dailydatewithgod

The ocean is made up of millions of drops of water. We don’t think much about how those drops add up to the whole.  Yet, the ocean would be missing some of its magnificence if it did not have all the drops of water it was meant to have.  The baseline ridges of the ocean create an outline for the flow of the water when the drops are working together.  Think of how much pleasure we derive from letting ourselves be held by the ocean or ride the waves.  Even when the moon pulls the tides, the ocean does not break apart into separate drops. We are all drops in each others lives and play a significant contribution.  How much is one drop of water worth to someone who is dying of thirst?  How many times during the course of the day is our presence that drop and the people we encounter the thirsty one?  If we can offer a drop of who we are to one another through the simple acknowledgment of the eyes or a smile, we can create an ocean of people who just might be able to work together for magnificence.  God designed us at our core to be in relationship and work with one another.  We are often too busy paying attention to how we do not seem to mesh well and lose sight of the fact that we all have a heart, a mind, and a soul.  We are not only our outside appearance.  By connecting with others in simple small ways we can be the profound difference between dying of thirst and quenching thirst.

Normally we want to avoid or stay away from things or people who irritate us.  Yet, dismissing them so easily could be at the cost of dismissing the lesson.  We have all had experiences where we find ourselves encountering the same situation or type of person.  The circumstances or setting may be different but we find what we are feeling to be the same.  Contrary to popular belief we are not surrounded by irritating people. This is where the seemingly harsh realization that the common factor in the situation is us.  It does not need to be harsh if we are open to welcoming in the lesson.  We are here to grow. I am certain God is about growth.  She is ready to support anything that will enable us to expand our experience and knowledge of the presence of love.  In some fairy tale land this sounds like rainbows, fairies, and flowers.  On planet earth this means seeing the difficulties and irritations for what they really are . . . portals to love in disguise.  Growing sometimes comes with pain.  Often it is not what is happening that causes pain, it is the resistance to looking at it.  I have done enough experimenting in my own life to know I cannot completely avoid things.  It is part of our evolutionary nature to grow and as God would see it, grow in love and light.  Embracing irritations can provide a portal to light where we have only witnessed darkness and God is ready to take our hand and guide us through our hearts to witness the power of love and light.  Irritations are an indication of  our inner discord which can be taken on with courage and allow us to live as the warriors of love we are called to be.

As a dancer the alignment of the body is where one’s consciousness needs to be.  It’s about how the body is aligned so as to take advantage of the aerodynamics of movement and to accentuate the beauty of body’s movement.  Our eyes are drawn to the lines created in different poses.  There is a reason why we pay attention when standing at attention.  Being in alignment makes sense to us in a fundamental way we don’t even have to consciously think about.  When our bodies are aligned they function better.  When our minds our aligned with the movement and processes of our body it is called flow.  When our hearts are aligned with our spirit it is called joy.  When our hearts, minds, and spirits are aligned it is called power. When our hearts and minds are aligned with God it is called miraculous.  When we are aligned with other human beings it is called peace.  Conversely when our body is not in alignment we are in pain, inflammation,  discomfort, or achy.  When our body is not in alignment with our minds and heart we are disgruntled, depressed, angry, frustrated, negative, or hopeless. When we are not in alignment with ourselves, with others and with God we experience pain, discomfort, frustration, anger, discord, violence, and suffering.  If we are to function well and thrive in this world we are called to pay attention to our alignment.  God is ready and willing to assist us with any adjustments needed.

My prayer for us is the willingness to pay attention to our alignment within ourselves, others, and God and know when to reach out for an adjustment today.

One of the fascinating things about our minds is its ability to see things that are not there.  We see things through the filter of our mind which pulls from past information and clouds the view through which we are witnessing.  Then there are the stories we create in our minds to add meaning to the picture which is why our account of what we are seeing is different from the person sitting next to us.  Essentially our minds are these tremendous movie producers.  To bring ourselves into the reality of what is happening we need to take away some of the excess.  All the other elements are not bad, but they are not real.  God encourages us to stay in reality and turn to him for the production.  We like to add the drama and the fantastical and it stays in our minds that way.  God wants us to be with the reality of what is happening so we can experience the truth of the simple beauty of our lives from moment to moment.  When we are with reality we are closer to love and light.  We approach life with an innocence of heart and pureness of spirit traveling faster than any fantastical story we can create.  The reality of love is powerful and piercing to our hearts and one we are not likely to be the same after experiencing.

Most of our day is not actually spent in the present moment because our minds keep us thinking.  When we are thinking we are not present with what is because we are in our heads.  This is not a bad thing but it is helpful to be aware of it, especially when it comes to our reactions to what is happening.  Life is not what happens to us, it is what we make it mean.  Our minds have this very efficient way of categorizing experiences  and then cataloging them.   When something happens we can go to that file and look for similar situations and know how to handle it.  We are reacting to something based on past experiences.  If we have any left over or residual feelings from those past experiences those show up in the file as well.  Have you ever found yourself having a disproportionate reaction to something?  You notice you have strong feelings of any kind when dealing with something you have never dealt with before.  Our minds allow us to feel capable to handle whatever comes our way because it is dedicated to our survival.  Yet we are not actually reacting or making meaning from the present situation.  Most of the time we are reacting to the past, to a similar situation, but not the current one.  The power of our life comes from noticing our reactions and meaning and pausing before we run with it.  Most mindful practices start by noticing what comes up when we get still.  It is the first step and a practice I learned from my daily dates with God. She showed me the power of noticing and not judging.  He welcomes all our reactions and meanings and invites us to notice them before using them to determine our action. It is a practice which I do very imperfectly.  Pausing and noticing are tools we can use to be in our lives the way God is in our life.

As human beings we are multidimensional.  We experience life on many levels.  We have multiple senses, multiple perspectives, and multiple options.  Embracing all these sides of ourselves provides the breathing space for life.  If we try to box ourselves into being just one way, expressing only one side of ourselves we become stifled.  Our inherent creativity calls to us to respond in the moment we are in.  At any given moment we may be more connected to one sense, perspective, option and therefore side of ourselves.  If we pause and come back to a situation at a later time we will see things from a different side and perhaps make different choices.  The environment and people we surround ourselves are providing feedback and insight through which to filter through all these sides of ourselves.  Yet all sides are an outgrowth of the core of who we are which is a child of God. God embraces and makes room for all sides of ourselves.  Do we do the same or do we hide some of who we are to ourselves and to the world?  One of the many gifts of my daily prayer and meditation dates with God is the willingness to show up exactly how I am in the moment and still be greeted with the same love and acceptance no matter what side of myself is more present. God sees the capacity for a fullness of life and creativity by allowing all sides of ourselves to be accepted.  I ask for the courage, patience, and tolerance to adopt the same perspective of myself and others. I learned a while back that the degree to which I am accepting others is an indicator of the level of acceptance I have of that side of myself.

My prayer for us is the curiosity to explore what it would be like to accept all sides of ourselves as God does today.

It’s amazing what we can learn when we recognize how little we actually know.  Why are little children so open to learning? It can’t be the stature of the individual. The times I am most open to learning is when I come from a place of curiosity.  There is little basis of comparison and so there is no down side to admitting how little or nothing I know about a given experience.  When I look at how often things that are similar in circumstance do not always end the same way for everyone, why do I think it will turn out the same way it does for me every time?  Perhaps I am only seeing a little piece of the outcome. What it looks like the same on the surface is only a little part of the picture.  Like the iceberg the Titanic crashed into.  On the surface was a little part of it, below the surface was the bulk of it.  God is willing to show me all I am open to seeing. It feels safer to play at the level of surface relying on the little I do know.  God invites me to take her hand and allow him to guide me in seeing the greater elements at play.  He wants me to experience life on all levels. While I may have little confidence in my ability to be present to the experience on multiple levels, God’s confidence in my heart is not as little.

Knowing what separates us from one another is helpful in distinguishing to whom or what we belong.  It is an essential survival tool for us as humans especially when living in the wild.  Today, however, most people do not live in the wild. We do still need to feel a part of a community.  We are meant for relationship with one another.  I have experienced a great benefit from being with and around people with whom I feel a part of and accepted.  Families operate this way, economic status creates it, and social and cultural groups provide a safe space in which to thrive.  If we know we belong then we are able to grow without having to constantly defend ourselves on our own.  There is a  breathable element present when we know we can express ourselves without being attacked.  The problem which can be created by separating ourselves is in thinking other’s differences makes them better or worse than us.  We can acknowledge the separateness without excluding who or what with whom we interact.  Through the belonging we can make room to include and be open to ideas and experiences different from our own.  We can assess together if they are a threat or simply a difference.  The openness to inclusion allows for growth and expansion.  Determining how close of an inclusion we create is up to us and God.  The same goes for the inclusion of elements of ourselves which we see as potentially threatening.  God is open to including all of who we are as he already has.  She knows there is space in our hearts to include all the quirkiness and darkness we posses. The more inclusion I have with all of who I am from moment to moment, the more at peace I am with myself and others.

My prayer for us is the curiosity to explore what elements of ourselves we keep at a distance and ask God how we can include them and grow to accept and love them today.

Our perspective is what drives our reality.  It is formed from past experiences and senses of the present moment.  When we walk into our day we do so with the perspective we have accumulated thus far.  The power for me in my daily prayer and meditation date with God is an opportunity to shift my perspective so I am may be present to the experiences of my day as they are.  I find the simplicity of asking God to help me see what he sees makes room for the shifting of what I see.  She invites me to look at things from a different angle.  God offers up the view of innocence for all I may encounter in my day.  He shows me what the situation looks like from the back-end versus the front.  She provides additional insight into what is blocking me from seeing things differently.  The shifting comes when I am open to receiving what God opens my heart to.  The desire to be open to the shifting comes from the practice which I return to willingly because of the lightness of heart I receive.  The added benefit of shifting my perspective regarding situations and others is it also shifts me into being able to see myself as God sees me.

When we set out to travel it is helpful to have directions.  Otherwise we wander aimlessly trying to figure out how to get there.  I remember paper maps I kept in my car when I first moved to Los Angeles.  Then it was print out directions from map quest before I got in the car.  Now it is entering the address in my phone so the GPS can provide directions as I am driving.  God provides direction in our lives.  But God is not always as direct as going from point A to point B. The path of spirituality can sometimes seem like the long and winding road.  They key is to continue to trust and to enjoy the travel time.  When we look to God to provide direction it can sometimes come back to us as incoherent and confusing information.  We do not always have the insight to understand the purpose of the direction.  God’s direction is about our growth in love. Sometimes I just want to get from one place to another and am looking for a more direct route.  My daily prayer and meditation date with God reminds me life is about the journey, not the destination.  When I follow God’s direction I have the opportunity to experience life to its fullest.  Often I find myself in the midst of the experience I was seeking that I thought would come from reaching the destination.  God thought differently.

My prayer for us is the willingness to trust God’s direction for our lives in providing the opportunities for love to grow more fully in our hearts today.