dailydatewithgod

God is inclined toward life.  God is inclined toward the power of love. God is inclined to learning.  When we step into alignment with God, we find ourselves in a world that is not bound by limitations of life, love or learning.  The opportunities to choose to live abound.  The chances to choose love are at every moment and around every corner. The space to learn is all around us and within us. I can be particularly hard on myself.  Thus, I am hard on other people (though I don’t like to admit that my personal mindset creates my mindset and thus everything I see).  This is something that I learned along the way.  God has never scolded me, spoken harshly with me, expressed disappointment, shunned, or betrayed me.  People have, people do, it happens.  Through my dates with God each day I am learning to live in a love that allows me grow into someone who chooses a way of being despite circumstances.  I am no longer a victim of things that happen to me or people who do things “to” me.  I am effected by situation and circumstance, but it does not change my core.  My core that is connected to the Beloved who despite my missteps still thinks I am ripe for spreading the message of love.  The beauty of this is that we are all capable of living in this manner.  God does not single anyone out.  Each misstep is an invitation to either go with our viewpoint of what happened (bad, wrong, idiotic, shameful, should have known better, mistake, etc.) or God’s viewpoint of what happened (in the process of learning, realizing that the laws of nature really are laws, attempting to reconnect with one’s greatest potential for good, wanting to love but not knowing how, suffering from a lack of imagination, etc.)  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to try on God’s inclination of life, love and learning and see if we aren’t able to get just a little bit further than the limited version of what is happening from our heads.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God created the whole of the universe and All That Is from love. Whatever is in existence has love in it somewhere.  Therefore, God is present, love is present, in all things and in all people.  You and I have a connection to all that exists and within that “other” is a part of us.  We are not as separate as we make ourselves out to be. Yes, our outer shells look, speak, act, and live differently, but at our core we are all the same.  We get to choose what we focus on.  Our egos would have us believing that we are only our physical existence and so the predominant though is on differences. This allows us to participate in the illusion that we are alone, that no one understands, and we are the only ones who feel, think or behave a certain way, etc.  In this reality we are left to fend for ourselves, we are in competition, and there is a limited amount of everything.  What a harsh reality to live in.  If we are to focus on reality as God created it, then we are part of a whole.  We are a drop of water in the ocean of life.  We are connected and bonded with all that is.  Our connection however is not just in word but in the energy of love.  In other words, the most powerful force in existence is our connection to ourselves, to God, and to each other.  If we live according to God’s thinking then everything and everyone counts.  It is all part of us.  I can no longer operate under the illusion that I am not connected in love to anyone or anything even the things that I resist.  This is why the great spiritual teachers speak of loving one’s enemies, For me it includes remembering to love the parts of myself that I do not like.  Sometimes I just stop and ask God: Help me to see the love that I cannot see in this person, situation, or myself.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to embrace the entirety of our existence by remembering the love that connects us to even the parts of reality we don’t like.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God is softness, quietness, peacefulness and preciousness.  Like a child whose gentle smile tugs at your heart-strings and light you up from inside, God awakens in us the tenderness of our hearts.  When we are moved to share that tenderness with others and with ourselves, we are living our calling.  There are many portrayals of God as being foreboding and condemning but those are accounts written by man.  Often times we create a notion of God that is not God at all but the dark nature of our human experience plastered on top of the word God.  We create a being that rules from fear in order to control.  But why would God need to control if God is All That Is?  I have often thought I was motivated by fear, ridicule, oppression and condemnation.  I thought if I was just harsh enough to myself that it would propel me into being better or doing better.  It never quite worked, at least not in a way that was lasting.  That was my best thinking. How could being cruel to myself cause me to be the best version of myself on any day?  The only thing it achieved was to cause me to be more cruel.  God’s thinking calls for tenderness and acceptance.  God’s thinking simply presents what is happening and allows me the freedom to decide if it is working for me or not.  If it works for me then I find that I am capable of  greater love, peace, and kindness. If it works for me I am one of many, connected to all, and feel joy. If it doesn’t work for me I know because I am fearful, discontent, better or worse than all of you and separate. My prayer for us today is that we be open to the tenderness of God that touches our hearts and calls us to what really works for us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The connection that exists among us is beyond our comprehension.  We rely on our ability to distinguish and categorize things so much that we lose sight of the similarity of things.  At our core, we all come from the same place.  Our essence was designed by the same creator. We just manifest that creation in a different fashion. We would not look at varied bouquet of flowers and criticize the orchids for not looking like roses or the sunflowers for not taking on the same color as the daffodils.  Why do we look at our outer differences and say one is better than the other, or better looking, or more valuable?  Are we not all flowers?  Are we not all a contribution of beauty to the world in our fashion?  We all come from the same place and all require sun, water, and nourishment to live and thrive.  God calls us to relate to each other with the familiarity of our own selves.  The reason we want so much to make others the other is because we see in them things we do not want to see in us. This is also part of the design to become more of who we truly are by practicing love. Love is action, it is a way of being, it is who we are. If we are be the love that we are, we are to love all.  That means all of ourselves–good and bad and all of others–approved of or not. My prayer for us today is that we be open to being the love that we are and connecting with the other as familiar. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

God gives a full life to all of creation!  We are not just beings who take up space.  We have the ability to connect, to love, to think, to create and to share.  So much of how we measure ourselves is by the world’s standards of greatness.  This is the world that does not value as highly the small and simple.  It operates out of the idea that small and simple is not enough.  The value of the ability to full listen to another human being is without measure.  The ability to connect with an idea that inspires growth in the one who thought of it and lives of those around him/her.  The ability to reach out an extend the hand of compassion to someone who feels alone and neglected.  The ability of seeing what is actually right in front of us instead of just what is in our own head.  The ability to be present for the beauty of the wind that touches our skin.  The ability to smile when we see a child smile.  These abilities to not win awards or stop traffic but for those moments when we are present to them, they are the world.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to the ability to respond to the life we are in this very moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God is so enamored with us that we are given gifts every moment of every day.  Each experience we have is a gift! Each breath we are given is a gift. Each decision we get to make is a gift.  Each opportunity to act is a gift.  Every circumstance and situation is a gift.  We are often so set on what we expect our gifts to be that we miss the ones that are right in front of us.  We foresee certain packaging, delivery forms, and givers.  We even think we know how we are going to react to the gift.  But the essence of a gift is being present for the present.  If we have already decided what it will look like, how it will come, who will deliver it, what the packaging will be, and what it will feel like to receive it, then it is not a gift. The gifts from God are opportunities to grow in love.  The gifts of circumstances where we choose to be our authentic higher selves and respond with the love that we are.  In those moments we are the gift and we can receive the unexpected gift that comes from being in alignment with God.  Accepting is the answer.  We cannot fully receive a gift if we are not willing to be present in the circumstance in which it is being given.  To accept the gifts being given, it helps to be present for the present.  My prayer for us today is that we ask for the courage to see the circumstances of our day as the gifts that we didn’t know we wanted or needed but trust that Spirit knows gifts.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

All That Is . . . is Right NOW!  We live in a world that measures the end goal.  The degree, the ceremony, the big purchase, the award, the medal, the performance, etc.  Those things are important of course, but they are in essence  a celebration and recognition of the process that got one to that place. The degree would not be without the course hours, study time, projects, or exams.  The big purchase would not be happening if one had not put away money little by little so they could afford that item.  The medal came because the athlete got up every day and trained, whether they felt like it or not. The wedding is happening because the couple went on date after date and decided to open each others hearts to one another a little more each day.  The process, the road to the destination is where we show up.  It is where we see our character.  It is in the day-to-day on the road to wherever it is we want to get to that we have the chance to show ourselves who we are.  It is the process of the choice one day at a time to keep going.  It is in the decision that the path is where we want to be. Even if we don’t make it to the end goal, the choice to be on the path today is worth it.  God is RIGHT NOW! Wherever we are in our process of life God is with us.  The world may wait to recognize or congratulate me when I cross the finish line, get the degree, buy the thing,  or celebrate the wedding.  God is with me at every work out, each time I research an article, every penny I set aside, and each date I go on.  My prayer for us today is that we be with ourselves in the process and take on God’s way by not waiting to acknowledge our process until its destination. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The universe we exist in is constantly expanding and growing.  If we are truly a part of that system (which would make sense since we were created by the same entity) it means that we are constantly growing.  Our energies are ready to expand, grow, and to connect with others and All That Is.  We also experience this on a basic physical level when we want to reach out and connect with our fellow human beings.  We connect physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Sometimes we clash when we connect because we are all learning and growing at different rates.  When I start my day on my dates with God I am reminded of the gentleness, patience and joy of growing and learning in Love.  God welcomes me with open arms and is excited that I have decided to take him up on his offer to continue to grow in love today. God reminds me that he is with me through all my lessons today, no matter what.  I need that reassurance.  I need that connection to something greater than me for the times when the lessons seem greater than me.  My prayer for us today is that when we find ourselves facing a lesson that seems greater than us we are able to remember that we are already connected to something greater than us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God is timeless, spaceless, and dimensionless.  The world acts as though it is running out of time and space. We run around trying to save time.  Who said time needed saving?  I think we are the ones who need saving.  Saving from our thinking that we need to out do God.  If we have the right watch or create the perfect schedule or start far enough in advance we think that we can save ourselves from disaster.  Who said that things being on-time or perfectly scheduled prevents disaster?  What if disaster is exactly what needs to happen?  I have noticed that most spiritual writers and thinkers speak of God’s time.  They share their stories of trusting in the Great Plan of Spirit and the timing being just as it should.  Could it be that everything is going according to schedule all the time we just have the wrong schedule?  Nah, we think God has the wrong schedule.  Poor God, he was just misinformed, right? LOL!  As I grow in my relationship with God, I learn to see the lag time or chaotic elements that throw my schedule off as a reminder that God is in charge.  In that moment I can choose to trust that God is still with me no matter what happens or God is not.  This has been a process of shifting from feeling like things happen to me and welcome the idea that things happen for me.  What is happening, what is now, is God.  God is never not present.  It may take me a while to see the presence of God in an event or experience, but God never leaves.  God has all the time in the world to be fully present in the moment.  God waits for us forever and God is with us right now.  God never runs out of time.  God created time and it works according to plan. My prayer for us today is that we embrace things that are off in our timing as God’s way of reminding us that we just need to get with God’s schedule.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two hands-do you think God is trying to tell us something?  The things that we use to receive with are in the twos.  Eyes through which to see what is physically happening, ears with which to hear it, nostrils to taken in the scent and taste and hands with which to grasp.  Yet none of this has any meaning until we make the connection in our minds and our hearts. Once the perception hits the meaning making machine (our minds) which looks to place it in a familiar file, things just are.  What if we were to pause first with our hearts and just observe what we are taking in?  What if we were present to the energy of the reception before we put a label on it?  The meaning we create would then be subject to the influence of our heart.  Maybe this already happens but we are so quick to listen to the voice that speaks up so hastily in our minds that we miss it.  If God designed us to live from our hearts then it is within our power to cultivate the listening of the beats of energy that resonate within us before forming an opinion of what we are perceiving. If we place greater value on our minds’ perspective versus our hearts’, we are going to wait for its verdict and pass over the one that is sensitive to the energy within all things perceived. I think as children our hearts are open and full, ready to take in what is being offered but we get hurt and shut it down to protect it. Then we place priority of the mind over the heart.  This is what happened to me.  It is part of the human experience.  This experience calls us to live out our mission to continue to search for the One who designed the heart and longs for us to draw closer to love with each new day.   Our hearts and minds do not work in opposition, they are meant, like all our systems to work cohesively.  If we are open to cultivating the practice of pause and observance, we can find room for them both.  We can create the balance of living from a place of receiving and giving love while knowing that we are taken care because Our Creator who designed us this way is still in charge. Nothing that happens to us can undo what God has done.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to explore the power of observation as a means to reconnect the relationship between our hearts and our minds.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen