dailydatewithgod

Sharing my experiences and understandings of the Great I AM.

Be Of Room!

God is inclusive.  One of my favorite musician and song-writers is Billy Joel.  He has a way of expressing his passion through his music and lyrics.  His song, “And So It Goes” tells us: “In every heart there is a room.  A sanctuary safe and strong. To heal the wounds from lovers past, until a new one comes along.”  What I love about this imagery is its description telling us that our heart is not enclosed in a room but the room is in the heart.  The sanctuary is created by the preciousness of love itself.  We are not meant to live inside this room or use it as a protective force from love.  Rather it is the space from which love can grow and expand throughout us all.  We come to the sanctuary room to be reminded that no matter how much we give of our heart there is this space where restoration can occur.  God sees to it.  God wants us to grow more and more in love.  To do that we return again and again to the sanctuary source of that love.  Not just when we are wounded but every day, every moment, every breath.  God is ready to hold the room open for us to be restored by the Greatest Love of All.

My prayer for us is the courage to spend as much time in the sanctuary room within our hearts as we can possibly stand with each breath we take today.
If God has built the room within our hearts to keep love alive and thriving, what might you be able to make more room for with love in your life today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Relief!

God solves. God wants us to know that Love’s presence is always present.  No matter what we are experiencing.  No matter what we are thinking.  No matter how we are behaving.  Underneath, within, around, and through is love. Some of my most cherished God-incidences have occurred in the midst of tears, anger, or hopelessness.  It is as though God knew just how to show up and place a warmth upon my heart and a soft voice in my ear saying, “I AM Here.  I am with you.  I am within you.  I know you want to abandon you right now and you think you cannot make it through.  Rest assured I do not have the same limited view of you because I know your heart.  Breathe into your heart, take my hand and rest.  Relieve yourself of the burdens you are trying to carry and let yourself off the hook. The stranger of fear that you have let come visit your mind, will not stay because it has no home in your heart.  The home in your heart I created knows there is no truth in fear.  Be relieved in your mind by this warmly soft-spoken message to your heart child.”
My prayer for us is the willingness to connect to our hearts for the relief of the burdens of our minds today.
If God is only recognizes who we are in our hearts, how can God’s relieving view of your experiences help you ease through today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Description!

God witnesses.  Our lives are an orchestration of the various comings and goings of love.  We are in constant flux and learning all the time.  God calls us to engage our whole selves in the process of growing in love.  God does not require that we know already how to do it but to be willing to step out under God’s care.  God desires for us to create a vivid description of how our lives demonstrate the tapestry of love.  This means being able to recognize the role of everything that happens in our lives in the context of love or growth in love.  We are reminded over and over through the descriptive nature of life that love is present in us and outside of us in so many fashions.  We think we can get away from it, but there is no where love is not.  God describes life as the manifestation of love in all forms.  We can live into God’s description by taking God’s hand and being willing to discover our description of love this day.
My prayer for us is the courage to use the experiences of our own lives no matter how dark or light as our description of love today.
If God has described our lives as the presence of love or growth in love, how can God assist you in seeing love through your description of life today?  Share in the comments.
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Be of Boundlessness!

God is broad.  The vast nature of love is its ability to transcend and permeate all of existence.  Being in daily relationship with God enables us to experience its boundless nature with constancy.  It ignites in us the connection of our heart that unless activated remains present but unfulfilled.  God wants our hearts to expand to their fullest capacity.  God wants for us to know the never-ending flow of love  moving through us and around us.  God wants us to know God.  In my daily dates with God I find the most sacred moments are those in which I experience God in a way that had never crossed my mind.  I think because it went straight to my heart and was not bound by my having to know or understand its effect was profound.
My prayer for us is the courage to embrace the boundless nature of love and revel in the spontaneity and surprise of God showing us love today.
If God is not bound by our minds to show us love, what might you be open to experiencing as love today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Beauteosness!

God is bold.  Owning the truth of who we are is the first step on the road of authenticity.  It is helpful to remember that God does not push us on this path but meets us where we are. God is happy when we ask to have God a part of the journey because there is so much beauty to be shown to us. The sooner we get started the more time we have to enjoy it.  But the enjoyment is not possible if our hearts are not open.  Beauty is not merely a physical experience.  Like all genuine elements of life beauty is a heart experience.  It can be initiated by the witnessing of a striking scene or element but it is the little jump-start to our heart that ignites our spirit and allows our being yo be transformed.  Beauty moves us to step outside of ourselves to connect with others.  Beauty stirs the soul to greater love and compassion as it touches the innermost element of our hearts.  The invitation from God to be our beauteous self is a calling far more than a physical representation, it is designed to place us on the path of making our transforming mark on the souls of the world.
My prayer for us is the courage to embrace our beauteousness and develop the eyes through which to see the beauty of the world today.
If God boldly declared your beauteousness upon the world when you were born, what is standing in the way of you owning your authenticity today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Extension!

God is everywhere. In our relationship with God as we walk the path of love day by day, we are invited over and over to step closer to our own hearts.  I thought for years that it was about doing more and being more and proving myself more.  Whatever I did was never enough according to the script running through my head.  It was as though my mind would never be satisfied.  The upside of this was a stretching of myself and realizing that I was capable of more than I thought I could be.  The downside is never being able to enjoy where I was in the moment because it was always about the next thing.  Recently I have felt a nudging from God to extend and open my heart a bit more.  I recognize it as an invitation to trust in the power of love as meeting me in the extension.  It is not about me not being enough, it is about God wanting me to experience myself and others as more than I think we are.  To be present and aware a bit more of the presence of love.  It is a letting go of needing to keep a handle on things.  It is an invitation to the acceptance of the reality of love as a bit more of the reality than the one I currently hold.  I am not sure where this will take me or what will enfold but I am willing today to accept the invitation today and extend my heart to experience a bit more love.
My prayer for us is the courage to trust the invitation of our creator that love extends far beyond our conception and we can be present to it if we wish.
If God has a bit more love to share with you, how might you be willing to extend open your heart to receive it today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Striding!

God is purposeful. We are guided by the love that is inherent in us and walk with the confidence of that love with our Creator.  The strides we make in our lives are driven from this same purpose.  The purpose of love’s growth.  It is in the beats of our hearts, the softness of our voices, the pump of our blood, the focus of our eyes, and the touch of our hands.  We cannot run or separate ourselves from the very entity that designed us.   We will always bear the imprint of love.  This means we can stride with confidence in the love we are even when we do not feel it.  Trusting in its presence is what faith is.  As I stride through my days uncertain of the path I am on, I am reassured by this concept.  I can rely on the fact of my connection to God and its strength as my foot hits the ground.
My prayer for us is the willingness to trust the process of putting one foot in front of the other and trusting in the strength of our stride.
If God equips us with a stride of love inherent in our steps, what areas of your life can you walk with a little more strength today?  Share in the comments.
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Be of Witness!

God sees.  Love knows.  Our hearts are present to so much that if we waited to let is process in our minds, we might be waiting a long time. Communication between our hearts and minds is inherent in presence.  When we pay attention to the thoughts that come up in our minds and the energies of our hearts in the present moment, we begin to unlock the mystery of the human experience.  It is difficult when we function only from the mind because it excludes so much that we are witnessing but may not be noticing.  Bringing witness to our hearts, lightens the load our heads carry.  It is not about making the ego wrong, it is deciding which witness we want to have create the overriding direction in our lives.  In my years of recovery I have found great value in observing the thoughts that I attach to and noticing what stories I begin to create.  Having the pause I learned to cultivate in my daily meditation dates with God is something I now cannot live without.  A slower process has been in also bearing witness to what is happening with my heart at the same time.  I am not referring to the physical organ specifically, although sometimes I notice it there too.  I am speaking of the energetic flow of life that is expressed in my breath and in my focus.  If the rhythm of my heart is paid attention to, it grants me access to a deeper experience of the moment.  This moment always begins with the breath.  It is said in the Hebrew scriptures that God breathed life into Adam.  This makes me believe that I too can give life to elements of my life by witnessing and connecting with my heart and breathing into them.

My prayer for us is the courage to bear witness to the shifts and flows of our hearts so as to create a coherent connection between our minds and our hearts and create in the space of love from which we were designed.
If God started life through the breath, what might you be able to witness your heart starting today? Share in the comments.
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Be Of Safety!

God holds.  As a child I loved that song, “Whole World in His Hand.”  I used to picture this massive hand of God holding me like a little miniature doll.  Something about that picture allowed me to feel safe and protected as though nothing could get to me.  My actual experience was mixed.  I had a roof over my head, parents who loved me, and a father who would come into my room at night sometimes and do things fathers don’t normally do to their daughters.  I never knew when it would happen so I spent most of the time being afraid.  As an adult who had buried those memories deep for a long time I never understood why I felt an underlying lack of safety.  I conveniently created a safe barrier of weight around my body as an illusionary protection device.  When that started to kill me, I had to find a different way.  Part of my recovery process has been in trusting in God’s safety.  Not a safety that nothing bad will ever happen or touch me, but the sense of sureness that no matter what happens on the outside, it does not change the core of who I am.  My true innocence of love that began before I took human form was not nor could ever be changed by someone or something outside of me. God resides in the place of origin in my heart and vibrates my essence of love and always has.  I can be reminded of this when I return to the space of love in my heart and find God’s hand to rest in once again.
My prayer for us is the courage to recognize that our sense of safety lies not in the sureness of no harm but the truth of knowing that nothing outside of us can undo what God has created within us today.
If God holds us in love at all times and sees us as love at all times and spaces, how can God assure you of your own safety in being the love you are today?  Share in the comments.
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Be Of Linking!

God connects.  We cannot stray too far from the very being that designed us.  It would be like trying to unwrite our DNA code. God has left an imprint and a design that speak of love and runs through out entire system.  When we find ourselves off that course it is not that it is not the truth for us or someone else but perhaps the link has been weakened.  Maybe it is not about proving we are worthy of a God that loves and cares for us but not resisting the natural connection.  What if we did not have to work at being connected to God but simply stopped resisting what is most elemental in our nature.  Our ego is always front and center ready to tell us what we need to do to prove ourselves, stand out, and be special.  It provides us with the initiative to sustain our lives physically and materially.  I am most grateful for this.  But what if there is more?  What if the recognition of the sense of something greater is inherent in us to connect with if we just remember to stay linked in?  What if the process of doing this is not about seeking it outside of ourselves, but linking up within?  If God is something greater than us, why would the process through which to be linked with God be the same as something we can accomplish readily on our own?  Maybe being linked with God is already there, but we are being called to let go of the perspective that it is something to be obtained.  The systems and habits of this world are tremendous and awe-inspiring as well as frightening and limited.  Perhaps what carries us through to not be limited in the fullness of life is the recognition of the link between us and God as simply present.

My prayer for us is the recognition that in order to be at one with the truest design of who we are is not a striving for but a resting in the link stronger than we might imagine today.
If God is readily linked to us, how might God enable you to be present to the evidence of this link today?  Share in the comments.
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