dailydatewithgod

We tend to think that what we see with our eyes is the reality of the world we are in.  But there is much more beyond what we are able to see with our eyes.  Our world consists of energy.  Some of that energy is visible in matter (what we see with our eyes), but there is also a great deal that exists but does not take a particular form.  In high school chemistry a students learns about different kinds of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and about different waves of energy, but after passing the class not much further thought is given to it.  We think we are responding to what we are seeing or hearing, things that can be measured and are experienced as “actually” happening and we are.  However, that is not the only thing to which we are responding. Have you ever walked into a room and sensed that there was something different about the dynamic of the room yet it looks the same as it did the day before?  Have you ever engaged with another person and noticed that their words did not match their face or the energy that seemed to be present?  All of these different energies, seen and not seen are present at all times.  It is in the realm of the unseen that often time shifts occur and we cannot provide any explanation as to why.  What if we were picking up on a shift in someone’s heart and not in their physical presence?  What if we are more aware of those unseen energies than we think?  We are now stepping into a realm of needing something outside our world’s perception to understand.  God is willing to reveal all to us if we are willing to take a stance of openness and acceptance.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing more than what we see with our eyes in ourselves and ask God to help us accept whatever it is.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

It is interesting that the organ that is responsible for pumping blood (life) through our whole body is also that which we see as the one where love is centered.  So life must be about love, about the flow of love.  In fact, when that flow is obstructed our heart shuts down and we die.  That is what happens when our experience of love stops flowing.  The funny thing is that love does not often come in the packages that we imagine that it will.  Sometimes it seems trying or impossible to be loving.  Sometimes it seems as though there is no love in a given situation or person.  But love is always present.  God helps us to see it in its many different forms because through every situation we encounter we are awaken to ourselves and we are love.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to expanding our heart, our definition of love by seeing  ourselves as God sees us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We all know what it is like when food has lost its freshness or gone bad.  It tastes funky or has lots its taste and so we throw it out.  When clothes are worn out we throw them out or if they are no longer a good fit, we give them away.  Why is it then that we do not have the same approach with ideas that have gone bad or that no longer apply?  Each day is an invitation to test out our thinking on the present moment.  God invites us to take all that we know and understand and be opened to seeing it a different way.  Then we can be renewed in mind, body and spirit with each new moment and breath.  My prayer for us today is to be willing to let go of an idea that no longer applies–there are plenty of good will stores around happy to take your old ideas.

One of the invitations we receive from God on a moment to moment basis is that of relationship.  A relationship with the whole of who we are.  God doesn’t simply want to be the being that created us. God wants to engage with us on all levels about all things.  In fact, there is no area of our lives that God does not want to be involved in. If we think there is an area it is most likely that we don’t want God there, not the reverse.  We have areas of our lives that we don’t want to look at or engage in.  Most likely because we have some of our shadows or dark sides there.  We fear bringing light to them because of what we think will happen when it is exposed.  Our ego’s presume that God will see it the way our ego does.  In fact, it is quiet the opposite.  By bringing the light of God the shadows can be transformed into some form of usefulness.  It is only a shadow because there is not yet enough light present. There is no part of our lives that God does not see purpose in.  There is no element of our being that God sees as useless.  Those are our determinations.  God created all of us and no matter what we have done with all of us, God does not love any element of any less that He did when it was first created.  Besides, God sees us as whole, not as parts. But God will not force the light  into our areas of darkness.  We have to be willing to expose all of those areas to the light if we want to again be connected with the love with which God sees.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to exposing one idea that we hold tightly in the dark and just see what the power of love can do.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

