dailydatewithgod

For the most part I am someone who likes to be prepared.  I can improvise and think on my feet quite well when needed but I do not try to go into situations completely blind.  The setting of a situation has so much to do with our experience of it.  The setting is as much the actual physical experience as well as our intentions. If I go into a meeting expecting to deal with a stressful situation my perspective is going to be slated to one of safety and protection. The meeting itself may be in a nice conference room with plenty of light and space between seats, but if I am intending to be on guard I will not notice any of that.  The setting of our intention impacts the setting of our experience of life.  On my daily dates with God I am setting myself up for a mindset in which I am more likely to remember God is in charge and I am whole.  I can set up the perspective of looking for what I can bring to a situation instead of what I can get out of it.  Creating a setting in which love can grow has to do with my state of mind, not with whether or not someone else is acting the way I want or meeting my expectations.  This is a different way of looking at life.  As someone who did not feel internally safe for a long time, my intention was set at a default of protection. This barred me unintentionally from experiencing so much of what life has to offer. As a mature woman I can choose to change that and where I am not able, ask God for help. By re-calibrating my setting in God, I can open myself up freely to be present for the adventure of life.

Have you ever wondered why we use symbols to convey ideas instead of words?  Or why we dream in images and not words?  Words are important but the impact of images and symbols is in their ability to convey multiple ideas across different languages.  We can be limited by words in a way that constricts what something represents.  How many of us feel as though our work life can be summarized best by the words on our resume?  Yet show a few snapshots of you in action and you would most likely convey a stronger picture of what your work actually means in your life.  The actions in our lives are representative of the impact, power, and validity of our words.  If our words are only letters strung together in sentences but do not represent any action they lose their meaning.  God encourages us to take a close look at what our actions in life are representing.  We can use the word love but is that represented by being on our phones when someone is talking to us?  We can say we value growth but if we shy away from learning new things or being willing to listen to someone with an opposing view, what does those words represent?  None of us are perfect but when we pause to take a look with curiosity and compassion at what we are doing from day-to-day, we might find ways of better representing the message God has written on our hearts.

When we take a moment to think about it we can all name places we enjoy being. It could be our home, workplace, a space in nature, a particular site of history, a worship space,  or even in the presence of a particular person or people. Some of those places for me are standing on the shore and watching the ocean waves, spending time with my best girlfriends, in the a Catholic Church, or dancing. When we are in a place where we feel accepted and can breathe there is a sense of safety which engenders authenticity and freedom.  A common license plate frame I have noticed while sitting in Los Angeles traffic is, “I’d rather be . . .” The places where we can be ourselves brings a softness and an openness to life. The reason we connect to these places outside of ourselves come from an inner knowing of the same experience of place in our hearts. It is part of our design to want to be ourselves and be with ourselves. God invites us to take a look at how we can bring the outside experience of place we love being by reconnecting to it in our hearts.  God knows by so doing it will resonate strongly in our being. This enables us to be in that place because we are being it wherever we go, even when sitting in traffic. We no longer have to depend upon the physical construct of the actual place. We are being the same presence as the experience of those places in and of ourselves no matter where our body is in the moment.

One thing I have learned about life through my daily dates with God is love prevails.  The power and the courage to keep going despite difficulties and obstacles is built within us by God in order for love to continue.  We find a way to hope or trust someone who does.  We manage to make it through and still be breathing.  Love prevails because until God ceases to exist there is no way it can be destroyed completely. We may feel distant from it or stop believing in it.  But God is love and therefore it always prevails.  We are made from the designer of love so prevailing is possible no matter how much our head tells us we are not worthy or have walked too far away.  The prevailing nature of love is God’s sign that life is still present and worth a shot.  It reminds me of a quote that I read many years ago, “every newborn child is a sign that God has not yet given up on us.”  I know when I feel torn inside and have walked through periods of darkness there remained in me a sense that God as I understood God did not see things the way I did and therefore there was another option.  Perhaps it is my dogged curiosity but something made me not wiling to give up until I discovered it.  It has been a long time since I have been in that dark of a place but each day I get a chance to renew my commitment to prevail along with love no matter what things look or feel like.

My prayer for us is the curiosity to discover the prevailing nature of love’s presence in our lives in ways perhaps we have not seen it until we decide to today.

Innovation seems to be the biggest buzz word these days. In my professional field as well as business in general.  It is as though if we are not talking about innovation, we need not talk.  I am not sure if it is a western mentality or just the way human beings like to attach to the latest and newest novelty in whatever it is, but we are so quick to jump on the bandwagon.  The brain loves novelty and it wakes us up and we are invited to see all things new when we are focusing on a few things new.  It is revitalizing and rejuvenating to be running with the newest ideas and trends.  Sometimes we do so at the cost of valuing what is currently happening.  The funny thing is that it is in the process of doing what has already been established as standard practice ideas of innovation get stirred up.  I think there is a way to value where we have come from in the process of moving forward.  When I was in my disease of addiction I had many established ways of being.  They worked for me to help me survive until they did not.  It was only when they began to break apart that I noticed how unmanageable my life had become.  If I didn’t have those and only jumped from one thing to the next, it may have taken longer to see my life spiraling out of control.  Over time I have also seen how some of those established patterns and ways of being did not need to be completely replaced but adjusted.  I was raised in the Catholic Christian faith and while my spiritual practice has expanded into other areas, many of the religion’s established practices and understandings of God play a very important role in my life today.  They were fundamental in me having a relationship with God to begin with. There is an expression in recovery which I think honors the established parts of our lives: “We do not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it.”  If I had not been there, I would not be here.  The hardest area of my life in which to reconcile this is when I see the effects of being an incest survivor.  There are many ideas and ways of being I established to survive in body and mind that are not effective as a grown woman.  Some of which are still very present for me.  In the process of seeing them and learning to let them go, I must honor them for the safety they provided at the time.  I made the best decisions I could, given what I knew, understood and the circumstances I was in.  I may not need to keep such established ways of being and ideas, but I do not need to make them wrong or label them as pointless.  All our experiences, ideas, and ways of being we have established in our lives serve us in some way for as long as they need to.

God is often described as something beyond our understanding.  I certainly see God as a power greater than me.  I simply cannot be aware of all things at all times.  I am not able to perceive the multiple possibilities present at any moment.  Often when we make a spiritual connection there is a sense that we have gone beyond ourselves.  In connecting with a greater power we are gifted with an awareness we did not have before. At times it can be exhilarating.  I have certainly had meditation experiences or times when I was dancing and I felt lifted beyond my current reality and in the flow of something greater.  It is such a profound experience that we can get caught up in thinking that all now moments are supposed to be enlightening.  One thing that my daily dates with God has taught me is the simplicity of presence in the now.  It is not about reaching some place beyond my current state, it is about genuinely connecting to the space within me that has an awareness of the beyond.  This awareness feeds my perception of the beauty and mystery of life and love even in the midst of the day-to-day human experience.  I don’t know about you, but I am always appreciative of a knowing that there is value in the moment I am in.  God does not know the word waste.  Love is always beyond our understanding but not beyond our being.  Anything over there, going on afterward, or over yonder as is said in the Old English language, is a place in which our being exists as well.  It is how we can experience being yond (beyond)  right now.  God invites us to not spend so much time searching for what is over there, going to happen, or not in this moment so we can open the eyes of our heart to experience the magnificence of being now.

We tend to categorize our actions based on the language of willingness.  Rarely does it center on the reality of capability.  There are many things we are capable of doing but are not willing to do yet when we are asked to explain we say it is because we are not capable of doing it.  Is that the truth?  We sometimes misuse the language of capability by placing it under willingness. This is how we stay trapped in fear.  We make a determination of capability based on what we think we can or cannot do and without checking it out convince ourselves we are not capable.  All that is going on is we are not willing to test it out and see if we are.  To test it out might cause discomfort and who is willing to be uncomfortable?  As someone who has fallen prey to the idea that I need to excel at something the first time I do it or there is not point, I have told myself over the years many times that I am not capable.  It is only when I am pushed by outside circumstances do I often stop and check out my real capabilities. There is the element of not wanting to do something, but wanting is not the same as willing.  We can be willing to see if we are capable but to automatically assume that because we are not willing it means we are not capable is false.  I have learned based on the things that are brought to my attention to deal with that God sees me as much more capable of handling things than I do.  Because of our daily dates I have grown to trust in God’s confidence in my capabilities more than my own.  My mind cannot be the only judge of my capability, my heart and spirit must be involved as well. The willingness to discover my capabilities because my spirit awakens something in my heart has led me down paths I never knew I would or was capable of traveling.  Moving past our mind’s verdict of capability makes room for the unfolding of a life through God’s eyes and opens my heart for growth in love.

My prayer for us is the curiosity to explore past our mind’s belief in our capability which is masked under our willingness to be uncomfortable and see what life has in store for us today.

I learned the concept of giving early on in life.  The family I grew up in lived it.  I used to think we were the wayward home for all kinds of visitors, exchange students, and refugees.  It taught me in action what it meant to be caring and compassionate.  We had what we needed to live well and it was imperative to share it with others.  Rendering a place to stay with welcome arms and hearts was what these people needed more than anything.  I liked getting to know people from different cultures and languages and it made home a lively place to be at times.  I learned that rendering a space to lay one’s head or have a meal is a small way of letting someone know they matter.  Rendering is also impacted by intention.  When we are giving from our hearts without looking for something in return it is given freely.  When we are rendering from a place of obligation or guilt we are looking to be rendered something in return.  Both the same action but with different energy behind it.  When we remember that God renders exactly what we need we are able to give more freely.   If we know who we are in God’s eyes then what gets reflected back to us in the reaction of those receiving what we are rendering is not important.  In my life I have found it to be a gentle dance around learning to render without expectation and at the end of the day, it is the rendering that matters most.

The simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other is astounding. I used to think that if I was going to take any action on something, I would have to know what each step would be.  I was supposed to figure it all out.  I guess it is a form of perfectionism. I have slowly learned that if I am willing to take the first step, to get into action, I will learn how to proceed as I go .  In my experience the proceeding also is provided one step at a time.  It is the gift of learning to be in the present moment. What is revealed there is what indicates the next step in the process.  If I think I already know what to do to proceed, then I am often thinking about it while still doing the thing before it. I see that as being proficient and on it and in most cases we are rewarded for thinking ahead.  I do not know the last time I heard someone say they were acknowledged for being here now.  Yet we do recognize it in others when it is happening.  The performer and the athlete when in the zone are nowhere near the proceeding steps.  They are in it in this moment.  We all can recall a time when we were talking with someone who was really listening.  The kind of listening where they were not thinking of a response as they were listening.  What would it take to trust that the information on how to proceed will come to us when we need it most?  It is simple, but not easy.  God encourages me to be in the moment without focusing on what is needed to proceed on our daily dates.  We have the time to just be and breathe.  What proceeds from the next breath is simply going to show itself once the current breath is finished. If I can learn to trust that one breath will come after the current one, then maybe I can trust the proceeding instructions will be provided when needed too.

We often think of things when it comes to valuables.  But what about ideas or beliefs that we find valuable.  How willing are we to let go of those?  How closely do we cling to those when asked to let them go?  In ways that are often unseen we hold on to valuable beliefs without anyone knowing.  You can see a home that has lots of stuff it considers valuable, but you cannot look in another person’s head to see what they are keeping.  We can look inside ourselves. We know an idea is of value to us if it is still useful.  When we need it, we can easily access it.  Yet there are also valuables in our minds that we do not even know are there.  They are ways of thinking and being that have been passed down. The only reason they still take up space in our minds is because we do not question them.  The only reason we would have to question them is if and when they stop working.  The questions come when carrying them around as the valuable ways of thinking they are lose their value.  On my daily dates with God I have opened myself up to asking God’s help in determining which beliefs and ways of thinking and being are still valuable to me. Which ones bring me closer to the truth of who I am? Which ones serve to bring greater love to me and others?  God, how do I let go when there is a part of me that still finds a particular belief valuable?