My Pain and Your Pain

This morning I had an insight that I want to share with you. I realized a selfishness in me I had not seen before.

Regularly I pray for someone dear to me who is angry, judgemental, paranoid and estranged. I pray for the Love and Light of God to envelop him and heal him, restoring him and setting him free from the darkness. I feel emotional pain deeply because of the situation.

This morning I realized that there are many who have such pain and sorrow in their hearts and many who live in dark and fearful corners of their minds. Of course, this is obvious to us all at some level. But, my realization is that it is more appropriate for me to pray for all, not just my tiny corner. In fact, we are all family, offspring of God. We share this life, this planet, this air, this water, this joy and this pain.

Luke told a story of a rich man who did not help the man at the gate, covered by sores which dogs licked (it was thought long ago that dog saliva was healing). In the after life, the man at the gate with the sores is held in the bosom of Abraham, while the rich man is in torment out of reach, but not out of sight. He wants someone to go to his brothers to warn them so they can avoid such a fate.

This is the same as my realization this morning. The rich man was concerned for his immediate family, not for the suffering of humankind. While I have been concerned since childhood for others, I have not prayed as deeply for them as I have for my estranged love one. Let's pray together.

Lord, Divine Presence, may Your Love and Light engulf, restore and lift all those suffering from broken relationships. May Your comfort soothe the wounded. May Your Wisdom guide the lost. May the experience of You break through the static and be fully known. For all of my brothers and sisters, I lift this prayer to You, asking in the name of Christ and sealing it with the ancient seal, Amen Amen and Amen

Great Grandson Visits Me at Church

I was sewing on prayer quilts and my precious granddaughter, Naomi, came to visit with Isaiah, our great grandson. What a wonderful surprise it was. It was a day of joy. He just turned one and is so bright and curious. I hope I get to see him grow up and express his unique self in wondrous ways.

Family experiences for most people range from beyond fabulous to dreadful. This was obviously beyond fabulous.

It is useful to ponder ways to make all, or at least most, family times positive and uplifting. How can we reach the family black sheep, long lost relative, the angry and judgmental with our love and care? It seems to me that being on a spiritual path requires us to come with open and loving hearts, not only to the easy to love, but also to the most difficult to love. 

We are each responsible for our own input into life. How we show up is important. I have come to know/believe that everything, every moment, every person is a spiritual opportunity to refine our walk and to lift others. 

Oh Divine Presence, open my heart to fully love as You call us to love. Help my ego diminish so that more and more of You can shine through without distortion.

Power Over Own Life?

Once upon a time, I thought that my thoughts, beliefs and attitudes were the major determiners of my life. The typical sayings were such things as: speak your word and the universe moves, I have dominion over my life, etc.

There are a lot of problems with these points of view. With billions of people speaking billions of words, many of them contradictory, only chaos would be possible. Then there is the guilt. If I totally determine my life, then what was I thinking to make this illness or this financial disaster or......?

Today, my understanding is a bit different. I know my tboughts, beliefs and attitudes have a great effect on how I experience/interpret life and on how others respond to me. But I also realize other forces play upon my life. My energies sort of bump into the energies of others. There are soul lessons, there are spiritual experiences, there are disasters not of my own making such as terrible weather, there are needs and desires of others, there are national and global happenings, there are a myriad of surprises.

What I am in charge of Is my own inner and outer speaking, actions and reactions, attitudes, interpretations of what is happening and have happened, and how I come to each day. Am I spiritually grounded and prepared? Am I forgiving and giving? Am I being my best self?

The Question of God

In my musing today, I began to wonder how deeply people in general explore and experience God. Is God discussed vigorously with others seldom or regularly or never? Are a wide array of thinkers about spiritual matters read and considered? Is time spent daily in spiritual practises? Is God thought of first thing in the morning, during the day and at bedtime? If we were observed, would others generally think we put God into our regular days and lived as one who walks with God?

Let's say we say we believe in God, and moreover as God being Present as a divine Presence. We imply then that our lives are lived in the Presence of God. If we deeply and truly believed this, how would that show up in our lives? How would we be changed?

I think this is worth considering. Stop a moment and look into yourself. Bare faced honesty is needed for us to actually see ourselves.

