dailydatewithgod

There are all kinds of analogies of machines to humans when it comes to discussion of energy and power.  On the surface it seems kind of silly. We are not machines.  We have a particular life force.  We do not need to be hooked up to some kind of grid to get power.  We do not need to have interconnecting lines and wires to make sure our messages travel from one place to another.  We do not need to be turned off nor are we ever really turned off to reserve our use.  Or do we?  We are not the self-sustaining apparatuses we claim to be.  Just because we are not connected via wiring doesn’t mean we do not run information from one place to another.  We call them words and ideas and use our voices.  All of which requires various types of waves to travel from one space to another.  If we believe we do not need to be turned off, what would we call sleeping?  If we are ever unsure of what happens if we do not power down, just ask any parent of a newborn or a college student who pulled an all-niter.  What about being connected to some sort of grid or force from which the power originates?  That is one we need to determine for ourselves.  When I am operating independently of any greater power source, I find my energy runs dry.  When I am in touch with something greater than me, I find I am able to handle things and generate energy when and where I was certain none existed.  God or whatever you might call it is the source of our creation.  We would not be here without it and when we attempt to operate without it we eventually find ourselves less powerful in our lives.  The great joke of the ages is that being connected to a power greater than ourselves gives us access to an unlimited life force does not make us less than, it makes us whole.  We were not created to be without God.  We were meant to be in relationship with God.  God did not design us like toys forgotten after Christmas.  God created us out of love.  Love is the most powerful force in the universe. If I have the choice to stay connected to the most powerful force in the universe thus having greater power in my life why would I abandon that to be independent?  It is a moment to moment decision. We are not hopeless or hapless victims of life.  We are creations of life meant to expand the experience of love for ourselves and the world.  If I am not the genesis of love, what makes me think I can be without its true source of power?  Why is it that I try it in certain areas of my life and not others?

We sometimes find ourselves in an experience we want to last forever or one where we feel like it is lasting forever.  Ever is an interesting concept when it comes to how we approach ours lives. It implies a constancy.  A continuance that is somewhat beyond our capability.  We will not live forever.  We cannot be whenever or wherever.  I am not even sure we can be whatever, no matter how often we say it.  At some fixed point in time and space we are present in the moment we are in and no other.  As far as we know.  Yet God’s reality is always constant.  Among other things, the divine is a bridge connecting the gaps in time and space in our experience. God’s perspective and relationship with us meets us wherever we are.  There is no place or time where God is not in existence.  So wherever we are, God is also.  In our creation we were designed with a way no matter where we are, what we are doing, how long it is going on or what we are facing, God is simply a breath away.  Each time we breathe in and out we awaken our heart and open the door to experience God.  We often think God is nowhere to be found in certain circumstances but that is more about our perception of God.  We limit God, yet God continues to show up outside our limits.  God is the ever.

It is hard for us to imagine the delectation experienced by God.  It is even harder for us to imagine that we bring about God’s delectation.  We have some sense of it when we relate it to our relationship to things or experiences we have created.  Yet we only touch upon it.  To know the true delectation of God would be mind-blowing.  So much of our experiences of delectation we attribute to the world.  If we stop to reflect on God as the creator of the world we can draw the creation line to what we find delight in to God.  This is often expressed when we say we love something.  There is a sense within our hearts that when we encounter a delectation we are touching upon something greater than ourselves.  It seems silly to say we love some of the things we love but when we are in the realm of God’s understanding as human beings words cannot adequately describe the experience. Just as when God expresses God’s delectation of us we do not understand.

