dailydatewithgod

The world in which we live and there are may place to look for answers to our questions but the one place where we will find the greatest of answers lies within us.  When we connect with our hearts and our spirits.  When our head quiets down long enough to allow our greatest self to speak the truth we will find peace.  So how do we do this?  One step at a time.  When I first started this process of dedicating this time each morning to God and I got quiet it wasn’t actually that quiet.  My head started a laundry list of all the things I needed to do.  Some mornings it wakes up before me and is ready with a clipboard of a list of all the things I did wrong the previous day.  So, what I do is show that list to God when I arrive for my date.  He usually looks at it, smiles, and says, “How about I take your list and you take mine.”  His list is full of words that describe who I truly am–love, kindness, patience, tolerance, compassion, beauty, perseverance, and so on.  Sometimes I take my list back from God at some point during the day, so I need to stop, reconnect and give the list back to Him.  He gladly takes it each time and shows me His list again.  Even if I am not willing to let go of my list, I can stop, place my hand on my heart and take a deep breath.   This little movement connects me to God.  My prayer for you today is that you can take one small step, even just a breath, to connect within and be reminded of who you truly are.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We make life rich.  By our presence in this world, it is a little more colorful, abundant, beautiful, something to cherish.  That is how we are designed.  The Great Creator brought each one of us into this world to benefit the world.  We lose sight of that when we look to the world to verify that for us instead of looking to the one who created us.  When I want to understand the workings of something, I look to how it was created, why it was created and what its purpose is.  I don’t look just at how it is being used.  I think we can all agree that we don’t always use things in this world as they were meant to be used.  Take for example the silly use of pots and pans as noisemakers for New Year’s Eve.  They work, create lots of noise and as a kid that was the best we could come up with at my friends’ house one year because we didn’t have a car to drive to the store to buy actual noisemakers.  However, those pots and pans were meant for a greater purpose.  To house great food to feed a family or two, to hold warmth, to boil water which would make tea and hot cocoa, to create a beautiful aroma of the food being cooked in it.  It would be short-changed to be used as a noisemaker only.  It was our best thinking at 12 years old.  Then I think of the noisemakers that didn’t get used because the pots took their place.  The noisemakers that were colorful, sparkly,  and carried the message “Happy New Year”.  Both of those items were created for a specific purpose.  Both enrich our lives more fully when they are used as they are intended.  What if we are the same?  What if we are meant to enrich this world in a specific way but have only gone by how we are being used to tell us who we are?  Maybe its time to check back in with our Creator to discover our true purpose so we can shine and sparkle.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Make some noise!  Sing out loud!  Make your voice heard!  Open your mouth and with words of kindness declare that God is alive and well.  This is what we are capable of doing.  I would not qualify myself as a singer. I grew up with a mother though who could sing and loved it when she did. It was beautiful the way she would just start singing for no reason.  I know that when I am present in the moment, I am sometimes moved to start singing.  I love music and am often moved by it, but in the moments when I find myself singing along I am aware that the vibration goes through my whole body.  I have read that studies have been done about the power of singing to change your whole vibration and focus in a way that nothing else can.  In the Hebrew scriptures, David, the author of the Psalms is said to have sung them and in many churches when they read the Psalms they are set to music.  I believe that music is all around us and each living thing resonates vibrational.  If I stop for a moment and watch nature or listen to the sounds of the city, a soundtrack of life emerges.  What is the soundtrack of my life?  What am I resonating to the world?  Is it something to sing about?  I think that if who we are being resonates with the universe on a large-scale then we find ourselves in the rhythm of life. For a long time I was just hoping that the murmur I was living would not cause any waves or perhaps go unnoticed all-together. This created a lack of well-being in my life because it did not resonate with what I was created for.  My Creator would not one of his most precious creations to be dormant forever.  We are all here for a purpose.  Our life’s work is about making that purpose known and growing into who we are in God.  What can you do today to resonate to yourself and to the world who you truly are?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

As a dancer, balance is crucial.  If I do not have balance or know how to create balance I would fall over as I am dancing.  To establish balance I have to be aware of my center.  Where in my body is the movement grounded?  It is usually my core/center.  When I turn I need to spot (focus) so that I don’t spin-off and fall to the ground.  When I am moving forward and back, up and down, I need to hold a space in my body from where my strength comes.  My arms and legs don’t simply flail about me, the all come out of that core.  I need to breathe and be present in the moment.  If I am distracted I will lose my place.  I listen to the music not just with my ears but with my body as my heart must feel the beat.  When I watch someone dance it looks so effortless.  The illusion that they are just doing it without much thought is what makes it so beautiful.  But I know from first hand experience that it takes an effort to do all those things that I mentioned.  However, when I am in the moment and dancing my head let’s go and my spirit takes over and I move.  To me that is the essence of balance.  I do the preparation–condition my body, practice, create and learn the steps, be aware of my space, set an intention of the story I am telling through the movement, and practice, practice, practice.  When it comes time to perform, I simply show up and let my spirit move me in that moment.  It sounds rather perfect but it is not.  There are times when I dance and my head is full of noise and I cannot get centered.  I am worried about doing it perfectly or messing up the steps, of what people will think, and or judgment of my body.  Then there are those times when I am fully in the moment-by the time I am done dancing my heart is beating strong, I am shaking, I feel as though a great spirit has just moved through me and I have no idea what I just did. It feels timeless and peaceful.  Life is very much like dancing to me.  I need to be aware of my core, know where to focus, do my part to take care of my mind and my body, create, be aware of my space, listen for the music, learn the steps, and practice, practice, practice.  When it comes time to do my thing, I step out-of-the-way and let God work through me.  Sometimes it works out beautifully, other times not so much.  But it is all as it should be.  The balance that I strive for in my life is evident in the fact that I keep showing up.  I don’t give up as my mind may want me to when all isn’t perfect.  I don’t abandon ship (anymore) when everything doesn’t line up perfectly.  If the music isn’t right or I am not feeling it, I just surrender to the process and trust that I have done enough.  I know where my core is, I know where my focus is and God never moves.  My prayer for you today is that in an area of your life where you are lacking balance you may reconnect with your core so you can get out on the dance floor and give it all you got.  Trust me, God is a great partner (He knows how to show you off!)  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Now that springtime is officially here-yay!  We get to experience all the newness of this time of year.  New flowers that begin to bloom, watching all the animals come out of hiding, the sun being out for a longer day, the warmth of the air, and so many more things.  There is a certain glow that exists amongst all beings as new life spreads. The energy is contagious.  Now this does not mean of course that all things we were dealing with in winter are gone, but there is new light to shed upon them.  Love doesn’t grow in the dark. So with the advent of spring we have an opportunity to look at them in a new way.  To see where those dark things have light in them, breathe new breath into them and make them glow.  I know my inclination is to keep the dark things in the dark, but I have learned that darkness is simply absence of light.  So it is my job to bring light to it so it can grow into new life.  For this task I must turn in partnership to the Father of Light who presides over us all.  It is the Great Creator of Light and Darkness that can grant me the power and the courage to carry out this task in my life.  The wonderful thing is once I connect with my Creator and show him my darkness (which by the way, He is already keenly aware of), I see that it is not nearly as dark and daunting as I perceived when looking at it on my own.  It can be something as simple as an attitude of intolerance towards another human being or a character trait of myself or a life long practice of judgment of my feelings (something I am well versed in).  When I bring it into the light of God to be faced, it is much simpler and easier.  I have given up being able to figure out how to let it go.  But with God’s help I can let it go and let it glow.  That is the strangest thing to me, but I find it to be true each time–my weaknesses are actually my strengths.  Those weaknesses allow for transformation by God.  My prayer for you today is that you open up to God about one of your weaknesses and ask for His light to be shed upon it.  Invite Him to make it glow.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Being in relationship with God makes things much clearer.  God is definite.  God is constant.  God is a backbone on which to stand.  When I read about God in the sacred scriptures, especially the parts where God speaks it is clear, simple and to the point.  I find great solace in this as it reminds me that I don’t need to have any great long answers or explanations.  In the Hebrew and Christians scriptures in particular God often refers to himself as I AM.  In fact that is what the word “Yahweh” means.  “I AM who AM”.  It is what God said to Moses in the burning bush, it is what Jesus shared in his preaching.  Simple, to the point.  I encompass all.  I am a stand for all.  All that has been created came from me.  It doesn’t get much clearer than that.  So why do I try to make it more complicated?  Maybe because it is seemingly more dramatic and self-important when I do.  Maybe because I live in a complicated world, so I presume that God functions like the world.  But God is more than this world and since we come from God, we are in this world but not of this world.  When I remember that I can stand in the truth of who I am. I AM love.  I AM courage.  I AM freedom.  I AM peace.  I AM kindness.  I AM patience.  I AM sacred.  Those are the essences of my being.  When I stand in that truth I can be in this world but not thrown about by it.  I can see my experiences as opportunities to learn how to grow closer to the GREAT I AM.  It is simple, but not easy to stand in the truth of who I AM and where I come from in the midst of the everyday weariness.  However, the more I build that relationship with God, the easier it becomes.  What simple action can you take today to stand in alignment with the GREAT I AM and know who you are?  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

The moment we are born into this world we are given labels of who we are.  Baby, child, daughter, brother, girlfriend, friend, students, coworker, mother, husband, aunt, grandparent, cousin.  Then are the expanded versions of those labels–mean girl, rebellious teenager, exemplary student, successful business owner, proud grandmother, etc.  While these labels are helpful to give us some guidance of how to operate in the world, they are far from who we really are.  We are created by a God of love and beauty who designed the whole world as our playground so that we might experience love, compassion, courage, delight, understanding, patience, and freedom.  Whenever I pick the role that I was given in culture over the role I have been given to play by God I am not free.  If being a good daughter means letting go of who I am in God–making other people and their perceived expectations of me more important than how God sees me, I experience dis-ease.  The dis-ease in mind and sometimes body as well comes from not standing in the truth of who I am as a child of God–my most important role of all. Which role do you want to play today?  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

This world is full of turmoil.  The relief comes in knowing however, that it is only a projection of our mind.  I say that because when my mind is in turmoil, that is how I see the world.  When my mind is at peace, when I see the world as friendly and engaging, that is exactly what it is.  It is hard sometimes to believe that what we are seeing is simply a projection of our inner world, but think about a time when you were in-love.  Everything just seemed to have a glow about it.  You saw the person you were in-love with as one who could do no wrong.  You were excited when they entered the room, you hated to be away from them, and it felt like it would last forever.  But how you saw everything else in your life was also the same.  It is as if you were not aware of political discontent, emotional strife, poverty, or anger and resentment.  Does that mean it did not exist?  Of course not, but your heart and your mind were simply focused elsewhere and those other things were out of your vision.  It was a pure state of bliss.  Consider two things: 1)This is how God sees you all the time, 2) You are capable of experiencing this state of mind anytime you choose.  Being amicable does not mean being in denial, it means choosing what to focus on.  What you focus on expands.  It does not mean that there aren’t things that need to be dealt with, but we dont’ have to deal with them as though they are an enemy.  Life is about lessons.  I have never found that I learn much when I am fighting it.  This is the heart of acceptance and surrender.  If life is exactly as it should be and I truly trust that there is God that is taking care of me, then I can approach my day with a friendly attitude.  My prayer for you today is in a situation that you are fighting, you be open to ask God to help you see it as your friend.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

In the eastern spiritual traditions and cultures they use the expression “Namaste”.  Loosely translated it means that I honor the God in you as you honor the God in me. This is why one places his/her hands in front of the heart when speaking it.  It is a beautiful way to approach how we treat each other.  The same concept is shared amongst western religions and cultures, i.e. “love one another”, the golden rule.  When I consider how I treat other people it is much more freeing to do so when I acknowledge the presence of the Spirit within them.  By loving others I am not attaching it to what they do or what kind of stature they hold, but rather who they are in God. This is what loving the seemingly un-loveable means.  This is what forgiveness is.  Letting go of what I think you should be and acknowledging you for who you truly are.  I can so easily get caught up in what I think you should be or do–whether you are someone close to me or a person on the news.  Honoring you means that I acknowledge that you have a role to play in this world.  Because it is all Divinely coordinated, I can trust that whatever comes up for me because of you is what I need to deal with.  It is not because of you. I am not a victim of what you do or say.  I am reacting to what I think about what you are saying or doing. Therefore you are not to blame and I can still honor your presence in this world.  When I do that I also honor my own.  I bring love and acceptance to the situation and my heart grows stronger and deeper.  It is not an easy concept to embrace, I know I spent a large part of my life fighting it.  But like most spiritual principles, it ultimately brings me greater peace to honor you as coming from the same Great God that I come from.  My prayer for you today is that you have an opening to honor (see the God in) someone who you don’t want to honor and experience God’s grace.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen