dailydatewithgod

It’s finally here!  A brand new year!  Well, a new day inside a new year!  Such excitement, relief, trepidation, enthusiasm, anticipation, and a myriad of other feelings often come with the beginning of a new year.  What is it exactly that made this change from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. so much more special?  Our thoughts.  We individually and collectively made the changing of that one minute mean all the things that we are feeling about it. Yes, we have that much power.  Life is 10% what happens and 90% how we react to it (a.k.a.-what we make it mean).  The beauty in that creative process is that at 12:01 a.m. we could make it mean something else entirely.  How we experience our life is simply a result of the meaning that we create.  For someone nursing a sick person back to health it was simply one more minute of life.  To a person waiting for a loved one to return home safely, it was one minute closer to when they would see their loved one.  To someone serving time in prison, it was one more minute closer to their release date or execution.  To someone living on the street it was one more minute closer to when the sun would come up and the air would get warmer.  To the person spending time with the love of their life it was one more kissing embrace they got to enjoy.  To a sleeping child it was one more minute added on to the hours of dreaming.  To the dog next door it was one more minute closer to when the firecracker noises that disturbed him would stop.  To the one for whom 2013 was the worst year of his/her life it was the end of the treachery.  For the one who had the best year of her/his life, it was the stepping into uncertainty of what this new year might bring.  We all have such meaning placed on the changing of the clock from one minute to the next.  Isn’t it amazing what we can create from the meaning.?

As we think about the new year, or even the next hours of this day we call January 1st, I have a challenge for you.  My challenge is that each day we take the action and surrender one of our moments’ meanings.  In other words, take one thing each day that we have made mean whatever we made it mean, it give it over (surrender) it to God to create a new meaning.  We can pick a “good or bad” meaning or one that is “working or not working” for us and just turn it over.  Then we can see if at the end of 2014 if we experienced any greater peace.  I invite you to share with me on this blog and or with others if it makes a difference to surrender just one meaning per day. Are you up for the challenge?  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to let go of one meaning today and be open to a God-meaning.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The things we use most often we keep close. The people who are most important in our lives we keep close.  The dreams and ideas we have we keep utmost in our minds. Is it possible that the reason our heart is within arms reach of our brain is because they are meant to be kept close together? Is it possible that we are kept close to God because we are important to him?  Have you ever taken for granted something that was always just there?  Maybe that is what we do sometimes with the things that are most easily within reach.  Sometimes we just need a little wake-up call to be reminded that we are more than what we perceive inside our heads and that our realm of influence extends beyond us.  Whatever it is we are most in need of is never far from reach.  This is where God makes manifest his love for us–in the simple, in the quiet, in the easy to forget. That is why the moment we choose to turn towards God, God is right there.  God is always within reach.  My prayer for us today is that we open our eyes to the gifts right in front of us  and the gifts within us. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

At the close of a year we have the capability to reflect on the course of our lives over the last year.  It has surely been a year of good and bad. Some are probably very glad to have a new year come, some are sad to see this one go.  Hopefully we can look back and see our own growth.  As I approach a new year, I like to look back and note what it is that I am no longer carrying with me.  What old ideas have I managed to let go of?  What have I  released in thought and experience so that I am more free than I was 12 months ago?  This is how I know that I have lived.  Life is a series of letting go.  Letting go of ideas, beliefs, circumstances, people, stories, and character qualities.  Shedding the coating that I have caked on that can mask my connection to God and to myself.  My prayer for us today is that we acknowledge one thing that we have released over this past year that has brought us closer to ourselves and ultimately to God.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Have you ever had something unexpectedly good happen to you?  A surprise phone call from a loved one?  Finding money in a winter or summer coat pocket?  Finding a parking space at Trader Joe’s? Most people would look upon that as a coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidences.  I believe those are moments when God shows up anonymously.  I refer to them as God-incidences.  Those are the times that we get to see in little ways that we are being looked out for, that life is on our side, and that we are being thought of with love.  Does that mean when the opposite happens that God is upset with us?  I suppose in some black and white, tit for tat world that might be one way to look at it, but I don’t believe in a punishing God.  I believe that we experience challenging moments that call us to realign with who we truly are.  I believe that we have experiences which point out to us when we are out of alignment with who we are called to be.  I believe that life is full of experiences from which to grow stronger in love and courage.  Adversity is a gift if we allow it to be. Without challenges and strife we would never see what we are made of.  If we are always in perfect alignment with who we are then the rest of the world cannot relate to us.  Spirituality is not about being perfect and spotless, it is about recognizing our messiness as simply mud that needs to be washed off.  Underneath all of our stories and experiences is a heart full of love.  I had to go through many experiences to defrost and melt the iron gates of protection around my heart.  It was painful and my ego was not the least bit interested.  But in the end, God showed me what I was capable of and who I really am.  I got to see and continue to see that the stories are not me, they were just thoughts that I repeated, which became beliefs based on a particular experience.  Who I am is loving and kind,loveable and courageous.  We truly are made in the image and likeness of God.  Our lives here on earth are the chance to let go of anything that stands in the way of experiencing that image of ourselves.  That means it is all a blessing.  Which means, whatever it is I am experiencing, I can say “Thank You.”  My prayer for us today is that we ask God for the courage to see our challenges as blessings in disguise and as we walk through them let God know that we would also appreciate some cool God-incidences to help keep up our spirits.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Curiosity about the world, curiosity about our lives is the simplest and most profound key to happiness.  When we stop and with curiosity question what is happening and why we are being the way we are, we create a distance and disattachment from what is happening.  It provides an opportunity to take a breath and allow God in. In interrupts the automatic pilot from engaging.  For example. a few weeks back I got some news at work about a change that was going to occur to people in my department and who hold my position.  It was going to shift how we do our work and how our time gets measured.  When asked by my supervisor what my first thoughts or reactions were I found myself wanting to burst into tears.  Honestly, I hated the idea of what was going to be happening mostly because of what I was making it mean.  I stopped for a moment and noticed that I was having a strong reaction. I made a comment but kept it to a minimum as I had no desire to burst into tears in the office in front of my co-workers. After that initial meeting, with wonder (not judgment) I observed that I had a strong reaction and with curiosity I began to explore what I might be attaching to it.  It is amazing what happens when we attach meaning to things.  All that was happening was a change in regulations and procedures at work.  That was it.  My job didn’t change, my pay and benefits didn’t change, who I work with didn’t change.  Looking at it objectively, there was nothing to react to.  However, it was some deeply held beliefs and old ideas that floated to the surface and had me by the throat. I have heard that if one’s reaction to something is hysterical, it is probably historical.  What was happening touched on some similar experiences from my past, that clearly had not fully resolved and so the impact of all of that was what I was reacting to.  Again, with wonder I could observe that there was a deeper experience that I was being called to bring to God to be transformed. Only time will tell how these new circumstances at work will come out, but at least I did not spend weeks pissing and moaning about how my job is creating havoc in my life.  I took the power back and addressed what was happening within me.  This is a skill that we can develop. Being in wonder and not judgment about things is part of the core of who we are.  I have learned that it is best to leave judgment to God and that includes judgment of myself, others, and situations. Observation and questioning are more effective tools by which to navigate. It doesn’t mean that I don’t judge, I do plenty. I have just learned not to engage as best as possible based on those judgments.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to take a breath (call on God) and wonder about our reactions instead of engaging them immediately.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Excitement is contagious!  Excitement is vibrant!  Excitement is grabbing hold of the moment and sucking the marrow out of it.  There is some excitement in the air right now as we switch from one year to another!  There is excitement when we are preparing for a big event in our lives.  It is often generated when it comes to times of anticipated fun, completion, or new beginnings.  These are all good contexts in which to be excited.  But what about excitement for today?  Are you excited to be alive?  Are you excited that you got to breathe this morning?  Are you excited about what the day holds?  Most of the everyday stuff we think we just need to get through so that we can have those days that we are excited about.  But what if today is the only day we have?  What if today there are little things inside of it that warrant or need some excitement?  What if our day if full of exciting things but we are so used to looking at them through clouded lenses and lack that we can’t see a reason to be excited?  My prayer for us today is that we ask God to open our eyes to the excitement that is built into our every day and have the courage to take it in.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

One of the most amazing experiences I have encountered is being able to exist amidst seemingly conflicted experiences.  I used to think that if you felt sad or disappointed that it was the dominating experience.  I didn’t know it was possible to have both sadness and gratitude at the same time.  Or to feel a sense of peace and physical pain at the same time.  Somewhere in my experience I took on the belief that you could only be one thing at a time.  Perhaps I was sensitive and overwhelmed by everything I felt at once and decided to choose one.  The reasons why matter little.  But I finally get the whole rollercoaster of life.  All in the course of one day you can be up and down and while the up part is exhilarating it is also a little scary.  Maybe that is why the body senses fear and excitement the same and it is left up to us to decide which it is that we are feeling.  God created all the emotions we experience and he didn’t make them “good or bad, right or wrong”, I do that.  And when I remember to let go of the judgment, I can be grateful that I am alive and feeling.  There was a time when I was so numbed out I didn’t feel much of anything.  Today I practice gratitude for feeling.  My prayer for us today is to have the curiosity to see what multitude of feelings are present in any given moment and attach to the most freeing one.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Have you ever had a moment, late at night or early in the morning outside where it seemed as though everything stood still?  Like you almost didn’t want to breathe for fear that you would disturb the peace of the stillness.  It is hard to imagine, but even a city girl like me has had those moments and even craves them at times.  It makes me think that it is exactly what happened at the moment you were born.  When everyone paused to wait to hear the first cry.  I imagine that is what it is like for God.  The Hebrew scriptures tell us that God imagines us before we are even shaped in our mother’s womb.  Just think how awesome it was for God to see us enter the world? Such an exciting and breathtaking moment in time when we breathed our first breath.  What if that is what God experiences when we wake each morning?  What if in the dark stillness just before the dawn, the Creator of Creation await with anticipation to see what will make of the day we are given?  I think this is why I go on these dates each morning (and honestly, I need to reconnect all throughout my day). If I am going to have any shot at making the most out of what I have been given, then it makes sense to connect with the one who created me and created the day.  In the times of silence before my world gets going with lots of noise and chatter, I find I have a more open heart and mind.  Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus on this day.  He too arrived in the stillness of the night.  Maybe because it is in the random quiet places that God likes to present us with gifts.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to find a time of silence–anywhere in our day–to breathe love into our hearts and connect with where we come from.  Make it a great one and Merry Christmas!  Peace~Colleen

Hope is one of those things that can ignite a new understanding of life.  It is the seed of faith.  Without hope it is hard to continue in faith.  There are a lot of people in the world who feel hopeless or hopelessness today.  Maybe you are one of them.  But I can assure you as someone who once experienced a lot of hopelessness in her life, it is possible, and easier than you think to live in a space of hope again.  It is like the candle within you whose light is very dim, we just need a little air to fan the flame and make it grow.  Remember, it is darkest before the dawn. So if it seems like all hope is lost, that is good news because it means it can be found again.  Hope can grow and expand and it only takes one notice or acknowledgement on our part.  Hopelessness is not helplessness.  We can choose to find one thing to have hope in, even if it is outside of ourselves. What we focus on expands so starting with that one thought of hope, we plant the seed that can grow a little more each day. My prayer for us today is that we be willing to taken one spark of hope and focus on it so that it can grow.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

I spent a large portion of my life fearing the worst.  Even if I wasn’t conscious of it, it was the predominant thought.  What I didn’t realize at the time, because I thought it was very practical of me to take everything into account, was that it created the lens through which I saw life.  I would not have described it as fear, I would have described it as being a realist.  Either way, it was a limiting view of God.  Even when good things happened I worried that they would not last long so I wouldn’t let myself enjoy them fully.  I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Living a life today that has let go of the need to destroy myself on a daily basis and shifting my thinking has caused me to realize that God does not wear shoes.  There is no other shoe to come off.  And, all I have is right here right now, so I might as well enjoy it.  Besides, I am completely confident that no matter what happens, God and I can handle it.  Stuff happens, good and bad, right and wrong.  It is not what happens to me that creates my reality it is what I do with it.  My prayer for us today is that we take one anticipation of negativity that we usually carry with us and ask God to exchange it for an anticipation of good that we agree to enjoy to the fullest.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen