Finally, I am spending some time with Spirit now after a challenging day. I didn’t spend a lot of time alone with Spirit this morning, and I haven’t taken much additional time until now, except for a little bit of praying here and there.
Writing Valentine’s Day greetings this evening was a somewhat unique way to connect with Spirit, one that I appreciate. [That’s another method to add to the list I jotted down a number of weeks ago…]
With the celebration of love and friendship, for me Valentine’s Day is kind of like Thanksgiving and Christmas and Disneyland: I just have to smile and be filled with joy and gratitude!
It is one of those concentrated times when I reflect upon the people who are dear to me and then express how I feel directly to them. It sure is sweet.
And, tonight it was an extra special time since doing so got me back to focusing on the many blessings in my life – and, subsequently, Spirit.
I just came back from driving my dear friend, Karen to the airport. She was visiting us here in Phoenix from Baltimore – just for the weekend. That’s quite a schlep for a two-night stay but we pack a lot of love and laughter into such short times together. You know, quality not quantity.
We last saw each other about 10 months ago, but when I picked her up at the airport on Friday afternoon, it was like we’d just seen one another the day before. That’s just how it is with some friends.
Karen and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary of friendship next month. We first met in New York on my very first day of a job at an international banking corporation – her laughter across the entire 18th floor of the building announced her presence.
We’ve shared wonderful U.S. and European travel adventures together, and supported one another in times of joy, grief, sadness, frustration, denial, etc. – especially where men were concerned! She stood by my side when, as an atheist, I at times ranted about the lack of proof of the existence of God; she would gently comment that she thought “the lady hath protest too much.” She stood by me when my communication skills as a friend were lacking. She stood by me in love. And, I was so grateful that four short years ago she flew from Dallas to attend my wedding, joining in the celebration of love and reunification in this lifetime of Rog and me.
Karen has been a role model for me of love starting at the very beginning of our friendship, and in more recent times, has been a role model of deep faith and trust. We often say, “If only we lived nearer to one another…” But we both know that we are in one’s another’s heart, and in that place with God, we are always near.
Some of my dearest friends are visiting this weekend. All three live out of town so we don’t get to see each other anywhere as much as I wish we would…
Dear Lord, With my whole heart I ask, That you look after my friends, Guide them in troubles, Lead them when lost, Give them your ear, When they just need to talk. Lend them a hand, When they’ve nowhere to turn, Show them a new road, When a bridge has been burned. Teach them to smile, When everything seems bad, And show them there is happiness, After all that seems sad.
Dear Lord, This is my prayer, I hope that every word You can hear, This message is from my heart, For my friends are so dear.
Amidst the excitement and preparation for dear friends visiting this weekend, I asked Spirit this morning in meditation for any messages. What I received was “Enjoy the day!”
Coupled with a reading “Our primary purpose today is to know and give love” (In God’s Care, February 6), I expect to have a pretty nifty day!
As I come close to ending my day, please grant me the grace to feel that I ‘did enough’ today. All was as it should be and it was a beautiful day no matter what I accomplished or not on my “To Do” list.
The most important accomplishment really was remaining conscious of my interactions with Your other children and my responses to situations. I have no amends to make this day, and so this was a day well-lived.
Over breakfast this morning, Rog likened Life to a puzzle. You work on a little section here, then move on to putting a little section together there. Sometimes you have to remove a piece as it seems like it’d fit better in another place. But you keep working on sections, and eventually all the pieces fit together correctly, revealing a beautiful picture.
I thought of how I used to work on jigsaw puzzles with my elderly father – I’d simply form the small, irregularly cut but straight-edge pieces in the outer frame first and then the rest of the puzzle pieces seemed to fit pretty easily. I realized that we played with only 50 or 100 pieces but Rog had been thinking more in the 5 million range – after all, this is Life we’re talking about!
Perhaps Life is like a tapestry, “a heavy hand-woven reversible textile used for hangings, curtains, and upholstery and characterized by complicated pictorial designs.” Weaving one might be intricate and complicated, but in the end, a beautiful design is revealed.
And, what about Life being like a quilt, “a bed coverlet of two layers of cloth filled with padding (as down or batting) held in place by ties or stitched designs”? Perhaps a patchwork quilt, composed of miscellaneous or incongruous parts? The end result is a beautiful design.
Whatever your preferred analogy, what they have in common is that each has been planned in advance, with a complete picture sketched out in order for it to come out right. Each is full of details, richness, and beauty, and despite some snafus along the way – a misplaced puzzle piece, some material needing re-stitching – all works out well in the end.
I cannot say that I’ve consciously planned much of my life. Still, when I look back on it at 53 years of age, it has been and continues to be rich and colorful in a myriad of ways. When I realize that God is the Master Planner of my life, I know when all is said and done, everything is working out perfectly and beautiful – just like a puzzle, a tapestry, or a quilt.
“One of the driving forces of those newly in love is the desire to be with their beloved every minute of every day. Their desire is to so occupy their lover’s space, time, mind, and body that life separated from their partner seems all but unbearable.
In asking God to remove my blocks (yesterday’s blog), I realized that Nature abhors a vacuum.
Florence Scovel Shinn talks about a person bringing into his life, through his every thought and word, “”every righteous desire of his heart” – the square of life: health, wealth, love and perfect self-expression.”
So, following my prayer asking for the removal of all that blocks me from God and my good, here’s my next prayer:
Dear God – Please fill any empty spaces within my soul with health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression. And, when my thoughts, words, and deeds need correction, please give me clear direction and strength to do so with Your Love. Thank You. So it is.
If I am in full alignment with God, then I am at peace and in a state of joy. And then, God is ALL that matters. It’s bliss. Nothing going on in the external matters in the least bit. In fact, it barely exists as I am so enveloped by God and His Love. This wholeness, this completeness is what I strive for but let it be known that this blissful state is not a continuing or even very regular occurrence for me. It pains me to say this but even more so, it pains me that it’s not my everyday existence.
When I’m not in total alignment with God, it means my ego is interfering. Then, my wholeness and Oneness can not be. It’s like this wonderful cocoon filled with God has a tear in it and that one tear acts like a rotten apple that spoils the entire barrel.
Obviously, there are blocks to my actualizing wholeness and Oneness with Spirit. The stronger my ego is, the more splintered is my peace and joy.
So what is it that gets my ego to start acting up, to break my peace? Ya know, often it just seems to come out of the blue, with no trigger. I know that, in part, it is due to my not being loyal to my soul, that is, not giving it the nourishment and attention it needs, i.e., sacred time and space. But, it’s more than that.
If I could just find out what that switch is that turns me from moving towards God to veering away… What is it inside me that does not want to fully bask in the “Sunlight of the Spirit”? What happened in my childhood? What ‘thing’ has festered in me over the years in this lifetime (or perhaps another one) to keep me from fully being aligned with God and at peace? This includes: being all that I can be, right thinking, perfect self expression, giving in service, receiving my good, enjoying rich relationships – all the gifts that God wants me to have in His Kingdom on earth, now.
Well, I think I’ve got the solution to this problem. Instead of me trying to figure out what is the piece in this puzzle that keeps me from my Oneness with God, I will ask God for help. I will ask God to shine the light on what it is I need to know and heal it. And, I will ask God to heal that which I do not need to know or understand, and for me to be okay with not knowing. I will ask God to pluck it out, do the surgery, and heal me once and for all.
Yes, with God all things are possible. Away with the old of having to analyze and to know, and in with the new of going to God for help and letting Him handle things. I cast the burden. I surrender.
Dear God – Please remove all obstacles within my being that keep me from my good and from realizing You fully. Where it is helpful to You for me to know causes and experiences, then provide me with that knowledge. And, where no understanding is needed on my part, simply heal me and make my way clear. Thus may I reside in Your Kingdom now, and, being in alignment with You, may I be of help to others. Thank You. So it is.