It is the concrete that we resist that will lead us free. This is from a note in my "God Calling," and whether it was a blinding flash of the obvious or me quoting someone else, I know not. But for sure it rings true...because that has been my experience.
Too many times have I dressed my demands up as prayer and gone to God, seeking release from a perceived problem (of my own making...invariably).
Until I learned the changing power of gratitude, I usually received (or perceived) no return on my poor, pitiful, puny investment of "Please do for me." Of course I figured God wasn't listening, wasn't on my side, wasn't even there. No. Those were the times when God, seeing no problem to fix, simply waited for me to divorce myself from my own wants...and awake.
In other words, we must needs detach from our ego-driven will of want and attach to God's promise, All that I have is thine.
Let go and let God...then our cup runneth over.
Thank you.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
TO SERVE OTHERS BE KIND
"Thank You" is the ultimate prayer of letting go for it is our acknowledgment before the fact that our need was, is, ever shall be met. Not by right, not by might but by the Father who dwells within. Within you. Within me. The Father who is also known as Love lives within as you and me.
Our only intellectual activity toward still more spiritual growth need only be to come to believe that from our toenails up to the ends of each strand of our hair...every day in every way we must needs practice coming to believe that.
We come to believe that by living it...in service to others. The only requirement to successfully serve others is to be kind...in the face of ego deflation in depth, be kind.
The process of being kind starts with a simple "thank you."
Thank you.
Our only intellectual activity toward still more spiritual growth need only be to come to believe that from our toenails up to the ends of each strand of our hair...every day in every way we must needs practice coming to believe that.
We come to believe that by living it...in service to others. The only requirement to successfully serve others is to be kind...in the face of ego deflation in depth, be kind.
The process of being kind starts with a simple "thank you."
Thank you.
Monday, September 5, 2016
GOD DETERMINES OUR NEEDS
It is not having everything in life go smoothly that shows forth good spiritual condition, it is when things go awry and I go smoothly that shows forth good spiritual condition.
The above is a note I wrote in my "God Calling" on this day in 1988. I note it today because...well, apparently I need to note it today. I've had the "in generals" for a while now...low-grade gray. Like there's a high-grade gray? There. Perfect example. No matter what I say to me, my ego Lucy answers with a snark.
It's times like this that it is not enough for my reasoning mind that I know that God has my back, goes before me to make the crooked places straight, can and will if asked, blah, blah and blah.
And with that admission, I realize that I have extra help available...a friend gave me a beautiful rosary recently. I know less than nothing about the actual use of rosaries which is the good news. To me, that means it's the rosary of my own understanding; I'm free to believe that it brings me whatever I need (not an ego-determined want, mind, but a need, our needs being entirely up to God).
I have found my favorite Our Lady of Fatima there amongst the beads, and that brings me peace, my needed peace. Since the movie (in the '50s?) I've loved Our Lady of Fatima, and here she is today, this minute. God loves me so much.
Thank you.
The above is a note I wrote in my "God Calling" on this day in 1988. I note it today because...well, apparently I need to note it today. I've had the "in generals" for a while now...low-grade gray. Like there's a high-grade gray? There. Perfect example. No matter what I say to me, my ego Lucy answers with a snark.
It's times like this that it is not enough for my reasoning mind that I know that God has my back, goes before me to make the crooked places straight, can and will if asked, blah, blah and blah.
And with that admission, I realize that I have extra help available...a friend gave me a beautiful rosary recently. I know less than nothing about the actual use of rosaries which is the good news. To me, that means it's the rosary of my own understanding; I'm free to believe that it brings me whatever I need (not an ego-determined want, mind, but a need, our needs being entirely up to God).
I have found my favorite Our Lady of Fatima there amongst the beads, and that brings me peace, my needed peace. Since the movie (in the '50s?) I've loved Our Lady of Fatima, and here she is today, this minute. God loves me so much.
Thank you.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
TO PRAY "FOR" IS A DENIAL OF GOD
[The following is a reprint of my blog of July 4, 2013.]
My morning blinding flash of the obvious: To pray for God to have my back is a denial of my belief in God.
Thinking that through, I come again to the realization that the most important part of spiritual growth may be in detaching from my own ideas, my own opinions, in trust that God does have my back because God cannot not have my back.
Meister Eckhart is quoted as saying, "Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow -- for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort."
Those last three words are the telling ones for me. We learn fairly early not to pray for outward wealth, but inward comfort? I had always thought that was what we were supposed to pray for!
It was when I learned the cosmic comfort of thanking God for everything...inward comfort or inward discomfort...makes no never mind. Our "thank You" frees our blocked channel, opens us, to let God out...to go before us and "make the crooked places straight."
Thank you.
My morning blinding flash of the obvious: To pray for God to have my back is a denial of my belief in God.
Thinking that through, I come again to the realization that the most important part of spiritual growth may be in detaching from my own ideas, my own opinions, in trust that God does have my back because God cannot not have my back.
Meister Eckhart is quoted as saying, "Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow -- for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort."
Those last three words are the telling ones for me. We learn fairly early not to pray for outward wealth, but inward comfort? I had always thought that was what we were supposed to pray for!
It was when I learned the cosmic comfort of thanking God for everything...inward comfort or inward discomfort...makes no never mind. Our "thank You" frees our blocked channel, opens us, to let God out...to go before us and "make the crooked places straight."
Thank you.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
LOVE STANDS ALONE...AS ONE
More and more I am believing that love and acceptance and surrender are all the same. We're talking nonresistance.
To my very immature spiritual self, Resist not evil is the most profound directive found in the Bible...or maybe just the Sermon, I tend to exaggerate, and I for sure have not read the entire Bible. I have, however, read the Sermon...and repeatedly. For that matter, originally I read those three words repeatedly cursing and crying all the while because I would not allow them to mean what they said.
It took some time before I would grasp that they meant exactly what they said...only not to the reasoning mind, but more deeply at a higher level...in God's world.
It is only through nonresistance that we can be in the now...NOW. That we can love what is...that we can accept our own self, warts and all...that we can surrender to that which we cannot see, cannot touch, cannot audibly hear. That we can and must surrender to that which we cannot defend...only our reasoning mind imagines that It needs defense.
Love stands alone...encompassing the world. Resist it not and be as One.
Thank you.
To my very immature spiritual self, Resist not evil is the most profound directive found in the Bible...or maybe just the Sermon, I tend to exaggerate, and I for sure have not read the entire Bible. I have, however, read the Sermon...and repeatedly. For that matter, originally I read those three words repeatedly cursing and crying all the while because I would not allow them to mean what they said.
It took some time before I would grasp that they meant exactly what they said...only not to the reasoning mind, but more deeply at a higher level...in God's world.
It is only through nonresistance that we can be in the now...NOW. That we can love what is...that we can accept our own self, warts and all...that we can surrender to that which we cannot see, cannot touch, cannot audibly hear. That we can and must surrender to that which we cannot defend...only our reasoning mind imagines that It needs defense.
Love stands alone...encompassing the world. Resist it not and be as One.
Thank you.
Friday, September 2, 2016
GOD CAN AND WILL...IF SOUGHT
We learn fairly early on that we must needs walk toward our fears.
It takes some time before we can begin to realize the why of that...to walk away is resistance. Resistance attaches to our fear and nurtures it, going ever deeper. To walk toward our fear is trust in the Father within us, is love. Love, like angel wings, sweeps us forward as we pass through.
The mistake we make is believing that we must make this happen...we will even set up anxiety-producing situations to prove we trust God. Then we are devastated when we have an anxiety attack because God didn't do his part...i.e., keep the anxiety away. No. God will not be tested...that's just old Lucy trying to use God for her benefit.
I'm guessing every old adage has its roots in truth. Time takes time is heard often and ignored mostly...because we return yet again to our ego-based reasoning mind to find a new p.d.q. solution.
I'm reminded of this from a note I wrote in my "God Calling" on this day in 1984: There is a perfect outcome for me in this mess. I then thought of a perfect solution, tried it, and very shortly thereafter I was "gifted" with the IRS. Which surely sounds just like what it was...bad news.