I am sure you have heard the expression, “a little bit of kindness goes a long way.”  I supposed its a cliché’ for a reason.  Sometimes the simplest acts of kindness–another encouraging bumper sticker, “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty”– can go a long way in creating a day of beauty for you and another.  It is easy to remember to be kind to others especially if you have been raised in the good girl school of how to be.  After all, good girls are always cordial and respectful and focus on serving others.  Do you hear the sarcastic tone?  Yep, that way of being is something I am very familiar with.  But the kind of kindness of which I am talking about is a kind that originates not from wanting approval for being a good person, but the kind that is an extension of the heart of God within us.  Being cordial to our fellow human beings and to ourselves is not something to check off a list so that we meet some sort of standard, it is a true expression of the love that we are at our core.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to living from our core and practice one random act of kindness-maybe you could start with a simple smile at yourself in the mirror.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Sometimes I think the world is one big video game.  The colors are really vivid, there are obstacles that pop up out of nowhere, and the challenge is to get through the maze and find a way to freedom. The focus is clear in the game.  For those of you who are gamers you will have to excuse my base understanding of video games, but my point is that life can be like a game.  I am not sure about us getting many lives but there are some elements that apply like having strength and tools to use and the world being more colorful and a 3D experience.  I don’t think it is about earning points or being better than some competitor as we each have our own journey.  The primary idea is to focus on what our path is.  Not the one our parents or bosses want us to take, not the one our society says we are supposed to be on, or even the one our head says we are supposed to take.  I am talking about the path that our soul is on.  It is a day-to-day thing, a moment to moment experience.  Is what I am doing or being right now in alignment with who I really am?  Does staying in this thought or situation cause me to grow in love or run away from it?  It is not about the result or where we are going to get to, it is about where our focus is in that present moment.  When we are present in that moment the colors are more vivid and we have the tools and the strength we need to handle whatever comes our way because we are focused on the present. My prayer for us today is that we find our world losing color and feeling a lack of strength to handle what is in front of us that we have the courage to ask God to help us focus on who God would have us be in that moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We cannot encompass the mind of God entirely as our minds would burst at the seams.  We are finite beings, God is limitless.  We can however, look to align ourselves more closely with how God approaches things.  We see examples of this when we act in accordance with our heart.  We experience it when we act kindly and lovingly and when we accept what is.  In nature we see evidence of how to handle things–mostly trusting that everything comes and goes, there are seasons and everything passes and there is so much beauty to behold.  We can continue to stand with ourselves even when we want to run and are uncomfortable because God does not change based on circumstances or what someone else does or doesn’t do.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to adopt one experience of how God sees things and apply it to as many circumstances in our lives in this day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

If we truly got down to our bones that we are completely and totally loved our whole perspective on life would open up.  There wouldbe no limit to what we could do and say, be and serve, enjoy and celebrate.  Because our minds are filled with exceptions it is hard for us to imagine this kind of reality. It is a good thing that God is not limited by the mind of humans. 😉 ) But we have all experienced it, even if only a little, at one time or another.  It is that lightness of heart that exists when we are with someone who loves us and shares with us their love.  It is that sense of fullness when we do something that we see genuinely is helpful to another human being.  It is the moment of light that strikes us when we forgive and let go of an old hurt that has kept us in prison for far too long.  These are all heart moments. These are what the heart of God is like when God looks upon us at all times.  It is baffling to the mind and so our rational thinking will discount it as a fluke.  It is certainly not something upon which to rely.  But what if those experiences of lightness, fullness, and warmth of heart are who we are at our core and how God sees us all the time?  How might we conduct ourselves moment by moment if we walked in that reality?  My prayer for us today is that we be open to walking in the heart-knowledge that we are fully and completely loved for just one minute this day.  Are you up for the challenge?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We have so many options open to us when it comes to how we choose to show up in the world.  It is always our choice when we are coming from a place of awareness andawakeness.  It is even a choice when it doesn’t feel like one or we don’t like our options.  There seems to be a correlation between a chosen response and an automatic one (the programmed one) when it comes to something we are choosing to engage in.  We have the ability to respond (responsibility) in any given situation but sometimes we aren’t interested so we allow our response to come from an unconscious place.  The key to being present in our lives resides in our willingness to face those choices that we don’t want to make and allow ourselves the opportunity to imperfectly respond and learn from them. We cannot know all the ways that we have been automatically responding from the unconscious at once.  Typically when we find ourselves defeated by our automatic response we become willing to take a closer look.  Instead of viewing our experience of being stuck in the same thing over and over again as a bad thing or that there is something wrong with us, we can choose to see it as an invitation to choose our response.  For me this requires God’s guidance.  When I am at a loss of how to change things, I turn to the Great Creator and ask, “What would you have me do with this?  How do you see this?  Show me where the invitation to love is wrapped up in this view of what I see as something wrong.”  My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing our automatic responses that no longer work as invitations to bring God into an area of our lives that we thought we “should” be able to handle on our own.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of my favorite quotes is from C.S. Lewis who says, “Relying on God must begin again each day as though nothing has been done before.”  It is a day at a time relationship probably because as far as we know, today is the only day we have.  In this day we can make a choice to rely on God as our source of understanding or our minds.  Most likely it will be a combination of both, but the notion that I can do it all on my own has gotten me into trouble more than once.  In the U.S. in particular independence is our marker, after all it is what we did to become the United States of America.  Ultimately we did it to no longer be under the tyranny of ideas that we thought held us back from living fully.  If depending entirely on my own resources keeps me trapped in bondage from my limited thinking, then what kind of independence do I really have?  The irony is that dependence on God brings independence of spirit because when I am aligned with God’s thinking there is no limit to what can be experienced and accomplished.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to depending on God and not just our own resources in one area of our life, just be willing to try it today.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen