dailydatewithgod

We have all probably been told or heard that we have one mouth and two ears and to use them proportionately.  In the same way, we have two eyes.  They work together to create a vision of what we see, but what we see with our eyes is not often what our mind tells us we are seeing.  When we take the time not only to see but to observe there is greater usage of those two eyes.  There is a pause between what we are taking in through our eyes and what we are interpreting what we see to mean.  At the end of the day we no longer know what we have seen, we only know what meaning we made from what we have seen.  We think we record things like a camera but our brains are not designed that way.  Some people do have a photographic memory but most of us lean on our observations.  Observing gives us the power to stop and digest the information coming in through our eyes before we assign meaning.  We can recount to another what we are observing in the moment before we tell them or ourselves what we think it means.  Often we rush to the meaning before taking in the full picture from the multiple angles accessible to our eyes.  If we use the full spectrum or our two eyes we have more information from which to make meaning.  Just think about how our vision is limited the moment we close one eye.  The same picture looks different and we are missing some things we could see with two eyes.  If we do not use our peripheral vision, our sight is also limited. Giving ourselves the space to observe leaves room to bring God into the interpretation instead of latching on to an already assigned meaning in our minds.  God is fully present to us in the moment. Observing keeps us in the moment a little bit longer.

God is our guide in the light.  We are shown the path to follow when we choose to believe in the light and have the courage to step out of the darkness.  We will not see the path in the dark.  Many of us, myself included, became so used to the darkness we had convinced ourselves we were in the light.  It was not until we stumbled one more time in the darkness that we made a decision to see what other options were available.  God’s light of love brings the power of love to whatever darkness we are experiencing.  When we are used to darkness the light can hurt at first until our eyes adjust.  God is the force that gives us the grace to make room for the light.  I remember years ago when I found myself in a very dark moment.  I was in pain and overwhelmed emotionally as I began to see the truth of some of the harrowing experiences of my past for what they were.  Even though they were no longer happening, my heart hurt at the recollection of the experience which kept flashing in my mind over and over so much so I could no longer blissfully deny the pain.  The pain was in my body and in my soul and I could feel the feelings I had denied so many years ago welling up.  I called a friend, crying and angry and she listened with a warm heart.  She had no solutions but she was familiar with the pain of sexual abuse.  She held the space of the possibility of a time of freedom from the past.  She gently reassured me that in reaching out to her and in letting myself be present and honor the experience I was poking holes in the darkness.  She affirmed from her own experience that the more holes I poked, the more light would be able to come in.  When the light illuminated my heart, body, and soul, I was shown the next step in my path.  I will never forget that afternoon for many reasons.  I was shown by God through my friend’s kindness that there is a way through any experience no matter how dark.  Today when I get  flash of this past occurrence, I see it for what it is and am grateful to recognize the transformation that has occurred in my life as a result of following the path of love I am shown one day at a time.

The clarity from which God operates is something foreign to us.  Our minds seem to enjoy the vagueness.  We are invited to step into the precise reality of God’s understanding with each new day. On our daily dates God opens the door for me to sit with him in the precision of love.  Her clarity of what love is, how it is, and its presence in me even when I do not feel connected to it is profound.  God shows me how to be with this precision and how it evaporates all that stands in contradiction to it.  Love is precisely what it is because of who God is and nothing that takes place in this world can defy this truth.  So much of the noise of the world from unjust political systems to racial inequality, poverty to the advance weapon systems, generations of hatred to everyday irritations tell the story of the falsehood of love.  God’s precision cuts right through the world’s madness and offers the clarity of the power of love.  With it we can courageously endure the world with the same precise belief in the presence of love because we believe the presence of God through us.

God is in the story of our lives for the long haul.  God is in the story of our lives for this moment. Being present in this moment is what enduring through life is all about.  We live out the course of our lives in moments.  Moments we can choose to be present for or those from which we check out.  The endurance of God’s love for us is that he is fully present at every moment and holds the space for us to endure the energy to be fully present as well.  Yet, God does not despair or punish us when we choose to give up before the moment occurs or check out and not be present.  She simply provides us with the next moment, inviting us to choose differently.  A life of love requires endurance. At the outset we may think this endurance applies to being able to walk through the unloving experiences with others.  Endurance is needed to find a way to the peace in our hearts. God has taught me through our daily prayer and meditation dates that when I am at peace with my own heart, I am not swayed by others lack of peace.  The ever-giving essence of love which God designed in each one of us from the start is still there.  We get disconnected from it and think it is because others did something or because of certain experiences.  Then we buy into the stories layered on top of our hearts and think it is who we really are.  Yet, what God creates cannot be undone.  We are no less the image or design of God today than when we took our first breath.  By owning who we are as creations of God, we are reconnecting with the essence of true selves.  We are connecting with the enduring nature of God within us.  Nothing outside of us can change us.  God has the endurance to withstand believing I am who I am as a result of something other than what she created.  Perhaps he can show me how to live this same enduring belief and all I have to do is believe in God’s capacity for endurance.

There is an endearing song, “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” from the musical My Fair Lady.  Professor Henry Higgins shares his realization that he will miss and I would argue has fallen for his student, Eliza Doolittle.  The song conveys a tenderness, when he shares how he has become accustomed to her face, her voice, her moods and it is like breathing in and breathing out.  God is accustomed to all of us before we were fully formed.  God has an even greater endearing love for us. For all of us.  God is accustomed to his love for us.  She delights in all of who we are.  God is accustomed to the love designed within us.  Being our creator, God, much like Henry, cannot avoid the fact that she is accustomed to our presence and takes delight in our being.  It is who God is no matter what we may do or say in contradiction to our true selves. God wants to show us how to become accustomed to our own hearts.  The truest parts of ourselves are the endearing and lasting impact we make on the world from our hearts.  When we separate from one another we are left with what we have become accustomed to about others.  When we step out of our thinking about others and focus on what we recall about their hearts, we realized we are accustomed to love.

All around us are forces providing information and ideas.  We don’t even need to turn around and face them, they are coming at us from all sides and through every avenue.  It can be overwhelming when trying to determine which to let in or consider valid.  If we do not know how to be beside ourselves, how can we know what is meaningful for us and what is just information?  On our daily dates when God is beside me I get the practice of what it means to be beside myself.  Do I have a sense of who I am at my core?  What I do think and feel about something before I am influenced by someone outside of me?  It is important for us to develop our own sense of what it means to be in our own corner.  At a young age, when nothing in my world made sense, my best option was to abandon myself.  I learned quickly to adapt to others expectations and ideas.  When I did have my own, I was careful how much I voiced them and would check others for their level of acceptance.  I learned to talk quickly or mumble when I could not hide what I really felt or thought.  I thought because I had a number of experiences where those who were important to me could not stand beside me that I must not be worth it.  As I live as an adult woman some of those well-developed defense mechanisms are still strong.  It takes patient and persistent effort to be someone who is willing to be beside herself no matter what.  When I cannot do it and I want to run (which never really works), I turn to God and say, Help me not abandon me.  Show me what it means to stand beside myself and ride this wave through.  Then I take a deep breath and stand amidst the discomfort of the waves of unknowing in practicing a new behavior.  I am grateful it gets easier with time and with God ready to be beside me each day on our dates, I get a reminder that I am worth the effort.

I have noticed that we tend to evaluate ourselves based on what we have received more than on what we have given.  Is it because we cannot give physical demonstration of what we have given because we no longer have it?  Is it because it is seen as trying to seem saintly or better than? Maybe giving is less complicated than we make it seem.  Maybe giving and receiving are both essential for the flow of life to occur. Our bodies and systems seem to think so.  If we only take breaths in, we will explode.  If we only let breaths out we will die from oxygen starvation.  Being giving is as fundamental to us as exhaling yet we look to it to measure our worth.  It seems to be another symptom of needing to have evidence that we are on the right track and we meet with others approval.  Even when we give we want acknowledgment.  I am not saying this is wrong but as someone who used giving as a way of validating her place on the planet, I had it out of whack.  Once I understood that my value as a human being was evident in the fact that God took time to create me, I could let go of needing to prove I was worthy.  Giving and receiving play a vital role in us being able to move through life.  Breathing in, breathing out.  If I can give from the whole of who I am instead of looking to receive acknowledgment that I am okay because I am giving, then others are free to receive the gifts.  On our dates, God reminds me through my breath that I am here, I am worthy, and I am connected to the whole and flow of life.  God is ready to remind all of us first through our giving and receiving of the breath.

The harmonious nature of God is echoed in all of existence.  We know it when we hear beautiful music, resonate with beats that moves us forward, and find the courage to love.  There is a peace in God’s accordance that calls us out of our limited view and see things from a different perspective.  We do not know how much we impact each other with our words or lack of words.  We think we go unnoticed to each other. Maybe there is no conscious notice by our eyes but our minds and hearts are picking up all kinds of energies from each other.  Our heart’s resonate several feet outside our physical boundaries and we all know the feeling when we walked into a room that did not feel right but nothing obvious made it seem wrong.  If we make an effort to be in accord with the truth of who we are by our words, actions, and most importantly our way of being, we can be peacemakers.  We can be the beacons and messengers of love God designed us to be.  When we find ourselves not able to be in accordance with God we can reach out and ask for help.  God, I am out of alignment with the truth of who I am in this moment, show me what it would mean to be in accordance with you right now.

God use me.  It is a simple prayer conveying my trust in God’s knowing and my willingness to be the messenger of love.  I walk through my life thinking I know what needs to be done or how to show up or make it up as I go along.  Setting the intention to be in the world what God has designed me to be is much more powerful.  God using me to speak, look, taste, feel, hear and connect allows me to feel a sense of accomplishment that far surpasses any checklist I have.  As part of our date time I will let God know what I have planned for the day and turn it over and ask to be used.  I am less concerned when I get stuck in a line somewhere or have to take a different route, because I trust it is what God had in mind.  I do not do this perfectly and many days I forget. When I remember to ask God to use me there is a sense of fulfillment and levity.  I am not so wedded to my thinking about how I or others should do things.  It creates a more open and accepting environment where love can flourish for me and those around me.

God invites us to see our lives through the vision of our hearts. Deep within us is the space of impartiality. It accepts all that is without judgment.  It exists in a space of fundamental trust in the power of God’s love.  It rests in the undying belief that whatever happens God can guide us into seeing how the power of love will restore it.  There is no area of our lives in which this principle does not apply.  The power of impartiality leaves room for God to show up in everything and in every experience.  If I judge a situation with the bias of my past experience which is all I know, then I have contained it outside the parameters of restoration.  Instead I can reach for the hand of God and ask for the courage to be impartial in my assessment.  Then I am capable of making room for God’s view of what is possible in the eyes of love.  I can choose to take on the impartiality at any moment in my experience.