dailydatewithgod

Do you ever find yourself completely flummoxed by something?  Perhaps it was an idea you read about or a concept your friend was explaining.  Maybe you found yourself in a situation baffled by how you got there and not sure how to get out of it.  We think if I could just grasp at what the problem is or figure out what caused it, I will be free.  It sounds almost counter intuitive that by having grasped something we are free.  It sounds like more of holding on to it.  The question is when we are free what are we left holding anything?  If we want to grasp the concept or idea we think we need to hold on to it.  It reminds me of something we used to do as kids.  When a friend had something we wanted to touch and grasp we would say, “Hey, let me see that.” A smart friend would play with us, hold it up, and say “see,” and not let us touch it.  There is something to be gained in deeper understanding when we can wrap our fingers around it.  Our eyes do not seem to be enough.  We want an ephemeral experience of it. So how do we grasp with freedom when what we are experiencing seems contrary to anything close to freedom.  Doesn’t the freedom come from letting go?  The greater question would be do we work so hard to grasp something that we lose sight of it all together?  Perhaps we just need to experience it and let it go.  The grasping does not need continue past the moments experience for our hearts to comprehend.  Are we seeking a grasp in the heart or the mind?  In our hearts we can grasp and let go as we do with each and every breath.  What elements of our life do we seek freedom but forget to let go once we experience it in the moment?  Is it because it is not enough or do we expect a forever experience instead of the ebb and flow of life?

None of us gets through this life on our own.  No matter how ingenious or individualized we are there are simply to many factors at play in the game of life for any of us to get through without interacting and affecting others in some way, shape, or form.  We are designed for relationship.  It is humbling on some level to admit to ourselves that we cannot actually make it on our own.  It does not mean we are dependent in the victim sense.  It simply the reality of life calling us to attribute the people, interactions, things and ideas that make us who we are.  Give credit where credit is due.  The converse is not only egotistical but false.  How often in one day do we take the time to attribute the contributions made to our lives?  Our hearts call upon us to recognize the people and circumstances who attribute to our lives perhaps in ways we would not normally conceived of as something to attribute to the other.  Not all of those attributions are necessarily positive but they do not need to be.  We can make what we choose to make of any experience, person or circumstance.  The choices lie with us.  We attribute the contribution and then decide what it means.  This is our freedom.  This is what gives life to interdependence.  Just because we give credit where credit is due does not mean we are meaningless.  The attribution does not take away from us.  It makes room for us to recognize how we are someone for whom an attribution can be acknowledged.  The good news is also that we can choose how we are an attribute in the lives of others.  We affect others and are affected by others regardless of whether we like it or not.  We get to choose, however, how we wanted to affect and be affected.  Our hearts call upon us to notice the attributions coming to us and flowing from us.

It seems foreign to us that something good can come from closing.  We want to know how long things are open.  We look to connect with others who are open.  Life is fuller when approached with an open perspective and heart.  Yet always slanting towards open is like only ever breathing in.  It doesn’t work, at least not if we want to live.  There is a coming and a going.  There is pushing and pulling.  There is sound and quiet.  This flow of life applies to opening and closing.  If we want to experience the natural course of things we are encouraged to face the times of closing.  We close chapters in our lives.  We close a relationship.  We close a job.  We choose moments when to be closed off to others.  We make sure we show up before the store closes.  Closing or turning off provides a time of darkness.  A time to rest from the awareness.  It can be a time of restoration.  We are not meant to stay there anymore than we can only exhale. Accepting the flow of nature requires a leap of faith.  The faith giving us courage to trust that what is closing will open again.  There are times in my life when I felt completely closed off my heart from myself and others.  Even if I wanted to open the door of my heart, I did not know how to do it without quickly feeling like I was either bleeding or needed to close off again.  It is the daily persistence of showing up for my dates with God who is always fully present and open that increased my courage.  Seeing that I could show up for myself and be willing to let go of closing for just a small amount of time gave me a chance to alter my perception of what it meant to be open.

I think human beings should have tags that say “Handle With Care” like the ones you see on an item you buy in the store.  For some reason we forget that the people we are dealing with moment to moment are much more similar to us that we perceive them to be.  I am constantly fooled by the outer appearance, attitude,  or role they play in life.  If I focus only on what I see with my eyes I will forget to approach them with care.  My daily dates with God, if nothing else, remind me to start my day connecting with my heart. Taking the time to do so means I might be open to viewing others with the eyes of my heart as well as my head.  It is a practice over and over.  We are given the opportunity to step within a mindset of care with each breath we take.  In the pause to reconnect with spirit (respiration), we can change the direction of our view to one of care.

We are creative beings.  Our minds and hearts give us the tool we need to shape our experiences of life.  It is perhaps deceivingly easier to acquiesce to the idea that we are simply products of our experience.  The philosophy of victim-hood however is in stark contrast to the outline of our lives as designed by God. We are invited by God to claim our role and sketch our lives based on the truth of who we are.  It asks us to take responsibility for our lives.  This may seem overwhelming and so many do little more than make an attempt.  I know I was definitely in that camp for a long time.  Before I got into recovery, victim was the lens through which I saw everything.  Yet something inside of me knew different.  I would not be able to describe it as anything other than the spirit of God alive within me. Like the little flame barely flickering, it was a small scroll pen asking me to sketch a different story.  A story which made room to breathe, created a space to grow in love, and connect with the deepest part of myself allowing me to transcend what I was able to see with my eyes.  When the sketch I adopted stopped working and I almost killed myself trying to capitulate to the outline set before me by others, I knew there had to be another way.  It is funny what desperation of spirit will do to you.  I can say I gave it my all, but God’s presence of light in my heart won out.  It is the light showing me the way to create a new sketch incorporating what I learned and continue to learn in the process of surrendering all my adapted sketches.  It is a lifetime process but as I take responsibility for my role in creating the sketches of my life, I have the power to change the story at any moment.  Even with the next breath.

The greater purpose of our existence as designed by God is to be the messengers of love.  Our lives are an opportunity to experiment, learn, grow, cultivate, and embody the definition of God.  We get caught up in our outsides and lose track of our sight because we lose sight of who God is in our lives. Pausing and taking a moment to reconnect with our hearts is what allows us to live within the luster of love.  We are not the creators of the light of love but we are the transmission process here in this physical realm.  We have the chance to radiate the best of ourselves but we get off track.  It is not bad that we get off track, it is part of the process.  When we see we have the choice to be the luster or the dullness of love in any given moment is when the power of love is moving through us.  We fall for the stories of the world and forget there is more to the story.  We experience first hand the dullness of love in others and think it is not possible to experience the luster. My daily dates with God are my chance to get reacquainted with my role as the luster of love for the day I am in.  It doesn’t mean I am going to get it right or not end up showing up dull.  In my experience I know by taking the time each morning to be reminded of who I am, increases the likelihood I will pause, take a breath, and reconnect with my heart more times during the day.  My heart will always guide me into the luster.  We all know the difference between experiencing the luster versus the dullness of love’s light.  Sometimes the dullness seems more comfortable.  Other times it seems more familiar.  God invites us each time we take a breath to choose to stretch our hearts and trust the power of God will be there to allow us to radiate love.

God is limitless.  This is hard for us to grasp because we experience limitations both inside and outside of ourselves.  There is little question which makes room for greater understanding, a long view, and a chance to breathe.  If we are not God, then how do we begin to experience the limitless nature of God, see the possibilities God sees, and partake in the reality that lies beyond our understanding? It starts by widening our scope.  We are created by God and therefore are not completely inept at connecting to God.  It is simply a choice.  The choice to put aside our limits and look with our hearts to what lies outside the scope of our understanding.  It is a decision to seek past the scope within our minds of what we are certain of, can prove, and rely upon.  God is all about growing in love. What greater way to grow in love than to stretch our hearts beyond the scope of what we know to be real?  Being in touch with the truth of who we are and engaging in relationship with God enables us to broaden and deepen our scope of what love is.  Sometimes we are called to begin by stretching our scope of how we define God.  Our limits are not bad or wrong, they just only go so far.  If God can see the immense possibilities present at any moment in time, maybe God knows more of love than we do.

It is difficult for us to get invested in something if we are not able to determine its purpose.  Students struggle with learning information they do not see as applicable.  Children fight back being asked to do something they deem as pointless.  Adults have the same feelings but they are not as obvious in their objections.  As grownups we learn to do things like not pay attention, distract ourselves while engaging it, tell ourselves to suck it up, and so on. In the training and education world one, a primary way to get buy-in from your audience is by focusing on the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).  Once you are able to make a connection as to how the audience will apply what you are training them in, they have a reason to pay attention and participate. The misconception is that the WIIFM is always easy to figure out.  For most people at least part of what is determined as applicable to their lives is individual.  Just because we in our lives as certain roles (mother, father, friend, employee, lawyer, teacher, garbage worker, intellectual, spiritual, etc. ) in our lives and in a certain context (with our family, friends, at work, stuck in traffic, or at the grocery store) does not mean the whole of who we are has the same reason for participating. We may start out with an interest because we see how it is applicable to help us meet a goal, get something or make us look good.  What if we were to change the conversation and ask, how can I make this applicable to my heart?  What about this experience or learning has a deeper applicability than meets the eye?  How might I go about discovering it?  What might I find myself getting involved in that I previously disregarded as not applicable to me because I am moving from the courage of my heart?

We tend to clump the concept of difference as either a good or a bad thing.  It is rare when our perception classifies different as simply reality.  We do not like simplicity.  We do not find it dramatic enough.  We lean towards making lots of noise, venturing in a million directions.  Differences can be celebrated without being considered anomalies.  Differences can be embraced as part of the deal.  Some of this comes from our biological need to belong.  We fear being perceived differently because we think it will make us separate.  Some of us focus on the separate elements of differences so it makes sense the fear would arise.  God calls us to a whole different perception of differences.  We are all made in the image and likeness of God. Everyone of us.  We forget this because we have our own image of what we think God looks or acts like.  God created differences among us so we could get a taste of the limitless possibilities of God.  Acknowledging the differences is about embracing the totality of reality.  Welcoming things that are different instead of fearing them is an opportunity to demonstrate and be a part of the power of love.  Love does not fear.  Love is the opposite of fear.  When we are stuck in the perspective of fear of difference we are called upon by our hearts to approach them differently.  We are given an opportunity by noticing the fear and not buying into it to practice the capacity of our hearts.

In a world where things are more and more replaceable and disposable it is hard to know what really has value and worth.  Is it something to hold on to or are we supposed to use it and toss it?  In a consumer culture the next best thing is always what is being marketed.  This philosophy travels quickly in our mindset from things to people. Over time as a society we have come to divide people up into groups of those who are worthy and those who are not.  Those who have value and will be cherished versus those who are rubbish and will be thrown away or ignored.  It mirrors how we see ourselves and all the elements that make us up.  The parts of us that we think are rubbish and should be gotten rid of are either ignored or pushed down so far they do not enter our psyche.  However, we cannot just throw away parts of ourselves without effecting another part we may not consider rubbish.  We have taken to metaphorically throwing the baby out with the bath water.  God invites us to take a closer look at what we consider rubbish in others and ourselves.  God perceives us as whole and the rubbish as something that perhaps just needs some polishing.  By embarking on the process of determining what lies beneath the rubbish is the work of discovering the deeper mystery of our hearts.