NECESSARY SUFFERING...LOVE IT AND LAUGH

We do not know how His plans are laid, we only need to believe that if we trust Him and accept whatever happens as His will and in a spirit of faith, everything will work out for the best in the end. -- Anonymous

I had a busy mind last night...for too long my mind went nattering about a projected problem. This came just hours after I flashed on God's power for good always accessible through my thoughts which realization simply folded at 3:00 AM. Flew away and left me wrestling with my fear. My fear of an unhappening...it has not arrived, may never get here, yet it held all power over my thoughts.

The topper is the subject of the unhappening was my maid service...it wasn't even about the questionable survival of democracy or Ukraine or even a close friend.  

If this is the sort of vaunted necessary suffering that I have chosen for me, I need an upgrade to my idea of spiritual suffering. Not to mention, His will for me.

Here's me, when first I learned of necessary suffering: It would be akin to the crucifixion and would I hold up under it? Apparently, to my thinking, no maid service is comparable to a death sentence. Now that is to love and laugh.

God loves me so much that he allows me to see me. He holds the mirror, I pray thank you, and in a spirit of faith, I have joyful thoughts.

Thank you.

SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND EXAGGERATING

Biblical messages often proceed from historical incidents, but the actual message is independent of communicating those events with perfect factual accuracy. Any good writer knows that! 

That quote is boiled down from a lengthy paragraph in Fr Richard's Daily Meditation of January 10, 2017. The paragraph was about learning spiritual truths (a.k.a., midrash) for our own understanding. It ended with: Midrash allowed and encouraged each listener to grow with a text and not to settle for mere literalism, which of itself bears very little spiritual fruit.

Words cannot convey how happy I was when first I read those words. I felt like the caged bird, released...free to fly! 

See, I exaggerate. According to me, literal truth can be wholly spoken in less than two minutes and still have folks yawning. 

I do not think it out...it is just that when I share something I saw, thought, heard, I just open my mouth and whatever thought is sitting there pops out dressed in diamonds and pearls or mud and less than mud. Just not literal truth.

About the quote, the sentence that meant the most to me...big surprise...was the one justifying less than perfect factual accuracy, specifically when followed by, Any good writer knows that!  Oh my yes!, and yes again!

Notice the date was from Fr Richard's post in 2017. I saved it along with my words, "Brian Williams and I?" 

That was back when Williams was demoted for exaggerating his reports. Before the hammer fell on him, I recall thinking his reporting was enhanced by his telling, but apparently, some rigid, righteous and right folks were less than impressed. Not to parade my prejudice.

When I began this post, I was thinking about self-acceptance...specifically, accepting our less-than ways. Exaggerating is probably one of mine, but I'm good with it. There was a time, when being perfect was a goal, that I tried...really hard...to speak literal truth or not at all. The only thing that came from that was my feeling like a failure...again. 

I talked with God about it...he got a good laugh, and I got free. She exaggerated.

Thank you.

LOVE THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME

I am told that the Sermon on the Mount--the essence of Jesus' teaching--is the least quoted in official Catholic Church documents.  -- Fr Richard's Daily Meditation, May 25, 2016

Considering how often in my early years I turned away from the Sermon, the least quoted fact is not surprising to me. 

My spiritual guidebook has become the Sermon on the Mount from the King James version of the Bible (chosen on purpose, the hardest-to-understand version for me). There are many versions of the Sermon, each one a tish softer than the previous one. For me, softer is not better just easier.

Early on the Sermon was anathema to me. My unchartered and wary mind took it as the words of a moralistic poohbah. I had to lay down my mental sword and shield and pray thank you...a lot...before my resistance to Jesus then to his Sermon would give an inch. Hard times...entirely self-determined times. 

The good news is that when we keep returning to the Sermon, searching for we know not what...we will be lifted up to the underlying message. We will be living that underlying message for some time before we can recognize, then accept, then welcome the changes in us. That comes most often when, at peace, we are looking back.

My attempts at living the Sermon have been my earthbound spiritual education...learning that the majority of the time is 51 percent for instance. Before spiritual growth became a necessity to me, 100 percent was the only acceptable measure of anything...so I did nothing. 

Today, I aim as high as it is reasonable for me to expect to go at that time; I like to aim for 100 percent, with 75-80 percent being respectable. Often 51 percent is close enough to perfect for me and hitting anything above 51 percent is not shabby. 

That may be the essence of my spiritual growth...I have learned to love me and thee imperfectly the majority of the time...which is perfectly acceptable to me and the God of my understanding.

Thank you.

ACCEPTANCE...COUNTERINTUITIVE GRACE

Life is a series of ups and downs. Long-time learning, hard-time accepting: The ups bring giggles and grins, high fives and praise...the downs bring the pain of resistant acceptance, or our counterintuitive moments of grace.

The worst-case scenario answer produced by our reasoning mind explains why it takes so long to reach acceptance. Face it, worst-case scenario is not a conscious thought we welcome.

Though we know acceptance is the always answer, we tend to forget that it seldom arrives looking good...but grace lives in our dreaded inability to think of a solution to our problem. 

We are raised into a deeper consciousness by the hopeless, helpless, powerlessness of that moment when try-with-a-will stops cold and thought just gives up. 

In the vernacular, we crash and burn...spiritually, we are graced into higher consciousness.

We go beyond reason to love, to God...and find green pastures, still waters, peace. 

Thank you.

ON ACCEPTING THE PERSONAL REALITY OF GOD

Blinding flash of the obvious: It is not giving love that we fear, it is getting love that we resist.

This is not new news to me, but it feels truer. I need not ponder this...though no doubt I will...I do need to inner accept the truth of it. 

Letting my thoughts ramble: There is no sense of responsibility in giving love...what is better than the feeling of new love, secret, cuddled in our heart and head. Whether it is love of a new pet, a new flower garden, a new lover...new, unknown to any but our own self...too early to spread the word. 

We may have no feeling of responsibility in the giving, but the getting, or more to the point accepting, love...uh-oh. Go slow.

In our daily search for still more spiritual growth, we have a whole 'nother level of getting. accepting, love. Accepting the love of God is no easy-peasy matter...well, it is, it is the human condition that complicates it.     

For many, accepting the reality of God...God, also known as Love...is an uphill slog. It feels less risky not believing than opening our self to the existence of an invisible God. Especially an invisible God that, it is said, wants only the best for us when His "best" seems a tish dicey to the naked self.

These are sacred thoughts whether we grasp that or not. They may seem to be just words right now, but they are in the birth canal. 

We are awakening...still groggy but aware. We let it be. 

Thank you.

NOT BY ME BUT BY GOD, I

[The following is a reprint of my November 3, 2020, post.]

Blinding flash of the obvious: My need is to realize my trust in God is already built...and not by me but by God.

Our mind ceases its endless desire to be better, do more, know gentler. We rest knowing more deeply that all rues, regrets and remorses are of the ego. When accepted in faith, regrets become opportunities to trust our Father within has done the work.

We are freed from the fret of whether we "did it right" or "did it wrong" for our Father has already righted us as we walk in the perfect outcome...trust.

....the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. -- John 14:10

Thank you.

LEAN ON THE LORD...THAT IS ENOUGH

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. -- Psalm 23.1

There it is. The answer to our ever-sought-after but slowly realized peace of mind. 

I shall not want...I have enough. Enough. I shall never not have enough. 

I shall not want...I have enough for the Lord is my shepherd, my Supplier, my Supply.  

I shall not want...never again need my thoughts toy with more, the anguished cry of the self-reliant for whom God is not enough.

We shall not want...we shall never have more than enough for we pass more than on...we have enough. 

The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. 

Thank you.