There are so many hidden gems and fascinations in nature.  It is easy to see how creative God is when we look at all the life around us.  The movement, the color, the shape, the depth, the use of space, and the interaction between it all is mesmerizing.  It is almost as though it is engaged in some big cosmic dance.  A dance I was not invited to or my invitation got lost in the mail.  I saw life as me looking at from the outside. I was unclear what the steps were or why my dance card seemed empty.  For things to change, I had to dare to let go of being on the outside in some self-constructed bubble of safety.  I had to be willing to let my curiosity ignite the connection to my heart which would provide the courage to step into the dance. Once there the breadth and depth of my heart showed me the first person on my dance card was me and God.  God invites me to start my days in a dance with the truth of who I am.  God’s invitation does not get lost anymore.  Sometimes I misplaced it or decline the invitation but God is always ready to dance with me.  I get to touch the light of love when I let go of my ideas about how to keep me safe and protected.  I get to laugh, make mistakes, cry, and experience all kinds of energy when I decide I would rather fumble through the steps on the dance floor in God’s world than stay in the rehearsal room trying to get the choreography perfectly.  God just wants us to see for ourselves what we are made of when we use the breath to put heart into our soul and allow our bodies to take the first step.

We may be open to a number of different things in our lives but how available are we for them?  It is the distinction between a possibility and a choice.  When we take on the premise of availability there is a level of commitment we are making.  I am open to all kinds of things but when you ask me am I available for, it becomes more concrete.  I may think something sounds like a great idea but will I make time for it?  Is it something I am willing to invest effort into or exclude other things so I can be available for it?  Will we be fully available to it or only present in body?  Therein lies the nuance of what availability indicates to us about our lives. On what level are we available?  Emotionally? Spiritually? Intellectually? Physically?  Or all of them.  Life requires energy to show up.  Our level of availability is a marker for how much of our energy we are willing to put into whatever we make ourselves available to or for.  Many of us do not take the time to connect and determine how available we really are and on what level.  We think we want the job, the guy, the house, or the attention.  But on what level are those elements asking us to show up?  God invites us to check in with our hearts on our availability.  There may be something our hearts want to be available to but something stands in the way.  Until we pause and listen in we may find ourselves doing one thing with our bodies and another thing with our heart.  Life takes courage.  The energy of courage lives in our hearts.

There are times when it seems like we can’t get it right. We would really like a redo.  We want a chance to do it again.  At least that is what we tell ourselves.  Do we really want to do it again?  Or do we want a chance to show we have learned from what we got wrong and do it differently?  Again implies a repeat. Of course, the reality of repeat is suspect.  Given how much we change from moment to moment and are impacted by our experience, we cannot possibly repeat exactly. It may look the same but even our sense of it on a deeper level will be different.  Anyone who rode the roller coaster the second time because it was so awesome the first time and did not have the same awesome experience can attest to that. The reality is we are designed for growth.  The reality we are designed to survive, to keep going forward.  The universe we inhabit and the nature of which we are part shares this message with us every day.  We do not see it as it is happening because the changes are so small they are missed by the naked eye.  Also the differences present happen on an energetic level we cannot see.  We do not see the light waves but we know they are there because when we turn on the light, the whole room is visible.  We do not see the radio waves but we can hear the music and the DJ through our radios.  Our existence also emits and receives waves most of which we do not see.  When we slow down, tune in, and let go of relying solely on our eyes to register our experience, we can learn to be sensitive to the shifts and changes happening in and around us.  The changes which make doing it again not realistic.  Our hearts encourage us to awaken to the subtle changes in energy which call us to do or create again from the new place, not from the place of what was done wrong.  What we express as again may be the universe’s way of saying keep moving forward with what you just learned.

Do you ever find yourself completely flummoxed by something?  Perhaps it was an idea you read about or a concept your friend was explaining.  Maybe you found yourself in a situation baffled by how you got there and not sure how to get out of it.  We think if I could just grasp at what the problem is or figure out what caused it, I will be free.  It sounds almost counter intuitive that by having grasped something we are free.  It sounds like more of holding on to it.  The question is when we are free what are we left holding anything?  If we want to grasp the concept or idea we think we need to hold on to it.  It reminds me of something we used to do as kids.  When a friend had something we wanted to touch and grasp we would say, “Hey, let me see that.” A smart friend would play with us, hold it up, and say “see,” and not let us touch it.  There is something to be gained in deeper understanding when we can wrap our fingers around it.  Our eyes do not seem to be enough.  We want an ephemeral experience of it. So how do we grasp with freedom when what we are experiencing seems contrary to anything close to freedom.  Doesn’t the freedom come from letting go?  The greater question would be do we work so hard to grasp something that we lose sight of it all together?  Perhaps we just need to experience it and let it go.  The grasping does not need continue past the moments experience for our hearts to comprehend.  Are we seeking a grasp in the heart or the mind?  In our hearts we can grasp and let go as we do with each and every breath.  What elements of our life do we seek freedom but forget to let go once we experience it in the moment?  Is it because it is not enough or do we expect a forever experience instead of the ebb and flow of life?

None of us gets through this life on our own.  No matter how ingenious or individualized we are there are simply to many factors at play in the game of life for any of us to get through without interacting and affecting others in some way, shape, or form.  We are designed for relationship.  It is humbling on some level to admit to ourselves that we cannot actually make it on our own.  It does not mean we are dependent in the victim sense.  It simply the reality of life calling us to attribute the people, interactions, things and ideas that make us who we are.  Give credit where credit is due.  The converse is not only egotistical but false.  How often in one day do we take the time to attribute the contributions made to our lives?  Our hearts call upon us to recognize the people and circumstances who attribute to our lives perhaps in ways we would not normally conceived of as something to attribute to the other.  Not all of those attributions are necessarily positive but they do not need to be.  We can make what we choose to make of any experience, person or circumstance.  The choices lie with us.  We attribute the contribution and then decide what it means.  This is our freedom.  This is what gives life to interdependence.  Just because we give credit where credit is due does not mean we are meaningless.  The attribution does not take away from us.  It makes room for us to recognize how we are someone for whom an attribution can be acknowledged.  The good news is also that we can choose how we are an attribute in the lives of others.  We affect others and are affected by others regardless of whether we like it or not.  We get to choose, however, how we wanted to affect and be affected.  Our hearts call upon us to notice the attributions coming to us and flowing from us.

It seems foreign to us that something good can come from closing.  We want to know how long things are open.  We look to connect with others who are open.  Life is fuller when approached with an open perspective and heart.  Yet always slanting towards open is like only ever breathing in.  It doesn’t work, at least not if we want to live.  There is a coming and a going.  There is pushing and pulling.  There is sound and quiet.  This flow of life applies to opening and closing.  If we want to experience the natural course of things we are encouraged to face the times of closing.  We close chapters in our lives.  We close a relationship.  We close a job.  We choose moments when to be closed off to others.  We make sure we show up before the store closes.  Closing or turning off provides a time of darkness.  A time to rest from the awareness.  It can be a time of restoration.  We are not meant to stay there anymore than we can only exhale. Accepting the flow of nature requires a leap of faith.  The faith giving us courage to trust that what is closing will open again.  There are times in my life when I felt completely closed off my heart from myself and others.  Even if I wanted to open the door of my heart, I did not know how to do it without quickly feeling like I was either bleeding or needed to close off again.  It is the daily persistence of showing up for my dates with God who is always fully present and open that increased my courage.  Seeing that I could show up for myself and be willing to let go of closing for just a small amount of time gave me a chance to alter my perception of what it meant to be open.

I think human beings should have tags that say “Handle With Care” like the ones you see on an item you buy in the store.  For some reason we forget that the people we are dealing with moment to moment are much more similar to us that we perceive them to be.  I am constantly fooled by the outer appearance, attitude,  or role they play in life.  If I focus only on what I see with my eyes I will forget to approach them with care.  My daily dates with God, if nothing else, remind me to start my day connecting with my heart. Taking the time to do so means I might be open to viewing others with the eyes of my heart as well as my head.  It is a practice over and over.  We are given the opportunity to step within a mindset of care with each breath we take.  In the pause to reconnect with spirit (respiration), we can change the direction of our view to one of care.