Do you, in fact, actually, really and truly believe in God's Presence, in God, Him/Herself? If so, what comes next?

For me, it is a challenge. I challenge myself to be open, congruent and to grow each day more and more fully into walking The Way. What challenge do you give yourself?

Lingering Memories

There are countless memories, of moments in my life, that live only in my mind. No one can know my private memories. They only have sway when I bring them to this moment. Most of the moments of my life, however, have dissolved into a sea of nothingness. I cannot remember every detail of every moment of all that I have lived over these many years. Yet, they do have meaning, sort of as a group, in that they have bent the trajectory of my life and participated in developing my consciousness.

I find myself drawn to Irenaeus ' idea of this earth as unfinished, imperfect, in order for those who come here to refine and develop their souls. What matters is not one tiny detail, but rather the overall spiritual growth of each of us.

I can look at my past as an observer rather than as an emotional ego. This or that happened. I interpreted it this or that way. Each is a piece of who I am today. I see patterns. Each time an instance of a pattern enters my life, I see my evolving self more and more able to respond spiritually, at least more and more often. I can see my growth and/or my need for more growth.

All the water under the bridge lifts me onward.

Reality?

For a couple of days now thoughts about reality have been bouncing around in my head. What is it? Do we share the same reality? Can we explain our reality fully to someone who has a different reality?

In my book on forgiveness, one of the chapters is "Marlene Colored Glasses." We see everything through who we are, at least who we are in that moment. If we are in an extreme emotional state, for example, how we interpret something varies according to that state. If we are angry or happy, life looks different. If we have unhealed wounds from our past, our view of now is distorted.

Let's say we see an agitated person. One person responds with compassion, another with disgust, another with anger - to the same person in the same moment. Is there an actual reality, or is there merely a reflection of our own consciousness?

Is our view unique to who we are in our stage of development? Do we form groups of friends, maybe without knowing it consciously, on the basis of having the same or similar versions of reality, thereby reinforcing our view and excluding others as false or wrong or dangerous?

Is our life a mirror showing us how close or how far we are from walking a spiritual walk? What yardstick can we use to measure ourselves? For me, there are several ways based on what Jesus is reported to have said.

First, "by their fruits you shall know them." What might be the result of this choice? Does it lift others? Does it produce love? Does it foster peace? If not, what would be a better choice?

Second, "what you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me." Would I really say or do this to Jesus? Would I exclude him? Would I hurt him? Would I treat him In this way? In the spiritual understanding of Oneness, what we do touches all. What would be the highest choice?

Third, paraphrased, "Love God with all of yourself and love your neighbor as yourself. This fulfills all of your requirements." So, I must ask myself and answer honestly, am I thinking, speaking and acting from unconditional love in all instances? What do I need to heal, restore, uncover in myself to fully walk in love?

For many of us, it is time to heal and rise to a more inclusive and loving reality. Look in the mirror of your life and see the smudges on your reality, and wipe them clean with love.

Good News Should Not Be Based On Bad History

Oh, my goodness, I could not have stated it better. Amy Jill Levine's line summarizes one of my key points I've been making for years. Context, history, and actual study are essential to understanding most anything. Yet so many seem to gloss over these essentials and make stuff up. They then require everyone to just believe whatever it is they've made up. It's no wonder confusion reigns in so many areas.

It has long been my contention, for example, that to understand religion, we have to understand the times in which they emerged. My particular focus has been on the first centuries, BCE and CE. If we don't at least try, we miss the meanings of the events, the parables and teachings. We fall prey to every charlatan, to every misguided speaker, to contorted ideas, inaccurate translations and out and out cons.

I feel strongly, as you can tell, about the necessity of us getting involved in our own spiritual journey, not just taking some person's word without examining it. I think that is part of our job to be actively engaged in the search, the quest.

Wars, anti-Semitism, violence, exclusion of some, anger and hatred, all are children of religious ignorance.

The Good News of The Way of Christ has been smeared with bad history. In some cases, only a tiny ray of the original peeks out. I challenge you to go on the most important quest of your life. Search for history, for what it all meant to people of the day. Go on a time travel adventure, through the muck of ignorance to the bedrock of truth.