dailydatewithgod

Make a peep
Dare to squeak
Jumpstart the mumble
Participate in the yammer
Start the chatter
Hone your inner gabber

Whether you prefer
to blab the yakety-yak
or pop off a shout
Take a chance
and verbalize your stance
Articulate your view
Express your attitude

Whether a whisper
Or a scream
State your view
and spill your beans

Vocalize your piece
Share your assertion
State your murmur
Publicize your sound
Give your spiel
Expatiate your utter

Deliver your address
Chew about your known
Voice your lip
Assert your declaration

But wait dear one
There is more

More within you
More than what rolls around in your head
More than the familiar
More that speaks the truth
of who you are

If you dare to hear it
first, you must pause

Breathe deep
and strong
Tap into the courage
and pause

Hearing your heart
is no small task

Breathe deep
and strong
Tap into the courage
and pause

Allow its sound inside you
Invite it to the table
Let it spill over your known

Breathe deep
and strong
Tap into the courage
and pause

Make room for its beat
and discern
for yourself
when your heart is
what needs to speak

So many messages!
Big one and small ones
Loud ones and quiet ones

Its the emails and the voicemails
The IMs and all DMs

From the Instagram
To the twitter
From Facebook
To WhatsApp
I don’t have time to TikTok
No more time on the clock

Don’t forget the face to face
and ones without words
The hinted and the subtle
We don’t even know are there

Where do they all come from?
Where do they go?
How much can we absorb
Without bursting in two?

Intentional or not
comes the energy
threading its way through
at speeds beyond comprehension
it’s enough to create suspension

I just have one question

Which ones are God’s?

I am not sure where they come from
Our imagination, I suppose
Did we build on something we had seen at some point in history
Or is it something that came from within?

Were they designed from our desire
To create warmth in a cold world?
Did they come about when we were delirious with fever
Or tripped up on a shroom found in a forest?

Maybe it was a nightmare
Or a crazy idea made up by two young kids
after debating philosophy in their dorm room all night

An interesting configuration
Part lizard
Part beast
Part terrifying
Part fascinating

I suppose most things in life could be described by the last two lines
But not everything in life has the fire

It is the distinguishable element
And perhaps the key
Maybe we just desired it so much
We started to wonder what kind of being would possess it

Materialists assumed it was only something they could see
Mystics trusted it to be a mirror of what was felt within

We thought the trees held the secret so it had to be hiding
We were drawn to go looking
But dare not in dread
So we banned them into caves

But they seeped out through our nightmares
Or dreams depending on who was telling
Based on a mixture of visions from the shamans
and giggly tales of children
Storytellers elaborated on what they heard

We are left without a trail
And too many configurations to count
But one thing is threaded into each account

The one thing which without it
Would be called something else
Whatever our picture of it is
It must have this essential thing

The thing we can neither live with
unless we know how to contain it
and certainly cannot do without

The thing we are drawn to
and repelled by
it’s the fire
It’s their fire
But is the fire we desire
Only possessed by dragons?
Or have we simply forgotten how to connect to it from within?

Are we really still believing all of this
is actually about fire-breathing dragons?

I am not sure this going to work.
What if it doesn’t?
What if it does?

What if nothing comes through?
What if it doesn’t make sense?
I am not the best with rhymes
Who has the time?

An expression of what?
This is a blog about God
God who has used many a writer over time
To share messages of all kinds
Even poetic form

But not sure that is me

I cannot resist the pull
Maybe because it’s fanciful
Sure, I have written a few
But less than 10 is hardly a trend

I am more comfortable with free-flowing prose
Poems feel more constricting like a foe

I know God to not fit within one description
So perhaps the same goes for poetic expression

It is about exploring and trying
Experimenting and growing
Learning and stretching to see God in a new way

The fluidity of words can capture a heart
Beckoning like the rhythm of a dance

God knows I love to dance

Who will put up with this?
I mean read this?
Does it matter?

I am here
God is here
God is everywhere

Maybe even in this poem

One of the beauties in the reality of being human is our ability to change our minds. We do not always use this capacity to its fullest because we have become accustomed to our routine way of thinking and thus seeing life. Why fix it if it ain’t broke, right? From my experience in recovery both personally and as part of the recovery community, it is often not until we break that we become open to changing our thinking. The new way of thinking, however, is about a shift in thinking about our thinking. In recovery, we are broken open first to the inadequacy of our current thinking and the desperate need to change our approach overall. It is not about finding a new way of thinking and never adjusting it. It is about finding a way to continue to think differently. It is through questioning our thinking that we continually break ourselves open to making room for our hearts. We develop the skills of a stunner who seeks the awe of life. A stunner is one who has the awareness of things that lay outside what our minds can comprehend. A stunner is resonant with the strings of the heart to expand our perspective and be breathed by what is more than we could imagine. Sometimes the stunning comes as a slap aside the head or a misstep in our footing. The stunner is God’s way of reminding us as we are awakened to taking a deeper breath of who we are, which requires us to tend to the sensations of our heart. God is inviting us to resonate with the vibrations of life one note at a time.

Are we willing to embrace a stunner as God’s gift of opening our hearts to the music of life today?

It happens to be raining and raining hard on the day that I write this. I have a love/hate affair with the rain. Actually, that is not true. I love rain and used to dance around in it as a kid. I love the musical classic “Singing in the Rain” with Gene Kelly. The only time I am not a fan of the rain is when I am driving in it or I am wearing something I do not want to get wet. I love being curled up on the couch in a warm blanket with some hot tea and listening to the sound of the drops hitting the window and whatever other surfaces stand between the drops getting from the clouds to the surface of the earth. I love the cleansing nature that being awash with water represents. On some level, I always imagine rain representing an opportunity to release and move forward. I am most likely impacted by being raised as a Christian and a decent grasp of the sacrament of Baptism. Also growing up in the desert allows for the presence of water on any level to have a greater impact. When I witness the rain pouring out of the sky with no end in sight I feel the effusion of energy from the heavens. It kind of reminds me of when I have one of those epic cries only after which I feel like I can breathe. I imagine the earth has a lot of tears to shed or perhaps it is giving us as humans permission to grieve. (something we are not very adept at). There seems to be an inherent fear of effusion, regardless of whether the emotions expressed are good or bad. Honestly, it is hilarious that as emotional beings we fight our very nature so much so that we classify effusion as something best kept in artistic expressions like stories, art, music, or poems. Somehow it is okay if we want to dance for joy upon hearing a song or cry bucket loads of tears after watching a touching movie. But if we find ourselves effusing emotions randomly we are somehow out of control. Maybe it rains consistently as part of the earth experience because God is trying to invite us to accept our nature. For that matter, maybe that is why waterfalls are so awe-inspiring. One cannot get more effusion than seeing a cascade of light-filled water come over a mountain. Maybe we could all benefit from embracing the effusion of life and what it means to be alive and not worry so much about how it looks to those who are still stuck in the denial of being an emotional being.

How might we open ourselves up to allowing the effusion of life to spring forth from us today?

We can go through life not realizing what it is calling us to if we look through the lens of things to get through. Life is not a checklist though I have certainly been guilty of behaving as though I was striving to earn the epithet: “Here lies the first woman to accomplish everything on her checklists.” Each experience is an opportunity to discover more of who we truly are. Our character is revealed in how we show up to each of the circumstances. What happens does not make us who we are, but how we handle what happens. God invites us to look at life and notice what it is seducing us to reveal to the world about ourselves. When we move from one thing to the next without pausing to tap into the energy of our hearts, how can we respond to the seduction of life? In case you haven’t noticed, life seems to be working hard to seduce out of us the strength of character needed to attend to more than we thought we could handle. God encourages us to summon the courage needed to step into the seduction of life and embark on a fuller understanding of the truth of our own hearts and engage in the dance of seduction inborn in the tapestry of what it means to be alive.

Are we willing to pause and connect within so we can take the first step into the seduction of what it means to be fully alive today?

It is curious to me how God would have equipped us with something inherent to what it means to be human and then constantly offer to either relieve, manage, or overcome it. The utility of fear is clear as it ensures our survival. However, based on the number of times in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures where God says, “Be Not Afraid or Fear not, ” or something similar it can leaves one feeling confused. Is fear a good thing or a bad thing? Or perhaps God is aware of our proclivity to take our natural states and either misuse or misdirect them. Hmm, I can’t think of any other survival element to who we are as humans where this happens. (wink, wink). The deeper question then becomes, is it about being fearless or fearing less? Is it about getting rid of fear or keeping it in its place? It is often spoken of as the opposite of faith so are we to believe that when we are in fear, we are not in faith or they are just temporarily disproportionate to one another. Maybe the key is to find a way to incorporate more intrepidness into our lives. Fear can be an indication of having strayed away from who God knows us to be at our core. If we are not fearful, how will we know when we have gone off course? When embarking on a new experience of any kind, we can be swayed by fear because by its very nature the unknown is uncertain and our brain interprets that as something to be potentially fearful of. If we pause, however, and check-in with our hearts we can see a different picture. There is an intrepidness to the power of our hearts which is equally inherent. It takes stepping outside the confines of our minds and breathing in the expansive view of our hearts. Whether it is something as small as an unknown conversation or as big as taking on a new job, our intrepidness can be our guide to navigate through the unchartered potentially fear-laden experience. Embarking on an intrepid path sets the course to discover who we are beyond what our mind tells us is the known reality of who we are.

Are we willing to use the fear messages being run through our minds as a signal to get in alignment with the intrepidness of our hearts and discover a fuller perspective of who we are today?

As human beings, we naturally accumulate. It is part of the process of growing and evolving that from an early age we are in the process of gathering and assimilating ideas, beliefs, and experiences. These formulate who we understand ourselves to be. Once we reach a certain age, we develop the capacity to take what we have accumulated and use it. We step out of simply ingesting and move into a phase of digesting. We also come to a discernment capability that allows us to determine if we are newly accumulating matches and mismatches with what we already know. We learn to test our initial ideas, beliefs, and experiences with what is coming to us that is new. Typically, again with little awareness, we use what works, what is acceptable, what allows us to have our basic needs met, and more. As we go along in life we create a collection of ideas and beliefs which work and it is not until we experience a breakdown of them do we look a little closer. There is a reason for the cliche: “If it ain’t broke, don’t’ fix it.” At the outset of any breakdown, we tend to view it as a problem. We can sometimes think we are broken because the up till now working collection of accumulation has worked. God invites us in these moments to take a deeper look. What kind of collection have we been operating from that is no longer in alignment with who we are designed to be at our core? What kind of collection do we want to operate in a way enabling us to be the best version of ourselves. It is challenging to question long-held collections of accumulation and it feels uncomfortable. It is why in recovery it is said that one’s bottom is found when the pain of continuing on the usual way is greater than the pain of changing. God invites us to investigate the collections of our lives not because we are broken but because we are standing on the precipice of getting to know the truth of who we are as God designed us to be.

Are we willing to accept God’s invitation to investigate with curiosity the collections of our lives that are breaking down today?

The process of improvement is often couched under the idea of a complete renewal. The reality of honing is about fine tuning. Bit by bit, step by step, with each breath and each choice we have the opportunity to creatively hone in on what is in need of attention. The distinction comes in knowing whether the honing is needed on the level of mind and thinking or on the level of the heart and feeling. We are, of course, not separate entities of mind, heart, or body. One always affects the other. Most of the time the drive behind honing comes from our minds. Our perception is affected and we have thoughts about it. Those thoughts build ideas and we are off to the races. We find ourselves seeking out tools for improvement. God invites us to take a step back, pause, and check-in with our hearts. When we take a breath, connect in with the truth of who we are we can open up a honing exploration that may lead us in a direction outside of what our minds can conceive. Equally, we may find that there is no honing needed except to remember to more readily connect with our hearts as often as possible. It is a process of choosing where our drive to improve is coming from the mind which is defaulted to first uncover what is wrong is an integral part of the honing process but it cannot be driven only from our minds if we want to live from the truth of who we are.

Are we willing to pause at the start of the honing process and check in with our heart to determine if the drive for improvement is stemming from the truth of who we are today?