A beautiful quality of being alive is in our ability to be molded. We show up to life and are transformed by its energy and presence. Life is also transformed by us. When we walk in relationship with God we allow ourselves to be fashioned more and more beautifully by the inner design from which we were created. Our fashion is love. Our fashion is heart. Our fashion is presence. Being the truest version of ourselves means we have the ability and responsibility to decorate life. Decorate the experiences we find ourselves in. Decorate the interchange with others. Decorate the intention of our lives. I am the last person to describe myself as fashionable. The only fashion I was ever much good at was being fashionably late! I have learned in my daily prayer and mediation dates with God that the fashion of my heart which has been with me since the beginning sets the course and intention for my life. My work is disrobing from the layers of stories and ideas that I thought were who I was supposed to be. Giving away the cloaks I have taken on because I desire to live life undressed to experience the moments of joy and heartache to their fullest. My outer layers only tell you what I think I am supposed to be. The fashion echoing and vibrating from my heart tells you who God is and recognizes that beneath all that clothing lies the untouched innocence of love divine. It is in and through all of us.
Be From Fashion!
My prayer for us is the courage to look past the cloaking of the world and recognize in each other the fashion of our hearts that is shared in each other’s eyes today.
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Be From Neutrality!
I have found the power in the pause between thought, feeling, and action. In those pauses is the neutral space where I can invite God in. It started with the pause before the action. Before I write the email, make the phone call, sign the contract, or say something to someone I can pause and ask God to align my actions with the actions of love and growth. In the years of our dates and creating the space to see where my mind’s thoughts can take me, I have learned to practice the pause between the thought and the feeling or the feeling and the thought. Most of the time it is the thought and then the feeling but sometimes they can snowball and it is hard to distinguish which came first. I started by paying attention to the meaning I gave to a particular experience and what feelings would arise. Even more subtle is the attention to where in my body I experience the feeling. The neutral space allows me to turn to God and ask, “what do you make this mean? or how do you see this?” Then I can choose to go with God’s ideas which are more expansive than my own or I can choose mine. I am interested in growing in love, so the neutrality practice makes room for it. It is not about doing it perfectly or being neutral about my experiences. Instead it is about the chance to bring my best self, the one in alignment with the divine. to the table.
My prayer for us is the willingness to engage the neutrality of the pause before our actions or our thoughts and feelings and open our eyes to the opportunities to be the love we are today.
Be From Stemming!
When I pause to look at my life these days there is a clear course of purpose from which it is stemming. As I begin my day on my date with God I back up my intention to live as best as possible in an effective and powerful manner. I believe my purpose as well as all of ours is to be the light of love in the world. We all have such unique gifts and expressions of light which the world so desperately needs. I am more likely to remember throughout my day where my power stems from when I take the time to connect to it first thing. Otherwise I fall prey to the illusion that my power stems from me alone. Yes, I am the one who shows up in my life and chooses to allow the power of God to move through me. But knowing it does not stem from me allows me to let go and be as moved by it as it moves through me. It does not drain me of energy when the stem is aligned with the root.
My prayer for us is the willingness to connect with God and powerfully emit the light of love we are stemming from the ultimate source of light.
Be From Innerness!
The beauty of being willing to show up and live with some awareness in this world is strength and character of one’s heart begins to shine. The word courage comes from the latin word “cor” which means heart combined with the old french term “corage” meaning heart and spirit. To live courageously means to be moved by the spirit of the heart within you as you walk through life. Connecting with this inner place inside of ourselves gives us the spirit we need to face things we think in our minds we cannot. God encourages (gives us courage) us to step into the innerness and stay. God invites us there and is ready to meet us. When I am willing to stop running or even slow down enough and consider not running from the thing (idea, food, person, situation, feeling, whatever) that has me distracted and step into the inner space of my heart to take a good look at what I am fearing, God is already there. God does not condemn me for taking so long or list all the maneuvers of avoidance I enlisted before I got there. God just says, “Glad you are here. Now let’s get to work so I can show you the gift that lies underneath the mess you thought you wanted to avoid.” A willingness to approach the innerness is all that is needed.
My prayer for us is the courage to step into the innerness of the root of courage and see what gifts God wants to show us about ourselves today.
Be From Beneath!
It can be confusing that our eyes look outward at a world. When we are used to finding the answers to our questions from the feedback we get from our eyes we come to rely on our sense of truth from it. This is not wrong, but it has its limitations. Not only will we not find the answers to everything through the filter of our eyes, but we perceive ourselves to see is not the same thing that someone else sees. In Kundalini yoga we are taught to look with the third eye, the inner eye. One is encouraged to do their practice with his/her eyes closed. It is not about evaluating what I am doing against others but connecting with the breath and my body so I am moving in union with the truth of my life force. The idea is to engage a vision beneath the vision of our physical eyes. When I begin my date with God every morning I close my eyes and focus on my breath. I imagine stepping into my heart space and breathing into it. This area beneath the realm of my eyes is not effected by my mind’s perception of it. It allows me the chance to connect beneath the physical, beneath the expected, beneath the known.
My prayer for us is the willingness to try to connect with ourselves and our world beneath the level of our physical eyes and see what we can perceive with the eyes of our heart today.
Be From Creation!
When I take the time to reflect on the little moments and experiences in life I get a glimpse of the marvelous nature of creation. The way a bird flaps its wings. The resonating sound of someone’s laugh. The cool touch of the wind on my skin that makes my hair stand on end. The punch I feel in my gut when an unkind word is thrown at someone. There are these subtle experiences going on around and within us all the time. Quite often my mind is preoccupied thinking about something other than what I am present in at the moment. It happens to us all. It is the nature of the mind to stay busy with thinking. It is as though it needs to justify its existence. Yet, the mind is as much a part of creation as anything else. It makes me wonder if it is about exploring what it can become beyond its defaulted nature. Perhaps the reason that our minds just keep doing what they do is that we don’t take the reins. In my daily prayer and meditation date with God I have learned with patience to accept where my mind goes and gently lead it back to my heart space. Then God and I explore the possibilities of creation when the two are in sync. Some days I feel the connection, other days it seems as though there was only ten seconds of time when it didn’t feel like there was a great big machine cranking out a product in between my ears. God invites us all each day to explore what possibilities exist in creation as it is and begin to connect with the wonder.
My prayer for us is the willingness to pause long enough to curiously explore the fascinating creation in between our ears and allow God to show us the possibilities present in an attempt to link with the heart of creation today.
Be From Steadiness!
Most of my life I felt a lack of safety. It was not safe on a subdued level at home and it wasn’t safe in my own body. Even the places and spaces that seemed safe were dependent upon me doing or being the right way. The idea of freely being myself and safe at the same time was not in my realm of experience except for brief moments here and there. A steady sense of room to freely grow and make mistakes seemed unfathomable. I knew in my head that God was steady. I knew that the right answer was rely on God but I had no idea what that looked like. Instead I relied on food. I relied on defensiveness. I relied on being what I thought was expected of me. All of these outside elements were an illusion of steadiness. The beauty in the breakdown of all those outside resources is being forced to look within the quiet of my heart. There I am reminded of the steadiness of my heart beat that resounds with the echoes of God’s presence. It is accessible to me at any point in any place. It grounds me in the reality of the steadiness of God and thus my freedom.
My prayer for us is the courage to slow down enough and let go of the outside illusions of steadiness and turn inward today and experience the steadiness of love emanating from our own hearts today.
Be From Horizons!
Years ago I determined that I needed to spend time around people who thought bigger than I did. I had the acute sense that my thinking had gotten me to a point but it needed to be expanded upon. Having people around me with broader horizons would nudge me to see past what I was seeing. I found myself interacting with people and industries I had never considered. I connected with people who lived by a philosophy of thinking bigger and a commitment on some level to personal and professional growth. I had no idea what would come next as I turned over this thought to God but doors began to open and I began to see and experience things and ideas I had never encountered. It is humbling to recognize that I cannot do it on my own. I have been fiercely independent since I can remember. Simply interacting with others and listening to them is an opportunity to broaden my horizons on a daily basis. My sense in my heart is that it opens me up to seeing God in more ways than I ever thought possible.
My prayer for us is the willingness to broaden our horizons in a way that expands our heart’s potential for love today.
Be From Thinking!
The most useful mode of the mind is the ability to use our thinking to bring us to the present moment. The irony is that when we are actually in our head thinking, we are not present in the moment. Our thinking keeps us in the past. It is very useful but we can get stuck in it and find ourselves looping over and over ideas with no end in sight. Our thinking shapes our perception and our perception is our reality. This is why the great spiritual masters speak of an emptying of the mind as the most powerful space to be in. Then we can be used by God as the channels of love and peace we are designed to be. I have to start a step or two before that. For me, turning to God on our date and saying, “Let my thinking lead me to You today. Direct my thinking so that I may see more love than fear today. Replace my thinking with Your thinking today.” My hope in speaking these words to God is that I am setting the course of my thinking through the day to stay in alignment with my true purpose of love in the moments I experience as I go through my day.
My prayer for us is the courage to ask God to direct our thinking that it may be in alignment with our true purpose as messengers of love today.
Be From Meaning!
I still remember the little sign in the dentist’s office waiting room that read, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” I read it over and over as I sat there waiting. I am not sure to what degree I understood it at such a young age but it clearly left an impression. In my relationship with God I have become aware that my perception is what I react to. Living in awareness means recognizing my perception as limited. I can only make so much meaning from things because I do not have the whole picture. I then react to the meaning. I need God’s perspective to broaden the meaning. I find that when I asked God to help me see things as God sees things I am more at peace with what I am experiencing. I don’t always like it but I am better able to accept it. Acceptance leads to freedom of the heart. I desire the meaning of freedom and peace today.
My prayer for us is the willingness to acknowledge the meaning which is driving our perception of reality and if it does not bring us peace, take the hand of God to bring us back to the our hearts where love’s meaning exists today.
dailydatewithgod 