dailydatewithgod

We embody our beliefs.  We carry around these ideas and we wear some like a badge of honor.  It sounds funny but think about the kind of attachment you have to your name.  It is part of your identity–literally and figuratively.  When someone gets a hold of your name and your information and uses it for their purpose, it is called identity theft.  It is a frightening process by which we have to explain to some financial or other institution that we did not do what the charges or whatnot say we did even though our name is attached to it.  On top of it we feel threatened that now someone else has been going around pretending to be us.  But is that who we truly are?  Who would be without our name? Who would be without our ideas of how things should be?  Who would we be if we took on a characteristic or behavior that those around us are not used to?  It is not only us that identifies with things outside of ourselves–those around us have come to know us as a way of being.  We become what we espouse.  What if for one whole day we embodied God’s view of us?  In the hebrew scriptures God says to Jeremiah, “I knew you before you were formed in the womb.”  What would it be like to be the being that is known before we took on a name and a shape or our ideas about ourselves?  How might we react to the world around us if we identified only with that sense of who we are?  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to take one of our ideas about ourselves and offer it up to God and ask:  What purpose does this serve in Your eyes?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of my favorite quotes is from Marcel Proust, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” We tend to think that in order to have adventures or learn new things we have to provide ourselves with different surroundings.  The things we have to overcome in life to achieve greater experiences and enlightenment lie outside of ourselves.  But the truth is that in discovering our inner world.  By venturing into the questioning of deeply held thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and assumptions we will find plenty to work with.  The advantage of being willing to go on such a venture means that we can discover our true selves and connect with how we show up in the world.  This shifts our perspective and then all of a sudden the outside world begins to look differently.  The adventure we are seeking is not out there, it is in our own hearts.  Over the years we have piled on meaning and ego justifications to our heart. We did it not because we wanted to separate ourselves from our true spirit, but because it was the best we could do on our own.  Just think what might happen if we invite God in to take a look at what we have created and see if the Great Creator can help us bring about a new experience of being.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to looking inward with courage (God).  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

At the core of who we are is a connection to the Great Creator.  Who among us creates and does not have part of ourselves embedded in that creation?  All artists will tell you that a piece of them is in everything that they create.  Perhaps that is the design of creation. That means that God is within each one of us because God created us and all the world around us.  When we recognize that we cannot help but sense the power of life within us.  It invites us to connect to that surge of power and let it flow.  It is only in thinking that we are separate that causes a discord in our full experience of life.  It is in our deciding that we have to do this all on our own that creates a lack of ease in the experience of life.  I do not mean that when I am aware and present to God within me and you all is perfect and nothing challenging happens.  Of course we have challenges, those too are part of the flow of life.  The difference is that when I am cognizant of the power from which I come, I see that what is happening outside of me does not change who I am in my essence.  My prayer for us today is that we stop and pause and sit with the thought that we are not separate from that which created us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When we face times of trial and difficulty it is hard to see the forest through the trees.  Our attention and energy is primarily on what it is that we are working through–the pain, the difficulty. It is in time of difficulty that it is easy to think that we are left to fend for ourselves.  Our discord makes us feel separate and because we feel it, but just because it feels that way, does not mean it is true.  I am not saying that we are to mistrust our feelings, but rather put them in perspective.  Feelings serve as indications, they are not reality. They come as a result of our thinking which is very automatic and programmed from past experience. The reality is that whatever we are walking through today we have more resources than we did last time we walked through difficulty.  More importantly, there is Our Creator who creates out of love and can make this experience one of growth in love, if we are willing to see it from that perspective.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to how whatever difficulty we are experiencing can be an invitation to love more fully and take courage in its disguise.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Being that the Great Creator designed this whole experience of a world in which we live we are witnesses the depth and breadth of what is possible.  It is not hard to go through our day and not be amazed or surprised.  If we open our eyes to what is present around us we can be blown away by the multiplicity and variety of what exists.  Given that, is it not possible that whatever request we have of God is not also possible?  We cannot know what will happen with a request that we place before God unless we present it.  Many times we determine that God would want or not want something for us–as though we know the mind of God.  We cannot know until we ask.  It takes courage to share with God what is most closely on our hearts in and in our minds.  It takes strength not because God does not already know but because it is one thing to have it inside of us and another to share it.  When we make the request we turn it over to God. We say here is what our thoughts are, what do you think?  Thy will,not mine be done.  Making the request is very important because it calls us to be authentic with our God.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to take the chance that God wants to hear what we want from us and will know what to do with it.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

It is so easy to forget how very close God is to us when we get caught up in our day-to-day business of human life.  I am very grateful for my date time with God in the morning because it has caused me to be more aware of God’s presence throughout the day.  It is very common when I am faced with an uncomfortable, thoughts, feelings, etc. that I paused and say to God, “I can’t feel you or sense you, where are you?”  I can be very demanding at times, but in the end I always get the sense that God is telling me I AM right here.  It is then that I remember that my thought, feeling, experience, or wherever I am in my head is some place that I do not think God is or wants to be.  It isn’t until I am willing to go to any lengths to sense the proximity of God that I am restored to a closeness with my Creator.  Those lengths mean pausing and connecting within myself to see what is going on and trusting that I am in a process and it is not about getting out of the experience but yet again: what I can learn from the experience. When I feel separate from God, my heart aches. I then know to reach out to a friend, write to let all the thoughts out of my head, or surround myself physically by a place where I feel connected to God, all the while asking for the courage to see God in whatever discord I am experiencing.  It requires trust on my part that even though I feel disconnected, it is merely an illusion and I am walking a path of restoration of proximity to God.  My prayer for us today is that when we experience those moments when God seems nowhere near that we invite them in as an opportunity to let go of whatever might be standing in the way of God trying to get close to us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When we wake up each morning and take a breath we are inviting the gift of life that has been stowed upon us by our Greatest Friend.  The Creator of life has determined that we have this day to keep moving forward and growing in love.  That often stands in contrast to my head which tells me I have a list of to-dos to get done.  God’s message of life is simple–be love, give love, receive love, grow in love.  The circumstances that we face over the course of the day are opportunities to find love and find ways of being love.  Friendship is one of the beautiful qualities and experiences that we cannot live without.  I have learned more about love from my dearest friends just by their presence than all the books and stories of love.  When I am apt to beat myself over the head about something I think I did wrong, I have to stop and ask myself: “If this were happening to a friend of yours, how would you speak to her?”  This encourages me to see it through the eyes of love and compassion instead of my ego’s mind.  God is my ultimate friend which is why I have these dates every morning! 😉  My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing how we can be a friend to ourselves in our conversation/evaluation of ourselves.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The joy of being connected to a Being greater than ourselves is that we are in cooperation with the One who allows us to go past what our limited minds are capable of.  This begins by admitting that we do not have all the answers available to us in our own minds.  This is not about devaluing our capabilities but simply recognizing their limitations or the ways in which those capabilities serve us and the world best may not work everywhere.  That may mean letting go of the idea that while they triumph in one area of our lives, they are not sufficient for all areas.  Our ego mind that thinks we are separate and have to figure it all out on our own balks at the idea that it cannot of its own mind come up with the solution.  Therein lies the opportunity of humility–to recognize that we are one among many and we need the Source from which we were created.  That Source is expansive and limitless and full of ideas and possibilities that we cannot even fathom.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to acknowledging the gifts, where they came from, and be willing to ask for more in the areas that need moregiftedness and expansion! Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

It is hard to imagine that we were placed on this planet just to experience difficult things.  Sometimes it may seem as though that as all we are handed and when we are in that focus and space it is hard to get out of it.  One reassurance that has come to me in my daily dates is that I am not alone.  No matter how much experience I have had in the past of abandonment or betrayal or just plain loneliness, it is not the reality in which I live.  I think we experience those times of loneliness to awaken in us a longing to be connected.  We have them so that we can begin to investigate our ego’s story that we are separate.  The moment we commence to take a closer look at the story we begin to find evidence of its falseness.  It is true that we came into this world on our own and when we leave we cannot take anyone with us but there is that long road that we travel in between.  On that road we have many companions.  Some we connect with closely, others we pass along,some we run with, to and others from but we are all on this path together.  I try to seek out the companions with which I can share my experiences authentically and create connection.  Ultimately God is my truest comrade and those with whom I connect most closely are in essence a part of my true comrade, as am I.  My prayer for us today is that we look to find our comrades on our path and recognize how they are an element of God for us and us for them.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Being able to ride the waves of life and though we get tossed about by them, knocked over, or thrown off our surfboard and still being in the game of the ocean is the essence of serenity.  Knowing that we are part of the cosmic universe and flow of life yet tethered to the Creator of the whole experience allows us to approach situations that tussle us with greater confidence.  If we are aligned with that which created the flow then when we hit the bumps or the knock-us-over waves we know that we are not the knocked-over wave.  We don’t have to get dragged in by the tide if we are grounded in who we are.  It is easy to get swept up in the drama of the story of the human experience.  It takes strength of character to see ourselves as the calm within the storm.  My prayer for us today is that within the waves of our life today we be open to aligning ourselves with the Great Calm from which we were created so that we may experience the fun and the beauty of the waves.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen