dailydatewithgod

The good news is no wrapping paper or bows are required. The good news is we are much more generous than we realize. When it comes to giving we are only limited by our mind’s idea of what qualifies as a gift. It may seem silly or an overstepping of a boundary, but gifts are regularly exchanged one moment to the next. The moment we are in is a gift, that is why it is called the present. What we say to others is a gift. What we hear from others is a gift. What we learn is a gift. What we teach is a gift. What we notice is a gift. What we don’t see is a gift. God invites us to expand our creative understanding of what qualifies as a gift. Our very being is a gift given to us by the essence of life itself. Every moment that we exchange energy a gift is given and received. The question is what kinds of gifts are we giving and receiving? The deeper question is what kinds of gifts do we want to be giving and receiving? We all have had the experience of getting a gift (the kind with wrapping paper and a bow) that we did not want. At that moment, we can choose to accept or reject it. Perhaps we chose to accept the gift of the intention of the person who gave it to us but not keep the actual item. Or perhaps we kept the actual item but dismissed the intention of the person who gave it to us. The same occurs in gifts that do not contain wrapping paper. This morning on my walk, I received the gift of light given by the sun and marveled in it as it lit my path through the neighborhood. When I came to work I gave a coworker the gift of my attention when I paused to receive his answer to my question about how he was doing. I could have chosen to withhold the gift of my attention and give myself the gift of getting my self-composure before engaging with others. The continual presence and exchange of gifts that happen are astounding. All gifts ask of us are the willingness to open the eyes of our hearts and view their presence through the lens of our hearts.

One of the more frustrating entanglements encountered in human relations is around the concept of sight. How often do we find ourselves baffled either by what someone else is either seeing that we are not or we are seeing that they are not? How many times do we find ourselves not able to sight something we know we have seen? How frequently do we hear the colloquialism that we would not have seen something even if it punched us in the face? It can be the angle from which we are looking or the lens through which we are perceiving that blocks our sight. The fascinating layers of understanding around the idea of sight don’t even touch on the physical elements composed of what it means to actually see something. Then add into the equation that we equate seeing with understanding. Moving from sight to comprehension can be a big leap. Some of my common prayers are: “God how do you see this? God, what am I not seeing? God, show me where my sight is blocked in this situation? God, if this (fill-in-the-blank) is not in your sights for me, show me what is. God, I can see this with my eyes but the sight of my heart is having a hard time allowing it to be true or real. Sometimes all we need is a willingness to extend the range of our vision. From there we can pick up the sights we are not seeing or not willing to see. It is humbling to acknowledge where our sight is blocked because we are only looking with our eyes. God invites us to keep in our sights what is in the range of our hearts. The sight from the heart is not about the physical act of seeing, it is about the recognition of the vibrational quality of something both outside and within us. Developing the attunement in our hearts allows us to hold space for what we and those with whom we interact can and cannot see. The sight of our hearts becomes an invitation to open up to the creative interactions called for in our relationships with others and ourselves.

An enumerable number of people have shared the following sentiment about courage:  “Courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to go forward anyway.”  I find it curious that one of the most common phrases in the bible which is compromised of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is about fear:  “Be Not Afraid”, “Fear Not”, etc.  It also repeats that we are not given a spirit of fear.  So why would we be able to fear?   Clearly, it is not useless otherwise it would not be a built-in element of who we are as human beings. While this will most likely be on the top of my list of questions for God, until or if I get an answer we must all contend with how to approach fear.  Like most things, making it bad or wrong or trying to get rid of it have proved futile, at least for me.  God calls us first to recognize when we have taken the element of fear and used it to color our perspective.  In my experience, anything that takes precedent in my mindset besides love will ultimately not go well. We are designed to be the beacon of God’s message of the presence of love in the world.  How can we do that if we are circling the drain overwhelmed by fears?  And yet there are many things to be worried, fearful, or anxious about in the world so it cannot be about pretending.  God invites me on our daily dates to look at fear through the lens of courage.  Courage comes from the heart.  It is about strengthening our connection to the love which is always present within us.  When my mind is occupied by thoughts of fear I can notice that I have disconnected the pipeline to my heart.  Sometimes the most courageous thing I can do is just own up to what I am fearing.  “God, this fear is looping through my mind and I am convinced no amount of love from any source can stand up to it, help.”  From the space of honesty and humility, we can put our fears in the line of sight of courage and marshal whatever resources necessary to allow our eyes to be opened up to the courageous power of love that is alive within us.

If your mind is anything like mine, you can spend hours trying to figure things out. It is an essential part of who we are to want to make sense of ourselves and the world. It brings a sense of peace to feel like we know and understand. It can be unsettling when we are left to figure things out but it is what drives us to keep moving forward. Often there are experiences where we find ourselves still lost even after hours and hours of figuring. It is in those frustrating moments when we must humbly admit we are at a loss. The potential for a level of frustration to cause a sense of defeat or hopelessness is real. God invites us in those moments when we recognize no amount of figuring out is going to serve us any longer that perhaps it is an invitation for configuration. What looks like a moment to give up is simply an opportunity to bring in other elements of ourselves that we have left out of the figuring. What if we bring the problem to our hearts? What if we ask someone else what in us they think will help us figure it out? When we get frustrated by our lack of figuring that enables a solution is only smoke and mirrors over our spirit’s desire to bring more of the full configuration of our whole selves to the table. All it takes is a moment to pause, take a deep breath, and look up from the narrow-focused road of figuring it out. The creative capacity within us is endless and will lead us to open up to the configurations within ourselves when we step outside the limits of what our mind can figure out. The configuration of our heart will give us the courage to face whatever roadblocks our mind puts up including the stories about how it is time to give up. The configuration of our spirit will lead us to find the light of life in nooks and crannies we never knew existed within us. God knows we are beings meant for growth and most of our growth comes when we embark on a different configuration to figure out what is in front of us that is calling us to show up as the truth of who we are in this moment.

Given all the shades and hues that we represent as a people on this planet is it truly a surprise that we are not all meant to be the same. The degree to which we show up in our being, through our doing, and with our intentions can be measured by the amount of light we emit.  At any given moment we can bring light, make light, block light, or hide the light.  God calls upon us to develop an awareness of how we are showing up.  We are invited to notice how we are both using our light and playing with the light of those around us.  The degree to which we open ourselves up to the light of life within us allows us to creatively use the light with intention. So many of us are busy running around trying to catch the light of others that we block the access to our lights.  We think the light we have is not as good, is the wrong kind, or the shade of light we are feeling at the moment will not be a benefit.  What we do not realize is that when we are busy hiding our light or festering around its unworthiness we keep others from finding a creative use for their light.  Our purpose is not just to be the light everyone wants to be but be the true light of who we are in the moment. It is this light that can create the needed shade or hue for the moment we are facing.  When we align ourselves with the creative light of life that God has placed within us and trust it as being what is needed we can show up and play a role in the creation process.

This past year has been a significant one for everyone.  In some way or another, we are changed by it.  Not all areas of our lives are affected but in some way, we will never be the same. Reality shows us that change is always happening.  In any given year we enter it a different person than the year before. At the underpinning of change is an opportunity to be creative.  We can take the given truth of change and use it to invoke our sovereignty.  God did not create us to be victims of the everchanging universe in which we live.  God invites us in each moment to play a part in the creation opportunity we are being given through the inevitability of change.  My daily dates with God have guided me to an experience of God as the one who invites me to show up for my life, whatever it brings.  It is what we are all here for.  We are designed to be the truth of who we are at our core in our own lives because it is exactly what is needed.  It may not grab headlines and it may not leave some lasting legacy except in the moment.  We are invited to allow the creative nature within us to shine forth in our expression to those who are present for it in the moment we are in. That may mean to ourselves, to others, to a specific situation, or even the input of an idea.  God calls upon us to be the creative force that moves the change which will be occurring as we move from one moment to the next.  It is what the courage of our hearts gives us the energy to do.  It is what happens naturally as an extension of our hearts and minds being aligned in the creative expression of who we truly are.  As many things continue to change in this new year, we are invited with each breath to summon the creative force of our hearts to show up in the moment.  It is a potentially fearful proposition.  It is why we can rely upon our connection to God as we understand God to guide us from the power of love. From this love, we are graced with the courage to explore what our creative selves are being asked for today. In my experience, fear fades in the face of love and I have come to trust that God will guide me in how my creative self can best be of service today.

As we turn from one year to the next there are things we carry with us.  Some we intend to, others come along without our awareness.  Often the unknown are the hidden requests we hold within our hearts.  Perhaps we adopted the idea that we should not want. Perhaps we are worn out on holding out for the power of hope.  Despite trying to be as logical and practical as possible, our hearts cannot squander the power of the request for love to make itself known through our active participation in life as it is occurring. We get stuck in thinking we do not have a right to request the presence of love because we have not shown ourselves as worthy. God sees each breath we take as worthy because God knows it to be the fuel through which love can make itself known.  We confuse our unrealistic demand that love shows up only as we want it to with the sacred power of a simple request for love to be made visible through whatever form and shape best suits the moment we are in. God does not ask us to request love in a fluffy feel-good sense of love that is like a candied treat.  God calls upon the courage of our hearts to request love to show us how we are shaped by it and a beacon of it when we show up with our whole selves to the tasks at hand no matter what they are.  A request of love worthy of our heart’s intention is that which will allow it to move in and through us, in ways, we never knew ourselves to be.

The funny thing about life is we do not know how much of it we are capable of living until we test our limits.  We may think based on the labels that we fit within a particular caliber of any character traits from intelligence to physical strength.  In that case, we are allowing the experience of others to determine our caliber. God invites us to investigate the labels we carry around regardless of how well they work for us and see what our true caliber is. We do that by participating in the life that is right in front of us.  Our minds’ voice of fear will come with all kinds of reasons as to why we cannot handle particular things.  The simplest reasons are that is not our job, not our role, not what we are here to do, outside the norm, not what is expected, and so on.  The voice of fear is full of so many nots it ties our system into knots. When we pause and take a deep breath, we invite the energy of the heart into the conversation. Our hearts contain the courage to discover our caliber in any arena of life. We may find out that we lack the caliber of whatever is most needed in a given situation, but by involving our whole being in the experience we are provided evidence of the truth outside our ideas and labels.  The voice of fear which can take up lots of space in our minds is useful when it comes to determining our caliber to survive but rarely are its arguments against testing our caliber are about anything more than the survival of ideas.  When we practice inviting the courage of our hearts into the fear conversation our mind is having, we invoke the spirit of life which will show us what our caliber is.

It seems as though there has been a lot of attention paid to our diversity this year. This sits next to the reality that we are also similar. The degree to which these seemingly opposing ideas can be in agreement is the degree to which we can find both. It appears as there is no mutual ground. As though we need to decide which is more important, our unique diversity or our collective similarity. God invites us to notice that we as members of planet Earth are being called to find a mutuality that exists within the diversity and similarity of our natures. Instead of opting for an either-or, make room for both and. Existing in this level of mutuality begins with ourselves. Perhaps the reason we see the world torn by these ideas is that we are witnessing what happens for us internally. Instead of opting to pick a side that is more valuable to us, God encourages us to find the spaces within ourselves that are calling for mutuality. As we cultivate the practice of learning to turn our eyes inward and find the mutuality, we will also begin to notice it outside of ourselves. We are a whole body and every function is needed and serves a purpose. The mutuality which exists within the truth of who we are both as individuals and a collective is no different than the recognition that we need both the mind and the heart in order for us to exist. Focusing on the mutuality of our very being provides the lens we need to see our mutuality in all our labels as people and as cultures. In the seemingly long and winding road between our hearts and our minds is the mutuality path we need to exist in chaos and peace.

There is an image that sticks in my mind when I hear the word ponder. I imagine a person looking at their reflection in a pond. Perhaps it was my way of remembering the meaning of the word when I learned it as a kid. I put an unknown concept with a known one. We all learn this way although it is often couched as an adult learning style. However, from the moment concepts and ideas become known to us we use them to grasp on to new ones. It is why children marvel at new concepts that do not compute with fascination and adults often do so with contempt. As adults, we have so much cemented in that it can feel like a disruption of our existing knowledge when we are asked to take in something novel. Yet it is the very thing that keeps us alive. Being open to ponder the unknown is a way to keep ourselves young. When we encounter an experience where we are resistant to pondering something new we might pause and notice that it will invigorate us and keep us alive. Most often we see it as a threat especially if it calls some well-worn ideas in our minds into question. Some people have a curious template and are more open to ponder the unknown without resistance. Most of us put up some kind of resistance. We see it easily in other people. Especially those with whom we are not able to persuade to see things as we do. The irony in all of this is that we might get along a little bit better with those who hold opposing ideas if we remembered how resistant we can all be when it comes to pondering the unknown. God invites us to ponder the possibilities of our own growth by seeing what is open to us when we are willing to ponder the unknown. God encourages us to use the energy of our heart which houses the compassion needed to ponder the possibility that perhaps the reason someone holds an opposing view is that their mind is resisting the opportunity to ponder and stay young at heart and mind.