dailydatewithgod

Sharing my experiences and understandings of the Great I AM.

Nov 20

Be Of Frankness!

by Colleen
God is whole.  We are returned to the truth of who we are when we embrace the God of our hearts. Our authenticity lies in our willingness to be frank with ourselves about our own truth.  It is not so much about declaring it to the world but claiming it for ourselves.  I spent the first part of my life hiding behind the expectations of others.  Here and there I would let my true self slip out but always guarded.  I thought this would bring me the sense of safety I longed for.  And it did, until it didn’t. The day I woke up and realized that the very thing that was saving me had turned into killing me was the day I could no longer lie to myself let alone others.  Coming to terms with the truth of who I am has been a long and winding road and one that will continue for my whole life.  My goal is to be frank enough with myself and with God so that each day I can hold my head high and keep it in alignment with my heart.  I am willing, one day at a time to discover the truth of my heart and live from there.
My prayer for us is the courage to explore what it means to be frank with ourselves about where we are living from today.
If God accepts us fully as whole and complete, how might you be wiling to be frank with yourself about the truth of who you are in your heart today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 19

Be Of Here!

by Colleen
God is now. The mysteries of God will continue to grow and expand the closer we get to solving them.  God is not a math problem to figure out. God is not a design to be detected.  God is about presence in the here and now moments.  Living a life in relationship with our Creator calls us to be open to the fascinating way love shows up in the moment we are in.  Right here, right now is where God is, always.  We miss it if we are busy somewhere else in our minds.  Thankfully God embodies an ever-generous nature which provides another present moment and a chance to be right here right after this one.  We get as many chances as we are willing to take to be present in the here and now where love is made manifest.  It will never show up in this exact way again.  If we want to be open to seeing and experiencing God in all the possible facets and ways of being, we have to be willing to be in this moment.  Several times this past week I noticed acutely when I would leave the moment I was in.  Whether it was someone telling me something and I realized I stopped listening or letting my mind wander in traffic.   I am grateful for the acute awareness but it is humbling to realize how many now moments I miss out on because I go somewhere else in my head.  There was a time in my life when it served me well and probably saved my life to escape the present moment. But today I am adult woman who longs to be with God as often as possible.  The full experience of God’s loving present is most fully felt right here, no other time.
My prayer for us is the courage to let go of wherever else our head wants to take us and allow our hearts to lead us to right here to experience the gift of love as many times as we can stand it today.
If God is with us most fully when we are where we are right here and now, are you willing to take as many chances as you can to be present to love right here and now today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 18

Be Of Liberty!

by Colleen
God is freedom.  Before I earnestly sought out to create a relationship with God my understanding of freedom was limited.  It was a conceptual understanding in my head about an experience usually attached with a national identification or a mantra said at school every morning.  I spent my life feeling trapped and inhibited personally, mentally, and emotionally.  I had moments of breaking free and being myself but that was often met with skepticism and disdain   No wonder personal liberty remained something they wrote about in the constitution.  As I embarked on my daily prayer and meditation dates I was continually led to people and experiences that broadened my horizons.  I began to get to know God in different forms and myself.  Day by day my sense of liberty went from conceptual to experiential. What I did not understand is that liberty must be lived and breathed.  It is a choice.  A choice to believe that no matter my outside circumstances God has built within me the capacity for the freedom of love.  In my relationship with God, even if nowhere else, I can explore my personal spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual liberty.  In doing so I am able to embrace the liberties inherent in the existence of everyone else as they are also a child of God.  There is nothing more liberating than giving yourself the permission to be yourself and doing the same for others.
My prayer for us is the courage to look upon a relationship with God as a portal to our own personal liberty that is inherent in love today.
If God designed us to be free to love and be loved, how might you be willing to meet God and explore your liberty today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 17

Be Of Aliveness!

by Colleen
God gives. The reason God designed us for relationship is that God wanted us to experience the power of the full gamete of love’s aliveness. We have all experienced at one time or another, aware of it or not, the vitality that comes from love given and received.  It is what developed our hearts in our mother’s womb, it is what connects us to our family, and it is what keeps us from abandoning a person crying out in need.  Those heart-strings are strong. They may have been humanly bound by other forces (expectation, duty, lack of perceived choice, or even just automatic pilot), but the spark that made us grow and develop into a human being with a heart that longs to grow is God.  As an incest survivor my experience of love is full of duality. Love is betrayal and love is care. Most people’s experience of love is full of duality because as human beings we are not going to be master’s of it.  We are not going to know how to love in the purest way.  We may get tangled up in expectations or beliefs that have nothing to do with love.  None of that can taint the truth of love.  None of that can undo God.  In my recovery as I continue to learn more and more about the nature of God’s love, I am able to see that my early confusing experience of love is not how God operates.  Being in relationship with God means I have an opportunity to heal those wounds and always know where my true source of love originates.  It encourages me to not abandon myself or shut down my heart out of fear.  It is not easy, but at the end of the day, my willingness to take a chance on love in this world with God at my back, is what makes my heart grow alive.
My prayer for us is the courage to take a chance that God’s version of love alive far exceeds any experience or expectation we have had thus far today.
If God designed us to be in relationship and experience the aliveness of love, how might you be willing to take a chance on God today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 16

Be Of Totality!

by Colleen
God is all.  We are designed to encompass the total reality of love because our Creator is love defined.  We are an extension of this complete reality of love being all there is.  We are however living and breathing human beings who cannot at the moment transcend fully out of our human experience so our understanding of this totality is limited.  It can sometimes cause us to be confused as we seem to vacillate between being in a space of total love and being in a lack of love. We find ourselves striving to reach that space of enlightenment where love is all there is over and over again.  It is the great dance of being human.  My gratitude for the willingness each day to show up for the dance is what gives me the grace to accept imperfections and be open to seeing moments where I am not loving as opportunities to learn instead of failures.  I can easily slap on a blame of not being spiritual enough.  However, I am now are thar when the label of enoughness is put in there, I have embarked on a judgment conversation.  I cannot simultaneously judge and love at the same time.  Today I will choose love as often as I can.
My prayer for us is the courage to embrace the totality of love that is innate in us today.
If God designed us from a space of total love, how might you be willing to step into the totality of who you are today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 15

Be Of Aim!

by Colleen
God is clarity. We begin our lives with a simple goal = breathe.  We come out of the womb and all the adults around us hold their breaths until they see us breathe.  Then everyone releases their breath in relief.  In essence our aim in life does not change much from there.  Our brain which is focused on survival would tell us our breath is merely a physical function.  Our hearts and our spirits know different.  Their aim is to get us to bring in the spirit of life.  This is represented in the taking in and releasing of breath.  We can know the essence of allowing Spirit to move in and through us by the physical experience of our breath.  When we stop breathing we stop allowing life to invigorate and move us.  We die spiritually and physically.  God’s aim is clear, live fully and experience the breadth and depth of love.  We choose to embrace this aim of life by breathing in and out physically as well as spiritually.
My prayer for us is the courage to choose the aim of life God has set before us and breathe in and out today.
God designed us to experience the breath of life so we might know love, how many times do you want to fully take on the aim of God today? Share in the comments.

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Nov 14

Be Of Choosing!

by Colleen
God provides.  In our walk with God we are not told what to do.  We are given options.  There are paths presented and we are to choose which one we want to walk.  There are some that lead us closer to love and some that drift us away.  The beauty of God is that if we find ourselves on a path that is leading us where we do not want to go, we can reach for God’s hand.  God can help us carve a new pathway.   We do not have to walk all the way back to the beginning of the one we started on.  We get to take what we learned along the way and choose differently.  Only my critical mind would look upon that is a failure, but I was created by a God that believes in learning and growing.  There is no one path to connect with God.  It is in the choosing at every moment with every breath that carves out what we call our path of life.
My prayer for us is the courage to choose the path that feeds the growth of love in our soul today.
If God provides multiple paths to love, what choices will you make to carve out your path of love today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 13

Be Of Honesty!

by Colleen

God is authentic.  I was reminded today as I sat down in the sun for a few minutes and wrote out a letter to God to freedom that comes from being able to connect with something greater than me with complete honesty.  I am not sure where I got the sense that when it came to my communication with God, I was free to let it all hang out.  It probably stems from the time I was in middle school and was being made fun of as the fat girl at lunch time.  I came home crying yet again and my father encouraged me to go to the church at lunch time the next day and talk to Jesus.  I looked at him like he had three heads but being daddy’s girl I didn’t question it.  So the next day I walked into church at lunch time, all the way to the front and kneeled down in front of the massive bible with a crucifix above it.  Not really sure what to do, I just started talking.  I said I was there because my dad seemed to think I could talk to him as a friend.  I didn’t really believe it but my dad seemed to know about this sort of stuff.  I told Jesus that life sucked at the moment and I didn’t know what to do. All I wanted to do was get along with the girls and not be made fun of.  After a little while of pouring out my heart I just stayed and heard nothing.  So I got up and walked out.  I think I went back a couple of times and things didn’t get much better at school except that I wasn’t there at lunch time to be the recipient of the cruel words and turned backs.  Eventually I did manage to make a couple of friends, some of whom I still have these many years later.  More importantly it began a personal relationship with Jesus where I was honest about what I was thinking and feeling.  Over the years Jesus has heard anger, fear, joy, frustration, desperation, overwhelm, confusion, exhilaration, gratitude, satisfaction, and all the myriad of feelings.  I never thought I would find myself feeling grateful for this level of honesty.  God has never turned me out or stopped listening.

My prayer for us is the courage to be honest with however we understand God and I hope it is one that you believe listens with a warm heart.
If God gave us the capacity to be honest, what do you hold back from your conversations with God under the guise that God can’t handle it?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 12

Be Of Gifting!

by Colleen
God gives.  We are like our Creator and thus in our design we are natural givers.  What we aren’t always aware of is how we are a gift to each other by our being.  Our world values gifts of monetary significance which are wonderful.  But have you ever thought that smiling at someone is a gift?  Have you noticed when you are touched in your heart by a kind word from a friend?  Have you seen how much a friendly hello means to someone who is a stranger? How about when a winning team gives each other high-fives? These are all simple gift that touch and expand our hearts.  They are gifts of love that are beyond measure.  They reach our hearts and we are often not even aware of it. We rationalize that they are too simple to make a difference.  But our experience bodily and energetically tells a different story. I can be moved to relax in my body when I hear someone laughing.  I am comforted in spirit when spoken to in a acknowledging and reassuring tone when I am upset by a situation.
My prayer for us is the willingness to notice how we are gifting others and thus ourselves as we go through our day today.
If God has designed us as givers, what might you be willing to gift someone with by living from your heart today?  Share in the comments.

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Nov 11

Be Of Now!

by Colleen
God is present. In this now moment we have all we need.  God does not create deficit.  One of the benefits of my daily prayer and meditation dates with God each morning is the reminder to be in the moment I am in.  My mind will wander, I will feel uncomfortable in my body, I will want to do anything but be where I am. Still, every morning I show up.  I do it because it is the one commitment I have to myself and to my Creator that I choose to keep.  I have never felt a lack of God’s now presence because I didn’t do it perfectly or because I didn’t want to be in the now.  God is always present the moment I am in the now, wherever I am in my day.  There is no place or time where God is not, but I am more likely to get the benefit of God’s presence if I choose to be with God now.  It has taught me what a commitment to life is.  It has shown me the power of love and acceptance.  I would rather go without food or water than skip my date time.  The times I can be in its nowness with the greatest focus are the moments I feel as though God’s warm hand is directly on my heart and feeding my soul.  It is what I go to when I take a breath throughout the day.  It is where I can remember that even when I feel like life is not going my way or falling apart, right now, God loves me exactly as I am.  There is no other time than now.
My prayer for us is the courage to explore what it means to be in the now today.
If God is everywhere and every time, how might you become aware of God right now?  Share in the comments.

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