dailydatewithgod

Faith really does take work.  It is like exercising a muscle but outside of the gym.  At least when you are working out at the gym, you know its coming.  It is exactly what you go there for.  The exercise of faith comes in unexpected forms in life.  But I guess if I acknowledge that my life is an opportunity to practice faith,then I won’t be so surprised when the opportunity comes to exercise that muscle.  I know for sure that God has a sense of humor and am even more sure that God laughs at me a great deal.  I don’t mean a vicious laugh but the kind of quiet amusement that is observed with fascination.  God loves me (and you) so much that he does not interfere with our opportunities for growth. God wants us to relish the moments to experience our true selves, not just what our head (ego) tells us. No matter how much I might plea at times to be magically plucked from a situation and delivered to the end or where there is no strife, God will not oblige.  Instead a steady presence and a reminder of connecting within my own heart and spirit is offered.  I can huff and puff all I want about how it isn’t what I was looking for and that I don’t want to be here and experience this and God does listen, but God knows better than I that I will learn something from whatever the situation if I am open to it.  Sometimes I learn it right then and there, sometimes in hindsight.  But anything that I have gone through has ultimately expanded my capacity for love and patience even if it took years.  What God offers is not a rescuing from life, but a sureness of reminder that I am not the experience I am going through.  Sometimes the feelings are so powerful I think I am the feelings.  I think I am the mess or the mistake or not enough or the idiot who wasn’t smart enough to get myself out of whatever it is.  In God’s eyes, I am assured that I AM hope, love, power, courage, patience, strength, freedom, joy, and no situation or circumstance will change that.  No matter what I am experiencing in the moment, I do not need to run because I am being given an opportunity to be that which I AM more fully. Sometimes the circumstances make it easy to show up as my true self, other times it is more challenging.  But God will not step in and take over when I am being given an opportunity to be a reflection of God’s love to the world through the situation.  I just have to remember to turn to and draw upon God’s power and faith in me when I don’t think I can do it or I start believing that I am the circumstance.  My prayer for us today is that we see whatever challenge of faith in ourselves that we are experiencing as simply a reminder of God’s faith in us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of the beauties of nature is its repetition.  Each year nature cycles through the same moments of light and dark, rebirth and death. To an untrained eye it might seem boring or pointless–why be reborn if only to die again?  Why plant new seeds if they won’t grow until later? Why rise in the morning if descending in the evening?  Why come into the shore only to leave again shortly after?  But these rhythms of life show us a constancy.  Something to ground us.  We seemingly accept it in simple ways in our everyday lives–we wash our clothes, our cars, and our bodies even though they will get dirty again.  We cook and eat our food even though we will have to start the process over again tomorrow.  Yet we seem to be reluctant when it comes to practicing this consistency in other areas of our lives. We want a one time shot!  We experience this a lot in our relationships.  We want to have an uncomfortable conversation once and never have to deal with it again.  We want to say I love you in a big way with flowers and chocolates once a year and have it count for the whole year.  We want to exchange vows at the beginning of the relationship and not need to engage it in each and every day. It is however, in our relationships that we often lack this consistency.  Each day is a new day.  I can no more think that the prayer time I had with God yesterday will keep me connected today than the shower that I took yesterday will make me clean today.  I don’t have to relearn how to turn on the faucet or apply soap to my body all over again–I can build on what I learned yesterday, but engaging in it is necessary if I want to be clean and fresh today.  My relationships are the same.  We think that others remember the time we them we love and care for them when we wrote it in a card on their birthday six months ago and they might.  But when we are hanging out with them today, we are given an opportunity to remind them of how much they mean to us.  Why else would we be spending time with them?  The fun part is that we don’t have to do it exactly the same way, but it is a consistent effort.  Think of all the ways that God reminds us of his love for us each day anew.  The sun rises (okay the earth turns so we can experience the heat and light), we are given a breath, our bodies walk and move, flowers grow, birds sing, and so many more personal ways.  How do we engage in that same consistency in our relationship with God?  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to find one special way that we can each day be present to our relationship with our Creator and then “wash, rinse, repeat” 😉  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Life presents a series of challenges and experiences both large and small that show us the test of our character.  Some people ascribe these “challenges” to God.  I think they are just a part of living.  I think the human experience is just that, an experience.  That through the course of our lives if we want to live fully we will be challenged in all areas of our lives.  But the challenges are not a test of whether or not we are worthy.  There is no question that we are worthy.  We were created to be because we are.  God created us out of love for love.  If we were not meant to exist, we would not be here.  Experiencing life is not about proving ourselves or justifying our right to be here, as I thought it was for such a long time.  