dailydatewithgod

Images carry a great deal of weight in our minds.  Our brains seem to latch on to pictures in ways it does not connect with letters and numbers.  We dream in images.  Clearly there is a language of understanding that gets communicated with pictures.  It is no mistake that any one picture can convey multiple meanings.  Often times we are not able to grasp something until we picture it.  Some languages create pictures with their lettering.  When we can place ourselves inside a picture of an experience or feeling we are better able to relate to what we are experiencing.  God is inviting us to be in the space of picturing where there is not one definitive notion of what is happening. There is mystery in a picture because what one sees depends upon their particular perspective or mood of the moment.  Unfortunately, this is what makes eyewitness testimony so fallible.  The beauty of picturing allows room for things to change.  When we come back to a picture we can look at it from a different angle. Often, once we label it with words and numbers we go with those and don’t look back.  There is a time a place for words and numbers to guide our experiences and interpretations.  Just remember that before you knew how to share your experiences in words and numbers you created pictures.  It connects us with a more innocent place within us.  It creates an openness to mystery.  When we find ourselves attached to the labels given to an experience, God invites us to pause, take a breath, and go back before we created the labels and see what we were picturing.

When we hold on to something, that something has a hold on us.  We do not often perceive it that way until we attempt to let go of it.  In fact, it is not until we attempt to let go do we become aware of just how much of it is holding us. We experience this with people as well as ideas and beliefs.  We have an aversion to loss because we view ourselves as only having a finite experience. We are certain that letting go means we will have less.  I find it curious that some of the most powerful gestures to indicate willingness are open hands.  People hold the posture in prayer, in conversation, and it is what is necessary for a handshake.  If we are holding on, we are not able to receive anything else. I do hope there are things we all hold on to. It is not a black and white experience.  Like all things, God invites to an awareness of what we are holding on to and determine if it is holding on to us.  Especially if it is keeping us from being open to receiving more love. When we determine what is holding on to us, we can choose if it serves us or not and if we are willing to let go.  Sometimes we are not aware that though we may be no longer holding on to something such as a person or a belief, we are still held by ideas attached to that person or belief.  Ideas about who we are or what transpired. Those ideas sometimes deep within us which keep us from being able to receive the love God is ready to place in our open hands and hearts. It takes courage to let go absolutely and it can take time but once we make a decision to do so the opportunities to no longer be in holding are presented.

Taking time to connect with ourselves is important.  God spent all this time and energy in creating us from scratch, making sure we have everything we need to be able to live and carry the message of love. If God finds value in so attentively designing us maybe we could spend a little time getting to know ourselves.  How often are we fascinated by the way we laugh or marvel at how we can walk up a set of stairs without thinking about it?  Do you ever wonder why your heart skips a beat when you see someone who takes your breath away?  Is your heart letting you know something about you or the other person?  If we choose to cultivate a connection with ourselves we can more clearly fulfill the role God has given us in this life. Paying attention to what we are thinking, feeling and doing not from a self-obsessive perspective but so we may use the information to inform our thinking, feeling, and doing going forward.  We may have reached a point in our lives where we do not know how we got there.  I know I experienced it when I got into recovery. In my case, the questions were, “how did it get this bad?” and “why do I feel so purposeless?”.  They were important questions for me to ask. Yes, they were more in-depth than how did I my legs move me up the stairs, but those simpler questions came later. Living in recovery means taking a look at what had led up to that moment and choosing to wake up and connect with myself and God so I would not look back 20 plus years from now and have the same experience.  By paying attention I was able to learn more about the design God created within me and get a clue as to what it is all meant for. It is not a one day, one weekend, or one retreat process.  It is a lifetime of cultivating connection with myself, with God, and with others. I cannot continue on a journey of fulfillment on my own.  I need others to teach me about them and myself and I need God to be with me to know which next place to connect.

We all have a role to play in this drama called life.  Our lives become the orchestration of that role to the extent we are aware of who we are and what we are doing.  We can engage in the beauty of life’s mystery when we are open to how we can be the signature of love in any given moment.  We personally are the message of love in every situation we find ourselves in.  We have a unique set of experiences and characteristics that make us the most qualified person in that situation to be the messenger.  To be aligned with this role we have been personally given, we need to clear away any idea of the contrary.  A lot of us walk around with impostor syndrome hanging over us.  We cannot imagine that we are the ones personally assigned to be the message of love.  So instead we convey a message of fear and uncertainty.  Yet because God is able to use everything for the greater good, all is not lost.  We all have known situations that seemed the farthest from the reality of love which became the catalyst for an opening to love on a deeper level.  Pausing to check in with ourselves is the first step to aligning with our personal mission of love in the moment we are in.

We all have our particular inclinations.  We are drawn to certain ideas, people or experiences.  When we think about the people with whom we will most likely get along, ideas we are open to, or experiences for which we would sign up we become aware of our tendencies.  God has no particular tendency.  All That Is encompasses the grand design of the fullness of existence.  God knows there is no specific person, idea or experience which has any less love within it than any other.  We have tendencies which shelter our hearts from the things we perceive might hurt us as they do not appear to contain the love for which we are seeking.  It is the tendency of survival to hold on to what is known.  Yet in the world we live in today, what constitutes survival is a given for most people.  Our brains often behave as though we are still living as cave people and hunting for food in the forest.  So our desire to survive may extend itself far past what will actually compromise our survival in today’s world because we do not have to fear lack of shelter or food.  There are those in this world unfortunately who do still not have those basic needs met.  That kind of baseline survival is not what these tendencies are. Our tendencies of survival are often formed in areas where our actual survival is not threatened, it just feels like it.   I am very grateful for them as they served me at the time I needed them. When we look at the ideas, people, or experiences with tendencies different from our own and are reluctant to open ourselves it them, it is a sign that we believe it will compromise our survival.  God gives us the power of a mind to extend past our tendency for survival into thriving but it usually means being uncomfortable. Discomfort is sometimes a mask for unfamiliar which can get at our sense of safety which brings us back to survival.  On our daily dates God has shown me to notice the tendencies I hold onto for survival as a flag that I feel unsafe on some level.  When I see it I can pause, take a deep breath, and bring it to him.  She can help me to recreate a safe space in my heart from which I can open back up to living more fully and expanding my tendencies.

Being children of the Great Creator we all possess the capability to create.  There is sometimes anxiety that comes up for people around the word creativity. They have created this notion that creativity is only the stuff of artists and poets.  But creativity is about what you are generating in your life.  Whether it is a thought, an experience, a relationship, a mindset, or a feeling we all have the capability to notice what is generating within us and what is generating from us.  A victim mindset would have us believe that we are at the mercy of our thoughts and our feelings.  Yes, they happen seemingly without provocation sometimes, but we can choose the ones to which we give power.  This  defines what we are able to generate in our lives.  What we focus on expands and when we grow our attention towards the thoughts or feelings that are coming up at any given moment we generate more of it.  Over time if we do this absent-mindedly we build a mind muscle that is defaulted to that particular mode.  This is why people who are older are often seen as having strong ways of being and less open to new ideas.  We become an amplification of our own particular mindset the longer we live from it.  It gets regenerated over and over and it is what we bring to everything we experience.  Who we are being is what makes the experience. The power is in beginning to notice what kind of focuses we automatically generate and deciding if we want to change the course.  We can do this at any time.  It is simply a decision to generate and focus on more of the thoughts and feelings we want to have in our lives.  The ones that can create the kind of person we want to be. I learned the power of this on my daily dates with God when I was choosing to observe my thoughts and feelings without judgment or story.  It takes practice but it works.  It is empowering to acknowledge having the capacity to generate more of the kinds of experiences we want when we focus on what we are generating.   It is not about some magical ability to change the circumstances but what kind of being we are generating no matter what is the circumstances.

It seems highly contradictory to the world we live in to embrace the in between moments.  The times when we are waiting for one thing to end or something else to begin.  The reality is while we are waiting there are things happening.  We are the ones who make the decision that it is not worth our time and attention.  It sets us up for dissatisfaction with our lives in the present moment if we label waiting as something we have to get through.  What would happen if we told ourselves standing was not worthy of our time?  How about meeting different people that we would not normally encounter while waiting for the elevator to arrive as not worth it?  When we put waiting in the context of the situation in which it is happening, we make a blanket statement that whatever is happening is not okay.  God invites us to recognize that life is part of a flow of experiences.  We move from one to the next and while it would be cool to teleport everywhere until the age of Star Trek we will find ourselves in these in between moments . . . waiting.  Perhaps the time of waiting is giving space to focus on something needing our attention either in our minds or in front of our faces. We do not always know when we are the ones tasked with being the messenger of love.  If we hold contempt for waiting in line at the grocery store we may be hindering an opportunity for us to be the face of love for someone on the line next to us.  It is not about carrying the burden of other people’s happiness but acknowledging we are not on this planet alone.  We impact each other with our presence.  Our decision about the worthiness of waiting applies to everything and everyone surrounding the experience, not just ourselves.

We know when we resonate with ideas, people, and experiences.  It just seems to click whether it is something someone says or does.  It registers for us on a level deeper than just an intellectual understanding. Conversely when we do not resonate with it, it can often be interpreted as being invalid.  It carries no weight or truth because it does not resonate for us.  We find ourselves baffled by those who do see such an experience, person or idea as valid.  The reality is we live in a world in which there are multiple understandings, perspectives, and possibilities.  We cannot in our limited mind be cognizant of all of it.  God invites us to remain open when we come across something that appears to hold validity for others and seems completely invalid to us.  We just may not be able to see things as they see things.  By remaining open there is no need to make us right and them wrong or us valid and them invalid.  There is room for validity from many angles. This is not always easy especially when our ideas or experiences speak of the validity of something completely opposite from others. The invitation is there because God wants us to know we can choose to make differences in experiences and ideas as signs of separateness from others or we can choose to allow them to open our eyes to other kinds of validity.

My prayer for us is the willingness to open our ideas of validity to make room for those around us to be different but not separate today.

When we have an opportunity to get outside of a situation it allows for clarity. It could be distance or just looking at it from a different angle.  I often wonder what it would be like to be a bird, seeing the world from just an expansive view.  It would be amazing to be lifted up above a site and get a bigger picture of what is really going on.  Unfortunately, unless we can climb a mountain, get on a roof, or go parasailing (an experience not to be missed by the way) we do not have easy access to a view from above. God is always ready to shine the light of understanding into our hearts.  When we ask to see things differently or see them as God sees them we can be lifted up from what is going on and see things from above.  I do not prescribe to the idea that God is up there somewhere but I do believe that God has the capacity to see the bigger picture.  I am known to inform God that I could use some lifting up and seeing things from above because where I sit at the moment is much too limited.  I make no bones about the fact that I am open to seeing it differently because I am only experiencing pain and discomfort from the ground eye view.  If  I am holding on or carrying the weight of my seeing it from my perspective only, the lifting will not occur.  I am carrying too much weight with me.  I am encouraged by God to let go of my current perspective and the pain tied to it so I can be lifted above to see it differently.  Depending on how attached I am to my current view this happens quickly or slowly.  The lifting happens when we allow the light from our hearts to create a space in our minds to view what is happening from wholeness.  It can be as simple as the view of my day or as complicated as my experience in a life long friendship. Each opportunity in which I am willing to allow the light of my heart to make me ready to be lifted up, my courage to do so in other situations increases.

Relying on God comes from the acknowledgment that we cannot do it on our own.  Once we are sure that we cannot do it all on our own, which for stubborn people like me sometimes takes a while, we make room for God to step in and create the missing piece.  God sees a multitude of options as far as how to show up.  Sometimes it is an experience, other times it is a conversation, and others an idea that pops into our head.  One step leads to the next and suddenly we look up and realize we have walked through and dealt with whatever it is that seemed insurmountable before.  In the same way we were sure we could no longer do it on our own, we can be sure God will show up.  We do not know exactly how or when but it will happen.  The surety is a trust and faith in God.  The most difficult piece for me is usually letting go of thinking I know how God should show up.  In the process of getting to the next step I am encouraged by God on our daily dates to let go of my expectations, worries, fears,or imaginings large or small of what is coming next.  It is as though God is training me to be with the moment, the step I am in.  God sees value in the whole journey, not just certain stopping points.  The surety then extends to our belief in the power of being present in the moment we are in.  We can trust God to lead us to the next step while we are being in the current one.  It is not easy, but it is simple.