EGO DOES NOT LET GO GRACEFULLY

It takes as long as it takes to truly hear what we need to hear. 

We are taught that in that instant of realization, it is done for us, our problem is solved, all our questions are answered. We believe that because we so want to believe that, and because it is true. 

Comes now the howsomever.

Now, to live that truth as our own, we must prove it...to prove it by doing, living, being...by our  transformation.

More howsomever: Our own definition of "transformed" must go...must be transformed, not to be smart-mouth about it. 

Growing into the transformed me, we find...oh rats!, the same old me. No wings, no halo, no outer sign for others to take note of which, regrettably, we learn still has teeth and tongs in our egoic mind. Not as strong, not as long-lasting, no longer first in line...ah, but there. 

There's our Yes! It is that egoic want that kicks our butt, punches our gut, natters relentlessly...and turns us within, to head the transformed us in the right direction. 

It is right that ego forms the base of our suffering...the horns of the dilemma we hear about. Our reasoning mind is being changed by God from reliance on egoic thinking to resting on spiritual principles. Never does ego go gracefully into the light of God's new day.

There is a deeper voice of God, which we must learn to hear and obey. It will sound like the voice of risk...God never leads by guilt or shame!  -- Fr  Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, July 29, 2022  

Thank you.

WE ALREADY HAVE THE ANSWER...NOW LIVE IT

The only thing separating us from the divine immensity of the Lord is our unwillingness to trust such an utterly free grace, such a completely unmerited gift. (My paraphrase, from Fr Richard's June 7, 2022, Daily Meditation)  

We are reminded that, most important is the discovery that all of our problems can be solved by spiritual principles. -- Anonymous

Blinding flash of the obvious: Invent not, work with what you got.

Thank you.

PREACH NOT...DO!

We only know as much as we do. -- St Francis

I love coming again to that reminder from St. Francis, that I only know as much as I do. 

I am especially moved by the memory it jogs right now...as I mentally judge a friend who is being recalcitrant in a friend-related incident while preaching that she now lives in acceptance. Whatever comes to her, she accepts without qualm or quandary, she says...as I give my mental eye roll 

There. My mirror still on the job showing me that with that thought, I am doing that which I am resisting. 

I know better...which is heading in the right direction, but it's the doing that brings the peace of mind I seek. There it is, the pearl beyond price...peace of mind.

We do better not to win applause, accolades or acknowledgement...we do better to live in peace within. Winning is not on the table...even win/win is not on the table. There is no contest for to win...there is only a mind at peace. 

Whoa! Here's me, moving into a how-and-why about that which I am not doing. 

Love and laugh, love and laugh.

Thank you.

TO ACCEPT THE UNPRETTY SIDE OF SELF

I have become convinced, and this is from my own perspective so we won't find a lot of followers, that the most important spiritual direction ever given is: We have ceased fighting everything and everybody. (To get all the way to ceasing fighting, it helps me to think, I have ceased resisting everything and everybody.)

After accepting our first resistant thought, we shoot our thank you prayer. Then, if the Spirit moves us, we can ponder it but not pamper it. In its own sweet time, sometimes soon sometimes not so soon, it transforms itself into gratitude. 

Then, blinding flash, we realize that "not so soon" is the pearl to our reasoning mind...it gives us time to come to accept why we want to resist. 

To come to acceptance is, plainly put, to wallow in our want-to, or to "arm wrestle with God." That it is that brings us to surrender, to come to accept the unpretty side of self. For sure, if we cannot own it, it will own us.

To accept we must surrender...to surrender we must admit complete defeat...to admit complete defeat is one step closer to Heaven...or peace of mind, the pearl beyond price.

Thank you.

THE PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION

This movement of leaving and returning, forward and back, is the process of transformation. - Fr Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, July 31, 2022

Well...isn't that interesting! Stripped down to its bare knuckles, "forward and back" is us having a new idea, trying it, being mistaken, trying again, screwing up, trying again and again and again, and finally  surrendering unto acceptance. Voila, transformation.

We don't get to transformation by book-learning or by sharing deep talk...seeking how-to without actually doing it. To mangle an old saying, Those who can...do; those who can't...teach. 

If we're still beating ourself over old remorses and/or new mistakes, we may have missed the fork in the road and wandered off into the forest. As long as we don't make our home there in the forest, we can pray thank you, make a U-bie, and try again. And again. Etc.

We've heard the word, the more we resist, the more it persists, but the human condition is such that to not resist feels wrong, and our reasoning mind can back that up unto infinity. At some point, and it takes as long as it takes, we must needs go beyond our reasoning mind for our solutions...as in, trust that our perfect solution is of God

Learning to do God's will sometimes feels like we're trying to go forward by crawling through a duststorm backward...all the while trying not to think about a reasoning mind being an educated mind, and education counts for something for Pete's sake. Sometimes it is even right. 

Another old adage for our reasoning mind's comfort, Life's a crapshoot...deal with it. 

Still more spiritual growth for our Soul's comfort, Go beyond reason to love.

Comes the time when the reasoning mind's comfort is of no nevermind, and spiritual growth is ours without thinking. There. The pearl beyond price.

Thank you.

I SHALL NOT WANT IS ENOUGH

Blinding flash of the obvious: To have a consciousness of enough is to have more than enough. 

With that flash, our spiritual growth now is in our willingness to nurture, nourish, that consciousness of enough.

Just as with a babe learning to walk, we need hold its hand as it first steps out...encourage it with praise and love. Acknowledge that every step and every stumble are for good, heading in the right direction...away from self, toward God.

The great gift...to have a consciousness of enough, living in that consciousness, closes the door to wants. 

The Lord is my shephert, I shall not want. 

Thank you.

WHEN TRY GIVES OVER TO TRUST

There comes a time when we realize unto acceptance that the only way to be truly happy is to seek to do God's will. This is the time of Uh-oh!...we've run out of our own ideas for fixing us, and Oh, wait, thank you!...our dual mind is integrating, becoming One.   

The period between realizing it and doing it is that period of time when we are sincerely trying. Ah, there be our problem: trying to give over to God whether it be in meeting our supply, or our dealings with others, or our anxieties in general...and rarely feeling all that good about the results. So we try harder...the difference between the definition of  "insanity" and "self-determined objective" is slim.

This is the prayed-for albeit dreaded difference between a self-determined objective (no matter how pretty we think it) and the perfect objective which is of God (no matter how un-pretty we think it).

We will come here more than once, or even a few times. It is trust that we are building...trust that the Father within does know our needs and will always provide us with the best to meet those needs. Whether we know it or not. 

There. That is trust. 

Rely on Me alone. Ask no other help. Pay all out in the Spirit of trust that more will come to meet your supply. *** To hold back, to retain, implies a fear of the future, a want of trust in Me. -- God Calling, August 8

Thank you.