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Daily Thoughts, From Daily Guideposts, February 24, 2010

A Time to Think
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. – E. E. Cummings

To Act
Find an opportunity for laughter whenever you can.

To Pray
Lord, when I’m weary and need refreshment, renew me with friendship and laughter.

Laughter is healing, laughter is upliftment, and laughter is surely fun. And, I clearly do not have enough of it in my life.

Last night I got the unexpected news that a dear friend of ours (and Bill W.’s) from Tucson, will be coming up to Sedona to visit today. I’m excited. For although a major part of his multi-day trip is to be in the Silence to contemplate and meditate about a recent disturbing event in his life, I know that we will laugh. For laughter and joy, along with spiritual and business conversation, has always been a part of our coming together. I suspect that shall be the case this time as well.

And, this time laughter will help bring healing, love, and faith to our friend who is in need of an extra dose of feeling God’s Presence. It will do the same for me as well.

Here in Sedona it is raining once again. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in the four months we’ve lived here, the precipitation (it snows here too) has exceeded that which fell in all of my 6+ years of living in Gilbert! If you’re familiar with the Phoenix Metro area weather, you know this is quite likely.

But how apropos… As rain cleanses and nourishes, these past months have been about letting go of the old ways and beliefs, being cleansed that I may move into a new way of being. I have been tending my soul: singing regularly once again (in the Mystic Choir); participating in Unity of Sedona; being a member of a Gratitude Circle; venturing back into service activities; and, attending classes and events that are spiritually focused and invite awakening.

And on rainy/snowy days like this, it is more conducive to curl up with a good spiritual work and treat myself to some extra reading time than it had been when living in Gilbert.

I surely was living in the desert of central Arizona and now I am living in the lushness and beauty of Red Rock Country amid many souls actively waking up. I feel so blessed and grateful. Thank you, Rain – thank You, God!

As I prepare to leave for my weekly Gratitude Circle meeting, I’m beginning to think about what I’m grateful for. And, I’m thinking that these days it seems that remembering gratefulness does not seem particularly natural. That is, it seems that I really need to pause and be conscious to take the time to review the blessings in my life, that I don’t often feel that ‘on the spot’ gratitude that I have often felt.

It is helpful that I now have a weekly meeting in my schedule where the focus is on gratitude. It opens my heart to hear others express their sentiments and it jump starts my own contemplation.

Expressing gratitude is an additional way that I feel closely connected to Source. So in these days of late where my ego is often churning 24/7 and my inner peace is not as consistently present as I would like, hearing and sharing on gratitude is an extra precious gift to me. And, it seems that once I start making a gratitude list (verbal or written), it snowballs and grows to practically no end.

Dear Great Mystery-
Thank You for all Your many blessings and for the feeling of gratitude towards them and You. Both enrich my life infinitely and eternally.

I have a friend who talks a lot about spiritual contracts.

My understanding is that a spiritual contract is the agreement between two souls to get together in a future lifetime to learn and grow together. It may be for business, love, familial, etc. experiences. And, my understanding is that once the contract has been fulfilled, each party is free to move on.

I think this concept is an interesting one and a most plausible explanation for the reason why some of the people who once were such a prominent part of my life are no longer in it at all.

Take for instance my friend, Gloria. We met in college and she became like a sister to me, the one I never had. We partied, ‘man-hunted’, shared life together in many ways. She married my favorite brother, and was a primary relationship in my life for most of 33 years. Then almost overnight she was gone.

One might say our relationship couldn’t survive her divorce after 25 years of marriage to my brother. Or that she was so overwhelmed from exhaustion and grief over the ten-year battle her ‘baby’ sister waged against cancer that she was a big part of. Or that she truly couldn’t forgive me for something she had imagined as a transgression of trust. Or… the stories could be endless, and I don’t suspect I’ll ever know what happened (although ‘the door is always open’).

The idea that we had a spiritual contract that had been fulfilled makes a lot of sense to me. We had our time together, full of laughter, tears, confidences, etc. She was the very first person (in a platonic sense) aside from the few hugs I had received by some relatives, who embraced hugging as a natural phenomenon. She taught me its importance both emotionally and physically; she taught me about love.

I’m so grateful that Gloria was able to attend my wedding and help celebrate my finally finding The Man, the life partner I had so yearned for and that she was so well aware of since our college days. She was out of my life within my first year of marriage.

I can think of other folks who have come into my life, taught me some important lessons and vice versa I’m hoping, and then vanished. I’ve long since gotten over the pain of their departure and now the idea of spiritual contracts closes the door on questions of ‘why?’

Dear Spirit of the Most High-
Thank You for the people who agreed to meet me back here for another round of life learning and love. Bless them, bless them, bless them.

Although my parents were not religious and I became a devout atheist at a young age, I nevertheless grew up with this visual as God as an anthropomorphic being.

Like many in the predominant Judeo-Christian culture of America, God was this huge man with a long white beard. And, in my mind, He sat on a throne, looking down, passing judgment on humans and instilling fear in them. Even as a young child I never ‘got’ how a Being who I had been told was supposed to be all powerful, all knowing, and all loving, could also be a punishing One. This contributed to my not believing in God.

Thanks to page 12 in the book Alcoholics Anonymous, where the novel idea of choosing one’s own conception of God was proposed, I came to believe. And in choosing my own belief in an all powerful, all knowing, and all loving Being – a God of my understanding -, the face of God changed. And changed… and changed.

These days God is Spirit, Higher Power, The Great Mystery, and known to me by many other names. Its look is usually not anthropomorphic, except perhaps when Spirit takes on human form as an angel in my life. The look of God is fluid for me – but the qualities are not.

So while I may sometimes visualize my Higher Power as this great energy field, a huge wonderful wave washing over me, or all of Nature surrounding me, God remains eternally all powerful, all knowing, and all loving.

I’ve also come to know many other wonderful qualities of Mother Father God: great Comforter, ultimate Listener, peaceful, Helper, Companion, interested only in my highest good, and, of course, always with me.

Since my early days as a child, I’ve sure come a long way in my relationship with God. It’s the ultimate journey of my life and one I’m glad I didn’t miss.