dailydatewithgod

We are all a part of the cycles of life.  We see it in plants, in seasons of nature throughout the year.  We are part of this natural design as human beings, yet we think we are somehow different and excluded.  However, we too have times of growth, death, pruning, and new budding.  The difficulties we experience often stem when we try to prevent one of our seasons.  The beauty of this life is that these different seasons are happening at different times in our lives in different areas of our lives simultaneously.  We can be experiencing growth in our professional life and pruning in our emotional life; budding in our spiritual life and death in our physical life.  It always comes down to trusting the hand of the Gardner.  If I am courageous enough to trust that God is the one who designed every cell in my body, then I have enough courage (even if I feel lacking in it) to trust that God knows when it is time to prune and time to plant new seeds in my life.  For me the time that is often most challenging is in the pruning.  It is the letting go of part of what no longer serves my greatness that I have become attached to.  So if any of you can relate then this prayer is for all of us:  “Heavenly Gardner, I trust that You who planted the seeds of this in my life know that it is time to let it go.  Grant me the courage to trust that even though I have gotten attached to it, letting it go will allow me to grow stronger in love, light and peace. Amen.”  Make it a great day!  Peace~Colleen

Living in the United States there is this notion of freedom that we have that we some how posses it, control it, force it, make it happen.  We see it as our birthright.  Spiritually, freedom is about not being attached to this physical world.  We are in it and we experience it, but knowing deep down that it does not define us at our core.  In the physical world we attain freedom from creating boundaries and defining space and time.  In the spiritual world, life is limitless and boundless and has no specific space or time.  lt can create a conundrum in our hearts because our mind tries to wrap itself around these two understandings of freedom and it is not able to. I don’t know why having structure in my life allows me to feel more free, but I think it has to do with being in the reality of a physical world.  Yet, many spiritual experiences I have had there is no sense of boundaries and I feel completely free.  Again two different planes of existence.  So how do we create harmony between the two?  The only thing I know to do is what I always do: turn to God and ask, how can I be free in this moment, in this day, right here and now?  Show me how to be aligned with You and an expression of you in love and justice and not be frightened by the experiences I may encounter in the world.  Sometimes I get stuck in defining myself by the world’s standards and I feel inhibited and not very free. It is therefore a gift because it creates an opportunity to turn to God and ask how to see my own freedom of spirit in that situation.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to freely connect with God no matter what experience we are having physically and emotionally and be open to what freedom is in that moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

In one of my favorite movies there is this scene where the main character steps out of the subway in NY and as he is walking this preacher in a collar says  “There are signs everywhere.” This makes him stop and he turns around and asks the guy, what he says and the preacher repeats it and explains that he looked lost so he thought he needed to be reminded that there are signs everywhere.  The next couple of scenes you see him comes across signs, some literal, some “coincidental” to help him decide what he is to do in his dilemma.  It reminds me that God is everywhere and we are constantly being guided, but if we aren’t looking for guidance then we don’t see anything and we feel lost and alone.  But guidance doesn’t just come from signs and experiences outside of ourselves.  Guidance comes from within.  Guidance comes when we get quiet and listen in to our hearts. There are many signs all around us all the time, but it is in connecting within that we determine what those signs might mean.  The guidance from God comes in whispers and notions, being present in the moment and experiencing all the nuances of life.  Guidance rarely comes to me in the way that I would like.  I often expect neon signs and loud voices of direction but then again, I can be rather dramatic. 🙂  I usually want guidance in that way because I want more than guidance. I want reassurance that I am making the “right” decision. That it won’t be a waste of my time to go down this or that path.  Then I am reminded that God once informed me that he did not know the word “waste”, only “learning.”  In the past few years, as I have grown in my relationship with God, I have come to see that decisions come in two realities, does choosing this bring me closer to God or further from God?  Does choosing this bring me peace or disease?  I choose not to be paralyzed by some perfect notion of right or wrong, instead, if I am willing to know that I will learn from whatever happens as a result of the decision, then I will be safe and okay.  If I truly believe that God, the All Powerful Creator Spirit of the Universe, can be with me no matter what I choose or what happens, then I am safe and okay even if I make a “mistake” or a “wrong” choice.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to take our faith as our guidance and be willing to make mistakes if only to recognize that we are not mistakes.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

It is the clearest most fresh time of the dawn as the sun begins to shine across our planet.  It is full of promise and possibility so much so that the bird begin to sing, the flowers lights up, and it is though the whole world is given a fresh breath.  What is interesting though is that right before the dawn breaks, we are at the darkest part of the night.  So in order to fully experience the dawn we must be willing to be in the darkest of the dark times.  Granted most people, myself included, are tucked away in our homes and possibly fast asleep. My dates begin during this darkest time and maybe that is why I am able to connect more with God because I cannot see otherwise.  I recognize that I have to be willing to walk through the darkness to get to the dawn in my life.  I have experienced times of great darkness where I could not even see the stars and I have experienced times of great dawn where I was bursting of light that could not contain itself.  I would not trade any of it.  My prayer for us today is that when we have moments of great darkness that we trust that we are simply cycling through on our way to a new dawn.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Have you ever noticed the magic about being around someone you love?  You just can’t seem to find enough things about them that tickle your fancy.  When a relationship is new you are fascinated by all the little quirks they have, you feel the energy when you are in their presence.  In fact, just being around them makes you feel good.  When I read and understand about God from mystical, traditional and personal writing, is that God is now.  God is all about right now.  Each day, each moment is new. This means that God sees us this way each day and each moment.  We are new, we are exciting, we are marvelous.  We are the ones who are worn with ourselves, bored, and looking for the next thing because we compare it to something from the past or some expectation of the future.  What if we were fully present in the moments of today and saw ourselves, God and others as God sees us–NOW?  That would make dwelling not only in God but dwelling in ourselves a marvelous experience every day.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to let go of what we think is real and be in a God-head of dwelling in the NOW.  Just think what marvelous experiences we might have, just for today.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We are invited to attend our lives.  We are extended a grand invitation when we enter the world out of the womb and hopefully we were greeted by people and circumstances of celebration.  Each day we are extended the same invitation.  But because we don’t hear that excitement or see the party of angels that are rejoicing at our waking, we think “it’s just another day.”  Yes, it just another day!  We were given a breath and a chance this morning.  Our job is not to question its existence but make the most of it.  What can we do today to celebrate the gift we have been given?  How can we share this gift of life that not everyone on the planet got with as many other people as possible?  We get caught up in our to do lists, our goals and intentions, our expectations and what didn’t happen yesterday that we lose sight of today.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage and the willingness to live this “it” that we have received “just another one” of.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

How many moments in our day do we spend alive?  One might say all of it because we are not dead, we are still breathing.  But is that our only definition of alive?  Is there more to it than simply not being dead?  I think so.  I think it is about being lively.  How much do we make of those breaths that we have? Apparently there is a term in music that refers to quickly and lively– a vite!  What are you invited to today by God with the breaths that you are given?  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to make more vite moments out of the breaths we are given.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There are so many ways to measure our worth.  This is the good news.  When one way does not work to promote our true sense of self then we can look to another way.  The other thing to keep in mind when we are searching to see our own value is that it does not have to be the same measurement every day.  We are human beings, not human doings and we are not machines that produce a product on an assembly line.  The real question is do we connect with our own true value?  Do we see ourselves as the world sees us or do we see ourselves as God sees us?  Which is more important to us?  It is easy to get caught up in the world’s expectations of who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to accomplish, but do those things fulfill our hearts?  Do they cause us to see and demonstrate who we are to the world in such a way that we are contributing to the greater good?  Or do they separate us even more from our fellow human beings because now we are greater or less than the lot of us?  Our true strength lies in our character and in our ability to bring love.  It is from love that we were formed and it is love that we are called to be and do.  What that demonstration of love calls for depends on the situation and it will not look the same from moment to moment.  If loving others in a particular fashion causes us to hate ourselves then it is not the true strength of the power of love.  My prayer for us today is that we turn to the strength and source of true love to fill our cup and live out that love emanating in us the best way we can for just this day.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Most of us have no idea what we are doing! Maybe I am just speaking for myself and some of you might relate, but for a person who lives intentionally and practices loving kindness to the best of her ability I am baffled a lot of the time by how things turn out.  I am surprised by all the twists and turns that life takes.  The good news is that the uncertainty does not throw me off course the way that it used to.  I spent a large portion of my life trying so hard to hold on to what I thought I knew.  I was sure if I just did all the right things, said all the right things, and didn’t disobey any laws that nothing would go wrong.  However, it did not work out that way.  All sorts of things went “wrong.”  The funny part is that before I made a decision to trust God more, I doubled my efforts.  I did more of what I thought was expected of me, tried to be more perfect, please more people, and got more quiet.  Honestly, this just meant I needed more help to do so. For me that meant food.  I have shared here before that I used food like some people use alcohol and drugs.  I am so grateful that almost 12 years ago I found another way to deal with life.  A way where I do not have to hurt myself to get through life. A way that reminds me on a daily basis, several times a day that God is in charge.  As long as I stop trying to manage life to suit me and have confidence that no matter how many things go “wrong”, it still does not mean that I “am wrong”, life is more doable and breathable.  The illusion of control is just that, an illusion.  The voice of control is the same one that tells me that whatever I am thinking or doing it is wrong and others disapprove and I should really second guess myself.  We all have our stories and that is one that I took on at a very early age.  As most neuroscientists will tell you, we all have that to some extent.  The vision of something wrong comes from a time in evolution where we had to be on the lookout for what was wrong because it meant our very life if we did not see “it” coming.  (“It” by the way, was usually something like a wild animal or a storm pattern in a time of no shelter, etc.) The reality today is that our brain interprets the “its” the same whether they are lions, tigers, and bears or bosses, spouses, and taxes.  This means that whatever we feel will impact our survival we react as though it is life threatening. It may just call for an adjustment to our lifestyle.  For me, I know that I find the greatest peace not in trying to control myself or allude myself into thinking I am controlling my environment, but rather stepping closer into relationship with God.  When I am open to just being who God wants me to be–a fully and live expression of love, light, compassion, beauty, acceptance, strength, and courage, then I am free.  When I walk in the confidence that God has my back (because why would the Creator create something only to want it to be destroyed), I can embrace the uncertainties as learning lessons to bring me closer to who I truly am.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to let go of a little control and the idea that our experiences define us and breathe into the confidence God.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Our hearts are the organ in our body that carries blood and oxygen to the rest of our body by way of arteries.  The veins then take the oxygen depleted blood and bring it back to our hearts to be rejuvenated.  Our circulatory system is quite miraculous as are all of our body systems.  Our bodies are in constant flow of the new and the old.  It is not as though the blood in our feet decide even though it is lacking of oxygen, it is going to hold on a little longer.  It simply goes with the flow; the lines of arteries and veins are designed to just keep moving.  Of course, we have to keep breathing and the heart has to keep pumping.  We notice the moment that part of our body stops the flow and alarm signals are sent to our brain.  If our bodies do all of this because of how God created them and we are not “needed” to stop and think about them, how much more flow could be happening in our lives if we didn’t stop to try to figure it out?  Take that in for a minute.  If we adopted a heart-like essence to the circumstances in our lives then we would show up with a fresh supply of oxygen, move through the experience and then return to our heart to  let go of the waste and resupply with fresh oxygen.  We would continually be coming back to our heart.  We would bring with us to our heart that which needed to be refreshed and be renewed with each breath to keep going.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to live like the essence of our heart in the flow of life, trusting that we can always come back to our hearts to get what we need and keep going forward.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen