LIVE IN GRATITUDE, KNOW PEACE

How you see anything is how you will see everything. -- from Fr Richard Rohr, often and repeatedly

There it is. How we see anything is how we will see everything is the very reason we are encouraged to develop an attitude of gratitude. That also is why thank you is a sufficient prayer...sufficient for all wants and needs, for all times and climes.

Most important, in our search for still more spiritual growth, we learn that we must develop an attitude of gratitude first for it is through our own attitude that we view our world in the moment, i.e., Now.

When we have settled into gratitude, then thank you comes naturally. We will have discovered to our dismay that just saying thank you while thinking less-than-wonderful thoughts stays us in our ego-victory mind...where it's either/or, win/lose all the time. And, who's kidding whom, that's ego driving the bus with no regard for the road signs, "Danger," "Detour," "Turn Back."

What is so beyond our reasoning mind is that is the road we must needs take...right on by the signs as if they don't exist for us. That's how we receive the grace of understanding that thank you is a sufficient prayer for all our needs.

When we self-will us over the cliff we'd been warned about, it takes a real act of faith to pray thank you out there in the ether. Having no other choice, pray it we do...and land on the cloud of unknowing. Safe. Changed, but safe. And grateful.

We have now cemented how we see anything is how we will see everything. We realize our life's goal: Be grateful, know peace.

Thank you.

SEEK WITHIN, SHOW WITHOUT

Blinding flash of the obvious: the 3 Rs of life: readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic; rigid, righteous and right; rues, regrets and remorses.

The three "Rs" of life: readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic - get those, get confidence.

Rigid, righteous and right follows in the form of overconfidence into arrogance.

Rues, regrets and remorses cannot but follow.

The final three we'll spend the rest of our life trying to get shed of by thinking about unto obsessing over, justifying...and trying to wish away. Until we lose all hope, crash and burn.

Start praising God for there is our goldmine.

Our utter powerlessness in the face of our own self will opens us to our path to God, i.e., still more spiritual growth. We seek within at an ever deeper level in order to realize our Higher Power.

Thank you.

GO BEYOND REASON TO LOVE...AND LAUGHTER

I've become convinced that spiritual life is all about proving Truth and welcoming the process...or, actually, welcoming the process of proving Truth; Truth being that God can and will intervene in our life in our behalf, that the Father goes before us to make the crooked placed straight...also that he performs that which is given us to do. All those words and oh so many more that we secretly hope are true, but, when we're in the crucible, fear aren't. Of course, the hard part about the process is we actually must be in the crucible in order to do the welcoming...there are  no short cuts!

The doing, the letting go of our own security blanket, sometimes strains our reasoning mind to the point of bringing on our great fear of losing our mind. Spiritual growth: We feel that fear and let go anyway. We have learned, slowly, slowly, that we must let go in order to realize the peace promised in our Truths. We must go beyond reason to love, a.k.a., we must go beyond our reasoning mind to find God's peace, the peace that passes understanding. 

First there is a 'light in the soul that is uncreated and uncreatable,' * * * Second, this divine essence can be realized. * * * so that its presence becomes a reality in daily life. -- From Fr Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation," January 29, 2018, quoting Eknath Easwaran.

For that I live.

Thank you.

WALK IT AUTHENTICALLY INSIDE OUT

We want, we seek, we need to pay attention to what [Jesus] actually taught and see how we can begin to walk it authentically from the inside.

There it is. The reason why we fall to our knees and thank almighty God for the ankle biters and body blows that come into our life. They come seemingly unbidden...some may appear to come with malice aforethought. We learn that even when meant for ill, God meant it for good.

Those biters and blows represent Jesus’ upside-down world where the last are first and the first are last, and all is for our spiritual good. We begin to walk our spiritual growth authentically from the inside.

When we're living in our reasoning mind world, we're in it to win it. Hard lesson a'learning: In that world, even when we win we lose for is no God there.

Thank you.

OUR GREAT NEED IS GOD'S KEY

God is nearest when our fear is greatest.

When our feeling of need is greatest is when the fear of "all alone" rides deepest...and there it is: God's hidey hole.

Welcome that fear for it is our angel in disguise, leading us to the great power of love...and laughter.

Thank you.

THE PERPETUAL EGO...OUR ETERNAL GOD

...we are actually announcing our commitment to Jesus’ upside-down world where 'the last are first and the first are last' (Matthew 20:16) over any other power system or frame of reference.-- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," January 26, 2018

To seek to know God aright, we must become willing (and it starts with a breakthrough in our intellect) to accept that God's view is perfect and diametrically opposite of our view...the mirror image. We are actually committing to an upside-down world where the last are first and the first are last.

This is ego deflation in depth. It cannot be done through the reasoning mind alone, the heavy lifting is always God's job. Our job is to work with God using our reasoning mind and spiritual principles...and it all begins painfully, exceedingly so. Ego does not go down without a (perpetual) fight.

The good news, of course, is that crash-and-burn, i.e., ego deflation in depth, gives birth to the peace that passes understanding. For now.

Our new mantra as life goes on being daily...bring it back to Now.

Thank you.

GOD'S HIDEY HOLE

I seek God's help, inwardly wanting him to perfect my tumultuous material world. But it is my spiritual world, His world, that I am being lifted into...and by that which I seek to banish. It is my fear and resistance to my view of my material world that is the crucifixion (crash-and-burn) necessary to be freed from self.

My very hopelessness is the wind beneath my angels' wings, carrying me ever upward to My inner depth.

Thank you.