If you judge people, you have no time to love them. – Mother Teresa
I just came across this quote online and it really hit me powerfully.
Judging others has been one of my major character defects. Sure, we can get into the psychological reasons for it, starting with my family of origin, but the ‘why’ of it isn’t really that important especially after reading this quote.
Love is such a wonderful feeling and, a direct connection to Spirit. Time is precious and how I waste it and deny myself and others the joy of loving them if I am judging them.
What I am interpreting Mother Teresa’s statement to mean is that judging and loving are opposites – I don‘t think I’ve looked at it that way before. So how do I want to spend my time? The answer is obvious: I want to extend love always, and leave my judgments behind. Remembering this quote will be a useful tool when I notice judgment creeping into to my head and it will serve to move me to my heart, to love – and God.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Dear Spirit; May I remember we are all children of God, all perfect, all deserving of giving and receiving love.
Here’s a particularly soothing prayer from Vicky Thompson’s website “Journey with Spirit.”
A Prayer for Blessed Peace
In my hidden heart, I know this feeling. Deep inside, the river flows with the peace of the world. This world, this place of love unbridled, is where you and I meet. Alone, but together, silent, but joyful, we share this deep peace as one. Peace dwells within me. Always waiting patiently, knowing that I will return to its embrace.
I let go, I let go, I am peace. I say yes, I say yes, I am peace. I choose love, I choose love, I am peace. In my heart, I know this place. In my heart, I am peace.
Considering that the topic of faith was discussed Monday evening at our Gilbert Spirituality Meetup Group, and last night I thought more about it as I blogged, it’s no surprise to me that in the wee hours of the morning today, when I was in between wakefulness and sleep, the topic came into my mind.
It was about 3 am, and I got this hit that the word “faith” was an acronym: Face All In New Thought And Heart. Wow!
When Rog heard that I’d gotten that the word was an acronym, he was a bit impressed because it’s not a very short word to come up with something. But, hey, it was Spirit, not me! As I started telling him what the letters stood for, I realized I had ‘received’ an extra letter in my semi-awake state – the ‘n’. Duh – the word is spelled f-a-i-t-h!
Okay, so Face All In Thought And Heart. It’s not as good as “fear”: false evidence appearing real (or some other doosies I’ve heard), but it has meaning.
And, it doesn’t really matter, because I feel that nonetheless Spirit was sending a message to me. I need a NEW perspective in how I’m looking at (facing) and living my life these days. New thoughts, new heart – feels refreshing to me! And, through all the changes, God will always be there to support me. That’s f-a-i-t-h!
You know, more often than not, the topics I choose for discussion at the Gilbert Spirituality Meetup Group are not ones that I am perfectly clear about in my own life and am thus seeking some input – that’s an advantage of being the facilitator! That said, I really enjoy hearing other peoples’ perspectives and real life experiences. I see how we have so much in common; we are more alike than different.
Last night we discussed faith and hope…oh yes, trust too.
Now, when I refer to faith, I am not referring to religion. I am pointing to my relationship with Spirit, God, Higher Power, Great Mystery, whatever I choose to call the Spirit of the Most High. In fact, after growing up in a not-so-religious family, being a devout atheist for many years thereafter, and then coming to believe in God, I still claim no religious affiliation and don’t suppose I ever will. Faith is about my personal relationship with God, not a man-made organized structure.
This is some of what I heard at last night’s meeting with my additional musings.
Faith is absolute, a knowing, a certainty; hope implies doubt. If that be the case, give me faith, any day, over hope!
Ah, but is faith something that is or can be always? I find there are times when I am so full of faith, and other times when I’m not. When I’ve got it, I’ve got it – and when I don’t, I surely don’t! Why is that? I would love to always have it ALL the time. To trust in Spirit in all ways, always. If it’s a choice, then we’re talking about a mental process, but to me it’s a feeling and a knowing – from the heart.
Faith is to being as hope is to doing. I guess this idea is similar to faith rests in principle while hope rests in phenomena … Faith is accepting things for what they are; hope is trying to change things. So when I accept things as they are, I am in a being state (faith), whereas when I am trying to change things, I am in a doing state (hope). Faith as a principle just is, while hope is of a lower level, a possibility. Someone suggested that maybe hope is “baby faith,” a stepping forward towards faith.
Someone shared her experience about hope vis-à-vis despair, which captured essentially what George Bernard Shaw wrote in Caesar and Cleopatra: “He who has never hoped can never despair.” That’s quite a tradeoff!
Faith is the opposite of fear (false evidence appearing real) and where there is one, the other cannot exist. When I am in fear, I am thinking about the future and wallowing in negativity. In the now, there is no fear, and faith can preside.
I was taught that if I don’t have faith, I can act as if I do, and eventually it will come. I pray to Spirit to have faith – certainty that all is well no matter what – in all ways, always.
According to Emmet Fox, prayer is “…our only means of returning to our communion with God” and “… is the only thing that change’s one character. A change in character, or a change in soul, is a real change.“ (The Sermon on the Mount – The Key to Success in Life, page 41)
This reminds me of the story set forth in the book of Alcoholics Anonymous, in which an alcoholic American businessman was told by Dr. Carl Jung that the only possible hope for the man’s recovery was to have a vital spiritual experience. To Jung, “…these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once guiding forces … are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate…” (page 27).
With this spiritual experience, we tap into a resource which is something greater than ourselves and experience a profound alteration in how we deal with life. This is certainly how it was for me when I ventured into the 12 Step program many years ago. As I studied and practiced the principles of the program to the best of my ability, over time my soul was changed, awakened – which could only be for the better. It was changed by a Power greater than myself and as I expressed those changes, there was a ripple effect on others. My awakening always affects the world in some way.
So it is with prayer. We cannot pray without making a difference in ourselves to some degree and hence in others.
Any time I pray, it is a spiritual experience, one in which my soul is changed, and to some extent yours too. We are One.
What is prayer? It is a mental process and when I’m in the ‘right’ space it is surely a heartfelt thing.
Years ago when I first joined a 12 Step program, I learned that prayer was talking to God. For me, it is a time like no other in which I am communing with Spirit, just the two of us building our relationship. Sure there are other times when I’m building that relationship, like when I’m being of service helping another person, for surely when two or three of us are gathered in His name, therein is God in the midst of them… But to be alone with God, one on one, is a different encounter, a different experience.
So if prayer includes the aforementioned, then as this morning’s reading pointed out, it’s not a device for getting you what you want. “Prayer is a means of bringing you to the point where you will accept what God wants.” Furthermore,
“You learn to say, “This is what I’d like to have, Lord, if You think it’s all right for me, but if You don’t, then give me what You want me to have or show me what You want me to do.”
I find myself more and more releasing what I think I want, and asking God to show me His will, His way. I am letting go. And, I am gaining more peace, for which I am grateful.
When there is nothing I can find joy in as I ponder today’s world of craziness, I can always go back to God. In fact, that is really the best place for me to be always, at all times.
God is my Source, my Home. Why would I want to be anywhere else? The outside, physical world just seems to be getting more and more insane and silly as each day passes by. Just watch TV commercials and you can get an idea of the type of values that are being trumpeted, the things in life that are considered important. Brrrrr!
I choose to go inside more and more, to the world of peace, and love, and joy, and light. There I find comfort, strength, revitalization. Then, I am fortified to deal with the craziness of the illusion, which one day will disappear and I shall be at Home in God at all times and in all respects.
Dear God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Higher Unlimited Self; Thank You for my life and this day. Help me to do Your Will throughout the day and have the ability to carry it out.
THEM: Do you really mean that?
JOYCE: Well………………probably not. I guess it would be better to say… Please give me the desire to so want to do Your Will, with such a passion, a knowing, an understanding that You truly are First Cause, my Source and so I so strongly want to do Your Will. Then it will be natural for me to carry it out…it’ll feel easy, it’ll run all through me and not feel like a burden.
THEM: OK.
So my prayer this day, and really every day, is summed up as “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God,” one of the beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I strive to be one of those “pure in heart.”
“Blessed are they who recognize God as the only real Cause, and the only real Presence, and the only real Power; not merely in a theoretical of formal way, but practically, and specifically, and wholeheartedly, in all their thoughts, and words, and actions; and not merely in some parts of their lives, but in every nook and corner of their lives and mentalities, keeping nothing back from Him, but bringing their own wills in every last particular into perfect harmony with His Will – for they shall overcome all limitation of time, and space, and matter, and carnal mind; and realize and enjoy the Presence of God forever.”
“Beatitude” is defined as “the perfect happiness and inner peace supposed to be enjoyed by the soul in heaven.” It is a state of utmost bliss.
To know God in every fiber of my being, and more – that is what I pray for.
Today has been an exercise in forgiveness and a lot about letting go and letting God.
I have to forgive myself for trying to live a certain way in a world that is an ever shifting illusion where people are doing the best they can – including moi – and it simply is impossible to work anywhere near perfect.
I have to forgive myself and let go of expectations.
Okay, I do forgive myself for still playing the role of “good little girl.”
I forgive myself for thinking that others hold the same values as I do.
I forgive myself for living in the past and projecting into the future. There is only Now.
I forgive myself for not having answers to situations.
I forgive myself for judging my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
I forgive, turning it over to Spirit to be healed, and I am free.
