I prayed and cursed and cried at the injustice of it all. (The only one who can't laugh at that is my ego Lucy With the Football!)
The path we are on is the path God chose for us...he knew the rest of the story before we began it. There. That's the jump-for-joy news.
Thank you.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
MORNING REFLECTIONS
My morning blinding flash of the obvious (in re President Trump, white nationalists, et al.): If God loves the sick, sad and sorry the most, then love them we must. Love must be. IS, my answer for them...from me, from my deepest high place. I turn within to God for I am utterly ignorant in the how of that.
We can be around the Jobs of the world (who on the surface are to be detached from) but from our own deepest high place, look to their deepest high place to love.
We can be around the Jobs of the world (who on the surface are to be detached from) but from our own deepest high place, look to their deepest high place to love.
No one is spiritually higher or spiritually lower than anyone else. The God of Our Own Understanding is within us...we must find that place. We can, we must, rely/trust/depend on that place within us always and all ways.
We turn there when ego shouts within us...and makes sense.
Thank you.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPECT
[The following is a reworked reprint of my blog of May 26, 2012.]
So I'm walking Ruckus this morning, and the thought occurs to me that if love of money is the root of all evil, then disrespect is the fertilizer that grows the roots of evil, that ensures evil flourishes.
One cannot disrespect another without disrespecting one's Self first.
One cannot disrespect another without disrespecting one's Self first.
There is no God in disrespect
Thank you.
Thank you.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
JUST DO IT...OR SHUT UP AND DIG
Until we recognize the potential for evil in all of us, there can be neither atonement nor forgiveness. - Michael W. Fox, M.D., Washington (from a letter to the Editor, "Washington Post," July 6, 1997)
In the midst of this current reign of crazy, I am oh so grateful that I have held on to the newspaper clipping that the above quote came from.
I fear that my ego Lucy is about to run amok in public which is my self's worst fear. I must admit that when our worst fear is all about façade (saving face in a word), we need to note well that we're going down that wrong road again.
But there's the gift...our worst fear is our greatest gift! Fortunately, it can be realized only when we walk toward it for there's where we meet God. (This is what is commonly known as "crash-and-burn," and with that as the call letters, no wonder it's not sought after.)
In this instance, my cross to bear is that I must accept God's unknown will which may be to run amok in public rather than to continue living all up in my head, judging... resisting in truth.
I am brought to one of the basic teachings in the Sermon, i.e., Resist not evil.
To work toward the change of evil is not resistance. To do naught but carp in judgment of evil is resistance. In other words, kwitcherbitchin, get off your duff and, with spiritual principles as your guide, work to change conditions for the better.
Thank you.
In the midst of this current reign of crazy, I am oh so grateful that I have held on to the newspaper clipping that the above quote came from.
I fear that my ego Lucy is about to run amok in public which is my self's worst fear. I must admit that when our worst fear is all about façade (saving face in a word), we need to note well that we're going down that wrong road again.
But there's the gift...our worst fear is our greatest gift! Fortunately, it can be realized only when we walk toward it for there's where we meet God. (This is what is commonly known as "crash-and-burn," and with that as the call letters, no wonder it's not sought after.)
In this instance, my cross to bear is that I must accept God's unknown will which may be to run amok in public rather than to continue living all up in my head, judging... resisting in truth.
I am brought to one of the basic teachings in the Sermon, i.e., Resist not evil.
To work toward the change of evil is not resistance. To do naught but carp in judgment of evil is resistance. In other words, kwitcherbitchin, get off your duff and, with spiritual principles as your guide, work to change conditions for the better.
Thank you.
Monday, August 14, 2017
LIVE IN ACCEPTANCE AND KNOW PEACE
People are so easy to read if we don't take their stuff seriously (meaning, of course, personally). On any given day, there will be someone who slights us, snubs us, overly praises us...all indications of their dis-ease with us. It says nothing, nada, zilch, zip, zero about us.
And yet....
Letting his dis-ease stay with him, not attaching our self to it, is our job...we cannot shut her up, and we are not supposed to! That is her job, to shut herself up.
Here's the news that we must needs keep learning and relearning: Neither s/he nor I will ever be free if we simply grit our teeth, or tape our mouth, in order to say nothing. Our mind will run...not free, but amok! There it is...the source of all our woes. Our very own mind...undisciplined...is our worst enemy.
And yet....
Invariably, we waste our energy and God's time trying to fix her, to set him straight, to stop the irritation to Me! And we can't even claim ignorance. We know that we know (because the problem is so easy to spot in someone else).
The balm to our irritation lies within our own self. How quickly it soothes us is entirely dependent upon our desire to be soothed. All that holds us back is our decision to stay up in our head fighting him (pretending that we are resisting our ego), rather than simply letting go of our pique at her.
All of the love that is is within us right this very red-hot minute, yet here we come to learn again that neither God nor love is available on demand. We must prepare our heart, by which I mean: Give over. Let go. Cease fighting. Crash and burn. Surrender.
Finally we hit the bull's eye...acceptance. Acceptance is simply giving God the courtesy of letting him go first. Ah. All our troubles, Lord, soon be over.
Thank you.
And yet....
Letting his dis-ease stay with him, not attaching our self to it, is our job...we cannot shut her up, and we are not supposed to! That is her job, to shut herself up.
Here's the news that we must needs keep learning and relearning: Neither s/he nor I will ever be free if we simply grit our teeth, or tape our mouth, in order to say nothing. Our mind will run...not free, but amok! There it is...the source of all our woes. Our very own mind...undisciplined...is our worst enemy.
And yet....
Invariably, we waste our energy and God's time trying to fix her, to set him straight, to stop the irritation to Me! And we can't even claim ignorance. We know that we know (because the problem is so easy to spot in someone else).
The balm to our irritation lies within our own self. How quickly it soothes us is entirely dependent upon our desire to be soothed. All that holds us back is our decision to stay up in our head fighting him (pretending that we are resisting our ego), rather than simply letting go of our pique at her.
All of the love that is is within us right this very red-hot minute, yet here we come to learn again that neither God nor love is available on demand. We must prepare our heart, by which I mean: Give over. Let go. Cease fighting. Crash and burn. Surrender.
Finally we hit the bull's eye...acceptance. Acceptance is simply giving God the courtesy of letting him go first. Ah. All our troubles, Lord, soon be over.
Thank you.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
TO NEVER FORGET: I ALONE IS WE
When our heart is torn asunder, when our brain is mixed-mashed-mush, when common sense says, "Well, the hell with it...there is no hope anyway," that's when changing our mind becomes our only hope. And...uh-oh...that's when we remember that, on our own, we cannot change our mind.
We look back in longing for the freedom of our chains...back when we didn't know that our favorite poison was not the solution but simply poison. And all our sitting and waiting on the Lord seems mocking.
My eyes look at the carnage of Charlottesville, the thinking that produced Charlottesville, and I could weep. That's when I realize, deep down and piercingly, that I alone can fix it. Which quite honestly gave me my first grin of the day...at the misguided one who claimed, "I alone can fix it."
I alone is WE...that is our never-forget button. I alone is WE.
This is crash and burn...we know because we have experienced it: Our Father looks at the carnage of Charlottesville, understands that thinking, and rejoices at the need that is guiding so many to him for healing. That is the mirror image of God.
We know that to be true, and on days like this, we know that just knowing is a bare first step. We must work together to bring the change that Our Father rejoices over. We must remember that all of us, as One, pulling together toward the God Of Our Own Understanding may look hopeless to the reasoning mind's eye...like a billion people all pulling in a different direction...but there's the paradox. All pulling each one's own spiritual way, the singular goal being God, can and will bring us to the highest depth of our Soul...as One.
We can no longer quibble about the way the all-inclusive you personally see, think, feel, believe, claiming our way is the better. No. When the goal is to reach a power greater than our self, all roads lead to God, the impersonal love of God.
An exercise I use to help God change my mind: I look at the statue of General Robert E. Lee, and I think that there was a great general...his side lost. I look at the Confederate flag, and I think there is nothing wrong with that flag, but it represents the losing side. I hear "Dixie," and I know it as the theme song of the side that did not win. I do not need hide any of them or hide from any of them. They quite simply represent the losing side in a war, and who's kidding whom?...it is just egoistic to want to glorify the losing side...as in when wrong, never admit it.
They are, however, a part of our American history. They represent the side that lost, so we can look benignly on them and fear them not. It is fear, only fear, that gives them power today.
Fearing them is to attempt to destroy the eyeball evidence of them...which, according to me, is akin to burning books, another harmful albeit useless action. Just like our worst character defect that we cannot kill off, we mentally hug it and kiss it and send it on to God.
God alone can and will transmute it, transmute us. Humble us, if you will...turn us away from self, toward the Light.
Thank you.
We look back in longing for the freedom of our chains...back when we didn't know that our favorite poison was not the solution but simply poison. And all our sitting and waiting on the Lord seems mocking.
My eyes look at the carnage of Charlottesville, the thinking that produced Charlottesville, and I could weep. That's when I realize, deep down and piercingly, that I alone can fix it. Which quite honestly gave me my first grin of the day...at the misguided one who claimed, "I alone can fix it."
I alone is WE...that is our never-forget button. I alone is WE.
This is crash and burn...we know because we have experienced it: Our Father looks at the carnage of Charlottesville, understands that thinking, and rejoices at the need that is guiding so many to him for healing. That is the mirror image of God.
We know that to be true, and on days like this, we know that just knowing is a bare first step. We must work together to bring the change that Our Father rejoices over. We must remember that all of us, as One, pulling together toward the God Of Our Own Understanding may look hopeless to the reasoning mind's eye...like a billion people all pulling in a different direction...but there's the paradox. All pulling each one's own spiritual way, the singular goal being God, can and will bring us to the highest depth of our Soul...as One.
We can no longer quibble about the way the all-inclusive you personally see, think, feel, believe, claiming our way is the better. No. When the goal is to reach a power greater than our self, all roads lead to God, the impersonal love of God.
An exercise I use to help God change my mind: I look at the statue of General Robert E. Lee, and I think that there was a great general...his side lost. I look at the Confederate flag, and I think there is nothing wrong with that flag, but it represents the losing side. I hear "Dixie," and I know it as the theme song of the side that did not win. I do not need hide any of them or hide from any of them. They quite simply represent the losing side in a war, and who's kidding whom?...it is just egoistic to want to glorify the losing side...as in when wrong, never admit it.
They are, however, a part of our American history. They represent the side that lost, so we can look benignly on them and fear them not. It is fear, only fear, that gives them power today.
Fearing them is to attempt to destroy the eyeball evidence of them...which, according to me, is akin to burning books, another harmful albeit useless action. Just like our worst character defect that we cannot kill off, we mentally hug it and kiss it and send it on to God.
God alone can and will transmute it, transmute us. Humble us, if you will...turn us away from self, toward the Light.
Thank you.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
GOD REALLY IS ON THE FIELD
One of my favorite Bible statements is, Lord, I believe...help me my unbelief. I do not know where it is in the Bible, but I know (or think!) it is there.
I do believe. I have experienced honest miracles that prove to my doubting mind that God is alive and well in my heart and soul.
Yet, if an ego-dreaded something-something popped into my mind right this instant, my first thought would not be of peace, love and joy. It would be akin to the old, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!" Here's the good news: I no longer mentally slap me upside the head for doubting for it is that fearful thought that will turn me, with relief, to the Father within.
It might be more wonderful if I could shortcut my route and go directly to God, but since I have not yet perfected that, I'm glad I know to turn away from self as soon as I do. Here's a discovery: Giving myself permission to not be perfect cuts the lag time to getting it right...not perfect, just right.
I think I started out here wondering why I can and do believe, yet don't live that without fail...or at least without hesitation. I think I answered my question. Ha! Who's kidding whom? Once again, God leads the way.
Lord, I believe...help me my unbelief.
Thank you.
I do believe. I have experienced honest miracles that prove to my doubting mind that God is alive and well in my heart and soul.
Yet, if an ego-dreaded something-something popped into my mind right this instant, my first thought would not be of peace, love and joy. It would be akin to the old, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!" Here's the good news: I no longer mentally slap me upside the head for doubting for it is that fearful thought that will turn me, with relief, to the Father within.
It might be more wonderful if I could shortcut my route and go directly to God, but since I have not yet perfected that, I'm glad I know to turn away from self as soon as I do. Here's a discovery: Giving myself permission to not be perfect cuts the lag time to getting it right...not perfect, just right.
I think I started out here wondering why I can and do believe, yet don't live that without fail...or at least without hesitation. I think I answered my question. Ha! Who's kidding whom? Once again, God leads the way.
Lord, I believe...help me my unbelief.
Thank you.
Friday, August 11, 2017
UNCONSCIOUS CHOICES...AND DISCIPLINE
We can be acting as if in order to look good, snow others, be thought wonderful, or we can be acting as if in order to discipline our self, to get to the place within where we are graced with gratitude.
I had a thought this morning that if I had two days straight wherein I actually walked and breathed the Sermon, the prayer of St. Francis, I would feel like a million bucks. With that thought, I realized the instant that I felt like a million bucks, I would lose the gift. Talk about your slow learners. Apparently, I'm just realizing, it is to walk/breathe the Sermon without conscious choice that we hold the gift.
Being thought wonderful is so very ego-enticing...compared with graced with gratitude which nobody gets but our own self unless we tell it...and then we lose it. More proof that God, too, is cunning, baffling and powerful, and even more so.
We don't feel good about our self for having walked God's way, we only feel not good about our self for walking ego's way.
Choose you this day whom ye will serve. -- Joshua 24:15
Thank you.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
AWAY FROM SELF TOWARD GOD
And so long as you do not know that to die is to become, you are just a wretched visitor on this dark earth. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Grace leads us to a state of emptiness, to that momentary sense of meaninglessness in which we ask, 'What is it all for?' -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," August 1, 2017
There it is. The unacceptable answer to ego's demand for the continuous, uninterrupted and forever feeling of peace, love and joy. Not to mention right...or never wrong. But then, to our ego, what else is peace, love and joy but right, or never wrong?
Picture it: A suicide wailing "What is it all for?" and leaping off the Empire State Building. But who's kidding whom? We've all made that leap mentally more than twice, never realizing that is it. That is the only place to be to receive the grace that leads us free. Free of me...which is true freedom. Free of me.
The problem with "free of me" is it requires something else to fill the vacant space...there's where free-will can trip us. That space is God's hidey hole which we are free to fill as we choose. It takes most of us a long time to give over to whatever God wills for us...we chose our favorite poison repeatedly until we come again and finally to that unacceptable Jeopardy-type answer, "What's it all for?"
What a surprise to find the correct answer is, "I do not know." We usually must needs crash and burn before we can spit those words out...and that, too, is the best way.
To quote my beloved Kris Kristofferson, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." Who knew when first we heard those words they'd be back...and heading us in the right direction? Which is to say, away from self toward God.
Thank you.
Grace leads us to a state of emptiness, to that momentary sense of meaninglessness in which we ask, 'What is it all for?' -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," August 1, 2017
There it is. The unacceptable answer to ego's demand for the continuous, uninterrupted and forever feeling of peace, love and joy. Not to mention right...or never wrong. But then, to our ego, what else is peace, love and joy but right, or never wrong?
Picture it: A suicide wailing "What is it all for?" and leaping off the Empire State Building. But who's kidding whom? We've all made that leap mentally more than twice, never realizing that is it. That is the only place to be to receive the grace that leads us free. Free of me...which is true freedom. Free of me.
The problem with "free of me" is it requires something else to fill the vacant space...there's where free-will can trip us. That space is God's hidey hole which we are free to fill as we choose. It takes most of us a long time to give over to whatever God wills for us...we chose our favorite poison repeatedly until we come again and finally to that unacceptable Jeopardy-type answer, "What's it all for?"
What a surprise to find the correct answer is, "I do not know." We usually must needs crash and burn before we can spit those words out...and that, too, is the best way.
To quote my beloved Kris Kristofferson, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." Who knew when first we heard those words they'd be back...and heading us in the right direction? Which is to say, away from self toward God.
Thank you.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
ON TURNING THE GIFT TO GOLD
The thought occurred to me this morning that as long as I find something to resist, I'll never know peace of mind.
I thought that was a blinding flash of the obvious, but I'm not so sure now. I suspect it is my ego Lucy's fine thinking...she tends toward scrupulosity. If it is not one hundred percent right, it is one hundred percent wrong to old Lucy.
Interestingly, I found an old BFO, resisting resistance is a self-determined objective. I remember writing that down but then I promptly forgot it because I wasn't too sure what it meant.
But I think I'm closing in on it...and taking my morning's thought a step further is the key. In this world, we will ever find things to resist. It is in realizing in the midst of our resistance that we can welcome this that lifts our mind higher to a deeper place.
My beloved Gertrude the Witch is, as ever, the trigger here. She's doing it wrong again, and I've been all up in my head, setting her straight.
I finally asked God his opinion and he reminded me that in these situations, being the first to give over is always the better way. (And I said, "Well, shoot.")
The gift, though, is in the fact that I know that is the right answer. But who's kidding whom? Doing it is the gold.
The gift, though, is in the fact that I know that is the right answer. But who's kidding whom? Doing it is the gold.
Thank you.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
THE KEY IS OTHERS...ALWAYS OTHERS
Happily heavy on my mind this morning is the awareness that my mental foes are my pearls...that which I am mentally resisting is my angel unaware.
Where I make my mistake is in trying to lift me up out of foe country...nattering at myself to not judge, to not take inventories, to not dislike...all of which hold each negative action closer, nurturing it in effect.
Just because, from my eyebrows up, I know better doesn't mean I'm wrong to not burst free on the power of that thought.
We must needs rely on the instruction to sit and wait on the Lord...to sit and wait on the Lord isn't to sit idly doing nothing. To sit and wait on the Lord is to sit and meditate...to let the mind turn within. To find our center, we follow the mind, not lead it.
Maybe that's the difference between seeking still more spiritual growth and not being as nasty as I want to be. Spiritually seeking requires a quiet mind turned inward; behaving myself requires conscious thought turned outward...with the benefit of others as my goal. Ah, there's the key...others.
Thank you.
Where I make my mistake is in trying to lift me up out of foe country...nattering at myself to not judge, to not take inventories, to not dislike...all of which hold each negative action closer, nurturing it in effect.
Just because, from my eyebrows up, I know better doesn't mean I'm wrong to not burst free on the power of that thought.
We must needs rely on the instruction to sit and wait on the Lord...to sit and wait on the Lord isn't to sit idly doing nothing. To sit and wait on the Lord is to sit and meditate...to let the mind turn within. To find our center, we follow the mind, not lead it.
Maybe that's the difference between seeking still more spiritual growth and not being as nasty as I want to be. Spiritually seeking requires a quiet mind turned inward; behaving myself requires conscious thought turned outward...with the benefit of others as my goal. Ah, there's the key...others.
Thank you.
Monday, August 7, 2017
LEARNING TOOLS AND LEADING STRINGS
Your hour of need is the moment of My Coming. -- "God Calling," August 5
I could sure simplify my life if I would remember that the hour of my need is Now. Always. The hour of my need is always now.
It is never too late or too early. Now is the time to remember and to rejoice in the fact that I am in need now...more important, to call to mind that the God of my understanding has already answered my need.
More important than that is to remember not to beat myself up for not remembering...that may only be the human condition. Or...here's a thought...it may be exactly as God programmed us at conception.
What if our "forgetting" is God's leading string that ever brings us back to him? And we're cursing it! No! This may be the very place where our welcoming the apparent bad along with the good put down roots.
I don't know if that's true so I'm going to accept that it is and use it until I'm given reason to believe otherwise. Why let a possible gem go wanting? And it has no ill in it.
God is so good to me...and you...and Gertrude who can be a royal pain, but she's my best learning tool, so thank you, Gertrude.
Thank you.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
ON THE ART OF DETACHMENT
He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment. -- Meister Eckhart
Some years ago, I was listening to a friend. A friend who was bitching, kvetching, beating her breast and wailing...still, yet, again...about the Man Who Done Her Wrong. No, not a love, a guy at the filling station! A week before! Or a month, maybe!
I didn't listen to her the entire day, week or month...she went from friend to friend, and we all made listening noises until we couldn't anymore, and then we'd blow and blame her. The fact is we became her. Our blowing up at her was just our condensed form of bitching, kvetching, beating our breast and wailing.
For a long time, we'd feel guilty and spend our energy regretting...if not our lack of courage in speaking up, then our bad behavior in blowing up.
It was a great gettin' up morning, when we realized we were in the process of learning the art of detachment. Think about it...how, why would we ever know the need to detach if we were living detached from irritations and aggravations to begin with?
A lot of free-floating guilt trips can be cut free when we realize unto acceptance that their base is simply our tool for learning a different way, God's way, to respond to life on life's terms. Also known as detachment.
The trouble with detachment, we learn sooner or later, is that the only thing we need leave behind is our judgment of the complainer...it is the noise s/he leaves behind that we use to feed our ego-sense of superiority.
At some point, if we are sincere in our desire to detach, we will get a blinding flash of the obvious. We will grin, then laugh, then dance a jig, then praise the Lord...for we have just heard the quiet word: Just because s/he is wrong does not mean I am right.
Thank you.
Some years ago, I was listening to a friend. A friend who was bitching, kvetching, beating her breast and wailing...still, yet, again...about the Man Who Done Her Wrong. No, not a love, a guy at the filling station! A week before! Or a month, maybe!
I didn't listen to her the entire day, week or month...she went from friend to friend, and we all made listening noises until we couldn't anymore, and then we'd blow and blame her. The fact is we became her. Our blowing up at her was just our condensed form of bitching, kvetching, beating our breast and wailing.
For a long time, we'd feel guilty and spend our energy regretting...if not our lack of courage in speaking up, then our bad behavior in blowing up.
It was a great gettin' up morning, when we realized we were in the process of learning the art of detachment. Think about it...how, why would we ever know the need to detach if we were living detached from irritations and aggravations to begin with?
A lot of free-floating guilt trips can be cut free when we realize unto acceptance that their base is simply our tool for learning a different way, God's way, to respond to life on life's terms. Also known as detachment.
The trouble with detachment, we learn sooner or later, is that the only thing we need leave behind is our judgment of the complainer...it is the noise s/he leaves behind that we use to feed our ego-sense of superiority.
At some point, if we are sincere in our desire to detach, we will get a blinding flash of the obvious. We will grin, then laugh, then dance a jig, then praise the Lord...for we have just heard the quiet word: Just because s/he is wrong does not mean I am right.
Thank you.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
TO KNOW IT IS TO SHOW IT
I know that God is with me and will help me to think and say and do the right thing. -- "Twenty-Four Hours A Day," August 5
I do believe if we took that very quote and held to that until we realized from our toes up the absolute truth of it, we would never have another fretful day. Also, we'd never have a need for any of the hundreds of books we read trying to find The Right Answer For Me. Which isn't to say we shouldn't read, we could just quit reading in order to find a new and different answer.
The fact is I do believe that God is with me and will help me to think and say and do the right thing. It's just that my ego Lucy is faster on the uptake than my God is. I know the why of that too, of course...the why is just as God so graciously once whispered to me, I must go slow in order for you to keep up.
Lucy has no such strictures...quick, fast and in a hurry is all she knows.
Whoa! There's my blinding flash of the obvious: I doubt not that there's the seed and sum total of all my spiritual growth...to learn daily (and relearn the next day) to discipline my own self to hold the reins on Lucy, to give over to God always and all ways, and to know that to fail is God's will for it brings me back to God and still more spiritual growth.
Thank you.
I do believe if we took that very quote and held to that until we realized from our toes up the absolute truth of it, we would never have another fretful day. Also, we'd never have a need for any of the hundreds of books we read trying to find The Right Answer For Me. Which isn't to say we shouldn't read, we could just quit reading in order to find a new and different answer.
The fact is I do believe that God is with me and will help me to think and say and do the right thing. It's just that my ego Lucy is faster on the uptake than my God is. I know the why of that too, of course...the why is just as God so graciously once whispered to me, I must go slow in order for you to keep up.
Lucy has no such strictures...quick, fast and in a hurry is all she knows.
Whoa! There's my blinding flash of the obvious: I doubt not that there's the seed and sum total of all my spiritual growth...to learn daily (and relearn the next day) to discipline my own self to hold the reins on Lucy, to give over to God always and all ways, and to know that to fail is God's will for it brings me back to God and still more spiritual growth.
Thank you.
Friday, August 4, 2017
FREEDOM IS LOVE AND LAUGHTER
The Prayer of the Unready: Lord, if I must be humbled in this, I invite it to be so...just don't let anybody else find out. Thank you.
The Sign of Acceptance: Love and laughter...love our ego-wants, laugh at our own self.
The Sign of the Ready: To freely laugh at our own self as we pass it on.
The Prayer of the Ready: Lord, thank you for letting me in on the humbling joke...and for laughing with me.
Thank you.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
THIS ONE'S ON YOU, LORD
We will focus on maintaining order by sanctified violence instead of moving toward a higher order of love and healing—which is the very purpose of the Gospel. I forget from whence that came, but there it is...my vision for me; i.e., to move toward a higher order of love and healing.
Interestingly, these past few weeks, I am meeting my vision in my daily life only it is wrapped in invitations to fight...or to resist at any rate.
I have walked away from one situation, accepted an invite into another, and whoa! look out, Nellie, here comes a demand for sanctified violence. Mentally my fists are already raised, my tongue is already spring-loaded, and my feet are already heading for the door. This situation looks to be more resistible than the first one.
Clearly, I am proving to myself that avoidance is just another form of "sanctified violence" because there surely is no love or healing there.
I tossed and turned most of last night pondering being denied by friends, being accused by foes, being punished, and saying not a word. Somewhere around 3:00 AM, I got the great gift of realization that that is impossible to me. Not just the doing, which is obviously out of my plain-old-people reach, but it is impossible for me to mentally grasp, to get it, to realize it. So I spoke my piece to the Lord: If I could get that, I would have by now...knock yourself out, Lord...this one's on you. And I slept.
Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" this morning has this line: We must be led to an experience or situation that we cannot fix or control or understand. That’s where faith begins.
And the Lord didn't even have to knock himself out, wasn't even heavy lifting for him...he just lets drop the message we need when and where we can and will freely recognize it as ours.
God is so good to us...always and all ways.
Thank you.
I tossed and turned most of last night pondering being denied by friends, being accused by foes, being punished, and saying not a word. Somewhere around 3:00 AM, I got the great gift of realization that that is impossible to me. Not just the doing, which is obviously out of my plain-old-people reach, but it is impossible for me to mentally grasp, to get it, to realize it. So I spoke my piece to the Lord: If I could get that, I would have by now...knock yourself out, Lord...this one's on you. And I slept.
Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" this morning has this line: We must be led to an experience or situation that we cannot fix or control or understand. That’s where faith begins.
And the Lord didn't even have to knock himself out, wasn't even heavy lifting for him...he just lets drop the message we need when and where we can and will freely recognize it as ours.
God is so good to us...always and all ways.
Thank you.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
NOTHING NEED BE ADDED...DETACH, DETACH
If I'm trying, I'm lying...if I'm flowing, I'm showing.
There it is...a blinding flash of the obvious from a few weeks ago that just this morning fits me from my toenails up.
I am trying to adjust to (surrender to, accept) a change within me. I am talking as if it were already set, completed and finished off.
It is not.
I am feeling rocky, wrong and half peeved (rocky) /half scared (wrong).
That's why the song says, This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, not I'm going to make it shine.
Let go and let God.
Thank you.
There it is...a blinding flash of the obvious from a few weeks ago that just this morning fits me from my toenails up.
I am trying to adjust to (surrender to, accept) a change within me. I am talking as if it were already set, completed and finished off.
It is not.
I am feeling rocky, wrong and half peeved (rocky) /half scared (wrong).
That's why the song says, This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, not I'm going to make it shine.
Let go and let God.
Thank you.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
ON SLINGING MUD IN OUR OWN FACE
If we do not learn to love the unlovable within us, we will live in a world of judging...blaming and shaming...our own self. All the while believing it is him, her, them that we are cursing, that they are the source of our pain.
We are never angry for the reason we think.
Thank you.
We are never angry for the reason we think.
Thank you.
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