dailydatewithgod

The great capacity of our heart and our being is the ability to care.  To bestow compassion upon another human being or situation.  We care event when we might not want to because we are uniquely connected to one another and this world.  We are affected by things seen and unseen, attitudes and actions, and states of being.  With so much coming at us at once it is hard sometimes to distinguish between which we should care about more.   Sometimes we tell ourselves and others that we don’t care when what we really mean is that there is no room left for us to care.  God bestows upon on us his very nature in this capacity to care.  For it is God that is the Great Carer.  It is God that is the Great Compassionate One.  When we find ourselves too overwhelmed to care or not wanting to we can look to God to reconnect with how to use the gift of caring.  We can also show the same care for ourselves that we show for others and vice versa.  When we leave ourselves out of the caring equation our capacity to care for things outside of ourselves is limited because it is coming from an ego place or a place of “should”.  It is not coming from a care-filled heart that is filled with so much love that it flows over.  My prayer for us today is that we connect with the Great Care Giver and received the care bestowed upon us with the breath of life and let it flow in and out.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Since we are part of the grand scheme of nature we can look to how it operates to get a sense of the cycles that we move through as human beings.  We are so used to our calendars and our clocks that sometimes we lose sight of our natural rhythms as beings on this planet. We go through times of great energy, rest, withdrawal, new creation, hibernation, drought, flourishing, intensity, etc.  The good news is that we have a God that created us that way and is there with us in each of these moments of our lives. We fluctuate through feelings and ideas that influence these states of being and it is our thinking that creates the meaning and thus the intensity around our experience of these different states.  I have been known to forget that I am a human being and think of myself (not consciously, but by my behavior) as a human doing.  A sense that I am okay once all those things have been done.  Feeling less than when I didn’t get certain things done.  The question for me is then who am I being when I am getting those things done? Am I present to the interactions with people or do I just get frustrated by those who are “holding me up” or “getting in my way”?  In taking on the human-doing role I am often in my own will.  When I remember that God is ultimately in charge and yes, there are things to do, but I need not abandon being in order to do them. Then I can relax and enjoy life a little more.  I am certain that God spends a fair amount of time chuckling at how I spin my wheels trying to make things happen when he is right there to help me but I forget to ask.  I guess that is why over the years part of my daily prayer to God is to ask to accomplish that which God wants me to accomplish this day. I find that when I do that genuinely it is an opportunity to let go of my ego’s definition of me and more fully embrace being human.  Not to mention that the nagging voice in my head about all the stuff I didn’t do that day is much quieter. My prayer for us today is that we be open to embracing the essence of where we are and who we are in this natural world and give ourselves permission to be.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

It is amazing to me the capacity that we all have within our being for love.  We have all had moments when we felt very connected with that capacity for love.  An experience in which we knew on some deeper level that the reason we were feeling so good is because we were connected something that was more than we could have imagined.  We are always connected to Source and when we are at our best the connection is flowing effortlessly through us and around us.  Many of us like this experience so much that we seek it out in as many ways as possible.  Unfortunately, anything that is not actually from Source does not have the same breadth and depth of experience as the real thing.  So, those other ways only work temporarily.  We get lost sometimes thinking that this experience of love comes from outside of ourselves.  But the connection to All That Is is within us.  We need not seek outside of ourselves for the most profound experience of love.  God gently guides us back to ourselves.  The Great Creator created us out of love and for love and does not see us as being less than that at any point in our lives.  Our ego focuses on the physical world because it needs something to identify itself with. Source says I already know who you are, what you are experiencing need not define you.  When we are at our best, we are in our created state.  The gift of a loving God is the acceptance that our best is not static.  For me, the recognition and forgiveness of my best as not meaning perfection but showing up in partnership with God one day at a time, is what allows me to continue to believe that even when I don’t see it, I know that there is love within me.  My prayer for us today is that we allow ourselves the gift of acknowledging that our best today means showing up to today’s moments–as many as we have the courage to do so for. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Our ability to grow is never limited.  We are part of an expanding universe.  That same universe lives within the structure of the cells of our body, the nature that we witness every day, and the spirit of our soul.  We can at any moment in time decide to start anew.  I have often been told that I am persistent or stubborn (depending on the context, of course) and I used to begrudge the characteristic (at least the stubbornness one) by blaming it on my Italian/Irish heritage. In recent years, however, I have begun to see that it is not a particularly unique characteristic.  In fact, it is innate in every single one of us.  You encompass just as much tenacity as anyone.  In fact, the very reason that you are where you are today is because something deep within you will not let go of this life that you have been given.  The God within each one of us pursues us each day and each night, inviting us over and over again to experience love.  We just dont’ see it because the invitation doesn’t always come in nice stationery.  Sometimes it comes as a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.  The kind where you have to keep the box cover handy so you can keep checking to see if you are on the right track.  Or it comes on a piece of paper that has been in the dumpster and smells of the dinner someone had yesterday.  And even though we check out and we look for distractions, and maybe we have tried to end it all at one point because it seemed too much.  The very fact that you are reading this means that the tenacious spirit of life is alive and well in you and has not yet given up on you.  God has not yet given up on you.  Your next breath is God’s invitation to not give up on you either.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to see that we are meant to experience love more and more as we go through life and to recognize that it is through that meaning that our lives continue each day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When the rubber meets the road is when we need to know that we can rely on that which we say we have faith in.  Otherwise, it means nothing.  When things are good and happy and we are self-assured we can talk all night and day about having faith in God.  The reality is that when we are in a good place we tend to think it is largely because of only ourselves (self-assurance).  But is it really?  Perhaps the self-assurance that we know is grounded in who we are in the greater context.  In other words, if we are never truly separated from All That Is then it is never all on our own. Our ego likes to convince ourselves that we do it all alone.  The good news is that our spirit thrives when we connect with All That Is and collaborate with all at our disposal to create our lives.  My prayer for us today is that we recognize our interdependence in our lives that has created the good we are experiencing so that when we hit those bumps of not so good, we know the same principle is still at our disposal.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There are so many rules that we have in our society it is at times hard to keep up.  There are the rules of the road, of school, of business, of communication, etc.   There are the rules of the dynamics of the universe encased in scientific principles. Then there are the unwritten rules of families and society–the acceptable norms that we all just somehow know. Lastly there are the rules about rules–follow them, break them, bend them and it all depends on the circumstance.  If you are someone like me who of looked to a set of rules to follow so that I could be approved by someone I had to make a choice as to which ones to follow.  Many rules stand in contradiction to other rules and then there are the exceptions.  I have found in the process of maturing as a human being, I have to determine what works and what doesn’t. It isn’t about being right or wrong because the same thing could be right in one circumstance and wrong in another.  I find that God invites us to adhere to the moment and what will work best for all in that moment.  Ultimately it is about the greater good.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to look at one of the hard and fast rules that we adhere to and determine if it is still working for us and our greater good.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We are here to carry a message.  In fact it is such an elemental part of who we are that we carry a message by our very being.  It is only part in what we say. The ultimate message we are given to carry is of love.  Love in all forms, shapes, sizes, understandings and imaginations.  We were designed out of and for love and while in this human experience, we often lose sight of that. So we are here to remind each other of that fact.  The way that we remind each other, however, isn’t something out of some storybook or movie with music set in the background.  Sometimes the very experiences that we think we don’t want or the things in life we want to push away are those that will teach us the most about love.  It is hard to imagine that the person who is pissing us off is here to teach us about love, but they are just as much as the person who is giving us flowers.  Our job is to seek out the love that is within that person and return the gift.  It isn’t about what we are getting from someone else, it is about who we are called to step up and be in the face of how someone else is being. In other words, it is always about who we are being.  True to our truest nature or a mirror of our interpretation of our environment.  If someone is being unkind to me, I can choose to return the same or get in touch with who I am (LOVE) and be that despite what my mind tells me as an immediate reaction.  My prayer for us today is that we be messengers of love no matter what messages we think we are being handed.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Our heads are full of all this stuff that we know.  Or at least we think we know. We cling to facts and figures, historical accounts, and our eyewitness account of what is happening.  But do we really know?  The reality is that most of what goes on we don’t actually know about.  We cannot.  Within every interaction and experience there are things happening on multiple levels that to simply state it from one perspective does not do it justice.  Mystery is a built-in part of life.  If we were to know everything and understand everything we would not need to be present to the experience of our lives in this moment.  The unknown often also comes with fear.  This is what drives us to cling to a sense of security.  But if our security, our true sense of self, is connected to the Ultimate Knowing deep within us, then dancing in the mystery can be fun.  When our security is not dependent upon the outside looking a certain way or having a certain outcome then we can take each step as it comes and not worry about the staircase or the long and winding path we are on.  We can even dance down the yellow-brick road.  I am walking through this now as I look at my work life and even just taking a closer look at it can bring about anxiety and uncertainty.  Many industries that have been rock solid over the last century or so are shifting in ways people had never imagined but instead of embracing the mystery we are mostly wading in the fear of the unknown.  I heard somewhere that excitement and fear generate the same physiological experience in our bodies.  So when we are feeling fearful maybe we are actually excited but just put the wrong word on it. God invites us to choose each day which way we want to take it on. We can either join him in the mystery that is part of our human and spiritual experience or we can sit in the fear that our human brain knows well.  My prayer for us today is that we allow God to show us how to tap into that childhood wonder and excitement of mystery that may be lying dormant deep within us so that we can notice the fear of the unknown but choose not to go down that familiar path.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of the gifts of the desert that I notice is the calmness and quiet in which things occur. Time seems to stand still and the slightest movements of wind or sunlight hitting the side of your face are felt with intensity when you slow down long enough to be present to it. It was very much the same when I held my three-day old nephew.  Watching carefully every little move that occurs with such quietness. He wasn’t in any rush to figure out how to smile or get what he needed, he melded into my arms as though it was exactly where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t worried that he would not be taken care of as though he knew his every move was being watched.  I wonder if God is like that with us.  Always watching our every move, ready to hold and take care of us.  But we are too busy with our agendas and have become so independent that we don’t see the arms of love to fall into at any given moment. Soon enough that little man in my arms will be arguing with his parents and learning to say no, but the arms of his parents will never stop being there to hold and care for him even if it doesn’t look the way he wants.  Hmm, sounds familiar.  When I remember that God’s love for me never goes away (no matter how much I protest or push to do things my way), I can pause and breathe and fall into the arms of love.  Even more miraculous is that those arms of love are within me and I do not have to search long and hard to find them-just get quiet, just breathe.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing fall into the stillness of our hearts and stay til after the chatter subsides.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Each day is an invitation from life to participate.  We are given everything that we need to face the day if we choose to do so in partnership with the Great Creator that has called upon us to engage in this new day.  Overwhelming is a term I have used to express what it feels like when I think things in life have become too much to handle.  I think we all have used it at some point or another.  What I realized is that when I am in a state of overwhelm it is usually because I am taking on more than I need to–emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually.  The expectations I have of myself are often super-human.  Perhaps it is the super-hero childlike mentality of wanting to surpass my human experience which was too much for my human self that now translates into needing to do things “just so” or having to be the one to make sure something gets done.  Unfortunately, this causes my energy to deplete quickly and I am not able to be present to what is happening in my life this day.  There is a reason why life comes to us right now.  It is the moments that we are asked to be engaged in right now that we can experience fully if we are open to living this one moment versus concentrating on living a whole life. Often I get the simplest of messages from God, I AM Here with you.  Be with me. My breath can be a reminder of where I am invited to be because I can do take only one at a time.  There is no storing of breath for the future or going back and breathing my last breath, it comes and go and gives new life to my body and my soul each time.  When I want to be elsewhere then where life is calling me to engage, my breath beckons me to the present and my God invites me to see the love and the beauty of the moment.  My prayer for us today is that we be guided by the simplest form of life as to where to engage by being with our breath.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen