LION TO LAMB, I

[The following is a reprint, slightly reworked, of my post of April 1, 2013.]

My morning blinding flash of the obvious: I am the lion to the Lord's lamb.

It is the lion that must learn to give over, to restrain self, to train self through the lamb to accept, not resist, the lamb…to become like the lamb.

To become the Lamb.

Thank you.

ANSWERED PRAYERS...BELIEVE, SIMPLY BELIEVE

First, we are taught that what we seek we already have, and finally we come to believe that...or believe that we believe that. Comes now the proving of it...the test of how deep our belief goes. Is it deep enough for us to live what we say we have, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find?

Is to seek what we already have to deny what we have? Or is it fear of accepting that we have it? But how exactly do we live what we say we have? The answer is from Fr Richard: ...the most important way is to live and fully acknowledge our present reality. 

As a still aborning believer, I am comforted in asking for the consciousness of Christ Jesus, for as much of that consciousness as I am readied for, and only God knows that depth. In my quiet time this morning, I asked for precisely that...to walk the raised consciousness I already have even as I seek it. 

I love that I was led to that quote I had saved:

How do we find what is supposedly already there? Why should we need to awaken our deepest and most profound selves? How do we do it? By praying and meditating? By more silence, solitude, and sacraments? Yes to all of the above, but the most important way is to live and fully acknowledge our present reality. --  Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, March 15, 2024 

Answered prayers.

Thank you. 

A PRAYER FOR ALL, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of December 19, 2015.]

"Today may there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us." -- Anonymous to me

Thank you.

REASONING MIND LIFTED UP...THANK YOU

A Rabbinic text from the ninth century declares that every person is accompanied, at all times, by a procession of angels crying out, 'Make way, for an image of the Holy One is approaching!'  

Every time I come across that quote, I shiver in awe ... sometimes in hopes of the truth of it and sometimes trying to picture the truth of it. There, my reasoning mind trying to raise me up...I hug her, I kiss her, and I whisper thank you as I let her float/fly. 

Comforting lesson learned...our reasoning mind is on our side; she just needs to remain in the backseat to our still-evolving spiritual sense. What peace...to know a friend in reasoning mind. Now I welcome friendship in egoic mind. 

Or...here's a better thought...our reasoning mind is one in the procession of angels accompanying us, making way for the Holy One. That being so, our egoic mind cannot be far behind as one in that same procession of angels.

Earlier, as I was being stripped of my old and welcoming my new realization of reasoning mind, I had a mini blinding flash...the thought eased up from my Soul, and I knew: I am not alone. 

Ah, my reasoning mind is working her new wings for my spiritual growth. She is with me, within me, for me... I am not alone.

Thank you.  

ON LOVING...WITHOUT CONSCIOUS EFFORT

Until we love and until we suffer, we all try to figure out life and death with our minds.,,.We cannot sincerely love another or forgive offenses inside of dualistic consciousness. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, May 26, 2024

We are brought back again...and repeatedly and no doubt till three days after we're dead...back to the words of Thaddeus Golas: We must go beyond reason to love.

It takes a long time to realize that the love Golas refers to is not just walking-around love but love in all its forms...from the dualistic mind to higher consciousness.

We are born with a dualistic mind. When we find we must make a decision to seek still more spiritual growth, our world changes. That decision leads us away from either/or thinking toward higher consciousness...when we see the Father and I are one. 

With still more spiritual growth, we begin to accept the niggling idea that there are no mistakes...there are only opportunities to learn. We keep coming back until we get it right.  

God alone decides when we get it right. 

Thank you.

RESIST NOT LOVE...AH, THE JUGGERNAUT

 Blinding flash of the obvious: It is not giving love that I resist, it is getting love that I fear. 

It is our fear of getting love that blocks the unconditional love of God...it is why we cannot feel the love we so earnestly seek...which is already ours.

This is not new news to us, but it comes now at a deeper level higher. Our inner definition of love is being upgraded...lifted from our human understanding of love for parents, siblings, friends, loves and lovers...to a higher consciousness. 

Our journey now is to seek love as lived by Jesus, Allah, the Buddha...God. To love God...to love AS God. That search incorporates familial, etc., love which is a necessity to us in our walking-around world.

This is not to ponder, analyze, study...it is to accept, and full acceptance will take as long as it takes. We accept that these possibly are just words right now but they are in the birth canal. 

We are awakened...still groggy but awake. Let it be. 

Love and laugh.

Thank you. 

ONLY ONE THING IS NECESSARY...BE PRESENT

As we become more attuned to the Father within, the God of our own understanding, our spiritual growth becomes less dependent on our thoughts about Truth and more reliant on a new realization of Truth.

The major change needed is how we do the moment. We find the answer to that is accepting the moment changes by the moment...duh. Ah, but so does our understanding. We are no longer held back by the inactive question, How? We are timidly living our newly birthed trust now. 

The change comes not through our thinking but through our consciousness. Trust is just a word if we're sitting in silence with our unfocused thoughts about trust running wild.

With our thank you, we return our thoughts to God. Sometimes we receive blinding flashes of the obvious, other times silence, but a comforting silence that all is well. We are present to the present.

'Only one thing is necessary,' Jesus says. 'If you are present, you will be able to know what you need to know.' -- Fr Richard's Daily Meditation, May 24, 2024

Thank you.

TRUST, GOD'S GUIDING LIGHT...PRAY THANK YOU

In purest gratitude, I am reminded daily that our rues, regrets and remorses are our personal angels in disguise. 

We hate them not for hate is fear...it clings as it makes a home in our head. 

Comes now trust, God's guiding light, to welcome all...fear and love...so we can trust this, too, is for our benefit. Whatever is appearing is for our benefit...we pray thank you.

Our long-ago blinding flash taught us that nothing turns us to God faster than fear, and regrets are just fear in fancy dress. In trust, we now turn to God sans the regret hook, i.e., plain and simple, and welcome God's will, God's way. 

Our great lesson to learn and to love: Since nothing turns us to God faster than fear, why would we wish it gone? No! In trust, we hug it and kiss it, and let it flow. Love lives.

Thank you.

FEAR SHOUTS, BUT LOVE HAS THE LAST WORD

Trust. Trust is my go-to word...has been for a while now. I know it's my go-to word because it is the last thing that comes alive to me when (not if) I am rattled, anxious, peeved...right in a word. Right, according to me, is fear's hidey hole.

Fear drives its own glory train...inviting us to climb aboard, daring us not to. That is fear dressed to kill when we get wrapped up in it, so we move on.

Our hard lesson learning is to trust welcoming our feelings of fear...we've learned from experience that resisting fear is its virtual Miracle-Gro. We have also got our hard-earned experience of being incapable of feeling that first frisson of fear without also feeling clutched by No! 

That is where our trust begins to take root. I suspect some smart person realized that and wrote, Feel the fear and do it anyway. 

Fear lives...just as love lives. Fear has a louder mouth is all...love whispers, fear shouts. Yet, fear can never have the last word. God is love, and love is the last word. 

No language of counting or commanding can get you there.-- Anonymous

Thank you.

GOD IS LOVE, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 22, 2014.]

You know when God is with you utterly, completely, endlessly, without fail? When you feel it least. When you feel you're really out there in the ether without a tether, and all the slings and arrows are coming right at you directly, and it is personal, and it is not fair, and where's the great vaunted God now? That's when God loves you best.

But, should you forget...he also loves you best when you know it and you show it. Without trying to. Just by breathing in and out.

That's God for you.

Thank you.

THE CROOKED PLACES ARE OUR THOUGHTS

Blinding flash of the obvious: We need worry not about what to do. We welcome that which is before us at the moment as needing our attention and trust God has already fixed it. We keep our mind focused on love...on God...and that is all. 

That BFO came to me as half of my thoughts were rambling loose about what I could do about the state of the world today with the other half seeking God by worrying about my car's yellow light telling me something ain't right. In short, in my mind the state of the world was lost to the state of my car...and God was sought as my fixer.

In that instant, the thought popped that God does not fix problems, God upgrades our thoughts about problems. God changes our mind from what to do, what to do, a self-determined objective, to thank you for the perfect objective of God. 

We are then inner-righted to do the next thing in front of us needing our attention. In this case, make an appointment with the car repair shop and take the car in for repairs. 

The broad realization is that keeping our thank you going without thought or effort welcomes God for God and that is all. We then are given the answer to whatever action we need to take Now. 

He goes before us to make the crooked places straight...BFO, the crooked places are our thoughts.

Thank you.

GOD'S SPIRIT IS ALREADY OURS 🙏

God doesn’t give God’s Spirit to those of us who are worthy, because none of us are worthy. God gives God’s Spirit in this awakened way to those who want it....quite simply, want it! Rely upon it. Know that it has already been given.  -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, May 19, 2024

We need to want God not to appease our fears of not getting our wants met...we need to want God for God and that is all.  

This cannot be faked but we are often confused by our want-to thinking. The majority of time our spiritual growth begins with wanting God as our own personal majordomo so we can get our every want met. That invariably fails only for us to learn way later that what we got was our very need met and perfected.

In general, spiritual growth begins with crash and burn which leads to necessary suffering and finally to surrender. Each step is anathema to our thinking, albeit essential for us to begin the journey toward raised consciousness...to God consciousness.

Whether we realize it or not, spiritual growth is counterintuitive which the material mind can't grasp for it legislates wholly from and for the human condition.  

It takes as long as it takes for us to shuck our shield, and open to a mind devoid of either/or...to receive a mindset of God, beneficial to all with all sides coming out the winner and each side wanting better for the other person. 

God gives God’s Spirit to those who want it....quite simply, want it! 

Thank you.

WE GROW IN GRATITUDE AND IN DOUBT

Blinding flash of the obvious: Ponder nothing, live God Now.

My BFO led me more deeply to the realization that life is not to be figured out, the whys and hows and who's to blame, but to be lived Now...one second at a time wholly conscious that God is in charge, is thinking my next thought, speaking my next word, living my next instant. Then I walk it in gratitude and in doubt.

When I awoke this morning, I was agitated (afraid), and I was considering Caron's "Break Through." I decided nothing but that I needed to do my usual morning readings which I did. My answer was given to me in God Calling: 'Look unto Me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth.' Not for merit was salvation, the promise was to all who looked.

The promise is to all who look. Again, I get confirmation of my BFO. 

It seems when, not if, I panic and mentally consider outside...any outside...help, my Me speaks, and I hear. Actually, from my first year in fellowship, when I was scared all the time, I remember asking my mentor (and others) if I should see a shrink. I was told by all to give my first year wholly to the fellowship, and my decision would come. 

Indeed, my answer did come...stick with still more spiritual growth...and I have. Admittedly, my seeking has led me to many different ways and means for my spiritual growth; i.e., shrinks, Buddhism, Christianity, Elizabeth Kubler Ross, et al., and I have received something from each. But the Sermon on the Mount was my first solid connection, and it remains so today...I am beyond grateful.

God is so good to me.

Thank you.

LOVE AND FEAR...OUR GIFTS FROM GOD TO GOD

In my dream, we would know God not as separate from creation, but as the living light and holy energy we encounter in and through creation: embodied, incarnated, in the current and flow of past, present, and future, known most intimately in the energy of love. -- Brian McLaren, Fr Richard's Daily Meditation, May 17, 2024

As I often remind me, I believe there are only two emotions, love and fear. When we are feeling good about anything, we are feeling love; when we are feeling less-than-good about anything, fear. All the gentler feelings stem from that well of love within us; all less-than or harsh feelings stem from that well of fear within us.

Our feelings, thoughts, memories are all of God. Our gift is to stay them under God's umbrella.

Recently, I have been having free-floating pinches of anxiety...which is different from the usual "anxiety attacks." I am letting these pass on by. They are very brief, no doubt due to my immediate thank you. I feel no need to otherwise control them, and though I feel fear in the moment, I heed it not. 

Blinding flash of the obvious: I continue with my life, praying thank you, and anticipating nothing. God has me...my missteps are all heading me in the right direction, and the right direction can be a U-turn. That, too, is of God. I am open, I remain open for God's will, God's way to lead me to Trust...to Love.

Lord, hear my prayer: Thank You.

Thank you.

WITH GOD THE SHEPHERD, WE WANT NOT

Two life situations can keep us forever untouched by the Now, namely, our past and our future.  

Since we do believe in God, why do we waste our energy and God's time over the past? Aren't we trying to make a regret unhappen?  Then, why do we continue to worry about our future, whether we're going to have enough?

Those two frets can keep us untouched by the Now, the place where God lives, until we accept life takes as long as it takes. We will learn it again and again unto one fine day, without conscious thought, we are living the peace that is born in knowing the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Our needs are fulfilled in that promise for it opens us to God consciousness: With the Lord as our shepherd, we shall never not have enough, and regrets over our past are the keys to forgiveness, given and gotten.

Answered prayer: Peace of mind, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Thank you.

FEAR...GOD'S BLESSED CALLING CARD

We can experience joy, love, and beauty on this planet, even as it changes around us. To do this, we have to build personal and collective resilience—an ability to find equanimity in unpredictable times and as the suffering around us increases. We do this not by avoiding the Long Dark but by facing it, moving with it....  authors LaUra Schmidt and Aimee Lewis Reau, Fr Richard's Daily Meditation, May 15, 2024 

I read the above quote and felt peaced. I had just written in my journal that my bane and boon, anxiety, is with me this morning. It came in the middle of last night, and I resisted it not. This morning I feel blessed to be living the continuing rough and ready road to enlightenment. It is fear that taught me I am that I am, the Father and I are one. There...perfect peace. 

The good news...to still feel fear.  Again, nothing turns us to God faster than fear, and I was comforted. I prayed Thank You, and grew deeper through Necessary Suffering.

I laughed that my first thought...still...was Oh, No, take this fear away! I invite that to be my first thought three days after I am dead for I'll still be turning to God.

Thank you.

SURRENDER--RESIST NOT--ACCEPT--LOVE

There was a time, not all that long ago, when I found it necessary to define for myself the meaning of spiritual...the meaning to me personally whether it connected with anyone else or not.  And I found it...to me spiritual is to have a sense of peace and purpose. For me that is not possible without a heart connection with a Higher Power, namely, God. 

I pretty much feel the same today about love. My need is to uncover what love means to me...my inner definition of love.  

Interestingly, Fr Richard's today's Daily Meditation is all about love, the inner meaning (or source) of love.

Idle thought...nonresistance has long been talisman-like to me, stemming from resist not evil which was a first of my blinding flashes of the obvious. Today I go with resist not, welcome, and then call on the prayer that Meister Eckhart assures us is the only prayer we will ever need in our lifetime; namely, Thank You. 

The only prayer necessary for me today is Thank You which cuts out my trying to use words to convince God to do my life my way: Something scarifying this way comes, thank you...likewise, substitute beautiful or even beneficial for scarifying, just pray thank you. 

But back to my attempts to reach my definition of love. Right now...subject to change, of course...I find nonresistance fits. When done right, nonresistance prettied up is acceptance, plain and simple. Maybe love is accepting nonresistance with a welcoming mind, unquestioning, peaced...and that is all.

I'll let that be until I'm gifted with a deeper understanding, higher.

Thank you.

OUR WORST FEAR IS GOD'S PERFECT GIFT

God creates the very dissatisfaction that only grace and finally divine love can satisfy. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, May 13, 2024

Thou preparest a place before me in the presence of mine enemies. -- from Psalm 23:5, KJV

The essence of those two sentences is the basis for my changed heart and mind. When a spiritual yearning came to me, 50 some years ago, the only prayer I knew by heart was "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep." The Lord's Prayer I could repeat a beat or two after the person next to me said the words which was fine by me.

My spiritual yearning came to me back then dressed as Anxiety Attacks. Oh, how I prayed for God to remove them...lift them...free me. 

Here was my first lesson (albeit unknowingly) in the counterintuitive nature of spiritual growth. My anxiety was not lifted, removed or even lessened...no, I used it to help me learn to welcome my anxiety. The peace of resist not evil was born within me.

It took several years, and then only in looking back, for me to recognize the true nature of the happening, i.e., spiritual growth taking me to a deeper level higher. 

This was one of my first experiences of being physically used by my inner knowing, and I am grateful that it took several years to fully grasp it. The wonder of it is that more is being revealed to this day...being physically used by our inner self for our own spiritual growth is the Father and I are one.

Mostly I know that from my toes to my nose but completing the journey?...maybe three days after I'm dead. I can only hope so I'll keep on growing spiritually.

Thank you.

WE LIVE IN GOD'S WORLD...HOW BLESSED WE ARE

We have heard that one aspect of spiritual growth is learning to love in a loveless place. The only thing stopping us from loving in a loveless place is wanting to. But what place needs love more? That loveless place is within us, begging for the love we already have but we fear using lest we show our need for love.

It is fear which spreads its unseen wings, and we seek no further. Fear of not knowing, fear of finding out what it is we are not knowing.

We unconsciously rely on our mental faculties, our egoic mind, to dictate the path of our lives. The revelation comes when we recognize that is the gift. The more we grow spiritually, the more we see our egoic mind as the spur we need to thank...through its failure, we are turned deeper within to our spiritual core. 

Inner spiritual growth constantly takes us to that deeper place higher of which we are not consciously aware. Not by thinking, not by analyzing, not by conscious effort but by grace we are led to God-rest and regeneration. 

Sooner or later, we are awakened to the realization that this is God's world. How blessed we are.

Thank you.

TO LIVE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE OTHER, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 15, 2017.]

In spiritual growth, there is a different...a better...way of hearing ...we hear from the 4th dimension where peace, love and joy flow freely...on the material plane, our ego-victory thinking does our hearing for us. -- Blinding flash of the obvious.

What needs to change, I'm coming to believe, is my hearing. According to me, we hear that which we want to hear the way we want to hear it...then react to our interpretation of what we chose to hear. If we hear pretty, we respond in kind; if we hear not-so-pretty, we react in kind.

With still more spiritual growth as our singular life goal, we find a new way of hearing. It is not ours to work for, to attempt to "get." No. It is the free gift we receive from living not for our gain, but for the well-being of the other...which is one definition of still more spiritual growth. Knowing and showing that God has our back frees us up to think, then act, for the other's good.

I suspect that this takes a lifetime to learn unto doing as we breathe, but it's a lifetime well-lived.

Thank you.

CALM INVITES GOD'S WILL...AS DOES CHAOS

God Calling today is all about calm...I had been pondering some folks' m.o., i.e., the minute they hear a personal "taboo," they close the conversation. This gives an "un" message, an egoic message of being in control of the taboo. It does not cultivate calm, it cultivates rigid, righteous and right.

I'm reminded of those who pride themselves on not watching or reading the news of the day...self-chosen ignorance is still ego, there is no spiritual growth in that.

We seek calm, not indifference. To cultivate calm, we do not resist indifference, not to grow it but to desting it. God grows kindness...kind thoughts, kind heart, kind actions.

The politics of today, the very atmosphere, cannot be minimized by ignoring it and its daily results. We will be affected by an inner conflict that we do not recognize and cannot fathom...even as it leaks out all over others with our name on it. No, to ignore invites ignorance of our inner self...which is yearning to love and that is all. 

Learning to welcome our reasoning mind's Oh, No! is love...God...in action, and only God's action through us can prevail. 

This realization is entirely based on the Sermon's "When someone slaps us upside the head, turn the other cheek." If I win, it is an ego trip, the same goes if I "let" you win...ego trip. When both sides come out the winner, God's hand is in it.

Our lesson a-learning: Not by will but by grace.

Thank you.

EVEN THE DARK PLACES ARE FOR OUR GOOD

God creates the very dissatisfaction that only grace and finally divine love can satisfy. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, May 9, 2024

As I flipped through my journal this morning, this sentence popped up: And there's the joy...recognizing a personal rue, regret, remorse as the gold I get to love.

I did not note when that was posted but I know it was some time ago...it has been my go-to for a long, long time is all I'm certain of. I do know it was born in a blinding flash of the obvious no doubt when I was bogged down in taking myself too seriously.

The flash was: There is a sliver of gold in everything...find the sliver of gold and hang onto it for it will lead you free. That has proved true in my life. I have had some hairy life experiences, as we all have if we're doing it right, and that one sentence has helped me stay my course...away from self, back to Self.

 Along these lines, there is a sentence in the 23rd Psalm that nearly always stops me cold: He prepares a place before me in the presence of my enemies. It is God the Father that prepares the place...in the presence of my enemies. 

There's our proof that even the dark parts are used in our favor. Our spiritual and personal need is to trust that.

Thank you.

TO HAVE A MIND AT PEACE...NOW

The pleasure...the power!...in being 80 years old, 80 plus now, is pluperfect to me today. Daily living now is Oh, No giving over, giving up and giving in without conscious effort to thank you. 

It is described eloquently by Fr Richard in his April 29th post, i.e., living simply helps level the playing field and offers abundance and enoughness to all. My take: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...I can never not have enough.

I am finding my reasoning mind being changed without any resistance from me (the key, of course). To my material mind, my world goes lacking on occasion. I am realizing that the structure of my life has changed seemingly without a by-your-leave from me, and I consciously welcome this.

The Sermon on the Mount, particularly resist not evil, has opened our spiritual core and allowed resist not...anything to bloom.    

That is how we walk the rough and rugged road of life, not resisting but welcoming the slings and arrows of outrageous fate. (I love that phrase...it covers all the mental Oh No bases.) 

Looking back, we see the rough and rugged places in life have been turned into the slivers of gold that peace our mind. Our mind is peaced as it need be, and there it is, our now definition of peace of mind.

Thank you.

FEAR MIRES US IN SELF, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of October 3, 2018.]  

Idle thoughts: There is no bulletproof-shield-God between the material world and us...we will feel every bullet, every rotten egg, every snark...every hit, justified or unjustified. God is inside/outside so as each hit lands, it is depersonalized and does not stick but becomes nothingness. It is our trying to avoid incoming or to respond in kind to the incoming that invites the fight, and our fear takes hold.

Another idle thought There is no magic wand that God waves over the material me changing my every dread into his precious gift to me...transforming every fearful thought into a bye for me. That is whistling-by-the-cemetery thinking and mires us in self.

God lets us choose our own path...he goes before us to make the crooked places straight, but we must walk our chosen road, crooked places and all.

It is our thank you as we put one foot in front of the other each day that seals the deal. Thank you confirms to our own self that God is on the field, that wonderful and/or less-than-wonderful will come and it will go but naught will stick to us because it is not ours.

By grace and by God.

Thank you.

ON FINDING COMFORT IN OUR REGRETS

My understanding of the second half of life is mostly homesickness for the True Self. I want to learn to be who God really created me to be. And I think all God wants me to be is who I really am. -- Fr Richard, Daily Meditation, May 6, 2024 [That was a direct thought of mine on awakening this morning. Again, my regrets are the gifts of gold that help tell who I really am.]

Giftees to me personally from the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. There it is, the promise that delivers peace of mind: I shall not want...I have enough. I shall never not have enough for the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. When, not if, I walk through the valley of the shadow of fear...fear of dementia, of being left all alone, of being unloved, unwanted, unneeded, unappreciated, I heed them not for thou are with me, within me.

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thy rod and thy staff are love and laughter.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...It is God Itself that prepares the table before me in the presence of my fears, and nothing turns me to God faster than fear. I can unheed my fear for thou are with me within me.

Immediately upon reading Fr Richard's I want to learn to be who God really created me to be, my meditation on the 23rd Psalm flowed through me. Each of the little blinding flashes of the obvious that I have set out above has come to me over the years. Each still gives me the peace and joy I got when first I received them. As I settle into my second half of life, nothing could comfort me more.

Thank you. 

LETTING GO INTO GOD IS COMING HOME

There is an inherent and desirous dissatisfaction that both sends and draws us forward, and it comes from our original and radical union with God. -- Fr Richard, Daily Meditation, May 5, 2024

It has happened again! That which came to me in meditation, I then read about in Fr Richard's Daily Meditation. 

His quote above foretells today's journal entry in which I wrote of my feeling left out, but of my not bending to my reasoning mind: 

"Mine is to continue to build on my yesteryear's decision to accept...NOT RESIST...any and all slings and arrows of outrageous fate's self-talk. I trust the God of my own understanding which is for my benefit always and all ways. Thank you." 

Letting go into God is coming home to our true selves. —Ilia Delio, Oneing, Fall 2023

God loves me...us...so much.

Thank you.

ON HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 14, 2021]

I recall lecturing others: 'Just so you'll not be blind-sided again, it is always you...it is never them.' That is a sentence from my post, entitled The Inner Road To Freedom, of December 14, 2013. I note that because I am still trying to remember to do it.

Ah, but what we know and what we do are two entirely different things. There. That's the inner road to freedom...honestly seeking to marry those two up.

I have read and I do not doubt that the minute we feel the inner need for still more spiritual growth, we spiritually know all we need to know. Comes now the crux of all spiritual growth...coming to trust that inner need was met in the instant of realization...to trust there is a Divine Source within us.

It is that spiritual knowing, reasoning mind unknowing, that is our spiritual seed and our material mind's Cross to bear.

We have spent long hours trying to believe unto trusting that the Higher Power is within us, is on our side, does have our back, is available to us always and all ways.

We do not regret those hours spent coming to believe for they were well spent learning life's lessons...like, I am the source of all my woes; when (not if) wrong, promptly admit it; or, the hardest thing life is ever going to ask of us is to change our mind. The solution clarified: Go to God for to change our mind.

All roads lead to God. There is no wrong road, just a good many detours.

Thank you.

ON LIVING THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE CHRIST

I have ever sought to realize the consciousness of the Christ within me. I just flashed that I am in the consciousness of the Christ just as I am. I need seek no more but now live it.

I love my blinding flashes...it turns out, however, I can love them to pieces, but living them is a whole 'nother me.

Looking back, I understand that I have ever been in the consciousness of the Christ...we all are (says I from my eyebrows up). I can be grateful for that truth and that I have little to no expectations of living it to my own satisfaction. 

There's the pearl beyond price...the realization that our own satisfaction is the cesspool of self-centered wants with let the devil take the hindmost our hidey-hole. 

Consciously knowing unto unconsciously breathing God's will, God's way is the unattainable gift...maybe because unconsciously breathing that gift is God realized. Attainable three days after we're dead. And maybe not, but we do know better than to set that as our goal...a new self-determined objective.

Let go and let God has just grown another dimension. 

God loves us so much.

Thank you. 

GROWING BEYOND WISHES AND WANTS...HAPPILY

Today, apparently, is my day for re-learning. My blinding flash this morning, May 2, 2024, was: That which we think is wrong with us we finally realize is and has ever been God's will for us. I then wrote about understanding I not only chose at birth my life's path, but it has ever been my choice.

An hour or two later, I was led to my July 15, 2021, journal entry where I had written: That which we think is wrong with us we finally realize is and has ever been God's will for us. I had then written about understanding I not only chose at birth my life's path, but it has ever been my choice.

There...proof of God fulfilling my unrealized needs: Not only that I wrote the exact same thing three years apart, but that I had the realization this morning and very shortly thereafter was led to the entry from three years ago. I was not looking for anything in particular, my journal just fell open to that entry after I had my flash.

The holy confirmation I feel...the inner knowing...is from the rest of my earlier entry, i.e., we quit quoting neighbors, mentors, friends and teachers...we become less visible, often misquoted, misunderstood, ignored. 

That foretells what I am walking through now for, in general, I have quit quoting others, I have become less visible, often misquoted, misunderstood, ignored. The news is I am living that without conscious effort, complaint or desire to improve...this is me today. 

To wrap up, time takes time, and God's time is all there is. All else is wishes and wants wrapped up in fantasy.

Thank you.

EXPECT A MOVEMENT OF SPIRIT WITHIN

 Practice active listening. Expect to be shown new ideas, thoughts, or realizations...a movement of Spirit that speaks in that still, small voice inside you. - Fr Richard's Daily Meditation, April 27, 2024

Active listening...there is the elusive sliver of gold. To me, the definition of active listening is a quieted mind...an inviting silence. Also, the definition and my doing are two different things...ah, but both head me in the right direction...out of self into Self.

My way there seems to be when I'm feeling most lost with no clear idea what my next action...or thought...needs to be. That is precisely how and why thank you is the only needed prayer...what to do? is answered not by thought but by welcoming silence. 

Expect to be shown new ideas, thoughts, or realizations. There! Expect...the inner action of Trust. We cannot self-will learning to trust but, again,  we must try with a will or fall by the wayside. 

Proof of Fr Richard's we don't get to God by doing it right, we get to God by doing it wrong comes after we have made a decision to seek still more spiritual growth, and, seemingly consistently, we show our bum in public, fall on our face, look the fool. Trust comes by showing our bum in public, falling on our face, looking the fool...regretting each and every time...yet continuing to believe each time that was for my benefit...knowing this, too, is spiritual growth. 

In looking back, we have our proof...our life. Within, we are walking around examples of God's grace...out there we are anyone's next-door neighbor and that is all.

Thank you.

P.S. Rejoice! A White Buffalo was born April 25, 2024, in Kansas. Expect to be shown new ideas, thoughts, or realizations.