SIMPLE PRESENCE...THY WILL, THY WAY

This spirituality....almost entirely depends on our capacity for simple presence. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," April 23, 2026

I felt betrayed recently and big time. Before our noon meeting, I asked a friend, who had previously announced his dementia, if I could talk with him about my fear of possible dementia to which he agreed.

After the meeting while most everyone was still there mingling, my friend announced, for all to hear,  "Stacey's got to deal with her Alzheimer's."  I just smiled, like "what a joker" and nothing further was said. 

For me to remember: That is not the important personal part. That part is for me to follow Friend 2's openness about her dementia...but on my timetable. The announcement felt like a betrayal just an hour after I first mentioned my "fear of possible dementia" to him. 

That is what I need to detach from...detach my resentful thinking by welcoming a higher interpretation to dwell on, i.e., God's will, God's way.  Remembering all the while that my "betrayer" is not bad, not even a "betrayer," he's just not the right confidant for me. 

There...I've got my inside work cut out for me. God loves me us so much.

Thy will, not mine, be done.

Thank you. 

FEAR...LOVE IT TO LET IT BE

Today, fear of dementia is sneaking into my thinking. 

I remind me to love it and laugh...if love and laugh are, as I believe, life's best answer whatever the problem, then dementia, too, can be met there.

Love and laughter will not cancel it, heal it, stop it...it simply will not determine my daily me. I can and do have another incurable disease which I meet daily with God and grace, love and laughter. Dementia, too, can be met there.

Also, my friend Bob may have a mean streak which I experienced recently in the form of a cheap shot he delivered to me before several of our friends.

Ah, it is fear, of course. I need to seek to change me, my gossipy reaction, not Bob...my want to rat him out to others.

Love that and let it perc. Personally, my feet are not there yet...my head has it but that is a far cry from walking it. 

Please and thank You, 

Thank you.

NEW ORDERS ...A CHANGE IS GONNA COME

Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God.....go forward on this inward migration toward sovereignty of mind. -- "Richard Rohr Daily Meditation," April 19, 2026

Whoa!...go forward on this inward migration toward sovereignty of mind.

To go forward inwardly is a stretch...for me anyway. By a stretch I mean I need to stop right there...stop and ponder that until it explains itself to me. It reads so pretty that we feel invited to believe we agree or even know what we're agreeing with.

The first half of that quote, from Everything visible to outpouring of God I get, agree with, and if I stopped there, it would not enter my thinking again.

Ah, but the last half of that, go forward on this inward migration, etc.. causes me pause...a long pause. I suspect toward sovereignty of mind is my Full Stop. When. and/or how, did sovereignty of mind become a goal?

I've been living for, working toward, thinking of, turning my will and my life, i.e., my thinking, over to the care of God...to be a follower of God's will, God's way. Going toward sovereignty of mind is going to require...ah-ha!...is going to require that I change my mind. Reminder to me: That I change my mind has been my meditative goal for a long time now.

Well. I make no rash self-promises, but I suspect and hope I have just received my new marching orders, Or, not new...just newly clarified.

God loves me so much...us...loves us so much. And I am grateful.

Thank you.

DEEP HEALING IS OF GOD

Both the Christian religion and the American psyche need deep healing, and I do not say that lightly.  -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditations," March 24, 2026

Today I know, and I know I know, and I finally and freely admit that I am in need of deep healing, and I do not say that lightly.

It is dementia I fear...loss of my reasoning mind...and it seems I am forgetting more each day. I note I particularly say it seems, etc., and I thank You.

From my own experience, I know that fear can and will do our thinking, feeling, doing for us whether we realize it or not. I remind myself of that fact a lot these days. If or when the fear of dementia takes over, it is that fear not dementia itself, that does our thinking for us. 

There is the truth about fear itself...when fear takes over, fear does our thinking for us...does our thinking, feeling, doing, being for us. 

I have long held that humans have two primary emotions from which all feelings are birthed...namely, love or fear. Love is harder to hold onto than fear...probably because God is love, not ours to hold onto but to live...fear is on its own which is scary in its own right...there is no God in fear. 

God is walking me through my personal way of dealing with a "what if"...think it through, repeatedly; when I am ready, God can and will lead me free. Then, if wrong, promptly admit it. Apologize to God for thinking I got ahead of him and go for it again. 

All the while loving and laughing...my new-found inner peace tools, and I thank You.

Dementia, shake hands with God...now you can get in line behind...God's got the wheel.

Thank you.

OUR NEMESIS AND AN UNSELFED LIFE. I

[The following is a reprint of my post of April 30, 2017.]

I've been contemplating nemesis and my belief that we all have our own. I equate nemesis with undeserved suffering...kinda like it is our cross to bear.

I tend to believe our acceptance of it comes with the realization that it became ours by our own unknowing choice before conception...maybe as an act of solidarity with all the pain of our chosen people.

I compare my "unknowing choice," to the line from an old novelty song (a favorite of mine): When they were passing out noses, I thought they said roses, and I said, 'I'll have a big red one.'

Having learned who I am and what I'm all about, that makes sense to me...it is neither logical nor believable that I would choose suffering purely for the benefit of others. I mean, it's comforting having Jesus as a role model, I just don't want to have to do as he did; i.e., suffer for others.

I'm guessing the key to our nemesis is the acceptance of it, resistance and all, and to welcome it as it comes to us. Why do I say I'm guessing that? That's the key to an unselfed life...which, after all, is our spiritual goal.

Thank you.

ON MATURE SPIRITUAL GROWTH, I

[The following is a reprint of my post of May 30, 2016.]

The ego gets what it wants with words. The soul finds what it needs in silence. -- Fr. Richard Rohr

There it is: The essence of our reasoning mind's resistance to powerlessness. Our ego's path out is through our reasoning mind; our soul has no path...in its transparence, it flows freely, cannot be cornered or captured...it is. It simply is.

We often hear that mature spiritual growth is all about detaching. Letting go of our self-perceived needs...embracing our self-perceived lack. When we are no longer talking that but are, in fact and without thought, doing that...we will know mature spiritual growth. And heading in the right direction counts.

Thank you.

ON SEEKING ANSWERS OF MY OWN SELF

The journey to sovereignty of mind requires an inward migration, where we in a sense become refugees from our external nation, culture, economy, and civilization, even though we still live within its borders. We withdraw inwardly. -- Alexis Wright, an Aboriginal writer from Australia

I have found myself being led (fed?) by a self-demanding search within.

I started following the feeling of demand, and faster than I realized that it was happening, I found myself seeking, questioning, demanding answers of my own self.

No, it does not make sense...reasoning-mind sense...but the answer popped almost immediately: Follow Me...where and for what, I know not. Follow that.

When I read the Alexis Wright quote above, I knew I am on the right track, going in the right direction, and though I know not my destination, I know it is God's will, God's way.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there just is no getting better than that! 

I am peaced.

God is so good to me...God is so good.

Thank you.