dailydatewithgod

So much of life is not what is actually happening but who we are being as it is happening.  I remember hearing years ago that it is about the process not the content.  The content is the destination and the process is the journey.  My mind likes to attach itself to the content.  What is happening, who is involved, what is the end result?  Then if the content doesn’t match my expectations (the wrong people are there, the situation isn’t what I expected, people are reacting differently than I thought they would, etc), I can lose the lesson and the experience because I am too focused on the content.  When I am disappointed or frustrated by what is happening in my life, it is usually because it doesn’t look like what I thought it would look like.  However, if I focus on what I am learning and invite in how it is transforming my heart and my mind, then I am back in the journey.  If I trust that life is happening for me, not to me, then I can invite whatever is happening even if the content is different.  This is not always easy, especially when we live in a world that measures its value by the content–the car, the job, the relationship, etc.  I can get caught up in looking at my life and think it doesn’t measure up simply because my content doesn’t match the expectations of others or myself.  That is why I must bring it back to God.  Creator of all creation–is this what you have brought into my world so that I can connect with you in a more profound way?  Is this the process you want me to invite so that I can see how deep and strong the power of love is? Today I would invite you to invite in something or someone whose content doesn’t match and see what the process has to reveal to you about you.  Why not, right?–it is only for today.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of my favorite explanations of God is “approves a million false starts”.  I understand that to mean that God is there when we are trying things out and striving to do good and mess it up.  Not only does He not condemn us for messing it up but acknowledges us for trying.  As someone who often gets frustrated when I don’t do it perfectly the first time, this is yet another recognition that God does not think the way that I think.  If I look to the scriptures I see so much evidence of this understanding of God. The people of God as described in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are very fallible people.  They mess up and do bad things and yet God does not abandon them.  There is David, the greatest King of Israel who wrote the Psalms.  He also raped a married woman and when he found out that she was pregnant with his child, sent her husband to the front of line of the war where he was killed. He is still considered the greatest King of Israel and Jesus draws his lineage from him through Mary. St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) one of the greatest evangelists, was a Jew who spent his time murdering Christians.  St. Peter (the first pope and appointed leader of the church by Jesus) denied even knowing Jesus and abandoned him during the time when he needed his friend the most. And those are just a few examples.  Each of these people did what they thought was best at the time.  It wasn’t until they earnestly broke down and recognized their need for God that their lives were transformed.  God took the messiness and the imperfections of their decisions and the actions and used it for the greater good. Practice refers to an actual application versus a theory.  Practicing my faith means getting into action.  Taking my understanding, my belief about the mercy of God, and acting on that.  I will not do it perfectly. But I can practice love, kindness, patience, tolerance, empathy, and justice.  In my  application of my belief I begin to live out the life that God has called me to in big and small ways.  As I travel the road, I will make mistakes but I can rely on a Creator who approves of a million false starts and trust that whatever happens, it will turn towards the good. Most importantly I may not see or understand how.  It is my job to show up, ask God to give me the courage to do His will and just do it.  Do you have an area of your life the you are not taking action?  Maybe out of fear of imperfection?  God does not abandon us the way that we abandon us.  Take a chance today that God is greater than you.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

“Man plans and God laughs.”  a Yiddish proverb.  I have always taken it as a reminder to not take myself so seriously and to be open to things that I could not possibly plan for.  Some people might take this to extreme and say that it means we should not plan anything, but I figure the more God keeps laughing the more joy envelopes the universe. 😉  And in case I am fearful of what God’s plans might be, Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm  you, plans to give you hope and a future.” My vision of the future is often tainted by the past.  My mind is relying on what it already knows and has experienced.  It cannot pull information from something it has not experienced.  This is useful when it comes to dangerous situations and doing my daily functions, but when it comes to possibilities for the future–not so much.  That is why God did not just give me a brain, but a heart and a spirit as well.  He gifted me with feelings so that I can have indicators to guide me along the way.  Ultimately, I need God to open my heart and my mind to what is possible.  I come from the experience of some trepidation over things unknown.  I learned early on  not to trust my instincts and to create a story around what was unexplainable.  These are great survival skills, but I am not living to survive.  I am living to live, to give, to hope and to become the best version of myself. That requires me to stretch beyond what my mind thinks is capable.  This requires a trust in the care of God.  If I see life as a series of events happening to me, then I am a victim of circumstance.  If I see life as a series of experiences happening for me to shape my spirit, deepened my heart, and expand my capacity for love–a love that connects me everyone and everything, then I can step into experiencing life.  It all starts with a willingness to be surprised by God.  To be open to God showing up in a way that my mind, my plans, say are not possible.  However, as I experience those surprising things, I build a muscle of trust with God.  I had to start small, to be open to planting a seed of possibility. I look to nature a lot for indicators of how God can be trusted. Each day that I wake up there is an opportunity to nurture that growth or let it die out.  My prayer for you today is that you find some small surprise that God has planned just for you.  May your eyes be opened to the evidence of love in your life.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  A quote that is attributed to Gandhi, but is actually a paraphrasing of what he said.  Either way it embraces an ideal to work towards.  I must humbly acknowledge that my experience of the world has changed as I have changed.  That is simply how it works.  As I learned to approach life in a more loving and forgiving fashion, the world turned out to be a loving and forgiving place.  When I looked at the world and the people in it through the glasses of years of self-hatred and victimization I did not see any beauty.  I had to first go within myself, no matter how afraid I was to do so, and find the light of love that was burning albeit dimly inside my own heart.  When I humbly turned to my Creator and said honestly, “I can’t do this anymore, please show me if there is a better way.”  As I mentioned before it is when I stopped and took stock of my life, claimed responsibility, and had a willingness to do things differently that my life began to change.  I was so broken down and out at that point, I was willing to do whatever it took.  It is very humbling to acknowledge that you have a food/sugar addiction and your life is out of control because of it.  It is humbling to acknowledge any form of addiction, but when it is one that  is all around you and on some level acceptable, one can deceive themselves for a long time that it is not really that bad.  But for me, it might as well have been a heroin addiction.  All addictions are simply manifestations of focus on the self.  There is little room for God when I am busy running my world.  The funny thing, of course, is that I had a relationship with God.  This I am certain is what kept me from going off the deep end or stepping into more “dangerous” addictions.  I had just learned to compartmentalize my life.  I didn’t include God in the very aspects of my life that were the most out of control.  I didn’t include God because I had decided that God was not interested in those areas of my life.  God is very interested, my diseased mind wasn’t interested in any kind of light being shown.  There is a great quote from the book Alcoholics Anonymous which deals with addiction. It is written as the author, Bill Wilson, is telling his harrowing story of addiction and recovery.  It reads, “Simple but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant the destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.” Most spiritual leaders and masters over the centuries speak of this same idea-letting go of the self.  When we are focused on ourselves we get disconnected from the bigger picture of life.  We are not relying on the power from which we come to guide our lives.  I believe we are here on this earth to experience all the gifts of living life.  My ego is not the enemy, my ego is only a “problem” when I let it think it is all there is.  I must remain in constant contact with my Creator because that is where my power resides.  My prayer for you today is to be aware of something you wish to change in the world and ask God to show you how to change that within you.  May you experience the power of the Father of Light in your request.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We are the designers of our lives.  I like to think of myself as a co-partner in designing my life.  Not because I am less than or because I am not capable.  Rather I cannot possibly see all that is out there to see and do and feel.  I need to connect with something greater than me to be connected to the greater good.  That is why a simple prayer of “Thy will, not mine, be done” is so powerful.  Another one is “God, align my will with yours, give me the power and the courage to carry it out.” God speaks in simplicity.  Saying prayers such as these allows me to acknowledge what I feel or think is coming from my heart while recognizing that I may not be seeing it all and want the outcome to be one that is for the greater good of all.  When we recognize our role as an author in our own lives, we can no longer pretend to be a victim.  Sometimes it seems easier to be the victim.  The key word here is “seems”.  I should know as I was very versed in the victim role for a long time.  And it served its purpose.  We all have tools that we learn growing up and they work, but then we are given an opportunity to grow up.  I was given that opportunity over ten years ago and I have never regretted anything I have had to do to walk into a new way of living.  It has been uncomfortable and painful at times, but well worth all of it.  Transformation is messy.  But the way I live my life today is filled with so much more peace.  I am not sure what it was that caused me to want to stop and take stock of my life.  Perhaps I felt I was in a safe enough of a situation to begin to change, maybe the spirit moved me in such a way that I could no longer turn back.  It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite songs, “Love . . . thy will be done.” by Martika. “I can no longer hide, I can no longer run . . . I can no longer resist the guiding light that gives me the power to keep up the fight.  Love thy will be mine and make strive for the glorious and divine.”   I am grateful today that I had the courage to step outside my comfort zone and take God’s hand and step into my life. My prayer for you today is that you may see one area of your life where you can more fully participate as an author.  Reach out and grab the hand of God, the ride is amazing.  Make it a great one!  Peace ~Colleen

The overarching theme of the Easter season in the Christian faith is HOPE!  Hope in the miraculous!  Hope in the impossible!  Hope in courage of God!  Hope in transformation!  Hope in the darkness returning to light!  To believe even when it seems impossible.  To be hopeful especially in the face of despair requires fortitude!  If we think of the hardest times that we have faced in our lives, times that we thought we never turn around, and we have all had them–what is it that got you through?  You are still here, are you not?  You might be a little beaten down or worse for the wear.  You might still be dealing with the remnants of that situation and life might never seemed to have returned to truly being hopeful or worth living.  But the fact that you are still here and you are reading this means, that whatever you perceive about what happened, is simply not true.  You are still here!  You still get a breath when you wake up in the morning.  Whether you realize it or not, your heart keeps beating and the light within your soul gives you the courage to show up every day.  It may be muted or less than “ideal” but it is still happening.  What if you were to grab hold of that little flicker of light that burns with in you and fan that flame?  What if you were to acknowledge that you have defied the odds by still trudging away at life?  How much greater of a perspective would you have on your own life.  As people we do what we know, good or bad, right or wrong–we do what we know and we do the best we can.  What if you were to connect with a source that saw your ability as greater than you.  That sees a resurrection, a new life just waiting to burst forth?  What if for one day you could let go of how you see you and see yourself through your Creator’s eyes?  Today I challenge you–in whatever area of your life that you have experienced a death–it could be an idea, way of being, relationship, anything.  Take that and offer it up to God, ask God to show you how He sees it.  And while you are waiting for the transformed perspective, have the fortitude to act as thought it is already happening.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

For some reason all human beings seem to take on this pose of being an actor and putting on a show. We don’t even realize it.  Our intentions our good, we want to put our best foot forward and show others what we are made of.  Unfortunately, deep down we have this sense that who we are is not enough.  So we take who we are and we add to it to make it look better.  The problem comes that when we do that for so long, we lose track of who we truly are.  We cannot tell the difference from the facade and our true selves.  I remember in high school they would talk about the masks that we wear.  I think of it more like the cloaks that we wear.  When we reach a point in our lives and it is more exhausting to keep up the facade, we begin to breakdown.  Then we think that we are failures because we cannot keep up the act.  We have long convinced ourselves that the act is who we are.  But believe it or not, the freedom comes in the breakdown because we get an opportunity to get back to who we really are.  This requires a pause, some self-examination, and most of a compassionate heart.  We have to recognize for ourselves if we truly believe that even God loves us for who we are, not who we have made ourselves up to be.  The beauty of this potentially harrowing experience if we stick with it long enough is that we come to find out that who we genuinely are is who God created us to be.  Warts and all as they say–and God wants to be in relationship with that genuine being.  He is delighted by our foolishness, our craziness, our madness; even when we want to throw in the towel.  You see, when God created us he made a commitment.  The commitment was to be our source forever and each day that we wake up and breathe, that commitment is renewed.  I invite you today to stop and take a look at the genuine self that resides in your heart and begin to get to know the creation that comes from God.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of my favorite authors is a woman by the name of Florence Scovel-Shinn and she has a book called, “The Game of Life and How to Play it.”  What captures me most about all her ideas in any of her writing is “Your word is your wand.”  It is a concept conveyed by most spiritual teachers.   Don Miguel-Ruiz who wrote “The Four Agreements” talks about that same idea.  The first step in being a person of my word is paying attention to what I am saying.  Sometimes I am not even aware of the words that I am using.  Sometimes it takes me a while to recognize that I am creating my own reality by what I think and say.  I often mention in this blog that there is what happens and there is what we make it mean. Our words tell us what we make something mean.  When I label something good or bad, right or wrong, I have placed a judgment on it.  Scripture says that God is the judge, not me.  It is not  up to me to judge, it is up to me to learn.  That is what we do when we play.  We learn.  We learn what works and what doesn’t work.  When you build a sand castle and you place it too close to the rising tide, it gets washed over.  It doesn’t mean I did it wrong, it means it didn’t work and now I know to do it a little further away from the water.  When I get on the swings and I don’t move my legs, I don’t get much swing.  I realize that it doesn’t work so I begin to move my legs and viola!  It works.  When we play we are much more open to learning.  When we take the pressure off having to do it right or that we might get it wrong.  When we let go of being good or bad and just get in there to see what happens, we learn.  Learning is a state of humility.  Learning is an open attitude to experience what life is all about.  Many of us have to grow up really fast and so we don’t fully experience the playfulness of childhood.  But it is never too late to approach life with that mind-set.  I don’t envision that God has set up life as one big booby-trap to see where we are going to mess up.  Instead, I think it is a big game board.  We even get to pass go and collect $200.00 because we are playing.  My prayer for you today is that you may listen to your words, notice if they are words of play or words of condemnation.  Then you can ask God to help you play his game of life. Who knows, you might just have some fun.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Some of the simple pleasures of life are things that warm our hearts.  Things that remind us of the softness that exists in our world.  Warm air breeze, pillows, touch of another human being, etc.  All these things remind us that there is a gentleness that can be a buffer in our harsh world.  I know that at the end of a long day, I love it when my head hits the pillow.  When I feel a warm breeze I am reminded that the Spirit is alive and well.  And there is nothing like the preciousness of a friends’ touch when I am distressed or upset.  These are all ways that God manifests in our lives.  Most times the image of God is Father.  But God is mother as well. God is the Creator.  He gives life, just as mothers do, he provides a safe haven, and reminds us that when the world seems cruel and harsh he or she, if you prefer, has warm arms of comfort to hold us and let us cry.  I think that is why so many people relate to the image of mother earth. One who resides over her creation with care.  We are called to bring that same softness to others.  To imitate nature.  Sometimes I think of that song by Sting, ” . . . we forget how fragile we are . . .”  How can you bring some softness into the world today and nurture its fragility?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When I learned to speak and read the Spanish language I was fascinated that the word they had for “without” was “sin”.  It made me think of how to sin (English word) would mean something occurring without God.  I later learned that the word “sin” as used in scripture actually means “to miss the mark”.  Most people I am sure never heard this definition of sin.  Most commonly the word means evil or having done wrong against God.  Forgiveness of sins is one of the major elements of the Christian faith.  The whole point of the death and resurrection of Christ was to forgive our transgressions.  Those transgressions of course, cover the gamut from lying to murder.  I know a lot of people who spend their lives walking in shame over their sins.  To them any wrongdoing makes them evil. For that to be true would mean that we did not come from God. What we do does not change who we are at our core.   Jesus taught to love the sinner and hate the sin.  If sinning is really about being off-course, about doing something without God then I have to recognize the multitude of ways that I sin.  I envision life as the experience of attempting with each step to realign ourselves with God.  This is what creates a the burning in our hearts that the mystics speak of.  St. Augustine of Hippo said that our “hearts our restless until they rest in Him.”  We long to be reconnected fully with our Creator.  I believe this our ultimate purpose in life.  To return to love.  It only makes sense that our life is a series of attempting to do so and invariably missing the mark.  The important thing, however is not to focus on how we keep missing the mark but that we keep trying.  To me the definition of hopelessness is one who has given up that God is anywhere within them.  Sometimes the light of God is so dim we cannot see it. We need others around us to remind us that it is still there and that we can connect with them to help brighten the flame until ours becomes stronger.  This is what community is.  What we focus on expands, so if I spend my focus on the number of times that I miss the mark (a.k.a.- the number of times I sin), that is all that I see.  But if I practice forgiveness with myself, recognize without judgment that I am simply living out my spiritual quest by attempting to be on the mark, then I have the strength to move forward.  Depending on how far off the mark I get, I need more of God to be involved.  The beauty is that God wants to be involved in all of it.  God longs to be as close to me, if not closer, than I long to be with God.  God is not surprised when we miss the mark, it is expected.  God just wants to see that we are striving to get back on the mark, to be in alignment with who we really are.  My prayer for you today is that you look upon yourself with compassion and recognize that missing the mark, attempting something without God, is par for the course and have the courage to call upon your Creator to guide you back and be on the mark.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen