dailydatewithgod

The beauty of the gift, well one of them, that we are given so freely is the opportunity to live in this world.  We are not of this world but we are in this world.  If we recognize that the Great Creator has called upon us to inhabit this experience, the very one we are having today, then we can trust that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.  The moment we want to check out and be somewhere else, it is a signal that we are trying to “handle” our existence alone.  We find some fault or problem with the current experience.  This is not wrong of us but an indication of something to look at.  What is about this moment where I wish my existence to be somewhere else? What meaning have I given to what is happening that I am uncomfortable with? Is it what is actually happening or my thinking about what is happening that is causing the discord?  I find that most often it is my thinking that is causing the discord.  My ego mind has determined that the existence I am experiencing is beneath me, a waste of time, or too painful.  The ego mind, of course, is the one that has edged God out.  Without the alignment with God’s thinking, nothing makes sense.  I am relying upon my limited mortal mind to make sense of the existence which I am currently experiencing.  But what if what I am experiencing has greater meaning that I am capable to understanding?  What if what I am experiencing is about being a part of the beautiful mystery of life?  What if my existence in this moment is about who I am being, not about what I am going through?  Only by linking with God can I hold a space of courage, compassion, love and acceptance for the here and now.  My prayer for us today is that we stop when we notice that we want to leave our current existence and ask God to open our eyes and our hearts to who we are being called to be and let go of what is happening.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The Universe of which we are integral part has made an impression upon our very being. In fact the essence of the universe of which we are integral part exists within each of us.  We were created out of and for love. The impression that God placed upon our hearts at the moment on inception is that love is who we are and who we will always be.  It is our everyday human material expression of living that conditions us to think otherwise.  But just because we forget from where we originated, does not mean it is not true.  We are just choosing to be influenced by something other than the Great Creator that designed us.  This is part of why I have come to treasure my date time with God first thing in the morning.  It is during that time that I am reminded in the subtlest of ways that which is my core.  Before I get going with my day, before I check my phone (which is plugged in the other room), I have the opportunity to be influenced and connect with the Being of Love that designed everything about me and you with love. I am able to express thanks for the new day and the new breaths.  I have a chance to share what is on my heart to the one who designed my heart.  The simple beauty of sitting in the presence of LOVE within myself and all around me.  Even if I don’t feel like that is what is happening, I know that spending this time with God (LOVE) could be nothing less than that and some mornings I do feel that love.  My prayer for us today is that we pay attention, just notice, what is influencing how we see ourselves and have the courage to ask God if it is the same view that God has of us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When God created All That Is everything that could possibly be was considered.  When God gives usbreath each morning the plan is not to leave us hanging the rest of the day but rather ignite a beginning of life.  We are given an invitation.  It is up to us to accept it.  The beautiful part about how we are created as that without much thought we accept this first gift of a new day.  Within us is this connection to All That Is that knows to accept the gift.  Why then would not everything else we encounter throughout the day be the possibility of more gifts?  It is only the preconceived notion that gifts show up in specific packages that causes us to see the ones that come in an unwelcome wrapping as noy gifts at all.  I have noticed that when I look at the things I had not planned on dealing with or the people who are “getting in my way” as gifts and opportunities to ask God what to do here, my day goes much smoother.  Perhaps it is not about the gift being in the packaging we want but an invitation to consider that everything is a gift if we check in with the Giver as to what to do with it instead of whether or not to accept it.  My prayer for us today is that we consider the most un-gift like thing or person we come across as a gift to invite God into our perspective in that moment so we can see it as the gift of the day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Somehow despite my sleeping last night, the earth turned and light will begin to radiate from the sun across the horizon.  Somehow without me doing anything my breath goes in and out and my heart keeps pumping.  Despite me not doing anything the flowers seem to grow in the garden at work when the planters make sure they have enough water and light.  All these things are constantly around me reminding me of the certainty that there is a power greater than me at work in the world.  I can be sure of very few things in life, but God is one that I can count on.  It is comforting to me to know that no matter what I do or don’t do I cannot negate that the being which created me and all that is around me out of love will go on past when I am present. It was here before, it will be here after.  My prayer for us today is that we sit in the surety that God exists despite what we do or do not do and maybe even ask to be reminded of that as we walk through the day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The entire Earth that we so freely inhabit came about because a thought of love.  God so wanted to share the love that God is that all of creation came into being.  This is how we know that when all is said and done, love is why we are here.  It can be hard in our day-to-day lives that are filled with little and seemingly mundane decisions to remember that about ourselves and all those with whom we interact.  But just because we don’t remember it or lose sight of it, does not mean it is not true.  I know for me, that is part of what makes my date time with God so special and so important because when I am able to get still and quiet enough the being I am present to reminds me of my true nature.  When my head is full of wanderings and worries, when all seems lost, God is there to urgently remind me that these things will fade away.  And when they have faded away all that I am at my core will be revealed.  It is high on the agenda of God to remind us of who we are, but when the world is full of loud noises and demanding voices, it can be hard to hear that small quiet voice that speaks with conviction and urgency the knowledge of our true selves. For me, this morning it is about a gentle presence upon which to lean.  I imagine resting my head (the one that is going, going , going) and picture God stroking it gently as if to say, “It’s okay child, I get it, give it over to me.”  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to spend a few minutes at some point attempting to connect with that confident voice of God that is urging us to remember who we are at our core.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

Have you ever watched the face of a child as they describe what they like?  Whether it is their favorite ice cream flavor or a person they are close to, they light up from the inside.  Our connections to other people are profound.  We like to think we are so independent and don’t need other people but there is nothing in nature or life that supports this idea that we are all islands.  Besides, even an island relies upon the water to separate it from other islands and sun to keep its vegetation going.  It is an illusion that we get what we need from being separate.  Our ego thrives on this ideal and when we buy into it we deny ourselves the fullness of being.  Connecting with others, liking others, all brings risk.  And because we are all just doing the best we can to show up, it means we will mess up.  But there is a difference between connecting and interdependence and relying on other people to validate our existence.  God calls us to connect with each other’s hearts. We are not called to rely so much on other people for love that we suck them dry or make them gods.  The God that we truly want to be like and be liked by is the one that lives deep down within us who knows us through and through.  The One from which our light was created. When we are connected to that sense of who we are we can interconnect with other human beings freely and allow them to be their own version of the light of creation.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing how we light up when we connect with others because we want to connect from the place in us that is full of light.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The formula for living the longer I live is not whether or not something is right or wrong, but whether or not I am growing from it.  There is a sigh and a relief that comes with it because I can always choose to grow from something.  When I am not concerned with right or wrong, but does it work or not, I can use whatever happens as a vehicle to learn more about myself and about others.  I cannot change this mindset, so I turn to My Creator and ask for help.  Lord, how am I am growing from this experience?  What do you want me to learn from this?  Is it really working or do I just really want it to work because I think I will get what I want from it?  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to ask the question of whether or not we are growing or willing to grow from the things we do “wrong” today instead of picking up the sledgehammer to beat ourselves into the ground for our “wrongness”.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The World and All Its Abundance of living breathing things speak to us each day of the constant growing and living that exists around us and within us.  It is an assurance that no matter what disasters occur, life goes on.  Even those plants die, they return again next season. At the same time that people are dying, others are being born.  Life is always cycling through and even in outer space scientists notice that the universe is constantly expanding.  So given that, why is it that we hold on so tight to things out of fear that they will destroy us.  We do this with our secrets.  The little things about ourselves that carry shame or blame that we hope no one will notice.  Everything we do serves a purpose.  Some things are beneficial, other things we do because we have always done them.  They no longer serve us but we have incorporated them into our ego’s definition of self and so to admit they no longer work and want to release them means a death to the ego’s sense of self.  The first step to letting them go and being free of these ideas about ourselves is admitting we have them and that they are no longer truly serve us, the true self. When I began to admit that acting like a victim, (“I can’t believe this is happening to me.  It is all my fault.  I must have a sign on my forehead.”, etc) no longer served me, my ego balked at the idea.  It had become so incorporated in who I thought I was that I could not imagine being otherwise.  But when I looked at the evidence that my attitude kept me trapped in my happiness being dependent upon outside circumstances instead of the knowing of who I am in God’s eyes, I became willing to ask God for help to relieve me of that way of being.  It is a path.  A path of recovery from my ego’s idea of self to my God idea of self.  Until I admitted to myself and to God that I no longer saw enough benefit from this way of being, I could not be free of it.  Then came the work of practicing the opposite way of being–empowerment.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to acknowledge and admit, even if we do nothing with it, the ways of being that no longer serve our greater good.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Do you ever watch children when they see something they like?  The first thing they do is reach for it, so they can see it up close and experience it will all of their senses.  They touch it, put it in their mouth, look at it from all sides, shake it to see if makes noise, etc.  They want the full experience of whatever it is that has caught their eye.  But it all starts when they reach for it.  The same is with us, when we see something that attracts us we reach for it. We may not pick it up and put in our mouths but the first thing we do is go closer to it.  God is reaching for us all the time.  God wants to draw closer to us, to get to know us better to share love of the creation that is all of us with us.  But God will not go where God is not invited.  There is a dance involved. God created all that is and looks to the creation to set the stage for the engagement of the relationship.  God shares all that God is–beauty in nature, breathing and functioning of our body, a sense of peace in our hearts, etc.  But do we reach back?  My prayer for us today is that we begin to pay attention to all the ways that God tries to reach us and decide if we want to invite one of those ways in closer.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The Giver of all things given has endowed us with multiple opportunities to receive the goodness that is embodied in who we are.  But we are often blocked by our own view of how things appear to be. Our ego mind sees lack so that it can justify its need to step in be strong and better than and separate from those around us.  But our soul mind sees that we are connected to all that is around us and we need only reach out right next to us to be connected to all that is.  This sense of resourcefulness–that all we need is right there for us if we are willing to not do it alone is the cornerstone from which a spiritual life can be built.  If I am stuck thinking that I have to do this all on my own, I am left to fend for myself and life becomes a lonely place.  Yes I can be the triumphant hero but it is lonely at the top. Even Superman had to draw upon his resources–recognizing his heritage and where he came from, leaning on who he showed up as Clark Kent to guide him in where the greatest need was, recognizing his limitations when he came into contact with a substance that weakened him, and even the resource of the people who needed his help.  He was only a hero because of his interaction with other humans.  He needed them as much as they needed him.  We are in this together.  Our greatest resource and our greatest challenge is the very person sitting next to us.  Who we are being is challenged at every turn by the persons we interact with.  They invite us to either stand in our own truth or bend to what we think they want.  Depending on who we have created them to be will determine how well we can stand in who we are with God or bend to some idea that we think we are supposed to meet.  Being resourceful means knowing when to turn to God for strength and courage to trust that who we are is enough and exactly what is supposed to be despite the circumstance we are facing.  The opportunity comes to us through interactions with us, so the challenges that we face allows us to see ourselves and discover the love within us and thus we are connected to those who challenge us.  My prayer for us today is that we see the resources that exist within and outside of ourselves calling us to discover more and more closely the love that we are today.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen