dailydatewithgod

God creates perfectly.  God sees us with the eyes of perfection and the satisfaction of All That Is.  We on the other hand see with the eyes of imperfection and dissatisfaction when we look through the eyes of only our mind.  God encourages us to develop the mindset of One Who Sees All.  When we walk in relationship with God and even attempt to genuinely connect we give ourselves the chance to develop the mindset of God.  We often don’t get past the comparison of our mindset to God’s and spend our time condemning ourselves.  Then before we allow ourselves to open up and let God’s vision in we are convinced of our hopelessness. We then give up and continue to focus on what is wrong with us and the world.  In my dates with God I have learned that being open to development of my heart requires patience.  I cannot reverse the attitudes and mindsets that I have created without God’s help because God has the patience required.  The beauty of this process of development, of returning to my whole and true self, is in itself a development of heart and mind in alignment with a relationship and oneness of God.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to step into the process of development and have the courage to accept the patience of God with ourselves.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

God of joy and laughter is delighted by all of creation!  God sees through the eyes of love and therefore is always amused by something.  When we step back and take a breath we can be granted that same view.  I find that a lot of my suffering occurs simply from taking myself too seriously.  Yes, life is serious and there is a time and a place for reverence and contemplation. However, all of life is not suffering. All of life is not do or die.  News flash, we are going to die at some point and there is nothing we can do to prevent it.  The point is to enjoy the ride.  Life is a roller coaster.  It goes up and down and takes unexpected turns and twists,  Sometimes it is super fast and other times it moves in a calculated slow fashion.  Sometimes we see the bend coming around the corner and can prepare. Other times it will turn out differently than we expect.  We can clench our teeth and hunker down, stop breathing and brace ourselves.  Or we can let go, trust that the seat we are in will hold us no matter what, and scream out loud for the pure joy of it.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to embrace the amusements of life and go with God along for the ride.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God is the composer who wrote the world in a song of love.  God created the symphony in which we all play an instrument so that the melody of love is carried out.  When we play our instrument (ourselves) we make the music of love come alive. When we try to play the instrument of someone else, then our piece in the melody is missing.  We may be a part of the wind instrument section or the string section.  We may even be next to another violin player but when we play from our full being we enliven the music for all those who are listening.  If the piece of music requires a quartet of violins, it will not sound the same if only three show up to play.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to trust that our part in the melody of love cannot be played by anyone but our true selves.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