I cannot tell you the number of years I, sometimes literally, would apologize for being here.  I always thought I had to “prove” I was worthy, to seek the a”prove”al of other people.  It was only when I began to open my heart and my mind to the God that created me that I began to see that I AM meant to be right here, right now.  I don’t know about tomorrow, but today, I opened my eyes.  This means God has granted me the privilege of another day.  I don’t need to prove myself today, but I will be given ample opportunities to live and experience love–some challenging, some with ease.  At the end of the day I need only ask myself two things: Did I stick close to God?  Did I do his work (love) well?  My prayer for us is that we let it seep into our bones that we are because we are loved and each experience today is meant to show us that even if we aren’t ready to see it and accept it.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We are the vehicles through which God accomplishes his work!  Yes, we are that blessed, that gifted, that light-hearted, that compassionate, and that loving if we choose.  In order to step into this reality we need to let go of how we think things “should” be done, “should” go, and not be so tied to the end result that we imagine.  Life really is the journey and by listening in to our own inner resources–connecting with our breath, our spirit, our heart, our desires, our imagination we begin to align ourselves with something greater than ourselves which leads us to an experience of great love, compassion, service, joy, and freedom.  The challenge we face is that our ego has a specific agenda for our desires and our imagination.  We get caught up in wanting things to look how we or others expect them to be.  We constantly judge what we see by its appearances.  The fact remains that things are rarely what they appear to be.  We want to strive from living the inside-out.  When we live by the heart and spirit of an experience and are fully present on the journey then the outcome will be tremendous no matter what the physical outcome is.  It is hard for us to wrap our heads around this–how could it be that each relationship that has ended be the blessing that it is when I ended up without the lifelong committed relationship that I desire?  But I can say that because of each of those relationships my heart is bigger, stronger, softer, and more open than ever.  This has made living more joyful and more abundant.  And I would trade that to measure up to some societal pressure that says I should be married with a family by now because why??? My prayer for us today is that we be willing to value the journey we are on and see it through God’s eyes instead of the world’s measurement.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There are many things that demand our attention each day.  Sometimes it seems as though we have no choice in the matter, but we always have a choice.  Just because something is urgent for someone else, does not mean that it need be urgent for me.  One of the skills that I learned is time management and through it I have learned the discipline of availability.  I used to think that it is was restrictive to be so scheduled but it is actually freeing. When I have earmarked time for the most important things in my life I am able to be available for those unplanned things and moments that I was not expecting to encounter.  This means that I am available to what is happening in my life instead of wondering when something is going to end or why I managed to get cajoled into doing it.  If I recognize that I have ability to be available to the things that I choose to be available to then I can be at peace with how I am spending my day.  Maybe that is why my “structured” date time with God is so important. I have decided that my relationship with God is the most important in my life, so I make time for it at the very beginning of my day, each day.  It comes before I check my phone or email, before I talk to others, before I go to the gym or work, etc.  When I have this date time each day I am available to be present for the rest of my day and I feel as though my day is more likely to be guided by a sense of where it is most important that I be and do.  Not to mention that my heart is more available in each of those situations because it was fed from All that is at the beginning of the day.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to look at our lives and recognize that what we choose to make ourselves available to is what is most important to us. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Given that we are meaning-making machines and have great imaginations, we can turn any little action or experience into a great conspiracy theory.  We need to acknowledge the tremendous powers of imagination that we have and ask that they be channeled in a productive way.  So often we use them to star in our own personal “Tella Novela”. By taking things at face value, people at their word, and accepting what is, we are freed from having to make it mean anything more than what is present.  My prayer for us today is that we look to channel our imagination in a productive way and have the courage to simply see and take things in as they are, not as we interpret them.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There are so many great ideas out there. We have tremendous thinkers who have shared with us their wisdom.  We have people in our lives who speak of great epiphanies and enlightened understandings.  We are motivated by their words.  Words and ideas are wonderful but it is action that inspires us.  When we witness something, it impacts us on so many more levels than just hearing about it.  The great speakers that share with us their wisdom inspire us when we hear them share of how they used their ideas in their lives.  When we see through their actions that they not only speak it but live it.  Actions speak louder than words.  The question for us when we hear something that inspires us is simply, how can I apply that to my life?  I have found that if I can not make use of it soon after hearing it, it is lost.  The good news is if it is meant to create a shift in our lives, it will pop up again when we are ready to put it into practice.  God never gives up on us.  Think of all the ways God reminds us of his love for us all day long and we don’t even catch it until the end of the day when our head hits the pillow and we realize we are still safe and alive.  My prayer for us today is that we take the ideas that we hear or read from others and apply that which we can as soon as we can to have a greater loving life experience today. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

  Love makes the world go round!  How do I know this?  We are created with and for love.  At the end of the day, when all is said and done it is always love that brings the healing, the power, the courage, the hope, the creation, inspiration, joy, and the peace.  As a child, I always thought this meant that if I was not experiencing love or being loving or feeling love that something was wrong.  I was not being who God wanted me to be, I was a bad girl, I had an unclean heart, etc.  What I didn’t understand that love is at our core, we can never be anything but love and our lives are the process of returning to that from which we were created.  When I am experiencing something other than love it is the catalyst to bring me back to LOVE.  Whatever it is–a relationship, an event, a feeling, a thought–they are all indications of how far or close I am from my true essence.  There is nothing wrong.  Things that happen in my experience are simply opportunities to return to love.  No matter what happens, no matter what I do, no matter what I say or don’t say I simply cannot undo God.  When we let go into love, when we don’t resist our true selves, when we surrender our stories and wake up to how connected we are to All that Is, we experience a true peace because we have come home.  I know that I experience this when I am in the presence of God, when I take a deep breath, when I pause and get present in my body, when I extend love to another human being, when I take action in the direction of my passions, and most importantly when I let go and trust that I AM okay and there is nothing wrong.  The opposite belief is one of the well-worn stories of my ego and it is ultimately a gift because every time the story begins to run in my head, it is a signal that I am off-line and need to reestablish the connection.  Therefore, I can love the story too.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to connect to LOVE in whatever way works for us and know that God longs to connect with us and through us in every way possible, we get to pick.  Make it a great one!  Peace ~ Colleen

We are all born with a great light inside of us.  This is why we respond to light.  We recognize it in the eyes of others, we are dazzled by the stars, we are mesmerized by candles, we use it to guide our paths, we even change time (as if that were really possible) so we have more of it during darker times of the year.  Think of how we put candles on a cake to celebrate birthdays.  We acknowledge the greatness of that person’s life when we celebrate them and the older they are, the more light they have.  When we connect with other people we connect with the light inside of them–it has their energy, their power, and their essence.  We see it in the eyes of people when they perform, when they speak their truth, and when they give love.  Angels are depicted with light, saints with halos, and we even describe the spirit of people who are loving as being light and bright.  Sometimes we let life beat us down and we forget that this light is always within us. Sometimes the flame is just really low. This is when we need other people.  We need each other to remind us of the light within us. We need the light that is ignited in the heart of another to breathe and grow our flame. When I was a sophomore in college I was going through a pretty dark time.  I was depressed and dealing with a broken heart–my first.  Just when I had started to believe that life was only going to get darker, I befriended a woman who asked me to sponsor her as she embarked on her faith journey.  I couldn’t believe it when she asked me.  I realized that she saw the light inside of me that I thought all but disappeared.  Her asking for my help ignited it again within me. Through being there for her as she walked her new faith path, the light in me grew stronger.  I was ignited by her growing light of faith as I walked with her during this special time in her life.  She was such a gift to me and I will forever be grateful.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to acknowledge the light we see in each other and ignite the world.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God wants so much to be close to us.  Why else would the Creator of all creations have taken the time to design and develop every little cell of our being?  The question is do we dare be that close to us?  Can we handle the silence within ourselves?  I think we get caught up in the worldly clamours and distractions around us because we are afraid of what we will find if we slow down long enough to get to know ourselves.  We do not want to face our stories because we think that what our head tells us just might be true.  The irony, of course, (and those who have delved deep within can attest) is that we instead find the truth of who we are.  It is hidden behind the noise and the drama and the doing and performing.  In the quiet stillness of our heart, God longs to steal us away and show us the love that resides deep and calm and powerful within us.  The essence of who we are is connected to All that is.  God wants to reveal our true nature, but we have to be willing to risk standing up to the stories that we have created and test their truth.  My prayer for us today is that we be granted the courage and the willingness to be stolen away by our Creator so that the beauty of who we are can be revealed to us in light of our circumstances of the day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen