dailydatewithgod

We do the world such a disservice when we buy into our own darkness as the whole of who we are.  We are beings of light brought forth to decorate the world and when I am connected with the Creator I am able to do just that.  Therein lies the key.  It is like being born with amnesia.  I forget who I am.  As though when I entered this world through the womb of my mother some mechanism in my brain stopped working.  Therefore, it is my life long journey to reconnect with that source of all illumination.  Some days it is easy because I am present and I see all the illuminations around me in nature and amongst my fellow human beings.  I feel inspired and in touch with the world in a way that seems other worldly.  Then there are days when it is like I am being followed around by a dark cloud and I am biding my time until the cloud lifts.  What is important, at least for me, is to remember that in those times of cloudiness when I feel the least connected with the light inside of me, all I have to do  is ask the Light of all lights to be by my side.  I have also learned that I cannot wait to feel it. Sometimes I must just act as if.  Fake it until you make it is the common cliché’.  However, I find that if I do that I have a greater chance of reconnecting with my own heart. It is imperative that I am connected to who I am as illuminating because it is the truth of who I am.  It is only through that connection that I see the world as illuminating.  Then, I can practice the higher spiritual principles of love, acceptance, patience, tolerance, kindness, generosity, and so on.  All of those things come from a place within me that knows without a doubt that the world is abundant and all my needs are taken care of.  That leaves me free to be me, to not worry, and to be illuminating in my own special way.  I can even act as if in those spiritual principles and get connected to my illumination–there is more than one way to get connected.  How do you reconnect with your illumination on a day-to-day basis?  My prayer for you today is that you remember who you are and that your gift of illumination (God in you) to the world can transform it.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

 Because we come from God, we are made whole and holy.  Our spirits are pure love because that is where we come from.  Somehow when we present on this planet in human form it is as though the skin we are born into creates layers of space and we begin to disconnect from that which we came.  Our life then seems to be this process of reconnecting to our origin.  Life is full of experiences that present me with the opportunity to either return to the place of sacredness from which I came or to further participate in the allusion that all I am is this physical being who must complete the next task.  It can be hard in the middle of a typical human  day to remember my origin, so I am grateful that God is constantly reminding me.  My responsibility is to keep my eyes, ears and heart open so that I can witness it and be a witness of it.  It is so easy to get lost in the content–the job, the relationship, the money, the story.  Those things are simply the conduit through which I have an opportunity to remember where I am from.  It is the moments of pause, the conscious breath, and the simple things that allow me to reconnect with who I really am.  My brain/ego is firmly invested in the story (the content), so much so that I cannot let go of it.  So I have learned not to fight against it.  Rather, I simply look at it and accept it.  If I can accept it and forgive myself for forgetting who I really am.  Then I can ask God for the courage to walk through the process so I can reconnect with him in an even greater way then I experience hope.  For a long time, I was so caught up in the story. But in the back of my mind or rather in my heart and spirit I knew there was more to life than a story.  It was only when I connected with others and had an opportunity to be authentic that I had the courage to let go of the story.  Life is a beautiful process.  When I remember how I am made holy with each opportunity the things I must face (the loss of the job, relationship, money, things not working out the way I had planned, etc.) are not so daunting because I am facing then reconnected with the source of my power, the source of all power.  Have you ever experienced something difficult or painful that ultimately reminded you of your sacredness?  My prayer for you today is that you may be reminded in some small way that you are consecrated by God and so are those around you.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

 We don’t have royalty today, at least not in the United States.  So the idea of being an heir is not something we commonly think of unless of course, we are thinking about inheritance.  Inheritance is one element of being an heir but carrying out the legacy is another aspect.  What is the legacy of God?  What is it as a child of God that I am a part of?  What have I have inherited from God?  How am I a child of God?  These are all questions that I must ask myself.  If I believe God to be my true Father, my creator, what is it that I take on as part of that family?  What are the principles that I am being taught to carry out–love, acceptance, beauty, care, justice, patience, courage.  Whatever my conception of God, I am a part of that lineage.  I need to embrace and carry out that line of being.  I look to scriptures and stories of God to better understand what that means  living in the world that I am living in now.  I look to examples of others who have followed God to see what that looks like in action.  I can easily become an heir to the world–going along seeking the approval of the world around me and I may succeed.  The difficulty arises for me when the world’s view changes so quickly.  I need to align myself with God and God’s lineage because it is constant.  What are you an heir to?  My prayer for you today is that you seek out the principles by which you want to measure your life and see how you can do so in some small way.  I pray that you may see yourself as part of the family of God, a god that loves you so much he created a whole world for you to practice and play in.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

 One of my most favorite stories comes from the gospels of the Christian Scriptures.  The short version of the story is that Jesus of Nazareth shows up to where John the Baptist has been preaching the coming of God and baptizing people to prepare them. Jesus comes to John to be baptized and when he does the scripture paints a dramatic picture of the sky opening up, a dove descending and the voice of God the father saying, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”  In college, I worked with a Dominican sister who has since passed from cancer (talk about a beautiful laugh, Sr. Kathleen’s was famous), she shared that this message about Jesus from the father came before he had done anything. He had not yet chosen his apostles, performed any miracles, suffered and died and rose from the dead.  None of that.  She said that God was pleased with him before he had done anything and that was exactly how God sees us.  We show up and he is pleased.  It was like a breath of fresh air.  You mean it is not about me doing a bunch of stuff?  It is not about me proving myself worthy of love?  I just have to show up?  I have learned over the years that life is about suiting up and showing up.  Being present in the moment–that is where the gift is.  It is then that God can use me for his purposes.  A loving creator can enable me to be an instrument of peace and love when I show up.  Being pleased with myself is not something I have much practice in. My head is often full of a laundry list of things that need to get done in order for me to feel satisfied, to feel like I have made a contribution.  And sadly this same mind rarely sees the contribution that I do make as enough.  But this story reminds me that the stories my head tells me are not true.  Who I am is pleasing.  Because I was created, I am enough.  It is like starting out the school year with an A in all my classes.  It is my job to keep showing up, putting one foot in front of the other and trusting that I will be guided and that I do enough.  This also makes me think of other areas of my life and whether or not I am pleased.  Or do I look upon my life and the people in it and only see that it is not enough?  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t sit around and wait for life to be handed to me.  But coming from a place of being pleased with what is, is much stronger than coming from a place of lack or having to prove.  If I am pleased then I am starting from the present.  I am not busy trying to make up for the fact that it was not enough to begin with.  What are areas of your life where you are pleased?  My prayer for you today is that you may know deep in your heart that God is always pleased with you and that you can embody that perspective in your own life at any given moment.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

 For a long time I thought for sure God was not listening.  Growing up all I wanted to do was get out of my parents house and be free. Free to be myself, to not have to live up to other people’s expectations, to do my own thing.  I kept praying to be made thin because I thought for sure that everything in my life would be better if only I were thin.  But none of those things were happening.  I went to church every week, I volunteered my time, I was a really good person.  I was selfless and tolerant, I went out of my way to make sure others had what they needed.  Surely, I should be granted my wishes, right? It was like I saw God as some sort of big Santa Clause in the sky.  He had me on his nice list and he wasn’t delivering.  What was up? I began to think that even though on some level that God and I were connected and I felt his presence that he really didn’t hear me. The question I should have been asking is did I hear me?  How could I possibly be thin if I kept punishing myself by abusing myself with food?  How could I be free of others expectations when I kept relying on them to tell me whether or not I was okay and had permission to exist?  How could I be free of my parents house if I didn’t want to be responsible for my own life?  I was so busy buying into a story of who I was based on circumstances that occurred as a child, that I had managed to make food and other people my God.  So while I was praying to a God above, I was acting as though His power was not enough to truly sustain me.  It was not until I took a genuine leap of faith and began to believe that God, The God, was either everything or he wasn’t then I was freed from my food addiction and my need for approval from others.  Don’t get me wrong, I still get tripped up around what other people think of me.  But for the most part, I am able to bring it back to God and say, what do you think?  At the end of the day, all I have to ask is, did I stick close to him and did I do his work well?  That includes taking good care of myself, being loving and tolerant of others and making a positive contribution, laughing and enjoying life, and being grateful for all that I  have and don’t have.  I am always heard by God, I just don’t’ always hear God because I am too distracted or involved in things that are not of God—sometimes it is my thinking, sometimes it is a person or a situation.  Either way, if I am looking to that thought or person or situation to tell me who I am then I am not hearing God—I am only hearing me.  My prayer for you today is that you may first hear you—what are you telling you about you?  Then, may you experience being heard by God (all is taken care of my child, I love you.).  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Take a breath, take in the idea that you are in this moment, reading this blog and there is nothing else that needs to be happening right now.  The moment you do that your mind will begin to talk back to you about what needs to happen next or perhaps how what you really should be doing is (fill-in-the blank).  I know that is very much the notion I had before I created my dedicated date (morning prayer and meditation time) with God.  I don’t have time to just be.  I need to be doing.  I forgot so quickly that I am a human being not a human doing.  I often need to stop and ask myself, who am I being in this moment?  Is what I am doing connected to whom I am being?  My actions are simply a by-product of my thoughts which create my feelings which then become actions.  Don’t get me wrong, life is about being lived.  Action is important.  I believe in living a spiritual life in action not just praying and meditating.  I think if I were supposed to be doing that I would be at a monastery somewhere. But I am not, I am in Los Angeles with a full-life.  But being present in the moment is sometimes the hardest place to be.  It requires an acceptance that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.  Sitting in a seemingly pointless meeting, traffic, in line at the post-office, waiting for my computer to boot-up, preparing for a presentation, waiting to hear back from someone.  Really?  I am to be present in those little moments of life?  Isn’t there somewhere else I “should” be? Nope, God says.  Be with me.  I am here right now.  I love that song “Right Now” by Van Halen.  It even has a great music video.  “Right now is everything!”  Many spiritual masters and writers talk and live the now.  I have heard it said that now is the gift, that is why they call it the present.  In my experience when I am in the now, I experience God in the fullest core of who I am.  Because I AM with the great I AM.  It is then that I see beauty and love and greatness and joy and find that there is much of life to delight in. What are the gifts you have received from being in the now?  My prayer for you today is that you experience the gift and trust of being now.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Do you think of yourself as being indispensable or essential to life? God sees you that way. You would not be here if your existence did not matter. Think about it. The Creator of all that is, the sun and the stars, the great mountains and majestic seas. That same creator could have chosen anything or anyone to create and out popped you! You with your asymmetrical facial features and your quirky sense of humor, with your kindness and frustrations. In fact, every single cell in your body was designed by God. You are very vital to the existence of this world. You are a unique expression of God eternal. We so often measure our worth by this world. Am I pretty, thin, courageous, powerful, etc enough? The funny thing is that we often get the answer back that we are not enough and yet we continue to look to the world to see if we measure up. All the while our Creator is standing by our side, residing in our hearts screaming–you are enough to me! I created you and that tells you that you are vital to this world. God needs us to walk in that knowledge, that is why he is constantly sending us reminders. We are surrounded by gifts and beauty in this world not because we are separate from it, but because we are one with it. I remember that when I made my trip to Yosemite and heard God say, “Thank you” and when I asked for what I heard, “for coming to see my other beauties.” Too often I forget and I look to those around me–either my culture, my family, my job to affirm who I am. I only need one source to affirm who I am. I think of it often when I hear stories of people who were supposed to be aborted as a child in the womb or an unexpected surprise to their parents–clearly something greater than anyone saw to it that the world would know them. We are all that way. It may seem insignificant that we are here in this world but God does not see it that way. Think of how powerful a presence you would be if you walked around knowing to your core that you are vital to the grandest of all beings and your role here today is essential. I know I sit up a little straighter just thinking about it. What if we began to recognize this in those we encounter each day? What is one way that you know in your core that you are vital? My prayer for you today is that you may feel in your heart the love from which you were created and perhaps walk a little taller knowing that you matter. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

One of the most common sayings in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is “Be Not Afraid” or “Do Not Fear”.  I take that to mean that God knows we are a fearful people.  Love is the opposite of fear and God is love.  God knows that we need to be reminded to be with Him.  As it says in the first letter of John: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.” (1Jn4:18).  Every time we experience fear, and we will, sometimes more than others, it is a reminder that we need God.  We need not admonish ourselves for being afraid, but just recognize it as a part of the human experience.  It is what we do with that fear. Do we run with it and let it control our lives?  Or do we bring it to God and ask Him/Her/It to show us the love in this situation.  For me, I need to sit down and write out my fears when they become overwhelming.  Sometimes a little thing grows because I let it fester in my mind and my mind tries to figure a way out of the fear only creating more fear.  Somehow when I put it down on paper and imagine myself presenting it to God–here are the ways that I worry that you won’t show up–is that true?  Then I take a deep breath and ask God to show me how to be, how to trust in Great Love.  I have read that there are basically two fears that we have–either that we will lose something that we have or we will not get something that we want.  I find that pretty much every fear falls into those categories and ironically neither of those occur in the present moment.  They speak of things either past or future.  However, in this moment, I have nothing to fear.  I am completely taken care of.  When I am connected to God, there is nothing that I am wanting because I am one with all that is.  When I am in love, there is no loss.  I need the reminder to not be afraid because it is the little niggly things of fear–being on time, doing a good job in a presentation, getting asked out by some guy–that bring me down.  “I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 14).  Then and only then can I live in a place of love and bring love and light to all I encounter.  What is some little fear that you can turn over to God today?  My prayer is that you may come to know during the course of this day that God (love) is with you and encourages to not be afraid in the littlest of ways.  Make is a great one!  Peace~Colleen

 The funny thing about God is that He is always there.  Part of my human experience is needing or wanting proof of that presence.  For a long time it seemed as though God was around but only at certain times.  Could it be because I only wanted God around at certain times?  I’ve read that God does not make too hard of times to those who seek him. My job is to believe that God is always there because what I have found is that He is.  The deal is that I cannot confine God to only what I imagine Him to be.  God shows up in so many different ways.  I often say Him because that is a primary experience of God for me but God is not simply He.  That would be a human constraint of God.  God is spirit, breath, nature, She, patience, a feeling of contentment, something that randomly makes me smile, the bumper sticker on the back of the car when I am stuck in traffic, the homeless person whose eyes I look into when coming off the freeway, the warm touch of a friend when I am crying, the tender hug of my nephew, the sparkle in the eyes of my beloved, the policeman who comes by to see if I am okay when I am pulled off to the side of the road, and so many more ways.  I can be assured of God’s presence in my life because it is happening all around me.  When I let go of how I think or want God to show up, I see God.  I often experience God in music and years ago Michelle Branch wrote a song called “Everywhere” which I think speaks of God: ” ‘Cause you’re everywhere to me . And when I close my eyes it’s you I see. You’re everything I know That makes me believe I’m not alone”.  How are you assured of God’s presence in your life?  My prayer is that you may experience God and know you are not alone today in a way you never imagined.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen