dailydatewithgod

There is such a gift in open spaces.  Open spaces of time, thought, physical spaces, and so on.  In these open experiences we have the opportunity to receive the gifts that God is ready to give us.  When we are running about from one thing to the next with no pause, no contemplation, and no breath we get worn out. We live that way and we die quicker–even just from the no breath standpoint.  I think there is a reason behind the design of breathing in and out.  I imagine that God could have created us to just breathe in and get what we need.  But the fact that there is an in and an out, a reciprocation back and forth, a go and a stop, a give and a receive, then it is as designed.  It mirrors what life is meant to be like.  If I am always taking and never giving I am missing 1/2 the experience.  If I am taking care of but never let myself be taken care of I am denying and pushing away life and love.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to experiencing both ends of the spectrum of life–the in and the out of our breath, the closeness and the distance, and the love and the fear.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Our true self that resides within our heart of hearts in the sacred chamber of our being is where God initiated life in us.  It is in this same space that God creates life and love through us.  God is so enamored with us.  The capacity we have to ignite the light of love from our deepest self to the whole world is limitless.  God rejoices in us. The depth to which we can extend compassion, creativity and inspire other to also align with their best self is boundless.  We are the hands, hearts, ears, eyes, tongue, and feet of God.  Through our cooperation God is ready to use us to bring about a greater understanding of the purpose of all human beings which is LOVE.  So how come I forget all that when someone cuts me off in traffic or I find myself uttering a harsh word towards a loved one?  I forget because I stopped relying on God’s reality and started to rely solely on my physical existence and understanding.  It is then that I turn to God and say, Remind me again how you see me and this situation.  C.S. Lewis said, ” Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”  I appreciate the reminder that both I need to rely on God every day like new but also a reminder that I am reliant upon God. He didn’t say relating to God, talking to God, or spending time with God.  He said “relying” on God.  My date time with God is so important first thing in the morning because I recognize that I need to connect with the One that created me, is enamored with me, and rejoices in me.  I am relying on God to be who I truly am.  My prayer for us today is that we have the audacity to step up and rely on Our Creator so that we may shine our greatest selves and light up the world with LOVE.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

There is no greater power than to acknowledge that we are beloved by God.  In that recognition we claim our inheritance, our lineage, our connection to the source of All That Is.  It sounds much too simple and possibly ridiculous according to our ego because our ego mind needs a greater complication to justify our existence.  If we stake the claim that we are created by LOVE for LOVE and everything else is just extra then the ego mind sees no “special” place for its identity.   I don’t know about you but sometimes I can be so attached to the idea that I am right or frustrated that things aren’t’ turning out the way that I would like.  It is as though this child is inside of me throwing a temper tantrum and reminds me of when I was a kid and I would throw tantrums.  That is how my ego functions.  When I get quiet and connect with God, I sense a power greater than the tantrum that reminds me that there is nothing “wrong” here.  What is happening is simply outside of what my mind conceived as possible.  God invites me in that moment to step into an awareness beyond the physical and material where my heart lives and my spirit sings.  My prayer for us today is that when we find ourselves dissatisfied with the circumstances we are facing that we have the courage to stop and pause and ask “God, where is your power in this?”  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

When we take a close look at the physical structure of a human being or any living thing we notice that there are several systems functioning and interacting.  There is circulation, muscular, skeletal, lymphatic, nervous, and digestive systems just to name a few.   They all have their particular role and they interact and in some in cases depend upon each other to fulfill their role.  Perhaps there is a model here for how we are meant to be in relationship with one another?  If God is calling upon us to play a particular role in a particular in a given situation, then who are we to decide whether or not it is the right role for us or for someone else?  Is it possible that the Great Creator has a vision that supersedes ours?  Sometimes the very thing we are looking for is the one thing we don’t see.  God is the Great Seer. Our job is to trust in the infinite power that lays within the hand of God.  That very hand is most interested in our happiness.  A happiness that extends from being the best version of ourselves and growing full in love.  We think that should come about through some sort of fairy tale experience where nothing “bad” happens.  But maybe it is through those very experiences that we will find that growth and come to know love in a way that allows our heart to expand.  My prayer for us today is that we reach out for the hand of God in those moments when we are certain that something is not going “as it should” and ask for the courage to see it through the eyes of the Great Seer. Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen

Everything we need is right here, right now.  God is always right here, right now.  This moment, this breath, this presence are the most important because it is the only one that we have. When I look back at my day, what resides most with me are those moments where I was fully present.  I was aware of who I was with, what was happening, the sounds, the touches, the feelings, and the presence of God.  God is present in all forms for all of it, but it is up to us to notice and acknowledge it.  So how come I am not in that space all the time? After so many years of fine tuning the art of escape, distraction, future tripping and past rehashing, I am continually called to develop the ability to sit with the current moment and accept it just as it is.  Over the years, my date time has taught  me the value of time of presence, attention, and energy.  The only reason I go somewhere else is because I make a judgment about the current situation–this is not right, something is wrong here, I am not sure I am safe, I don’t’ like this, this isn’t what I planned, etc.  This is why I need God.  “God, you have brought me to this moment, right here, right now.  Show me where you are in this, be with me when I want to go somewhere else.  Help me to trust that there is a gift here and you are glad that I am here.”  I like to think that after many years of becoming closer to God and to myself that I prefer to be in this moment but it is not a fault if I do not. I simply get to notice and reach for the hand of God to bring me back when I go away.  My prayer for us today is that we have the courage to notice if we are in the moment we are in and if not, reach for the hand of God.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Stop, just for a moment as you are reading this and take a deep breath.  Now place your hand on your heart and take two more slow deep breaths.  Can you feel it?  Can yousense the calm coming from your heart? I remember the first time I was drawn to do this simple little act of pause.  I stopped what I was doing and felt recalibrated to a connection with God, with a sense ofalrightness.  I can easily acknowledge that God is always simple and true as are the ways of God.  The beauty of that is I am continually given opportunities to experience that in many different ways if I am open to seeing God in a new way.  How it is that pausing and breathing and connecting with my heart allows me to feel grounded is a mystery to me, but it does.  I used to think and act as though my feet were my grounding.  They are what keep me connected to the earth.  But it is in my heart that my true connection to God and to the truth of who I am exists.  My breath is the portal and my hand is the promise that it always within my grasp.  My prayer for us today is that we remember when things get complicated that our grounding (God) is only a hand on the heart and a breath away.  Make it a great one !  Peace~Colleen

One of the wondrous elements of being alive is that ability to choose that life.  Each morning as I take a breath I have the opportunity to say yes and choose the day that God has set before me.  When it is a day that feels in alignment and trust of God I am grateful for that choice even if I wake up and feel a little off.  Then there are those mornings that I would much rather hit the snooze button and think: “Really God, you thought I deserve another day with the opportunity to show up?  I am going to need your help with that every step of the way today.”  Sometimes after our date time I feel more on course, other times I find myself wondering if that time was even productive.  At each moment, with each breath I have the gift to choose my experience.  A little later in the day when I am in traffic on the way to work, I can again choose my experience.  It is not about what is actually happening it is about my perspective.  On a good day I see the purpose and the gift in people and situations.  On a less than ideal day I see problems and things to get through.  I am 100% responsible for my mindset.  I cannot always get out of my head and therein lies the humility of asking God to step in on my behalf.  God, help me to see this (person, situation, feeling, etc.) as You see it. In the times that I forget that I have a choice, I am falling prey to some ideal that is beneath my very essence and I do not think God would ever want that for me.  My prayer for us today is that we be willing to take full responsibility for our choices this day (or at least an hour of the day) and notice who we are being when we own those choices.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Wholeness and completeness is reality in God’s world.  We live in a world of separation and pieces.  Our ego’s do not exist in a world of Oneness because they need to stand out.  This is neither good nor bad, just important to notice the distinction.  Life is also about the process according to Spirit.  So we look at a task and see completed or uncompleted, our spirit looks at a task and focuses on who we are being.  We are human beings, not human doings.  Every morning during my date time, I turn over to God my accomplishments for the day so I am less likely to get caught up in my to do list and my plan and trust in God’s plan for the day.  Recently I feel a sense that I need to evaluate this idea of accomplishments because this is perhaps not the way God sees it.  In all the scriptures across all faiths that I have read about various spiritual people are stories of people who showed up.  That seems to be God’s idea of accomplishment–being in the present, being my truest self in that moment with God as authentically as I can be.  So maybe all these unfinished elements in my life or in my day are a representation of whether or not I am showing up, not a measurement of all the things I still need to do.  My prayer for us today is that we be open to seeing who we are being as the point of our day and less of what we are doing.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

We are courageous beings!  It is in our make-up by the Designer.  We may have convinced ourselves otherwise because we have adapted stories based on situations in which we were less courageous, but an experience does not change truth. Deep within us is a power greater than ourselves that we are connected to when we get quiet and align ourselves with that power.  When aligned our energy is bright and powerful, bold and creative, and life seems to flow.  When we are aligned with the world’s labels and designs we are burdened and stressed, constrained and weighted down, because we have taken on a layer of being that covers up our true selves.  When we can not boldly shine as we are called to do, our dimness becomes daunting.  My prayer for us today is that we have the willingness to trust the boldness that is part of our design and access it from the quiet of our being.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

One of the marvelous constructs of our minds is our imagination.  It has great depth and the creativity within it is amazing.  We can use it to escape as well as create. We often imagine all kinds of scenarios in our heads about things that are yet to happen.  Sometimes those projections can be positive and other times negative.  The brain does not distinguish between projection and reality. It will take these imaginations and run with them, put to work the possibilities of creating them and we are off to the races.  What then happens to the moment we are currently in?  What about this day?  What about where I am physically?  I am grateful for my mind’s capability of imagination for better or worse.  There was many a time when my current situation was not tolerable and I needed to escape in my mind.  As a child I did not have many other options.  But now I am an adult and I have other tools to face uncomfortable situations.  I can physically remove myself or speak up for myself as the situation calls for it.  I can ask God for the courage to be present in the discomfort or the eyes through which to see the gift of this day, this moment.  Then I can use the gift of my imagination to create a future that comes from a place of being at peace. My prayer for us today is that we ask for the courage to be in this day and the eyes to see the gifts and possibilities right in front of us.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen