Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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Come Apart

So, Lord, this is really strange, but I feel as if I need to talk to You about it. And maybe to everyone reading, too. Last night, at some point close to bedtime, I thought I heard You say, Take a break. And honestly, although it sounded like Your Voice inside, I dismissed it as just me, and I rejected the idea practically out of hand. I didn’t, I don’t want to take a break. I don’t want to let anyone down. And I certainly don’t intend to take a break from talking to You!! So it didn’t make any sense. Then this morning, without consciously thinking about it, I thought I heard those same words again, this time followed by, Regroup. So I have to ask: is this You? Why take a break? And regroup for what?

Yes, that was Me. You have been putting pressure on yourself I never intended. This wasn’t meant to be any sort of burden; this was meant to share the joy you and I have in our sharing together. And what have I counseled you to do, recently?

Well, you said to work on writing a creed. Write a creed with You. And You’ve talked before about writing out a Vision Quest, and I felt as if You were saying that again. Because, honestly, I never actually did that. Not really. Pieces and parts, maybe, but not in a total sense.

Even Jesus drew apart with His disciples, and drew apart for times of private prayer. I Am asking you to draw apart, a little while. Let Me re-engage your writer.

But aren’t I engaged already?

You are very sensitive to our dialog, yes. But that is only part of what I have to give you, and what you have to give the world. I never meant for you to neglect that part of you that writes beyond dialog.

Beyond dialog?

Yes. You photograph inspired by Me, but not directed by Me, as if you were a student completing an assignment. You write music inspired by Me but not composed or dictated by Me. You speak from your heart, inspired by Me, but not lip-syncing, not speaking from some Divine Teleprompter, or reciting a memorized speech written by someone else, even if that Someone Else is Me. Your photographs, your music, and your spoken words are all inspired, yes–but they are fully yours. One outcome of this work, this blog, that I never intended, is that you have once again laid down your writing self, thinking I mean only to dictate to you. No, dearest little one. I mean for you to even more fully develop your writing gifts, and to be willing to share, not only these dialogs, these moments of connection with Me, but also your own fully formed heart, through written words, with the world. And in order for that to happen, for you to feel fully comfortable in that role, you need to come apart for just a little while.

What is a little while, Lord? And to be very clear, I mean, I need to be sure I understand, You are saying for me to take a break from posting for this come apart time?

Yes, that is what I Am calling you to do. There is a time to speak, and a time to refrain from speaking. I Am asking you to trust Me, and to refrain from speaking for a brief time so that when you resume, you will resume from a deeper and stronger and more assured place. You will be able to bring more of yourself to everything you write, not merely this.

How long, Lord? How long is a little time?

How long after the Ascension did the disciples wait, before Pentecost in the Upper Room?

Ten days.

Can you wait with Me ten days? Can you go about living your daily life and let Me empower you and your writing in fresh ways? Can you resume after a ten day break?

Yes, Lord, I reckon. If it is You asking me, then yes. I can wait. So June 1st, then. I resume June 1.

Yes, that is what I Am asking you to do. But as with anything I ask, the choice is yours. I will love you no less if you say no. I will continue to speak to you day by day if you say no. But if you can say yes, and come apart from THIS work for an even greater work, then your reach will increase. It is no coincidence that we talked yesterday about the missing piece. There are still parts of yourself that are missing, missing in action as it were. The reasons for that are complex and stretch way back in years. But if you can give Me these ten days, I promise you, much will be resolved and solved within you.  You will emerge from this time even clearer in your purpose and more assured in your place. So come apart with Me.

What else can I say? Yes, Lord. Yes. So I guess I will be back here June 1st.

Indeed you will, and refreshed in heart and spirit and word. You shall see.

Ok, Lord. I trust You. 

 

 

 

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The Missing Piece

Lord, you started to say something this morning as I was getting ready to leave the house, and I found it extraordinary, and I kind of cut You off, because I was so afraid I would forget it, and I wanted to write it down. So can we start that whole conversation again, please? I was trying to wrap my mind around uniqueness versus self-centeredness, and that is when You interrupted.

Yes, you were thinking, as you often do, in dualities. Selfish or self-centered versus self-sacrificing or self-denying.

Yes, that was it! And You said there was a Third Way! Please, tell me again.

I told you to think about a jigsaw puzzle. Being selfish or self-centered would be like thinking you are the most important piece in the puzzle. Being self-sacrificing or self-denying in this sense does not mean putting the needs of someone else ahead of your own, which you all need to do from time to time, but not always, or in every single circumstance. Being self-denying as it relates to the puzzle would be to say, my piece is not important at all. The puzzle doesn’t need my piece.

The truth is, every piece is important to the puzzle. Have you ever tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing? Isn’t it frustrating until you figure out that not all the pieces are in the box? And if you get nearly finished and then discover a piece is missing, don’t you feel a great sense of let-down, of frustration, because without that one missing piece, the puzzle is incomplete.

Further, by trying so hard to be inconspicuous, even absent, that missing piece actually becomes, in a negative sense, the first thing you notice when you look at the puzzle in its entirety. You notice what is missing, not all the pieces that are there, in their places. You notice the lack first. By trying to be of no importance, the missing piece actually becomes the most important.

But what happens when every piece is in its place? The whole puzzle fits together, no matter how many pieces there are, no matter how intricate the pattern or design. Each tiny piece is essential to complete the pattern and to create the whole.

If everyone simply accepted this fact, that every piece is essential and important, that everyone has a unique contribution to make, and gifts to share with the world, what a different world you would inhabit!! No one would be trying to occupy the wrong space. No one would be vying for a larger or more important position. Every piece would be revered if only everyone had as a goal completing the whole picture. There would be no war and no enmity, for the purpose of completing the pattern would predominate over every other concern.

So do not worry about taking up more space, or less space, or no space. Take your place, fit yourself in to My Grand Design, and watch everything fall into place, like pieces of a puzzle, all around you.

But Lord, what if some pieces won’t play? I mean, what if some demand a larger share of the puzzle, or refuse to be a part of it at all, even if their motives for refusal are shyness, or fear, or even, they have been told they mustn’t take any public place? 

Don’t worry about other pieces. Just diligently search to find your own niche, your own place, and your own shape there. Complete your part of the puzzle in real time, in the time given to you. Do your part in making the picture beautifully and wonderfully complete.

So, Lord…I had this idea, what photograph to make to accompany this, and it is a Lion puzzle I have, which I thought was neat, because of the Chronicles of Narnia, and Aslan, so I chose it, and set up the image and realized after I clicked my shutter that the gap formed shows a heart! A heart on its side.

Yes, that was My little gift to you tonight. Can you dare to believe that you, as an individual and as a stand-in, as it were, for every human on the planet, that you complete My Heart? It’s true. Every human, as each one becomes his or her best self, completes My Heart, fills in the gaps that My Love has created specifically for them to find and fill. My Love is fully complete, you see, when it is received and shared.

God, You are amazing. Thank You.

 

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The Power of Pentecost

“Teach my lips to speak the language of Love.” Lord, it’s Pentecost. Some say Pentecost is history, some say a mystery, some say a fallacy.

I say Pentecost is Reality, the 8th day of creation, when symbolically humankind received a way back in to the Garden. Pentecost created the possibility of unity, overcoming the divisions caused at the Tower of Babel, which were all prompted by a lust for power. Pentecost came in response to a prayer for purpose and what was the Gift? Power. Power to speak and Power to be understood. Power to forge and find common ground. And what was the common ground? Praise. “Each of us heard them praising God in our own languages.”

That is why the right creed is important. You cannot praise someone you don’t know. You can flatter with empty words and trite phrases, but true praise, that describes the Person being honored, is always based on knowledge–and in this case, on the knowledge that comes through a close relationship.

Animal-speak is one gift Pentecost has bestowed on you. But gifts, including spiritual gifts, are meant to be opened and used and developed–not displayed behind glass where no one can touch them or reach them.

So this Pentecost, think about the gifts you have received already. Think about your use of them. How much have you grown because of the gifts you’ve received? How have you developed your gifts? These are spiritual questions. Are there gifts you believe you still lack, still need to ask for?

Babel was about power to rule, about power for power’s sake; Pentecost was about power to love, and share, and build up others.

Babel focused on human greed; Pentecost focused on God-gifts.

Babel focused on conquering and led to division; Pentecost focused on gratitude and praise and led to unity and connection.

Think about fire. Fire can destroy. Fire can warm and create. Your own planet, as I have told you before, could not last without the Sun. Many have sought Power over the ages. Power is not the problem; nor is it bad or wrong within itself. Don’t fear Power. Rather, embrace its potential as I intend it to be, a force for good and love and beauty and peace in your world. Receive Pentecost’s power to share and connect, and you will never abuse the power of My Gifts.

 

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Blessing

Lord, why do I struggle so over the notion of blessing?

Early on, you were introduced to Me as Judge, as Angry, as Someone to Fear. What if I told you that wasn’t Me at all? Not just that you misunderstood or that you were little, so I looked Large and Scary? What if I told you, you were kidnapped and the one whom they said was God was not Me at all–but I was there, working to free you? I was every hand that helped you escape. Your freedom and safety meant more than any law, any rule. I mean only to bless you. I mean only to sustain you. I mean only to hold you in love.

What if you lived a long life without illness, and then–suddenly–in one glorious moment, your heart just stopped and you stepped across into your heavenly life? If you could begin believing for that destiny, you could let go of so much fear, so much anxiety. If you could believe you will always have more than enough, you could enjoy your blessings and enjoy sharing with others as well.

Lord, customers said recently, I bet you can’t be kept inside. It’s true! I do love the outdoors. They could see that, in the work.

Trust the right people to see. Who says a publishing executive can’t wander into the gallery? Who says you can’t be discovered? Let Me lead you to blessers and let Me lead blessers to you. Be ready to receive, not only blessings, but blessers and benefactors. And be ready to become a blesser and a benefactor to others in turn.

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Yes and No

Lord, I don’t even want to turn on the news. All night long, I have managed to avoid most of the television and all of the online coverage. So I feel guilty, avoiding what is, what happened, what keeps happening…and I feel as if I somehow, as if we all somehow should collectively, what? Mourn? Fast? Pray? Repent? Say we are sorry for something we didn’t do? But we are sorry, profoundly, mournfully sorry. And we are desperate. And we are angry. And we are sad. And we are, I am, so very confused.

Confused about what?

Confused about what to do. What to say. Where to look. What action to take–or avoid taking. Everything is so darned political and all we want, at least I hope all we want, is for our children to be safe. Safe at school, safe at home, safe with us, safe away from us. Seriously, what parent doesn’t want their children safe?

I Am a Parent and I want all My Children safe.

Yes, okay, well, they’re not. They’re not. All Your children are not safe. Not here. Not now. Not on this planet. Not in this chapter. And the “not-safe”–it rocks us and reels us and tilts us off center. It does.

It is supposed to.

What?!?

You are not supposed to find your center, your balance, as a part of unrest, or discord, or violence. You find your center despite those things, not because of those things. You find your center in Me Who is greater than violence.

God, here we go, I am sorry, but here we go. This world makes less and less sense, and trying to find Your Presence in less and less sense is, well, getting harder. Almost impossible. 

So you need to look for Me where you know I Am. Everywhere you find beauty, everywhere you find lovingkindness, everywhere you find peace, everywhere you find acts of generosity, there I Am. I Am in the midst of all that. When I say, I Am Everywhere Present, here is what you must understand. I Am not present to evil, and evil is not sustained in My Presence. I Am present as rescuer or healer or restorer of the breach, yes. But I Am not present in the act of pulling the trigger, in the mindset that seeks out violent solutions, that meets blow for blow for blow. I Am in the act of redemption and restoration and renewal.

So, God. Please. What is someone like me to do? What can I possibly do or say that will make one iota of difference in the way this world is spinning? Seriously. I am not trying to be sarcastic. I am crying out in distress, please, please help us. What are we supposed to do? And please don’t say anything about how we live in a culture of violence now. I know. I am asking what one person can do.

You can opt out of that culture of violence. You can commit, again and again, to saying No to violence in any form, and Yes to peace in every form. Not the lazy, empty, fearful peace at any price that actually condones evil by ignoring it. I Am talking about something far braver and far harder. I Am talking about standing and saying No, not running or hiding and saying No. I Am talking about standing and saying Yes, not whispering yes from some secret place like a secret code between initiates. I Am talking about standing and being who you are in Me.

Don’t I do that already?

Sometimes. But sometimes you are afraid to say what you think and feel out loud. Isn’t that true?

Well, yes, a lot of the time that is true. But what does that have to do with this?

If more ordinary folks said yes, and no, those voices would become louder than the militant shouting of the violent. Turn up your own volume, not by being belligerent. Not by trying to outshout the shouters. Not by being arrogant. Do not adopt any of violence’s ways or means. But you can still be true to all your values and gently and quietly yet firmly, do as the scripture says, and let your yes BE yes, and let your no BE no. Live your Yes. Live your No. Be willing to be identified as who you truly are and what you truly believe.

You have heard and read and recited a lot of different creeds over the years. Why don’t you sit down with Me and prayerfully co-create a creed that accurately says everything that is in your heart? Everything that is in your heart about Me, about humanity in Me, about this planet you call home. Why don’t we examine your thoughts and feelings and beliefs together? Let’s write together. Let’s write something you can rely on and relay to others.

Okay, Lord. This might take more than one sitting.

Indeed it will. Indeed it must. But the time spent will be worth it to you, I promise. It will help your mind and your heart more than you realize now.

 

 

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Feelings…

So, Lord, it’s back to the feelings. What do I do with the feelings? I guess I can just keep lifting them up to You, not to convince You, but just to be in touch with You about it all. And to ask for these others, to ask for Your Mercy, to continue to ask that they will, each and both, find Your Light, Your Truth. Then, having committed my emotion to You, I can move away from that to focus on something else. I don’t have to carry the heaviness of it. I can hold each one up, acknowledge my love and concern, and then, go stand in Your Golden Light, Your Healing Light, for myself.

Think of everything light does. It shows you your way; it warms you. It prompts growth. In fact, you are nourished by light, as plants convert sunlight, use sunlight, for the processes that lead ultimately to your own food. Be nourished. Be energized. Be healed. Your air, your soil, your water can all be polluted but you can still stand in the circle of My Light and be supernaturally recharged. You can be re-energized to love and re-awakened to peace and re-juvenated in joy. You can be re-oriented to your purpose and direction. Stand in the circle now. Let My Light realign you and bring you your balance. Let it fall on you like rain, transforming your thoughts and your feelings, giving you confidence to stand tall and walk straight in who you are, in Me, and in who I Am, in you.

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Surf on Faith

Lord, I am definitely in one of my phases of, what you think about you bring about. I know, I have folks in my life who would pooh-pooh this sort of thing, or call it mumbo jumbo, or call it crazy, or call it new age and dismiss it for that reason…and all I can think of in response is that verse from Proverbs, as a person thinks from his heart, so is he. I really think that is true. I have lived it enough in both directions–focusing on negative versus focusing on gratitude and on positive–to know by experience it is true. So Lord, if it is true, and if there is such ample evidence, why aren’t more people paying attention? Can we really shift our life circumstances by shifting our thoughts?

You can do more than shift your own life circumstances. You can literally move mountains. You can change the world within you and then change the world around you. There is more at stake here than humans realize. If everyone in the world, at the same moment, focused on and committed to Love, to simply and sincerely Loving Thy Neighbor as you love yourself, there would be Peace. There would be Plenty. There would be Health. Everyone would be in right relationship to each other, and to each’s own best self, and to Me. Everyone would be in right relationship to the planet that is your collective home, at least for the present.

Then what is wrong with us, God? What is wrong? Why aren’t we that attuned? Why am I not in tune, all the time? Why do we forget? Why do we falter? What is our problem?

Your problem is the same problem Peter had, walking on the water. Every minute you have a choice, to live in faith or live in fear. You live divided, most of you. You live in a certain amount of faith–faith in the earth’s rotation, faith in the sun’s rising (even behind the rain clouds), so lack of faith isn’t the issue, not really. The issue is that the Voice of Fear seems louder than the Voice of Faith. Fear often masquerades as Reason. It seems reasonable and practical to worry and fret and fear. Anxiety becomes a badge of being aware and hyper vigilant. But I would ask, aware of what? When you are most aware of Me and My Presence with you, you are your calmest. Your fears subside and your faith soars. You know the verse, a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways. Read it this way–someone who is double-minded, who is holding to both fear and faith, cannot walk steadily. That person will inevitably stumble and may even fall. What kind of fall? you ask. Perhaps a fall into depression. Perhaps a fall into greed or pride. Perhaps a fall into selfishness out of a misplaced concern for safety or security. None of these need be fatal falls, and even fatal falls are seen so only on the human side, not from My Perspective. For My Love triumphs in the end and at the last over all, including all missteps, including all falling short.

The issue is, how will you live your earthly life? Strive to live so that the voice of fear diminishes and the voice of faith increases. Try to walk more steadily in assurance and confidence and stumble less over worries and anxieties. Peter’s problem was not gravity, it was the gravitas of the situation he began to imagine himself in. He lost sight of My Presence and My Promise, and that is when he began to sink. And what happened? He called out and Here I Am.

Surfers love the waves, you know. So don’t fear them. Ride them, skim them, soar over them, surf them forward. Let their energy be propulsion for you.

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2:47, 24/7

I just glanced at the clock on my computer. 2:47 PM. And all I could think of was, 24/7. That is You. That is Who You Are, in all our lives. There, 24/7. Thank You. You said yesterday, connect in the moment, for a moment. So here I am. And all I have to say, really, is thank You and I love You.

And Here Am I. Thank you. I Love you. See how easy this is? How effortless? See how you are smiling widely now, and just two minutes ago, your heart was racing through its tasks, ticking off the to-accomplish list, wondering what was priority next? You looked up, caught sight of the time, and in that moment, made a Moment. Made a Moment of connection with Me, which also connected you back to yourself. I told you early this morning, sometimes you will discern My Voice, and sometimes you will hear your own voice telling you your body or soul’s own need. Learn to listen and you will live your life even more at peace. So now, you can go back to those tasks refreshed. You see? A moment’s connection can make an hour’s or an afternoon’s or a lifetime’s path more clear.

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Windows of Time

Lord, this is one of those, I have a window of time–not a wide door, not a gate into a big field. A window. Moments. But I am here, choosing to spend these moments with You. I have friends who would rather I spend hours, even more sporadically, than moments often. But I know, sitting here now, that’s not You. That is not how we are, together.

Your life is lived in moments, in a moment, a moment, a moment. A breath, a heartbeat, a moment. Every time you choose to think of Me, even if “only” for a moment, you reconnect, and you make My own heart glad. Think how you feel with a quick phone call from your son, with a text from a grandson, with an online message or reaction from a friend. Those moments say, here I am to connect with you. That is what you are saying and doing now, and that is what I Am Always saying and doing for every one of My Children. I Am like a 24-hour radio station; I Am always broadcasting My Love, My Message. Your life will be even more fulfilling as you continue to dial in all during your day, not only at a designated, set-aside time in the morning or the evening or one special day in the week.

Remember the verse, do not despise the day of small beginnings? Well, do not think little of the seemingly small moments of connection. It takes only a couple of seconds to say, I love you. Or, I do. Or, it’s a boy! or it’s a girl! And think of the lifetime of meaning those few words, those few seconds hold. Even Eternity will be an endless series of Moments, every single one consumed in Love and in Joy and in Peace.

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Live Wire

This is my prayer today, Lord–a blanket of blessing. Our atmosphere reaches, surrounds, rounds the world. Sunlight, too. Let Your Presence be as Light, as Air, everywhere. Now the branches of the trees are moving, like Spirit moving, the message of Wind. Lord, there are years I was out on a limb, getting in trouble and needing rescue, by helping, by care-taking, by enabling. Today I am just blessing. Lord, help me hold tight to Your hand. Help me to shine steady. So, here I am. This is one of those times I just want–need–to listen.

Right now what you are listening to is memory, is your remembrance of Who I Am. I AM indeed Powerful–and patient. Playful–and serious, profound. Gentle–and Ginormous. Nothing too tiny, nothing and no one too huge for My touch of transformation. All My resources are yours, are available to You.I want you to move into a new way of thinking. You have thought of Me like electricity, and thought of yourself like an instrument–a radio or a blender or an iron, and thought of others as distinct and separate instruments, each one with a designated pre-determined function.

Yes, like the verse says, I have given some as prophets, some as teachers…

I want you to think of yourself more like the wire that carries the electricity, but that can be attached by the Master Electrician to any appliance, any outlet, as needed. You are not stuck in any one ministry, any more than you are stuck in any creative expression. Prose AND poetry AND song AND photography. Prophecy AND healing AND discernment AND gifts of giving. Go with God takes on this meaning: Go in God. You are wire, wired. You are Live. You are connected to the source. You are also grounded–the grounding is grace, is mercy, is your growing understand of Who I Am, that I do not intend for you to be attached to a bomb, but to anything that blesses, that builds–whether that is building esteem with a word or building community.

No one–except the Electrician–really thinks about the wiring, unless it is shorted out, or frayed, or cut. Everyone focuses on the device. Devices are useless without electricity and they need wires. Be the Wire. Be available to “plug in” whenever I lead you. It is My job to take care of the wire–to refresh you, to make sure you are carrying full voltage. I Am doing that now. You’ve had a voltage drop, like a brown-out in a storm. I am re-igniting the Grid for you. That might mean bypassing certain sections. Not every need is yours to address. Wires are color coded for a purpose. You are yellow for joy. You are green, for gentle growing. Let Me energize you and let Me be the Master Electrician. You don’t have to figure it out. Just receive, and flow, and let the Spirit move very naturally in you.