dailydatewithgod

It is hard to imagine that I am meant for a purpose greater than even I can imagine. I don’t know about you, but I spent so much of my life thinking less of myself because I though that is what it meant to be a follower of God.  After a while that way of thinking begins to seep in.  I see now that I was still thinking about me.  That is seriously the most ironic thing in the world.  By doing what I thought it meant to be a follower, I was focusing on me.  I am grateful that my eyes have been opened to acknowledge the power of God in the world and in me.  by claiming that I was the worst thing in the world–whether by dodging compliments or beating up on myself for not being “good enough”, I was claiming a role that I had not been given.  I lacked humility.  I did not see myself as one among many, I still saw myself as separate.  My ego thrives on being separate (Edging God Out).  Today I recognize that true humility and healing for myself and others comes when I acknowledge that I don’t have it all together and I need God.  We all need God so I can be healing for myself and others when I go through this world day by day and reach for God.  When I do it, you see that you can do it.  When you do it, I see that I can do it even in a situation that I think God wants none of. (There I go, making up God’s mind for God again 😉  My prayer for you today is that you be open to seeing things as God sees thing and bring an experience of healing which in turn brings healing to all those around you.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There is a song I heard many years ago and the tag line of the song is “Sometimes the very thing you’re looking for is the one thing you don’t see.”  I remember being so intrigued by that line that I wrote it on a self-poster for a retreat where I was asked to include images and sayings that embodied who I saw myself as.  Without realizing it that line struck a chord in me because I sensed that I was often not seeing what was right in front of me and I didn’t realize what it was that I was actually looking for.  As I have mentioned many times before, there is so much I don’t know that I don’t know.  I think I am meant to embark on an experience so that I can learn (fill-in-the-blank) but while being fully present in the experience I end up learning (God-fill-in-the-blank).  When I am challenged by having to step up and say something to someone or go to work on a day that I don’t normally work, I think it is because I need to learn (fill-in-the-blank), but in the end I experience (God-fill-in-the-blank) and having a great time!  God has much greater things planned for me than I could ever imagine, but I think I know how something is going to go or turn out and might ruin it before it ever happens.  I am grateful for the willingness most days to be open to God’s will (what is real and is happening) because it is beyond what I can imagine–even with my brilliant mind 😉  When I experience this enough times, I begin to expand my willingness even more so that when I am faced with a new opportunity I can be enticed to show up and be present.  And that is exactly what happens.  I am present and in the midst of having a meaningful experience I see little signs of God everywhere from flowers on a path to sprinklers to run through to toilet paper gently folded over in a pattern in a public restroom.  Yes I can even see God in toilet paper –did I mention that I am head over heels?  My prayer for you today is that you possess just enough willingness to be enticed to be present to your day–whatever it may bring.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

Abraham Lincoln once said, “People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I remember the first time I heard that I thought it was ridiculous.  But a mind that fights reality and acceptance often scoffs are truth sayings.  I have since come to believe it.  I used to think that happiness was based on outside circumstances, but I now know that happiness is a choice.  It is irrelevant what is happening on the outside, it is my mindset that effects how I see what is happening outside.  I have also heard it said that my level of happiness is directly proportional to my level of discipline. By the time I heard that one, though I don’t remember who said it, it fell softer on my mind because it is the reality that I experience.  I have more discipline in my life today than I had 12 years ago and I am way happier than I was then.  I think the reason that I fight the idea that I am happy as I want to be is the same reason that I fight taking responsibility for anything.  I learned a long long time ago that no one makes me feel anything–I choose.  I may not like my choices but I always have a choice.  When I take the time to connect with God, I have the ability to choose powerfully instead of out of programming.  It is my sincere hope that one day at a time my choice of happiness comes from a place of power, not reaction.  My prayer for you today is when faced with something unhappy outside of you, stop and ask your heart (God), what is the happy in this that you want me to experience?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Did you know that in this very moment you are adored?  In this very moment, you Creator is tickled pink because you are breathing.  In this moment that same Creator has a whole day full of experiences for you to experience life and love.  Did you know that in this moment, you are safe and okay?  In fact, in this moment you and everything around you is perfect because it is what it is.  We have this notion that perfection means everything is going the way we think it should.  Who died and made us commander-in-chief?  I have learned that my ideas, while seemingly brilliant are quite limited.  I can only see and understand a limited amount because I am a finite being.  I can only imagine the finite experiences. This is why each day I get up and spend some date time with an infinite being who conveniently is within me and all around me at any moment I choose to acknowledge it.  Every time I take a breath and open my eyes; every time I pause and say thank you, I am reconnected with the Creator of all creations who is right here with me.  The Great I AM always reminds me, “Colleen, I AM; I AM with you and I AM within you.”  I need look no further than my heart to be connected to the love from which I was created.  My job is to keep my heart clear and that usually means keeping the channel between my mind and my heart open. That requires me to be present and not focused on what happened just a moment ago or fearing what will happen tomorrow.  I humbly, need God to help me do this as well.  Sometimes the simplest prayer I can say is God, help me to be with you in this moment and let go of everything and everyone that is not right here, right now.  My prayer for you today is that when you stop and take a breath you feel the thrilling pink tickle that God feels knowing you are alive.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When I stop to really look into the eyes of another person, my heart is softened.  What I see there is a longing and love.  Perhaps it is a longing to be loved and accepted, perhaps it is a longing to give from the heart.  We all possess this desire to love and to be loved.  It is what gets us up in the morning, it is what moves us to action, it is what calms our hearts and our minds.  We have an opportunity each day to connect with the source of that love, but we are conditioned to believe that it will come from someone or something outside ourselves.  So we search endlessly.  It is only when we have exhausted that outward search or burned out on it that we begin to look within.  What caused me to begin to look within was because I had created such a barricade and a wall around my heart that I could no longer breathe.  It was literally caving in around me and I could no longer tolerate the pain.  My soul knew on a deep level that what I was living was not authentic.  So, under the submission of pain, I became willing to change.  Change is not easy or at least the transition is not because it requires a letting go of all I think that I know and my mind is not interested in lessons in humility.  But I am grateful that I was gifted with an open heart that is interested in being restored.  For that restoration there is only ONE place to turn, to the Great Creator who counts me among his greatest creations of love.  My prayer for you today is that you are able to connect to your heart which counts you among the loved.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Sometimes we can go through an entire day and not be present to those around us.  We can be occupied by our thinking and not notice the subtleties in the voices of the ones we love or the expressions on the faces of those we encounter when we look away.  This may lead one to conclude that we are only affected by each other when we are full present to one another.  That is possible but given that we are energetically connected and all created from the same Great Being, we can be impacted by one another without being aware of it.  We notice it when major catastrophes happen and we step up to the plate because we feel moved to do something, but what if we are impacted in small energetic ways when little things occur too?  If I believe that the reason I am here on this earth is to be love because that is where I come from, then I want to know if love is the message that I am carrying with me.  When I am down on myself and not seeing much good in anything, I transmit that same energy to those around me. This doesn’t mean that I should never be like that, but those are the moments when I need to reach for God and ask how whatever is happening can be used for the greater good so that my impact will ultimately be for the greater good.  My prayer for you today is that you be open to however you are authentically being today can be used for the greater good.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

It’s no surprise that as I go through my day people and situations sometimes do not happen the way I would like them to or think they “should.”  Other people don’t obey commonly acceptable rules, I didn’t get the reaction I had hoped for from a colleague or friend, etc.  Most of the time these days I am able to recognize that I have placed expectations on people and situations and can let them go, but sometimes not.  Those are the times that capture my attention.  When I am not able to let go of an expectation, I know that I am invested in the outcome and I am not leaving much room for God’s will, not mine, to be done.  It is in those moments that hopefully, after not too much time, I can stop and recognize the futility of my thinking. At the very least I can ask myself if holding on to my ideas I am being and behaving the way that is in alignment with what is, the universe, or the greater good?  In other words, if I cannot accept the situation as it is, am I either willing to do something to change it, or ask God to help change my thinking?  If not, I am contributing to the situation by complaining about it (whether I am doing so out loud or in my head matters little).  When I am contributing to the situation by not being in acceptance or change, then I am also behaving in concert with that situation.  My prayer for you and I today is that we be willing to not just notice a situation that is unacceptable to us, but take contrary action in thought or deed so that we are not simply playing along.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

One of the things that I notice is that it is so easy to forget to laugh, especially at myself.  Perhaps, growing up being teased somehow set up this notion that I never wanted people to be laughing at me.  All I know is that today life is hard when I take myself so darn seriously.  Sometimes I have to grab myself by the shirt collar, so to speak, and tell myself to lighten up. So if chips can come in a lite version, I think God can help me to lighten up.  My prayer for you today is that if you find yourself taking yourself top seriously, pause and ask God to help you see the liteness of the situation.  Make it a great one!  Peace ~Colleen

Each experience we have is a gift.  It is a gift because we are given the opportunity to act, not react.  The programming in our mind will react automatically–this is why we find ourselves feeling like we are in a deja vu loop.  But if we pause, then we have a chance to perceive the situation differently and make a decision to act upon it instead of reacting to it. There is much more power in acting versus reacting.  Even the word “react” means to “act again”.  Why not create a new experience?  Good question.  Usually the reason I do not want to create a new experience is I fear what might happen as a result of that new experience.  Even though I may not like the deja vu loop, it is familiar and I do not need to be awake and alert to what is happening.  The down side is that I am not fully present and depending on your experience of being fully present that may not be a down side.  God is RIGHT NOW. God is PRESENT. If I want to be where God is and I want to be with GOD, then I want to PERCEIVE NOW, not perceive my programming.  I am wiling to take the risk of being present and face a situation anew with new thinking because I know that GOD IS THE PRESENT.  It is the only assurance I have.  For me, that means catching myself.  If I find myself saying, “why does this always happen like this?” or “how come every time I deal with him, I feel like (fill-in-the-blank)?”, then I know I am in an old or programmed reaction and perception.  It is in that moment that I can stop and say, “God, help me to see this as you see this.  What is there in this present moment that you want me to learn or grow or perceive differently?” Sometimes, it may not be a new perception needed but an opportunity for compassion for you and or the other person involved.  My prayer for you today is that in a moment of deja vu loop, you have the courage to stop and ask God for a new perception so that you can be fully present to the lesson in that moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

In this beautiful and expansive world we live in there is so much that calls our attention.  It is easy to get caught up in the frenzy or put our attention on something else before we have finished taking in the first thing that called our attention.  I am pretty good at staying focused.  When I set out to do something and make a decision I am able to stay focused.  Add a little stubbornness in there and I am good to go. 😉  The real question is what is centering me?  What am I anchoring myself to while I am focused on the task or purpose?  This is where having God as my center keeps me on track.  I need that because as I am working towards something I will hit bumps in the road that will jerk me off course and cause me to lose sight of my center.  I will need to remember from where all this power and focus comes from–my center.  If God is my center in everything then nothing can truly knock me off-course because I am grounded.  When I make the focus or the goal my center then I have made the outside circumstance, person, or situation more important than God.  It may be God that is drawing me to that desire or goal but not so that I make that outside entity my god.  It takes self-discipline and patience not to lose my center.  The beauty of God is that when I do go off-course, He is ready and willing the moment I get centered again.  My prayer for you today is that you have the courage to look at what you focus on and ask yourself if your focus is also your center (God).  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen