OUR SPIRITUAL NATURE CHANGES US, I

[The following is a slightly reworked reprint of my post of August 24, 2021.]

I sometimes think the hardest thing life asks of us is that we change our mind...particularly when we are certain sure that we are right.

We are brought to a standstill with the realization, yet again, that we cannot by self-will alone change our mind when we don't want to. We have learned that just changing our words...as in, agree just to shut the other up...has no spiritual core and is simply inviting a resentment to settle in, take root and bloom.

We must go to the God of our own understanding...Higher Power, Providence, whatever name fits our understanding...and, in trust, turn our thoughts over to It. We pray not for the generic Gertrude, not for a cure for cancer or covid, not for peace everlasting...God has our needs already taken care of.

We pray to get nothing, no future goodies...we pray for what we have, just as it is. We pray thank you, and that is All. Thank you hands it off, and our very own spiritual nature is set free from our reasoning mind. There. Our spiritual nature changes our mind.

 
The further gift, the pearl beyond price: Spiritual nature is the light within that shines before our world that others may see, and in seeing, realize their spiritual nature, and give their thanks to the Father. The quiet word to give over, give up, give in begins to shine...no longer a self-determined objective, it has been transmuted, and thank you is now the quiet word.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.-- Matthew 5:14

Thank you.

WE GO TO GOD FOR GOD...PERIOD

 We go to God for God, and that is all...for that is all. 

Again and again that prayer comes to me...singing hallelujah and bringing me peace.

Thank you.

ON BEING THE PEACE WE SEEK, I

[The following is a reprint of an earlier post of mine.]

As we start our life's journey, we learn free will is a gift from God which often reasoning mind accepts as "want-to" permission. We soon interpret that, "want-to with permission," as ego having free will for its very own playground.

 
It is the journey we choose to walk that determines our life. Do we choose to use or to misuse our free will? Our choice, our trip. Cling to "my will, not thine" or exchange it? Our choice, our trip. Ego driven or God led? Our choice, our trip.

It is more spiritual growth plain and simple that informs our decision. Trying to spiritually educate our ego is an ego-trip trap...the egoic mind legislates for itself only.

Our spiritual growth bares fruit when we let ego be ego. We don't fight it, even those times when we use it to get our way. That's why we've got laughter as our fallback...for when we show our world we are still human, still futzing, and still needing God so that we still be laughing.

Ah, but answered prayer comes when nothing but God will crack our resistance...and, almost surprised, we know it. We welcome it with our thank you.

Maybe this is why God gave us free will. When we can turn from our want-to in any form, and welcome God's perfect will in any form, we will be the peace we seek.

Thank you.

JUDGE NOT

The dualistic mind cannot deal with the biggies: love, death, suffering, God, infinity, and the very notion of grace....It will simply jump to the next thing because the dualistic mind is always moving toward resolution. It loves closure and rushes toward judgment. That’s why all great spiritual teachers said, 'Do not judge.' -- Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, May 31, 2026    

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE END...JOYFULLY

 I am reminded yet again: I go to God for God, and that is all.

I've arrived at the latest...and apparently last...stage of my life on this planet. I am being neither dour nor self-pitying when I think, and not a minute too soon.

I've needed to think this through...in depth...and I am satisfied that I am anticipating in wonder the next stage of God's plan not just for me but for us...for All.

I've come to joyfully accept that each stage is for our good, but it is how we perceive the good that actually plots our life  

And there it is: The pot of gold at the end of our life's rainbow is in our perception.

Say that each of us sees the same one thing, I perceive less than, you perceive pot of gold. That perception, when seen spiritually, i.e, through God's eyes, turns our once rough and rugged road into the promised path to milk and honey.

We go to God for God and that is all, for that is All.

Thank you.

THE GRACE OF SELF-ACCEPTANCE, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of July 22, 2016.]

Self-acceptance, like forgiveness, cannot be self-willed. We must go to God in humble skin to thank him for his blessings...whatever they may be. We can and will in God's good time be graced with the discovery that we have had the gift of self-acceptance within us all along.

The saddest thing is to be graced with self-acceptance and then to squander it on pride of self. Pride of self holds tight to our gift so others may admire and emulate...us.

God's gifts are freely given, but they require constant vigilance in order to keep them. Which we can only do by giving them away.

God in his goodness is really clever...and my ego Lucy still tries to get over on him. Which, according to me, cracks God up.

Thank you.

NOW WE MUST DO GOD'S WILL, GOD'S WAY

We say again and yet again, and then again: We go to God for God, and that is all...for that is all.

Ah, we say...now we must do, i.e., get crackin'.

Thank you.