I used to think that life was about things going perfectly. That when something didn’t go as planned it meant that something was wrong or I had done something wrong. That is a very constraining, not to mention, impossible way to live. The funny part is that I wasn’t even really aware of it. I didn’t set out every morning in the hopes of a “perfect” day where everything went according to plan. Yet the moment something went awry, my head would launch into a million reasons about how I “should” have done this or anticipated that and how I must have caused it. It is a relief to discover that I am just not that powerful. Life happens and what I make of life is in how I react to it. After waking up and seeing the insanity of living this way, I have slowly made progress in letting go, but some old ideas just stick with you. The letting go happens in layers. Opportunities will present themselves for me to come face to face with this idea that doesn’t work and I am given the chance to either default to it or choose something else. This is where the pause comes in handy. God has shown me over the years in our relationship that when I am believing the thought that I am at fault I am believing something contrary to what God has designed. God created me out of love and goodness and each event or circumstance is an opportunity to live that out and grow in love–plain and simple. Something happening does not tell me who I am, how I choose to act in the face of what is going on, tells me who I am. My prayer for us today is that we be open to believing that we are at our core the goodness from which we were created and nothing that happens today can tell us otherwise. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Joy!
Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! This is a song I remember hearing growing up in the Catholic Christian faith. Especially on Easter Sunday when we celebrate the risen Lord. This same message will echo today in Christian churches and from Christian people all around the world. The impossible became possible. Whether one is Christian or not, we all experience resurrection in our lives if we are open to it. The openness comes in the recognition that death must precede any resurrection. The beauty of the resurrection is not just that some guy rose from the dead but the process that he underwent that brought him to a place of new life. In a nutshell, a simple man born in poor circumstances, living a simple life shares day in and day out from his heart about what love is, forgives, heals, shows people a new way of thinking that extends what some have already known and what is completely new to others. He has a group of followers who are with him and when he questions those in authority who hold tightly to their laws and routines–he makes them uncomfortable. They find a way to technically accuse him of wrong doing and have him arrested. Though he was not guilty of any real crime (though they were able to convince authorities that he was), he was sentenced to suffer and die a brutal and gruesome death. A day or two later he rose from the dead. While it sounds like a nice fairy tale for those whom it has no religious significance, the spiritual significance speaks volumes. How many times in our lives do we put things to death because they challenge us to approach love and life in a new way? How many ideas in our lives do we hold on to because we are used to them and want to push aside anyone who might cause us to question them? How often have we experienced times when we suffered in letting go and in time experienced a transformation of that idea? What about when we look at our lives and realize that some of our “worst” times became our “best” times because they caused us to grow more in love? This is why we celebrate with joy this day and every day that we are given life because we are responding from the same place of our creator. A place of hope, of the possibility of joy and of life anew with each breath. Our Creator rejoices every day that we accept the breath given to us upon awakening. When we live in joy and hope that maybe, just maybe, today will bring a renewal and chance of love, we are in alignment with our Creator and live that which we were created for. My prayer for us today is that we have the audacity to hope in the joy of new life given to use this day with our very breath. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Tenderness!
Tenderness evokes many different kinds of pictures of softness, warmth, kindness, gentleness, etc. Tenderness is an in between experience that holds us in the middle or waiting times, like a hand cupping a face about to speak words of love or a mother holding their child. Today in the Christian calendar is one of those waiting days. Christians all over the world are expectantly waiting to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on Easter after his death on Friday. For many it is just a day in between. For those early Christians, who were waiting to be able to get back to the tomb to properly adorn the body of their loved one, it was an agonizing day. They were facing the reality that a man that they followed and grew to love for three years was now gone–it was a time of great stillness and sadness. Though he had told them he would rise from the dead, would we have really believed that either? Such a concept is beyond our vision and understanding. So instead we wait. In the moments of waiting we can be comforted with the memories and images of tenderness from times past. While we often only think of life and death as applied to the overall human experience, we actually experience deaths on many levels. When we let go of old ideas, when we move, when we change jobs, when we face a health issue, when we celebrate milestones of birthdays and anniversaries, etc. Life is a constant letting go and the tension between what we thought things would be and how they actually are reveals itself in those in between times. Being with ourselves and God during those times can be a tender experience if we know to take comfort in the arms of our Creator. My prayer for us today is that whatever has just died for us that we may take comfort in the tenderness of our Creator who holds us and brings us to something Created new because that is what a Creator is. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Friendliness!
We all have varying definitions of friendship and different kinds of friends that we surround ourselves with. But because we put the label of “friend” on those people we treat them differently than we do someone we label as an “enemy”. What if an enemy was simply a friend of a different flavor? The difference is in our approach and expectation of these different kinds of people. But the people themselves are the same–we all are human beings with the same essence of love. We have all been created by the same creator. We all have an equal amount of love within us. Some of us have blocked ourselves off to it. It is our approach to others that creates the difference in our experience of them. With friends we are open, come with love, and expect the same in return. With enemies we close ourselves off and expect the worst in return. So why are we surprised when we get what we bring to the table? Perhaps an enemy is someone who has never been treated as a friend? Why should we change who we are based on who we think other people are or are going to be? If I am a friend, can I be a friend to all regardless of how they are to me? I am not saying you have to become super close or bear all your secrets to everyone, but treating another with kindness and love is no skin off our backs. It actually increases our capacity of love. The difference in our approach to these two types of people is often connected to what we expect from them. But relationships are not about getting, they are about giving and learning. Whenever I think about what I can bring to a relationship and not focus on what I am going to get from a relationship, I have a much richer experience. Who I am being is directly connected to how aligned with my true self I am. My true self is not dependent upon how other people show up. To place that upon other people would be to make them my creator. My prayer for us is that if we consider ourselves to be a friend, we have the courage to be who we are no matter whom or what comes across our path today. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Usherance!
Given that we were all created from the same Source, there must be more in common with each other than we think. Perhaps we are all here to guide each other to the same place–back to our hearts and to love. We tend to see others as obstacles in getting where we want to go, but what if those “obstacles” are the things within us that are blocking up getting back to who we are? If life is ten percent what happens to us and ninety percent how we react to it, then maybe all we need is an attitude adjustment. Maybe all I need is to connect with that Source of life again and be aligned with who I am and maybe you will help me get there. Maybe you are the gift I have been given to get me towards my goal. If I remember that what is coming up for me around you, is what is coming up for me, not because you are doing something to me, then I am empowered to change or ask for help in changing whatever is disturbed by what I am experiencing. All of a sudden you, whomever you might be (family member, coworker, person in the car next to me), are helping me by being who you are so that I can see what is not at peace within me. We are guides for each other on the same path. My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing that others are seeking the same goal as I am=LOVE and be open to how we can usher each other in getting there. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Commonality!
When we acknowledge that we all come from God, the Creator of the Universe and of Love, then we begin to see how we are all connected. Our ego constantly reminds us how we are separate and if that is not enough then it conveniently points out how everyone is different from us. These are both illusions set out to prove to us that we do not need anyone or anything. We gently need to come down off of our high horse and acknowledge that we cannot get through this life on our own. Some of us can step down off the horse, others of us have to fall of or get kicked off. Either way it does not matter, whatever causes us to wake up from the dream in which we are the lone hero survivor in the story will suffice. Our judgments are useful to the extent that it is important to be able to evaluation situations. However, it is the message of separateness that is destructive. We all have hearts and minds that were created from LOVE We all long to be connected in Love and live with a sense of purpose. We may go about it in different ways, but these common threads are those that bind us. And it reminds us that maybe we are not so different after all. My prayer for us today is that we be willing to look at those who come across our path today as someone with whom we have the core things in common and not be betrayed by our minds focusing on what is different. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Humility!
One among many. Not greater or less than, but one of the heard. It is only in the last decade or so that I really grasped what humility is. I definitely understood humiliation and had plenty of experience in that and wanted no more of it. My brand of humiliation was fear of looking stupid, not in control, or less than. The lack of humility, interestingly enough, that I practiced was actually the same–I was the “less than” type. I never thought enough of myself to think I was better than others except perhaps in individual instances. Even when I had those experiences I would quickly judge them as me being prideful and condemn myself for thinking that way. One could say I kept my ego in check out of fear of not meeting some religious or spiritual ideal. Looking at it now I see just how exhausting of an experience it was to live like this–no wonder I was looking for something to blot out my reality. The truth is that neither being less than or more than is who I am nor who you are. God doesn’t create us with a measurement stick. God doesn’t bestow more love upon some than others. God simply creates out of love and we are a result of that. The humility comes in recognizing that our ego’s view of deserving versus undeserving is all made up. The truth of love is that it is there for anyone who chooses to follow its path. The truth of love is that there is more than enough to go around. The truth of love is it sees who we are and still is LOVE. GOD is LOVE. We come from GOD. We are LOVE. Each day is an opportunity to learn the lessons of love and live fully who we are. My prayer for us today is that we be open to humbly recognizing who we truly are and walk in that truth versus the one that our ego made up. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Hopefulness!
We are made for joy and love, strength and courage, hope and possibility. Just because we experience the opposite of that does not mean that we no longer are meant for the flip-side. Whenever we are in moments of despair, discouragement, pain, suffering, and limitedness we become short-sighted. And I am not even talking about big moments–how about getting stuck in traffic or waiting to hear back from a coworker or wondering what will happen when we speak our truth to someone we love? The moments when fear can creep in and plant its seed. We cannot see the forest through the trees. This is why we need to stay connected to a Source greater than ourselves that can see the big picture and remind us that it is simply something we are experiencing in the moment. God reminds me always that I am not who I think I am, that there is more to me than what I am currently experiencing. I need those reminders that come in many different forms throughout the day if I am open. When I am open to seeing things as God sees things, hope is abundant and possibilities are endless. My prayer for us today is that we be open to one of the many ways that God is showing us the power of hope in our lives so that we can walk through this fulfilling day with love, strength, courage, hope and possibility=who we are. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Trueness!
God really does not make it too difficult for us. At a very basic level, God gives us breath and life and says LOVE (i.e.-live from who you truly are). We are the ones who complicate it. We put all these rules and regulations in place. We give meaning to things that have no meaning. We judge situations as good and bad, right and wrong, and we let our egos run wild thinking they are gods. The super cool thing about God (because God is Love and God does not know how to be anything but Love) is that we can do all that stuff and God still sees us for who we truly are-LOVE incarnate. God knows what he created. God knows what we are capable in our most pure form. God never gives up on the idea that we will always return to that state of being. The simplicity of that means at any moment we can stop, take a breath, and reconnect with who we are. We don’t have to go back to our time of birth, start a day over, or erase everything that happened before. We can simply turn to God in that breath and ask to be realigned with who we truly are. God gladly obliges because we were never seen by God as anything but that, even in our ego gone wild moments. God loves our ego because God created that as well. God simply asks that we remember that our ego is only part of our being and live accordingly. My prayer for us today is that we be open to being our true selves and willingly let go of one thing that is standing in the way of letting that happen so we can show up as TRUE LOVE. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
Be in Expression!
We are all expressions of God! This is what we are called to carry out each day. Be authentically ourselves and thus show the world yet another way in which God is manifested. In the Hebrew scriptures, it says that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. This means not only physically but our very being. When I look around at just the variety of physical attributes, I see that God is every possible expression. Who am I to say that because it is not what I was expecting that it is wrong or needs to be fixed? Who died and put me in charge? Instead, it is up to me to be fully myself, share that with the world, and trust that the God who created me knew what He was doing. This is why my date time with God is so important because invariably over time I get lost and caught up in making other people’s ideas, my thinking, my fear, and so many other things my God. It is only when I take the time to spend in relationship with God that I can get realigned to who I really am and live out that expression. My prayer for us today is that we find a way to connect with our Creator who reminds us who we are and how we can best express God to the world on this very sacred day. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen
dailydatewithgod 