GOD AND I HAVE MET THIS FEAR & CAN AGAIN

God looks for us when our lostness is so convoluted and so profound, we can’t even pretend to look for God. But even in such bleak and hopeless places, God finds us. This is amazing grace. And it is ours. —Debie Thomas, Daily Meditation, November 30, 2024 

That describes me this morning at my 3:00 dark night of my soul... deciding/questioning/ deciding/ questioning..."go to VHC ER later? Stay home to pray and meditate?" 

At 5:40 AM I read today's God Calling...talk about a direct answer: 

The Eternal God is thy refuge. - Deut. xxxiii.27: A place to flee to, a sanctuary. An escape...from yourself....from yourself whither can you flee? To the Eternal God your refuge. *** Till in His immensity you forget your...limitations. *** Till the relief of safety merges into Joy...of your refuge, and you absorb the Divine and absorbing gain strength to conquer.

That IS a direct answer from Almighty God. 

Yet my next thought is, I believe, oh Lord, help me my unbelief. 

It isn't that I don't believe, it is that I fear my own belief. "Is it odd or is it God?" plays with my mind. 

There's my problem...I dare not allow the God of my understanding to be all I need. I want it, I want that, but I fear that is me trying to take the easy way out.

Easy? Easy way out? Whoa! 

Going to ER, getting all manner of medical-material help is good, or not bad, helpful even, but that is just staying with the reasoning-mind way, when I know I need to trust God's will, God's way.

I have made the turn and now need to step out in my belief.

I know that the heart-pounding anxiety can come again...what then? Lord, hear my prayer, Thank You. 

I trust our Father's lead Now, and I follow. 

Thank you. 

THANK YOU IS THE COSMIC LINK, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 28, 2017.]

Life is comprised of "Uh-ohs" and "Oh wows!" (Not to mention, "Ho-hums.")

It's the uh-ohs in life that turn out to be our pearls...they are what teach us to view down as up. When what we're perceiving looks less than wonderful and has a hurt about it that causes us pause, we come to inside-know, this, too, is of God.

Our problem in getting through these storms with our God-belief intact is that we tend to hold to our belief in our own idea of what God needs to do in order for our perceived problem to be fixed.

When we hold to our idea of what fixing our problem means, self-convinced our want must be "God's will," our worst fear often comes true, i.e., we don't get our want. So we give up believing in God.

To believe as we breathe in a loving God who can and will intervene in our life on our behalf is to, first, stay focused on Now which is perfect Now; second, accept whatever is appearing as God's will for us; third, do our best with what we are given...and our best is a heartfelt "thank you." Good or not so good, our thank you will suffice.

Ah, and there's our gift: Our thank you is the cosmic link to that which goes before us to make the crooked places straight.

Thank you.

GOD HAS US IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND

With God all things are possible. -- Matthew 19:26

As I was in my quiet time this morning, the thought flashed that through conscious contact with the Father within, God, it is possible to have Lewy Body Dementia and not show it at all, not be aware of it at all. 

I recall reading about this happening a while back. Not the conscious contact with God part but the not knowing or showing it part was proved through an autopsy of a person who it was discovered had had dementia and showed no signs of it in their walking-around life.

I do not recall if it was Lewy Body but I try not to be overly scrupulous. Face it, scrupulosity is just nit-picking in fancy dress.

Actually, I'm thinking this is the proof positive we get that assures us God is on the field, has our back...the proof positive being our peace'd mind. 

It is not freedom from dementia or from any other fear we may have...that which we fear may be the fact we need to walk through to get to our Father within. It is the peace of mind we get while we walk our path that is of God.

Do your thing, fear! God has us in the palm of his hand, and I am grateful on this Thanksgiving Day of 2024.

Thank you.

TO OFFER A HEART GIFT IS LOVE

Blinding flash of the obvious: To offer love costs me nothing and makes the other richer.

To offer may be the first step in showing love. Without thought, to offer a helping hand, forgiveness, a silent prayer...a heart gift in fact. 

Sometimes the better part of common sense tells us to wait, get self out of the mix to let God's will, God's way do Its walkabout, and that's a good thing, too. That's common sense working with God for the good of all.

I had a BFO this morning that no doubt was born of my yesterday's God experience. I had plans with a friend to do Thanksgiving dinner at a nice restaurant..."had plans." I have no idea why but my friend had to cancel those plans. I received the news with no snarky thought or word...ah, but then I had time to think it over. Comes the snark...the I shoulda said, or I know what I'll say to her, etc.  

I was primed for bear as my grandma used to say. Yet when my friend called yesterday, all thought of pay-back, retribution, setting her straight was gone...I felt nothing but happy to talk with her, get on with our lives, in short. Note miracle: I did not realize it as it was happening.

Later as I was preparing for bed, it occurred to me that I hadn't "set her straight," that it had not occurred to me. I knew I was living a prime example of Material Mind vs. Spiritual Mind, and that Spiritual Mind had won this one. 

Best part...I have no lingering regrets, no afterburner thoughts...only thank you and God loves us sooo much. 

It is important for me to note (in black and white) that I had no preplanning idea of showing love...I did have more than a little preplanning thoughts about how I wanted to let her know how she had ruined my Thanksgiving, etc.  And it wasn't right. Not to mention, not fair. None of which entered my consciousness when she called, and I answered the phone...with nothing but pleased to hear from her.

Better yet...I honestly did not remember being ticked off at her until I was going to bed and an aside thought slipped in...and caused me to smile as I thanked God not only for this act of love but for the fact that it was done without thought. There's my proof positive...I am on the right track, heading in the right direction. Living God's will, God's way. 

Now to continue...slip sliding, forgetting, remembering to make my amends when, not if, I forget, etc. That's living right in the neighborhood!

Thank you.

COMES NOW FEAR...THANK YOU WELCOMES IT

I went to bed last night with an overwhelming...almost retching...fear of dementia. Of dementia being here in me now. I found release by welcoming it. While I slept, my fear of dementia became God's tool to use to lift my fear-based material mind to the higher consciousness of love-based spiritual mind. 

Welcoming with thank you really does alleviate fear...actually, raises our consciousness spiritually to the place where peace resides. Where fear is transmuted by grace. 

Meister Eckhart's quote comes to mind again: If the only prayer you ever say in your lifetime is thank you, that would suffice.

A note for me: Welcoming with thank you does not eliminate that which we fear, mine being dementia. No, if dementia is mine, my path to bring me to God consciousness, I'm good with it...at 7:00 AM. 

Also, being "good with" any dreaded possible does not mean happy about it. If it is "our cross to bear," the necessary that brings us into God consciousness, so be it for this is where the peace that passes understanding lives.

I have thought for some time now that I am at the crossover stage in consciousness...being raised into God consciousness with both my feet dragging but desire in my heart, soul, body and brain. Dementia may be my pony to ride...I might as well admit to my worse fear: Lewy Body Dementia.

Comes now a new thought: Hidden in my material mind may be worse than Lewy Body Dementia. I best quit unconsciously bargaining and welcome God's will, God's way...and Now I do.

Thank you.

ON NEEDING NOTHING BUT FAITH...THANK YOU

Matthew’s Gospel contains the parable of the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1–14): Jesus is always undercutting what we think is common sense. This passage calls us to nondual thinking and to change our entire form of consciousness. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, November 25, 2014

I wrote in my journal at 5:30 this morning: I have just read in Easwaran a new possibility...my fearful certainty of dementia may be rather my consciousness raised...'diving into the murky waters of consciousness' brought on by 'the haunting fear' that 'we may lose everything'  [specifically, my mind]. Lord, hear my prayer...Thank You...Amen.

I have a blinding flash aborning: Living in the material world with our consciousness being lifted causes fear of the unknown because it is unknown. Trust...that's how we earn trust. The unknown must be welcomed through our fear...Thy will, Thy way is always for our benefit whether we realize it or not. That's faith on the hoof. I can let dementia be a fact in my life, if that be Thy will, and not be adversely affected by it [i.e., afraid] but be blessed by it. Faith turns me ever closer to conscious contact with the God of my own understanding...ah, one'd.

An old adage: Knowing nothing, I speak freely. A new promise: Living in faith, I need nothing more.

Thank you.

ANONYMOUSLY...SPIRITUALLY...WOOF

All through the Gospels, people receive what they don’t deserve. Relentless generosity is hard for us to comprehend, much less practice. That kind of unconditional justice is beyond our human power. Yet the Gospel is showing that it’s possible *** to be fully human and divinely just, because we live in the power of the Spirit. -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, November 24, 2024  

Sunday 5:30 AM - Blinding flash of the obvious: What if dementia is my unconditional justice, a preordained fact of life? 

My mind has ever been my egoic safety net. Whether I knew it or not, working free from that attachment has been my spiritual gift...ah, dementia may be the cherry on top, the unconditional justice. 

The idea of forming an anonymous group of us to spiritually live with dementia may be God's will for us. We pass it on anonymously...akin to the priest with the lepers. 

I am doubly grateful to realize again God's grace in fear...fear turned my mind from the dread of dementia to the gift of dementia...joining, sharing, serving God without intention...kinda like a side bennie.  

The kicker: I don't even know if I have actual dementia or simply the fear of it...either qualify as God's unconditional justice so gratitude fits like a warm puppy feels.

Thy will, Thy way. 

Thank you.

GOD IS EVER ON THE FIELD

God isn't there to keep bad things from happening...God is here to share our fear when bad things happen.

Shared fear is how we learn God's will, God's way...God changes our mind. What our reasoning mind is perceiving as "the worst thing that could ever happen to me," God knows and shows to be His priceless gift to us. 

If the only prayer you ever say in your lifetime is thank You, that would suffice. There it is...the answer. All that comes to us comes through, from, by, with God...the response can only be thank You. 

All of this is my blinding flash of the obvious in response to my gutbucket fear that I have dementia...no, it's worse than plain dementia, it's Alzheimer's...no, it's worse still...it's Lewy Body Dementia. 

Then I read my "God Calling," the last line of today's entry being: And in My conquering Power you walk unharmed today.

God is ever on the field.

Thank you.

THE HEALER OF PAIN...LOVE AND LAUGHTER

According to me, the bane of our existence is our self-inflicted wounds...specifically, those that we put someone else's name-to-blame on. It takes a lot of still more spiritual growth (a.k.a., ego reduction in depth) to crack the protective shell around that bad habit. 

Accepting it as just a bad habit is hard for our egoic mind to grasp..."want-to" comes up short when ego enters the picture. Yet when doesn't ego enter in?  

Fact is, the minute we respond in kind and natter about the hurt...or, most often, natter about the originator of our hurt, we have a self-inflicted wound.

The good news is...and I state from experience...few things feel better than realizing our own responsibility for our hurt. 

We need to be aware that we must never "accept responsibility" before we realize it really is our responsibility. "Accepting too soon" is just another self-determined objective aiming to cut short the pain...uh-oh, resentment aborning. 

Comes the dawning...God is love and laughter, the Healer, the Comforter...All.

Thank you.

FOR AMERICA...SURVIVING THE ABYSS TOGETHER

When the unthinkable happens,
and does not relent,
we fall through our hubris
toward an inner flow,
an abiding and rebirthing darkness
that feels like home.
—Barbara Holmes, “What Is Crisis Contemplation?”

Dr. Holmes describes to a T and names what I unknowingly journaled about: crisis contemplation - "Contemplation after or during crisis is a stillness in the aftermath of a primal scream, the abyss of unknowing, and the necessity of surviving the trauma together. ..I can enter alone or with my community...we must relinquish control and seek grounding within the mystical depths of inner spaces."

The crisis, Donald J. Trump...the election...his cabinet selections, gifted me with the idea for our For America 8:00 AM, EST, three-minute meditation. 

Friends have joined me, we are inviting others to join, and we are inviting you. Please. For America.

Thank you.

THE DARK NIGHT IS THE SUN'S DELIGHT

I ponder today my oft-repeated Thaddeus Golas quote: Go beyond reason to love. With which comes the blinding flash: To go beyond reason is dementia. To the material mind, to go beyond reason gets us the thing we fear, dementia. 

Well, isn't that the all-but perfect analogy...the thing we try (self-will) to bar from our thoughts is the thing we need (God's will) to learn to love.

We're reminded of the long-ago giftee: Nothing turns us to God faster than fear...and we learn again, deeper, that no matter how true, good, blessed the promise of God with us is, fear is a knee-knocker, not to hang around with.

The promise of still more spiritual growth is peace of mind. The hard truth backing up that promise is the climb up into that growth takes some serious dread, pain, resistance...who's kidding whom? Fear. Ah, we are just beginning to experience the dark night of the soul. 

Blinding flash! That is God's will, God's way, the path that seekers have ever walked with or without material means...money, mind or sustenance.  

The dark night is the Son's delight.

Thank you.

NOT BY SELF, BY GOD, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of December 3, 2013.]

We are told the promises of God will always materialize if we work for them.

Why is it so hard to remember that the "working" for them is the "work" of maintaining conscious contact with our God? It is the work of aligning our will with Its will, of detaching from our wants (most often fear based and always of self), knowing our needs (always of God) are already met...are within us waiting to be released.

As we are released from our ego-victory wants, our needs flow forth, materializing as that which we need in that moment. And we think, "What a coincidence! I was just saying...."

The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. -- Anonymous

Thank you.

OUR SEARCH FOR LOVE, OR LIFE'S MEANING

Our first need is to find within us our own meaning of love, our own definition of love. 

I read my spiritual literature and agree mentally that love is all around, is all good no matter how it appears to our reasoning mind, that love is for my benefit the same as for yours, plus for the benefit of my current nemesis...but I get no personal feeling for what that means to me. There. My Search For Life's Meaning.

I know that I am being spiritually opened which may not fully happen until three days after I am dead if then...and still I am grateful. I am grateful to know that I am on the right road in my search, that I am heading in the right direction, and I thank God. 

None of which truly eases my wondering mind...oh, BFO! That is the gift! If my wondering mind were eased, I'd be, in effect, settling for my own idea of God, God's will and God's way. 

I have found many answers for which I pray thank You and continue seeking to know God's will, God's way for me Now...right Now egoically. 

There are many universal truths that I quote by rote, that do not touch my often-nattering mind. Let's accept that for what it is...still more spiritual growth...and continue to know that God is on the field, all is right with our world.

God loves us so much.

Thank you.

FOR AMERICA...GOD'S WILL, GOD'S WAY

H.L. Mencken,
the Baltimore Evening Sun,
July 26, 1920:

'As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents more closely the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright moron.'

That is so close to truth today that it could put fear in our gut and despair in our heart. America...she needs us now possibly more than she ever has. 

Ah, fortitude lives in our heart and our soul For America.  

Let's join together in our commitment to give God a portion of time each day For America, Thy will, Thy way. 

Thank you.

MEANDERING THOUGHTS AND LOVING THEM, I

[The following is a reprint of my blog of June 20, 2015.]

My thoughts are meandering this morning, and I remember again that in the midst of any apparent disaster or simply unwanted situation, to realize that God's hand is in it is all that is needed to bring peace.

In pondering that, it occurred to me that that realization ought to bring peace not only to me, realizing it, but to any others in the situation. But ought schmought...I cannot direct it, I can only know it. If the other is not on my spiritual wavelength...being higher or lower...s/he will miss it.

Spiritual power, however, is like water...it goes to its own level. That realization at that time may touch someone I have no knowledge of...and come as a needed blinding flash of the obvious to him or her. Maybe that's one way I get my blinding flashes of the obvious...from someone in meditation 100 miles away!

I love that image but what do I know? Just enough to know that if I'll love and laugh I won't have to analyze these things...and call it pondering.

God loves me us so much.

Thank you.

NEVER SHORT-SHEET SELF-DISCIPLINE, I

[The following is a reprint of my blog of November 18, 2016.]

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have sent my spirit upon him, he will bring fair judgment to the nations.--Isaiah 42:1

I sent the above quote to a friend on the day of President Obama's first inaugural, January 20, 2009, with a note that I felt it perfectly described our new president.

My sincere prayer for myself is to upgrade my own opinion of President-elect Trump so that I can know within myself that quote perfectly describes this new president.

Achieving that upgrade is my responsibility through the grace of gratitude and God...and self-discipline.

Thank you.

P.S. Reminder for today, 11/15/24: Try with a will or fall by the wayside...plus, let go and let God. Thank you. 

STAY OUR THOUGHTS ON GOD

When people turn their thoughts to the Creator, they give the Creator power to enter their minds and bring good thoughts.  -- Tadodaho, also known as Chief Leon Shenandoah, Daily Meditations, November 14, 2024

The following are my free-floating thoughts on America's political news today:

I am caught in a maelstrom of emotions since hearing of the first of Trump's Cabinet selections...Oh No! does not begin to touch what I felt upon hearing Matt Gaetz's name for Attorney General of the United States of America. 

I've never heard of the man up for Secretary of Defense, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, but some of the reports about him are less-than wonderful...to my ears. 

Scarier yet, Tulsi Gabbard, the woman now being thought of for the position of director of national intelligence. For some time now, she has been considered a renegade based on her own behavior.

The wishful thought I had was to call my former boss, a straight-arrow retired Army Colonel, and ask him what he thinks, plans to do, is doing...I trust him, but it's been 20 years (!) since we've worked together. Trust and let the thought perc...and trust.

Based on my own experience, material and spiritual, I believe consciousness does God's work...our unformed thoughts, God's prods?, are released and bring the changes we need. Our excessively pondering them dissipates their power...our realizing them, then walking with them, is God's will, God's way.

We will of course make mistakes...that's how our consciousness continues to be raised...admitting our error opens us to the better way...there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.

If earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and droughts are of God, then so are, or can be, Trump and Trumpists' destructive plans for America. Curse them not, get out of their way until they run themselves out, then turn and build back better.

Again: When people turn their thoughts to the Creator, they give the Creator power to enter their minds and bring good thoughts.  -- Tadodaho, also known as Chief Leon Shenandoah

Thank you.

OUR NEED IS FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL

I awoke this morning with either a blinding-flash or a wild-hair thought; namely, could I...should I...invite a small group of my friends to join our consciousness in a short, like three-minute, meditation, same time each day, for the benefit of America? Our one'd desire being for God's will, God's way to be done for the benefit of America today.

I do believe that President-elect Trump and his kind need to be backstopped...not by physical force but by God, i.e., the power of good...love. That force for good that birthed America and has brought us through every day yet has hit more than a bump in the road to Now. 

It seems to me that she has, we have, hit a logjam of money-mentality...money-honey, $$$$$...mostly very rich, majority white, folks with personal profit their goal who are willing to let America take the hindmost.

America to me today is akin to a good and faithful dog who has always been by our side, on our side, but is getting older and needs our help in getting up the Steps. She is of God...her need is for our benefit.

God, come to our aid for America, please and thank You.

Amen

YOU, ME AND THEM, THE LESS-THANS, ONED

We go through our lives, our years on this Earth, thinking of ourselves as separate....When we’re separate, everything becomes about protecting and defending ourselves....The whole gospel message is radical union with God, with neighbor, and even with ourselves. --  Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, November 11, 2024 

Priceless spiritual information too humanly difficult to remember (or retain?): We go to God for God and that is all.

We get all up in our head and give our self credit for understanding that is all because that is all...meaning God is all and every thought flowing from that realization is self, too often trying to bend it to our will. 

We are trying to get equal footing with God...in truth, pondering ways to bring God down, versus ways to lift us up. There it is...that sense of separate that we deny even as we seek it.

That radical union that Rohr speaks of, when realized, is the Father and I are One. The Father and I one'd... I being you, me, us, we, them, they, et al. 

Blinding flash of the obvious: I am the halt, the lame, the poor, the dirty...we are the less-thans for whom we pray as we give them a wide walk-by while speaking pretty words of love. That, too, is of God.

Thank you.

UNKNOWN QUESTIONS LEAD US

Very early this morning, from out of nowhere, these words came to me about me: renegade or mystic? 

Later, in my quiet time, I pondered what and why...I define renegade as more self than Self, and mystic as Selfed. 

I accept that the import is deep...much deeper than I know, growing deeper with every unanswered thought. Yet, I know not to stay here for to stay leads to ego-driven answers. 

This is an inner question that must answer itself in time...another path to becoming unselfed.

Seek not to know, unknowing is the true path. 

Thank you.

OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD

The time that I am pondering, post-election, pre-inauguration, is a gift...I am reminded to keep my thoughts stayed in today.

Nothing has physically changed in my life yet, but to me the forecast is less-than what with Trump elected president. Ah, but he is not yet president, he is president-elect. He is not scheduled to take the office of the presidency until January 20, 2025. 

Nobody knows the ways and means of the Lord tomorrow...consider Saul, meaner than a snake, on his way to Damascus, tossed off his horse and arising into a new consciousness to become Saint Paul. 

A spiritual memory: We have the experience of FDR advising America that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We came through that period of time God guided...a tish battered, tattered and torn but stronger than ever we dreamed we could be...with the blessed realization that nothing turns us to God faster than fear. 

There is ample time for God changes to take place within us...our choice, our job, our consciousness intact, TRUSTING God by doing for God's will, God's way. 

Trust America, our own self and the people of America to rise above the current revenge-filled $$$-grab mentality while we continue to practice God's will, God's way. This will not change the money-honey consciousness that prevails, but it will give you, me and any who want it peace of mind.

Resist not evil, overcome evil with good. 

Thank you.

GRATITUDE IS OUR ONLY ENTITLEMENT, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of December 10, 2018]

To receive miraculous healing and yet to be able to refrain from personal glory in the achievement is most difficult. All that they were entitled to was gratitude that they had been called and that the Power was working through them -- not that they had the power. The Power was working through them, but it could work through them only in proportion to their humility, and the true sense of humility is not any detraction or depreciation of one's self: it is a realization of one's greatness in having been called to be a servant of that power, which is true paradox. -- Copied from I know not where, dated 10/5/78 in my journal.

It is a personal fact that I (and most of my friends) have received miraculous healing...it is uplifting to see in black and white that which our heart knows: All that we are entitled to is gratitude that we have been called and that the Power is working through us...not that we had the power.

Thank you.

REASON BARTERS, SPIRIT WELCOMES

God’s love is infinite, a concept the human mind cannot form. The divine notion of perfection isn’t the exclusion of imperfection, but the inclusion of imperfection. That’s divine love. -- Fr Richard Rohr

I wonder if higher consciousness isn't a land of yes and that is all. 

Whatever appears to our consciousness...yes. We need note that trying to do yes before we are readied is the reasoning mind trying to get a step ahead of God, a veritable guarantee to crash and burn.

Ah, that crash and burn, too, is yes because invariably it is fear filled...and nothing turns us to God faster than fear.

Allowing our mind to open to the possibility of living in yes is where we are today. We did not realize it, of course, never having entertained such a possibility, but that feels like the foundation of all spiritual growth.

Face it, what else could resist not evil possibly mean? That which is my favorite biblical advice...not being a Bible reader, I consider those three words to be my Higher Power's special gift to me, another step out of self...resist not evil is to live in the land of yes.

That seems to be where we are now being directed...to live in the land of yes.  To rely less on material mind, i.e., reason, and more on spiritual mind, i.e., God. We learn to live unafraid of evil by not resisting evil. Reasoning mind balks, spiritual mind invites.

We are living in love if we can maintain a daily yes. That doesn’t mean we don’t recognize injustice and stand against it, but we don’t let our hearts become hardened and our minds become rigid in its judgments. Love is always a yes. -- Fr Richard 

Thank you.

FROM CLUELESS TO COMFORTED...LOVE & LAUGH

Learning to love may be the hardest task I've ever been given...to love indiscriminately without selection, protection or preference. 

I accept myself as a "rank beginner" on the spiritual ladder of life, but learning how to love openly is a whole new venture. The best I can do at the moment is to want to...I want to learn to love without qualifiers. Not him, her, them, a pet, the moon, nothing but the walking-around feelings of giving not getting as my motivator. Already I've gotten on the self-determined-objective track.

I love giving the advice, Just Do It...giving the advice to others, that is. Ah, but when I say it to me, my answer is usually HOW?  

When we are met with a what-to-do, the best we can aim for is to do something about something. The stupidest thing I ever heard when first I heard it, the pearl beyond price to me today.

I'm becoming anxiously, dubiously, foot-draggingly aware that learning how to love is all about putting the other first...or self last is The Word without the bark on it. 

Reasoning-mind simplified...just accept everything we become conscious of. There...precisely why reasoning mind gets us bupkis when it comes to love. 

The final answer is our acceptance of everything and everybody, but the first lesson is that only God can get us there...and only when we go to God for God and that is all. See? Reasoning mind just backed out...or blacked out.

I love getting all up in my head, writing it all down, coming to the conclusion that I'm right where I started...only now feeling comforted. 

From clueless to comforted by grace and by God...love and laugh.

Thank you.

PRAY FOR PEACE...THEN WALK IT

This morning upon hearing the news of the election of Donald Trump to the presidency again, Fr Richard's words, To pray is to practice that posture of radical trust in God’s grace, mean more than I can wholly comprehend in the moment.

I recall my go-to: If alcoholism can be a good thing, and it is to me today, then so can this be. 

I rest in my favorite...resist not evil (Matthew 5:39).

Blinding flash of the obvious:  If Democrats and all in agreement with them took the others out

by wile or by will, that would justify the others' need for blood in the streets. No. The Republicans, led by the consecrated memory of Abraham Lincoln, must turn around, saving themselves, the Democrats, any and all others, AND America. Resist not evil...PRAY Thank You.

I will fight no more forever -- Chief Joseph

Thank you.

TORN APART...REBORN...RECONFIGURED

Today, November 5, 2024, is Election Day in America...presidential election day, the Big One. And the word on the street and in the air and mainly in our brain is: OMG...what if S/He wins? 

One of them will win, it is the how that causes anxiety. What we forget and must re-remember: The how is God's will, God's way always and all ways.

America torn apart is my fear...and here comes God to calm my self-centered fear. The recurring thought that I trust is: That which I fear may need to happen.

My idea of America torn apart may be God's gift, i.e., the rebirth of America by the righting of Americans. It is not America that has gotten off track, it is we, we Americans, who have.  

We may need to be torn apart...that's a tish harsh...let's call it reconfigured, reborn is too evangelistic for me. All of us Americans may need to be reconfigured as God wills in God's way.

Here's when let go and let God earns its keep. We have learned that the harder we try, the harder we fall. Trust is now our handwarmer, our newest BFF. 

We trust...we seek God's will, God's way...we don't like the looks of it...we trust. Repeatedly.

God guides us every Step of the way...we realize as we look back.

Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, 'Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?' —Mark 4:39–40 

Thank you. 

UNLOVED, UNWANTED, UNNEEDED...PEACED

 [Back story: I am not a 'Jesus person' per se. But I am a believer in Christ consciousness as delivered to us through the life of Jesus, or so it is written. I've long-since quit quibbling about that. Jesus lived, brought the quiet word that guides me today...close enough to perfect for me.]

Blinding flash: I keep praying for Jesus to "do it," whatever it is at the moment...the consciousness of Jesus is alive within me, within us, the power of Jesus is ours from birth...we squander it on self-will, self-wishes, doing nada but praying, thinking our words of prayer will incite Jesus to take care of our perceived problem. NO...that is our inborn power. The do something about something is ours to do. That is how Jesus walks among us Now...according to me.

The reasoning mind is ours to use, not to be used by...when "used by," it appears as fear and that is all..."appears." 

Reasoning mind imagines the Nobel Peace Prize as ours...spiritual mind knows un is our peace prize...unloved, unwanted, unneeded, unappreciated, our path to God, while reasoning mind can only balk at the thought...go beyond reason to love. 

My eyebrows-up knowledge eager to be realized: We have all the love there is within us right now...we can only access it by giving it away....we give it away to all the uns we meet on the street or in our mind...rejections, snubs, snarks are for our benefit...to teach us...to open our closed mind to the inborn love within us.

Go beyond reason to love - it is safe. It is the only safety. Love all you can, and when you are ready all will be shown to you. -- Thaddeus Golas, "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment"

Thank you.

SANCTIFIED, PURIFIED, LOVED

When I was a child, our family dog, a Dalmation, was named Dorothy Lamour Carter, and of course we called her Dot. I know not why, but Dot is much on my mind this morning. 

Thoughts that are pouring out: I simply ignored Dot...the folks claimed to love her so much because my brother Paul (who died way too young, age 12) loved her but they did not show(er) love...she was ignored in truth but was kept simply to prove love? (I'm guessing.) 

My heart hurts remembering how poorly she was treated by all of us...not treated physically but left alone...simply that. After Paul passed, she was virtually ignored...she was fed, housed, and left alone. 

Ah, but it is my part that is the splinter in my heart. I took no part in showing her love, giving her loving attention.

Father forgive me...I pray she has found the love she gave...thank You.

Then it came to me without plan or prethought that Old Dot was sanctified [God-given word]...our family was purified. I held my ceramic model of her and wept...I know, unthinking I know...God, love, led me.

Love, specifically, how to ... has been bouncing me along for a while, whether I knew it or not. I know this morning that I felt...no, I did not feel, I realized: 

I was love, 

I was loved, 

I AM loved, 

I AM love.

And Old Dot is sanctified.

Thank you.

ON DOING A GOD ACT WITHOUT THOUGHT

The courage we need is the courage to fail and stay. * * * * *  Every inch of progress, every ounce of love, every truly meaningful action from here on out will happen through courage, not comfort. --Prentis Hemphill, Fr Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, November 2, 2024 

I know not why, but I awoke this morning with thoughts of courage, of all things. One thought: Courage is acting on what indwells, informs, acts subconsciously for our good...whether we know it or not. 

I suspect that courage, left to the interpretation of our reasoning mind, often warns of rues, regrets and remorses,,,fear in a word...and when heeded, hinders our spiritual growth.

Face it, courage is hard to love...by the nature of the word, it asks us to go against our ego-protected instincts...namely, save face first, pray later.

The upside of courage...the God side...is it does not need our permission to act. Looking back is when we often recognize an unselfed act of courage...speaking up for another, slipping a dollar to an unknown friend in need...that sort of thing. Acts of kindness without thought.

Blinding flash...we all have many acts of courage that only God knows of...acts that the ego could take no credit for so are not remembered. Says it all, doesn't it?..."all" being God's grace. 

To do a God act without thought of self is another feather in our angel wings.

Thank you.

WE CANNOT GO THERE ALONE

It was 26 years ago today that I again crashed and burned...gave up, gave over, gave in, and in the doing, thought that God may not know my name. Further, because God may not know my name that I had to seek help from my last chosen place for me to seek help. 

So, I did. Turns out, the last place I wanted to seek help is just another hidey-hole of God's.

Today, again I am feeling blocked. So I start anew...give up, give over, give in. The difference is that I'm not just hoping now, I'm knowing now from my own experience. I know and I know I know...when asked, God's will, God's way comes to our aid. To know unto acceptance: To our reasoning mind, it usually comes looking less-than, but invariably, i.e., spiritually, that, too, is for our benefit.  

The hook, I learn repeatedly, is not in the knowing, it is in the doing what I'm knowing that births freedom from the bondage of self. Yet, I do not know...I do hope, but I do not know...that I will do it.

Here is my today's understanding of my Rites of Initiation: First step: learning, self-accepting what I'm learning, doing that which I have learned, failing, admitting it, getting up and going again...repeatedly...until I get it right for today. 

Second step: Remembering the First Step in toto and doing it with a grin. 

Third step unto infinity: Same as the first two steps. 

OR...as Thaddeus Golas wrote in "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment": Go beyond reason to love. 

There...all the great truths ever written, wrapped up in five words: Go beyond reason to love. 

Sacred secret: We cannot go there alone...thank God. 

Thank you.