The good news is, when my perfect solution arrived some years later, I had awakened to this "mess" as the foundation for my spiritual journey which is woven throughout with the IRS experience.
Today, whatever comes to me, I remember that the IRS, on arrival, looked like spinach, but it became my pearl beyond price and remains that to this very day.
The bottom line of my spiritual awakening is the realization that the IRS experience happened exactly as it needed to happen for my spiritual growth. Our seeming mistakes are our tangled skein. Hold them close and reap rues, regrets and remorses. Give them to God to make right and he does.
Thank you.
It takes some time before we can begin to realize the why of that...to walk away is resistance. Resistance attaches to our fear and nurtures it, going ever deeper. To walk toward our fear is trust in the Father within us, is love. Love, like angel wings, sweeps us forward as we pass through.
The mistake we make is believing that we must make this happen...we will even set up anxiety-producing situations to prove we trust God. Then we are devastated when we have an anxiety attack because God didn't do his part...i.e., keep the anxiety away. No. God will not be tested...that's just old Lucy trying to use God for her benefit.
I'm guessing every old adage has its roots in truth. Time takes time is heard often and ignored mostly...because we return yet again to our ego-based reasoning mind to find a new p.d.q. solution.
I'm reminded of this from a note I wrote in my "God Calling" on this day in 1984: There is a perfect outcome for me in this mess. I then thought of a perfect solution, tried it, and very shortly thereafter I was "gifted" with the IRS. Which surely sounds just like what it was...bad news.
The good news is, when my perfect solution arrived some years later, I had awakened to this "mess" as the foundation for my spiritual journey which is woven throughout with the IRS experience.
Today, whatever comes to me, I remember that the IRS, on arrival, looked like spinach, but it became my pearl beyond price and remains that to this very day.
The bottom line of my spiritual awakening is the realization that the IRS experience happened exactly as it needed to happen for my spiritual growth. Our seeming mistakes are our tangled skein. Hold them close and reap rues, regrets and remorses. Give them to God to make right and he does.
Thank you.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
ON SHOWING COURTESY TO GOD
My friend Gertrude used to say that she practiced letting five people be right every day. So I tried it. I must say that it felt like a gigantic ego trip. I quickly add that does not mean it was an ego trip to Gertrude...she was a very spiritual person, so I'm sure it worked for her.
I knew the principle was right, I just had to find my way there. It came to me finally one day when I was resisting my boss...and there's a no-win situation. But my realization wasn't that I should let him win; there was no way he was going to lose...his name was "Boss" after all.
My realization was that I should let me lose...and not by agreeing, still thinking, "What a dolt!" No. I needed to let me lose by focusing on how losing would be the best road out of this for both of us. My reasoning mind would not get me there, and Lucy certainly wasn't about to help. Who's left? The God of my own understanding, of course. So, I shot a prayer of thanks for this situation just exactly as it was, because it was apparently time for me to learn this lesson. And any clarification he chose to send would be welcomed.
I cannot remember how it turned out, only that it worked, and my boss treated me better after that...more respectfully. I know God's hand was in it because I don't remember...if it had been a solution from my own thinking, I guarantee I would not forget...ever.
He goes before us to make the crooked places straight. We just need to hold the door open.
Thank you.
I knew the principle was right, I just had to find my way there. It came to me finally one day when I was resisting my boss...and there's a no-win situation. But my realization wasn't that I should let him win; there was no way he was going to lose...his name was "Boss" after all.
My realization was that I should let me lose...and not by agreeing, still thinking, "What a dolt!" No. I needed to let me lose by focusing on how losing would be the best road out of this for both of us. My reasoning mind would not get me there, and Lucy certainly wasn't about to help. Who's left? The God of my own understanding, of course. So, I shot a prayer of thanks for this situation just exactly as it was, because it was apparently time for me to learn this lesson. And any clarification he chose to send would be welcomed.
I cannot remember how it turned out, only that it worked, and my boss treated me better after that...more respectfully. I know God's hand was in it because I don't remember...if it had been a solution from my own thinking, I guarantee I would not forget...ever.
He goes before us to make the crooked places straight. We just need to hold the door open.
Thank you.
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