dailydatewithgod

God created all of existence out of who God is. As the image and likeness of God we are called to do the same.  We have the unique responsibility of living the message of God in our own worlds.  We can use the gifts we have been given to be the messengers of love and light that we are.  To do anything less is to not fulfill our nature.  It takes courage to own who we truly are and live into that being.  But God does not expect us to do it alone. Our ego does because our ego is always looking for ways to Edge God Out.  If we stand in the space of who created us and what we are truly made of then we cannot help but be the expression of that.  We stand upright and claim our existence.  It means letting go of all the stories and layers of things that we have placed on top of us as a result of living through circumstances where we thought we needed to take on such things to survive.  It does not make us wrong that we took them on, they served a purpose.  But to continue to carry them does not allow us to stand upright.  We are dragged down by them. God invites us to let them go into God’s hands and therefore frees us to walk tall in the light of who we are and shine in the world.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to hand over to God the burdens that we have chosen to keep carrying that keep us from being to stand upright.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of the Universe has made room for all things.  God of breath makes room for the ins and the outs.  God of acceptance has made space for us to be.  Our personal power comes from our being.  Our being comes from The Great Creator and what we have designed in our lives.  It is hard for us to imagine that there is enough space for us to just be when we are bombarded with constant messages about what we do and don’t do.  God created us as human beings, not human doings.  Being in action is important.  We can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen but our life is not measured simply by our outcomes.  Our life is reflected in who we are being as we work towards those outcomes. Life is about living today and in this moment.  This day and this moment may not be the one where we witness the outcome.  According to the world, we have not lived up to its expectations.  According to God who holds space for our being, it is part of the process and God is grateful when we show up.  Somehow I don’t think that because God had not yet created man on the 4th day of creation that God had failed.  God was being The Creator and was in the process.  We can give each other that space of being when we practice acceptance.  I have come to appreciate the gift of acceptance for myself and others and realize its priceless nature. My prayer for us today is that we be open to creating the space to be for ourselves and others.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of All creation designed us to be in communion with one another.  We have been created for relationship.  It is in connecting with one another that we are able to full realize our potential for love.  When we open ourselves up to share and be with another person we gain an understanding of the vulnerability of God.  We find our greatest joy when we connect with others.  Those connections keep us in the web of love.  We are surprised, challenged, delighted, engaged, transformed, and grown in love through our sharing of ourselves with others. God call us to be in a shared relationship with All That Is.  We can experience the mirror of our own hearts when we share it with others.  It is only in giving that we receive.  St. Francis of Assisi spoke of this. All major religious and spiritual practices encourage us to give from our hearts and share who we are with one another.  The world tells us to hide our true selves and present a mask that others will approve of and that will get us love.  We do not need to “get” anything from others because we have all that we need within us. God has made sure of that.  When we acknowledge that truth then we are able to freely share the love in our own special way with one another and allow God to flow through us.  My prayer for us today is that we trust the love that is within us as an unlimited supply from God that is meant to be shared with others.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of Life and Love is all Light.  When we are fully in the present presence of God there is only Life, Love & Light.  Darkness is merely the absence of light.  We live in a dual reality.  Yin and Yang, Light and Dark, Up and Down, In and Out, Masculine and Feminine, etc.  The world tends to look upon things from the dual reality of right versus wrong and promptly places most things in that category.  We have a hard time with the acceptance of the middle ground.  The truth is that duality means both are present in all things.  In everything good there is a little bit of bad, in everything bad there is a little bit of good. This reality does not apply to God because God is not something that can be understood or grasped in a physical reality.  But God did create the world in which we live as such.  This makes me think therefore that there is some grander purpose to it all. Why would God create darkness and light?  Each of those elements must have some role in our growth and return to LOVE.  Slowly as I have walked this closer and closer path in the breath of God, I am more wiling to acknowledge and embrace my darkness as well as my light.  I used to run from the dark like a confused child.  I used to deny the darkness so that I could play along in my family and survive.  As a woman who walks with God I am invited over and over again to step into my darkness and see it for what it truly is–a place that I have tried to bar God from because I decided I knew better than God what God could handle.  The funny part is when I am willing to step into the darkness mindful that I bring with me the light of love in my heart, God is already there waiting with a big flashlight, a gentle hand, and a smile:  So glad you are here Colleen, let me show you the light that is in here that you are not able to see. There is no need to run and hide lovely woman, I still got you. There is no amount of darkness within you that outshines the love that I have for you and placed in you.  Let me help you remember.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to trusting the light of God that is with us and within us is stronger than any darkness that we fear exists or have experienced in or outside of ourselves.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of All has endowed us with the power of choice. God created us for and by love but it is up to us to choose love.  It is in that power of choice that we own the gift that has been given to us.  God gives freely and let’s go of the results by allowing us to choose.  We are invited to do the same.  Our minds think we want control situations so that they turn out the way we want.  That is how the world measures things–by the results.  It is only in our part that we can determine whether or not we are showing up.  We can control our part. We cannot control the results.  So if we only measure ourselves as the world does, by the results, then we may not fare so well.  If we measure ourselves by the Spirit we know if things are working by whether or not we are showing up.  For me this means being present, choosing love, not abandoning myself, remembering to have faith, being forgiving, focusing on gratitude.  If I practice those ways of being which I can control then I am better able to let go of thinking I can or need to control the outcome.  If I am fully present in the moment, it is the only moment that I am concerned with and I am in the result.  Dating God has taught me that while the world can be alluring and flashy and make it seem like the next best thing is what I want or need, all I need is right here, right now, where God IS.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to let go of the world’s idea of control and focus on what we can control–being present with God in this moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The God of All Creation is a God of Caring.  God of All That Is created us mindfully.  God the Great Designer thought out each element of our entire being and uniquely placed everything just as it is.  At every moment we have exactly what we need.  Do you ever notice that when you are in the flow of life, you do not worry about tomorrow?  When you are fully present in the moment there is no desire or comparison for something other than the moment?  When we step outside of the present we have a mind that is constantly going and comparing and categorizing and judging.  That is why people look so calm and pleasant when they meditate. They are in the moment.  It is why people who are performing or in the zone and are super focused on the task at hand are able to accomplish incredible feats. In the present our mind is merged with God’s.  We become aware of the mind that created us out of love and care and on some level remember this truth is within us.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to how the mind of God is with us in the moment we are in and ask God how to remember this throughout our day. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The Great Creator began existence by breathing love into creation.  We experience that same gift of life each time that we breathe.  It is hard to imagine that something so simple as our breath is the very thing that connects us most intimately with Our Creator.  Yet, that is the most profound truth of all. God wanted to make it so simple and direct so that we would never be separate from God.  We cannot go very long without breathing and still live.  The gift of life is that we are to remain in constant contact with God and experience the living breathing embodiment of love.  When we choose to breathe and accept the gift of life we are calling upon the very force that created us from the beginning. We are saying yes to Our Creator. We are saying yes to living in love.  We are saying yes to being aligned with the light within us.  We are saying yes to being carried by the greatest love of all.   My prayer for us today is that we be willing to say yes to life by breathing.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The Ever-Knowing God is fully present in this moment.  The Great Creator designed us for relationship with the divine.  God did not create us and then leave us to figure it all out.  We were created out of love to experience and live the message of love.  We cannot be disconnected from our source.  Our minds tells us we are because we cannot see God with our physical eyes.  God speaks to us in our hearts. In order to hear the voice of God and be aware of the promise of love, we need to get quiet and close off the bombardment of noises and clamoring of the physical world.  All over these days people are speaking about the power of meditation.  For centuries in Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and all religions there exists practices of creating a quiet space for the mind and the heart to focus on God.  Scientists and psychologists are noticing the healing power of meditation on the brain and it is a growing “trend” in popular culture to meditate.  It looks different when you focus on the specifics of the rituals and practice, but the focus and the intention is the same.  My prayer for us today is that we choose to make time with God to hear the promise of love granted to us with each breath.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

God has designed us to radiate love and light.  God created us out of love and light.  God reigns with love and light.  When we own the love that is within us and allow the light of that love to shine through us we radiate God.  When we remember who we are and allow ourselves to shine we encourage others to shine.  It is the light that we witness in others that reminds us of our light.  We do not dim the light of others when we shine.  In the unlimited universe where the power of God knows no other, there is no limit to the amount of light. Sometimes because we are not aware of our own light, we feel frightened by the light of others.  We have all had times, at least  I have, when the darkness within us and around us seemed like the only natural thing.  When that happens and we come across the light, we can either choose to let it remind us of our own light or deflect it back because we fear trusting it.  We see the light in children and those who love us. We experience the light in the day and magic it creates when it dispels the darkness.  It takes faith to trust that the darkness we are experiencing in one moment is only the gateway back to the light.  It takes courage to believe despite the circumstances that the darkness is only a lack of light in the moment not the lack of light at all.  The darkest time of the night is just before the sun enters.  I need to remember that often.  Just when I think the darkness is all there is, God wakens me up to the light.  God does it through others, through nature, and through the sheer power of love.  We can be the encourager of the light when it is darkest for others if we allow ourselves to shine.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to allow the light of love to shine through us so that others can be reminded and encouraged to connect to the light of love that is within them.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God as Wise Creator established a system of give and take.  Everything in life has its flow.  When we are in that flow of life there is a rhythm to our giving and receiving.  We don’t struggle with the story of not enough or too much, our reality is just as it should be.  It is in this space that true generosity can be cultivated.  This is about energy in all its forms.  The flow is present in relationships, in physical objects, in situations, our spirit, and our hearts.  When I feel I am stepping into a world reality of not enough or too much, the simplest way for me to be drawn back into a place where I can be generous is through my breath. Both a giving and a receiving takes place in my breath.  By pausing and leaning into the rhythm and focus on the in and out of my breath, I can remember that all is well. I have enough, do enough, am enough and God is present so there is no limit to the generosity that can occur.  The genius of our breath, our movement of spirit, in and out of our bodies is so simple sometimes it defies my mind’s awareness. I think that whatever constricted place or lack of generosity that is happening in the moment cannot possibly be remedied by pausing and breathing. Yet God really is just that simple.  My prayer for us today is that we be wiling to take God up on the experience of generosity by placing our hands on our hearts and taking three deep breaths once.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen