FEAR...GOD'S GIFT TO ME

Blinding flash of the obvious: Fear is God's gift to me for it turns me to Him faster than thought.

I am still living in the anxiety attack I've written about this past week. Clearly, it is not an attack which I think of as quick and terrorizing in the moment. 

Ah, I am living in anxiety from which I got my BFO... ergo, good and of God.

It is comforting to realize these truths, but they do not slow my fast-beating heart... a God gift that holds my feet to the fire to ensure I stay to learn His will, His way for me. 

It is clear that I am given to running the other way, but God ever has better for me. I go to God...dragging foot but moving forward. God is so good to me.

Thank you.

TO WANT TO WANT GOD AND THAT IS ALL

...until we know and rely on [God], and until we call upon, share, and love [God], we’re just going along for the ride. --Fr Richard Rohr. "Daily Meditation," May 24,2026  

According to me, we can't want God in order to fulfill our material needs...we must want God for Itself and that is all.

That is and has been my hardest reach. 

I want to want God and only God, but it seems there is ever an urgent "need" that steps in front and demands attention. Even my self-determined spiritual growth is not purely of God being self determined. 

Blinding flash of the obvious: When self is driving the bus, self is first on the bus...God is first one welcomed after.

Mercy, that's a sobering flash...but not new to me. What else have I been striving for all these years but the God of my own understanding...and that is all. 

Thank you. 

SIMPLIFY, SIMPLY SIMPLIFY, I

[The following is a slightly reworked reprint of my post of May 26, 2019.]

Boy, did I get a blinding flash of the obvious this morning: Keep it simple. Simplify. Stop with the trying to make Shinola outta s**t. 

When Meister Eckhart said the answer is in subtracting, not adding on, he was talking simplify...simply simplify. When we are told that the answer is in detaching all that means is SIMPLIFY. 

Keep it simple, stupid, means keep it simple, stupid.

And then I read Fr Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" with the Word: Remember, the only thing that separates you from God is the thought that you are separate from God!

Thank you.

ACCEPTING THE GIFT...AH, THERE IT IS

Each moment is an opportunity to practice contemplation, to see things as they are, and to receive the gift of divine presence. -- Father Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," May 22, 2026

We are given the opportunity...ah, but how often do we accept the gift? What is the first thought we have on being the opportunity to practice any new thing?

Being given that opportunity often brings the feeling of trepidation...fear of failure, looking the fool. That is ego on the move; just knowing that does not stop ego. That is usually our first stumbling block...when confronted, ego often speaks louder than good sense.

To quote Amy Frykholm, the practice of 'beholding' anything takes desire and discipline -- and what is 'beholding' but contemplation or deep reflective thought?

Ah, we know these truths, but how well do we live them? 

I have learned to give credit for every second that my mind is reflecting God's will, God's way...too often that is just a second, but it counts!

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

Thank you.

ALL IS WELL...NOW TO LET THAT BE MY TRUTH

Julian of Norwich: All will be well, and all manner of things will be well.

I feel like I am suffering the tortures of the damned...high anxiety or fear of dementia? or, blinding flash of the obvious, high anxiety from fear of dementia.

Lord, hear my prayer: Thank You.

Thank you.

ON MOVING BENEATH REASON INTO SPIRITUAL

We have to move beyond recited, formulaic, and social prayers to bring the mind down into the heart. -- Fr Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation," May 20, 2026

Early on I received the gift of reverse blessing, i.e, recognizing that the scary appearing life events that come into our reasoning mind's eyes are blessings in disguise.

I received that gift fairly early in my spiritual growth, and it has never ceased growing deeper...truer...within me.

No doubt that is how I learned to say thank You to whatever my consciousness received. It began with my resisting the admonition to resist not evil. How could I not resist that? I've often called that the dark night of my soul...I arm-wrestled with that for as long as it took for me to hear and my heart to welcome it.

That was my great gettin' up morning when my Sun began to shine.

It shines still...I feel it particularly warm when my reasoning mind gets ahead of itself, and determines what is wrong with my world that I need to fix...now.

That's me...giving God a grin. I suspect that's how I now live fret-free...not that fret doesn't visit on occasion, it just doesn't stay long.

That's when I am reminded to move beyond recited, formulaic, and social prayers to bring the mind down into the heart.

Thank you.

WITH GRACE, WE WELCOME THE UNWELCOME

The more faithfully and hopefully we respond to God’s love in our life, the greater will be the fullness of our joy. -- Thomas Merton

I take heart that Merton wrote the more hopefully we respond to God's love. 

I have felt secure in my belief in God's love for what seems like a long time, but actually only in the last 20 or so years have I begun to entertain the possibility of God's personal love for me. 

I have learned not to quibble over uncertain possibilities...I believe that God is love, thus He loves All. It is walking that fact down the road of what ifs and uh-ohs that we learn true welcome. I doubt there is much that turns us to God faster than the uncertain outcome of a personally perceived need.

From my eyebrows up, I want to feel assured that I do not have, nor will I ever have, dementia. 

The good news is I am not married to that want...there have been too many things that I prayed to happen or to not happen that came to me in the exact reverse of my prayer...with each turning out to be my pearl beyond price. God's will, God's way, my blessing in disguise. 

So dementia, with the grace of gratitude and just for today, I leave you to God. If you are God's will for me, then you are my will for me. No doubt, we'll visit again tomorrow.

Thank you.