All That God is, is beyond our comprehension.  When we dive deep into the love that created us we find ourselves traversing territories that our minds could not imagine.  There are no boundaries to love. There are no limits to love. There are no fixed realities in love.  When we spend most of our time in a physical, limited reality we begin to think that God and love operate on that same level.  Yes, God is present in our physical reality. Love is present in form that can be touched and seen and heard.  But there is always more happening than can be seen.  We get a subtle sense of it when we open ourselves up to the idea that All That God Is cannot be understood in our minds alone.  I have had many experiences where my mind could not explain the spiritual experience I was having in mass or on a retreat or in a meditation.  The mystical and mysterious nature of God is such that it keeps us growing and reaching beyond a one-sided perspective about God, about love.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to allow our hearts to guide us in recognizing the space in which the mystery of God thrives and be delighted by its mystical nature.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God created all of existence out of who God is. As the image and likeness of God we are called to do the same.  We have the unique responsibility of living the message of God in our own worlds.  We can use the gifts we have been given to be the messengers of love and light that we are.  To do anything less is to not fulfill our nature.  It takes courage to own who we truly are and live into that being.  But God does not expect us to do it alone. Our ego does because our ego is always looking for ways to Edge God Out.  If we stand in the space of who created us and what we are truly made of then we cannot help but be the expression of that.  We stand upright and claim our existence.  It means letting go of all the stories and layers of things that we have placed on top of us as a result of living through circumstances where we thought we needed to take on such things to survive.  It does not make us wrong that we took them on, they served a purpose.  But to continue to carry them does not allow us to stand upright.  We are dragged down by them. God invites us to let them go into God’s hands and therefore frees us to walk tall in the light of who we are and shine in the world.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to hand over to God the burdens that we have chosen to keep carrying that keep us from being to stand upright.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of the Universe has made room for all things.  God of breath makes room for the ins and the outs.  God of acceptance has made space for us to be.  Our personal power comes from our being.  Our being comes from The Great Creator and what we have designed in our lives.  It is hard for us to imagine that there is enough space for us to just be when we are bombarded with constant messages about what we do and don’t do.  God created us as human beings, not human doings.  Being in action is important.  We can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen but our life is not measured simply by our outcomes.  Our life is reflected in who we are being as we work towards those outcomes. Life is about living today and in this moment.  This day and this moment may not be the one where we witness the outcome.  According to the world, we have not lived up to its expectations.  According to God who holds space for our being, it is part of the process and God is grateful when we show up.  Somehow I don’t think that because God had not yet created man on the 4th day of creation that God had failed.  God was being The Creator and was in the process.  We can give each other that space of being when we practice acceptance.  I have come to appreciate the gift of acceptance for myself and others and realize its priceless nature. My prayer for us today is that we be open to creating the space to be for ourselves and others.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of All creation designed us to be in communion with one another.  We have been created for relationship.  It is in connecting with one another that we are able to full realize our potential for love.  When we open ourselves up to share and be with another person we gain an understanding of the vulnerability of God.  We find our greatest joy when we connect with others.  Those connections keep us in the web of love.  We are surprised, challenged, delighted, engaged, transformed, and grown in love through our sharing of ourselves with others. God call us to be in a shared relationship with All That Is.  We can experience the mirror of our own hearts when we share it with others.  It is only in giving that we receive.  St. Francis of Assisi spoke of this. All major religious and spiritual practices encourage us to give from our hearts and share who we are with one another.  The world tells us to hide our true selves and present a mask that others will approve of and that will get us love.  We do not need to “get” anything from others because we have all that we need within us. God has made sure of that.  When we acknowledge that truth then we are able to freely share the love in our own special way with one another and allow God to flow through us.  My prayer for us today is that we trust the love that is within us as an unlimited supply from God that is meant to be shared with others.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of Life and Love is all Light.  When we are fully in the present presence of God there is only Life, Love & Light.  Darkness is merely the absence of light.  We live in a dual reality.  Yin and Yang, Light and Dark, Up and Down, In and Out, Masculine and Feminine, etc.  The world tends to look upon things from the dual reality of right versus wrong and promptly places most things in that category.  We have a hard time with the acceptance of the middle ground.  The truth is that duality means both are present in all things.  In everything good there is a little bit of bad, in everything bad there is a little bit of good. This reality does not apply to God because God is not something that can be understood or grasped in a physical reality.  But God did create the world in which we live as such.  This makes me think therefore that there is some grander purpose to it all. Why would God create darkness and light?  Each of those elements must have some role in our growth and return to LOVE.  Slowly as I have walked this closer and closer path in the breath of God, I am more wiling to acknowledge and embrace my darkness as well as my light.  I used to run from the dark like a confused child.  I used to deny the darkness so that I could play along in my family and survive.  As a woman who walks with God I am invited over and over again to step into my darkness and see it for what it truly is–a place that I have tried to bar God from because I decided I knew better than God what God could handle.  The funny part is when I am willing to step into the darkness mindful that I bring with me the light of love in my heart, God is already there waiting with a big flashlight, a gentle hand, and a smile:  So glad you are here Colleen, let me show you the light that is in here that you are not able to see. There is no need to run and hide lovely woman, I still got you. There is no amount of darkness within you that outshines the love that I have for you and placed in you.  Let me help you remember.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to trusting the light of God that is with us and within us is stronger than any darkness that we fear exists or have experienced in or outside of ourselves.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

God of All has endowed us with the power of choice. God created us for and by love but it is up to us to choose love.  It is in that power of choice that we own the gift that has been given to us.  God gives freely and let’s go of the results by allowing us to choose.  We are invited to do the same.  Our minds think we want control situations so that they turn out the way we want.  That is how the world measures things–by the results.  It is only in our part that we can determine whether or not we are showing up.  We can control our part. We cannot control the results.  So if we only measure ourselves as the world does, by the results, then we may not fare so well.  If we measure ourselves by the Spirit we know if things are working by whether or not we are showing up.  For me this means being present, choosing love, not abandoning myself, remembering to have faith, being forgiving, focusing on gratitude.  If I practice those ways of being which I can control then I am better able to let go of thinking I can or need to control the outcome.  If I am fully present in the moment, it is the only moment that I am concerned with and I am in the result.  Dating God has taught me that while the world can be alluring and flashy and make it seem like the next best thing is what I want or need, all I need is right here, right now, where God IS.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to let go of the world’s idea of control and focus on what we can control–being present with God in this moment.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

The God of All Creation is a God of Caring.  God of All That Is created us mindfully.  God the Great Designer thought out each element of our entire being and uniquely placed everything just as it is.  At every moment we have exactly what we need.  Do you ever notice that when you are in the flow of life, you do not worry about tomorrow?  When you are fully present in the moment there is no desire or comparison for something other than the moment?  When we step outside of the present we have a mind that is constantly going and comparing and categorizing and judging.  That is why people look so calm and pleasant when they meditate. They are in the moment.  It is why people who are performing or in the zone and are super focused on the task at hand are able to accomplish incredible feats. In the present our mind is merged with God’s.  We become aware of the mind that created us out of love and care and on some level remember this truth is within us.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to how the mind of God is with us in the moment we are in and ask God how to remember this throughout our day. Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen