Category: Calling

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Refraction

We went to see The Last Jedi yesterday. What is that verse, Lord—Light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it?

The least light transforms darkness, alters its very essence. You can dim or intensify light, but as long as there is light, any light at all, by definition there is no darkness. Your mission isn’t to fight darkness or rebuke darkness or overpower darkness or overcome darkness. Your mission is to shine light—that simple, that profound. Your mission is to light up your part of My world. All you have to do, to transform any darkness, is shine.

How do you do that? You forgive. You give another chance. You say please and thank you. You look for, actively seek, the good and true. You love. You believe. You hope.

If you feel your light is dimming, if discouragement or fear or worry are diminishing your ability to shine brightly, then shine dimly and bring your dim resolve to Me, and let Me reignite your fire once again. You don’t have to be loud or showy in order to shine brightly. You just have to be present and committed.

 Committed?

Committed to love, and to faith and to hope. Don’t lose hope. More lights flicker out of despair than out of anger.

You said I was, I could be, a hope-healer.

Yes, that is one of your names. Like Me, you have many names. You all do. So open the curtains, draw back the blinds. Let the light in and you will also let the light out.

Like breathing! Only breathing changes oxygen into carbon dioxide.

Each of you is like a prism. Receive My Light—let My Light refract through your life into the colors that will touch those around you. That is why some are called to be prophets or poets, some are called to be teachers or parents, some are called to be apostles or builders, some are given gifts of healing s doctors and nurses. Some–like you–are visionaries and heralds, always seeing the new possibilities, always believing for the best. Just as you have many names, each of you has many gifts, many ways to refract and shine My Light in and through your individual lives.

Rainbow light! It’s my favorite!

Of course it is. That is because one of your gifts is to see and encourage the individual gifts in those around you. It’s one way you shine, by beaming your light of understanding into the hearts of others, so they can see themselves through My eyes.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You so much.

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A Time To Speak

Lord, how can I know when to speak and when to keep silent, when these words are meant only for me, and when they are meant for others, too? There are times I have shared in the past and then thought, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

You mean, should you have just kept My Mouth shut?

Here is a hard truth you know intellectually and biblically, but you are going to have to learn to live with it emotionally: not everyone receives. Not everyone hears. Not everyone wants glad tidings. Some much prefer judgment. Some much prefer hiding in their own darkness. And some—like feral cats—will hiss and even bite before they let themselves be loved.

You have to decide this work is worth rejection, that you are not in this to become popular, but to be a beacon of light in stormy times.

Lord, why wouldn’t everyone want the light to shine in a storm?

Almost everyone—unless someone is mentally ill—wants the light to shine in specific ways and specific places. My Light shines everywhere, on everyone. And that is a hard concept for some, who live by rank-ordering and who cannot conceive of a love, or favor, that is not based on merits. It seems unfair somehow to them.

Lord, like the parable of the workers hired late in the day?

Exactly.

 

 

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Impact and Connection

Lord, are my days with wildlife numbered? Over?

Why would you say that? Or think that?

Because You said not to do natural history.

Whoa, wait, stop. I asked you to choose what kind of impact you want your work to have, and you chose the most spiritual impact. What makes you think wildlife isn’t a huge part of that?

It is? I mean, is it? Can it be?

Why not?

I don’t know, I thought I just needed these dreamy landscapes.

Serenity is important. Calm, quiet, peaceful is important. But not as ends in themselves, as a condition in which Connection happens.

Everyone else does wildlife primarily for natural history. For life-list bird sightings. For documenting behavior, nesting, feeding, breeding, whatever. You started there but you’ve moved beyond natural history. Natural history became a bridge, to the New Country.

You mean Eve’s Eden, the way I envision, the way I imagine? How can the images I make be different enough?

They already are. They already are because you say “please”—you say, “thank you”—you say, “I love you”, and you mean it. You’ve taught others this, but increasingly your work will have a sensitivity and connection others lack. You can’t help it; it is who you are and it is your destiny.

So…I am not wrong to long for impact?

Is a candle wrong for wanting to blaze, for wanting someone to come and light its wick? You were made to embrace the natural world, and bridge to Me.

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True Humility

Lord, people are going to think I am crazy, aren’t they?

You will always have some detractors, yes. But if you stay humble and gentle, you will have many, many more whose lives are touched and changed in a good way.

Humble doesn’t mean “Hide.” It doesn’t mean “self-effacing” either. Humble is a Third Way lifestyle: stay connected to Me, believe I Am indeed using you, and stay focused on My Heart to similarly speak to everyone. True humility is rooted in abundance. Of course you are special and unique—and so is your neighbor. And so is everyone in the entire world.

So humility does not say, “oh, I’m nothing special.” True humility says, “yes, I am special—and so are you.” True humility says, “yes, these are my gifts—let’s discover yours.”

Every person’s gift, every person’s path, is tailored to fit, perfectly sized, perfectly designed for maximum fulfillment, maximum joy for that person.

 

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Say Yes

Lord, I am willing to sit here, and hear. In real time. For anyone, everyone, who needs to also sit, and hear. Please, what would You say?

The first thing I would say is, for everything there is a time and a season. You think of Christmas as a time of waiting, as Advent, and it is. You also think of this as a time of giving and receiving, and it is. But it is also a time of revelation and revolution. The world was about ready to be turned upside down. The weak would be declared strong. The poor would be declared rich. The blind would see, the deaf would hear, the lame would walk. And what was the agent of this revolution? Power? No. Not in the traditional sense. Not weaponry, not strength, not war, not the force those imply. A force much, much greater than all of those was invading your world in a new and different way. The force of Love, made manifest.

And how did this triumphant, powerful Love arrive? Heralded not by kings but by angels and humble, bewildered shepherds, and a young, bewildered unmarried couple. What do angels, shepherds and this young couple have in common? Their faith to say yes. Angels to say yes to sing songs of celebration not to a sold-out crowd, but to a bunch of sheep-herders in an open field. Those shepherds to say yes to going to look for a baby, when they were supposed to be tending to the sheep, trusting the sheep would be looked after. The mother and father to say yes to a biological impossibility and a spiritual necessity.

So I would ask you, ask everyone you reach, what are you waiting to say yes to? What gift longs to be born through you? When is the last time you talked to Me about how your song, your shepherding and your mentoring heart can touch your world?

Lord, don’t I talk to you about this all the time?

Ah, yes. Yes, you do. And what do you say? You say, but. You say, maybe one day when. You say, how can. All of these seem like wise, thoughtful, preparatory questions. But they really are just disguised ways of saying No. Of saying, Not Yet. Of saying, Not Me.

So I would ask you. This Christmas, are you ready to say Yes? If you can lay aside but, and maybe when, and not yet, you will have the full support of all of heaven’s resources, so that you can carry out all you truly long to do, all you were truly born to do, in this world, for this time. So now it is My turn. Please, what would you say?

I pause, stop typing, bow my head. I know this is not only for me, but for many of us. Maybe all of us. So for my part, Lord, what else can I say? You’re right, of course You are. I have had reasons and doubts and questions. But tonight, suspending my own disbelief, that You would choose me, someone like me, I take a deep breath and say the only thing I can think of to say. Yes.

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Hope Healer

I have a sudden thought, to draw a Peace Shield.

 The center spiral is a question mark. Around and around, as a question. Sunrise over sea in the east, moonrise over mountains in the west. The passing of time.

 In the south is a Horse, with a blue lightning design painted on its side. There is an Elk, just standing watch, in the north.

The Horse is running, running between the sun and the moon. Isn’t that the truth! The Elk is standing. So the Horse is running in the South. It’s how I feel, like I have to hurry, to hustle, to figure out the spiral path, to answer the question, to get “it” all done, to get from A to B…and the Elk stands. It is a snapshot of how I feel. Oddly, I am now very relaxed. Running Horse could also be play, could be playful. Not frantic—having fun. I would like to shift to that possibility. Lord, what does the Blue Lightning mean? That would be a lot of paint, blue lightning. A lot of rocks would have to GiveAway to make that much blue paint. The Horse would have to stand still to be painted thus. And then it could run like the wind!

So a Horse can bolt, spooked. Or race. Or run because it can, because it wants to. I’ve done the first two. Is this a 3rd way? The question being, not where are you running, but why? With what heart? To what purpose?

 Lightning is swift and symbolizes power to me. Oh. The blue, that color blue, represents healing.

You are a Healer, Eve. But you are a spirit-healer, rather than a body healer. By all means, pray for bodies to recover. But even more than that, pray for spirits and souls and hearts to be healed. This means grief. This means loss—loss of hope, loss of purpose, loss of vision. This means answers to questions that swirl in the mind, causing unrest. Your wisdom does come from a Higher Source, from Me—represented by the Elk in the north. But it runs strongly through your daily, empowered and inspired by My Holy Spirit. Blue is also the color of peace, of calm, of serenity. These are soul words, spirit words. I am rekindling in you the Gift of Healing for spirits and souls and hearts. Let others lay hands on bodies—that is others’ work. You are a DreamGiver—you are a HopeHealer—you run in joyous play, full of life and vigor. Peace can empower too. Peace can open a door of strength and purpose. A country at true peace can prosper. A family at peace can build. Blue is also the color of Prosperity. It is a color of extravagance, of living larger, of living luxuriously. Azure—the wide open sky. From Carolina Blue to Big Sky Country, so shall your reach be. I am giving you the west. I am giving you the north and the south. You will move in all four directions with ease.

When you talk about your work, talk about what moves you most, not about the best sellers. Talk about how you feel outdoors, about what the outdoors does for you and how you respond. Blue is a responder-color. Water responds—to light, to wind, to temperature, to gravity. You can’t have a rainbow without water. Turquoise blue is a symbol for clarity and purity as well. So be clear, pure, peaceful and empowered. Receive Earth’s giveaway. Accept the extravagant riches of Blue, of Blue Lightning, and enrich and inspire others. Blue is for inspiration, too.

Okay, Lord, I receive. I receive Your GiveAway so I can give. Help me run today with purpose, and in Joy.

 

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Incubation

Dear God, before I jump into “do”—what would You say?

There is much within you, waiting to come forth. Some lies at great depth and some is just below the surface, awaiting only your attention to emerge. Incubation is all about waiting, but purposeful waiting. Waiting in the foreknowledge and assurance that powerful and wonderful changes are already underway and will soon be manifest, be visible. You are incubating now.

Incubation is not passive. A diligent mother turns her eggs, makes sure they are warm and sheltered. A diligent mother feeds herself so that when the babies hatch, she has the energy she needs to take care of both them and her. A diligent mother keeps knowledgeable about her own food sources. You are afraid that paying attention to the stirrings within will somehow harm them. This is a lie. You must heed the stirrings within in order to birth them, and in order to nurture them to their full potential.

Again I say, I did not give you this life to strip it from you How would you live each day differently if I told you that your nesting place would weather any storm and that you are destined for both wondrous migratory journeys and a stable home-base? That your calling is to combine word with image and bring hope and encouragement and healing to the broken-hearted, and encouraging vision to the newly emerging, and a sense of purpose to those seeking direction or lost in confusion? What if I said, beauty is your Bible? That your lens—your view of My world—is the Yes and Amen that I, the True Word, intend and need to speak through you?

Your eggs are hatching asynchronously: word gifts, visual gifts, and music gifts. And you have had earlier seasons of hatching, which you’ve assumed were to be your only times of bringing-forth. No, you have many seasons yet, many incubations to come. For now, pay attention to this season. Quit apologizing for what stirs within you, for those inner longings you keep trying to silence. They are trying to emerge—encourage them! They will soon have wings. Pay attention to every dream, every longing. If it is stirring within you, it is from Me. We are birthing together. Don’t let these become stillborn. Turn your eggs, feed yourself and incubate in joy.

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Ripple Effects

God, I still get so impatient. I’m so sorry. Can you help me be better?

Not if by better you mean that you devalue everything you’re doing or thinking. This is an awkward, in-between stage for you, where you are transitioning from discounting everything “you” – your likes, your wants, your dreams, your plans, your work. It seems as if you are over-emphasizing those because for years you gave them zero place, no importance, so any attention now feels selfish, self-centered. I Am asking you to be self-centered for a while. Pull your focus back, away from everyone else, and let yourself relish what you think, what you want, what you love. Dream Big Dreams and Make Big Plans. I Am a Big God. In the words of TreeBeard, let’s do some Big Things together. And for that, you have to focus on you, on your life. Center there and we shall ripple outward with great and wonderful impacts on the world.

 

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Follow the Stream

So, Lord, what would You say, to my tired body and my somewhat stressed mind?

You keep laying an axe to your own growth. I Am trying to grow you in a new direction. Think of your life path like a compass. Think of people relocating. They are not trying to re-create the same look, the same experience-otherwise, why move? But that is what you have been trying to do. I have been calling you into new and fresh and you have been trying to survive on leftovers, on stale and in some cases spoiled leftovers. You want fresh but you don’t want change. But you need change. You—especially—need change. You are like an octopus; you need new experiences. It is how you thrive. You want Time to stand still or flow backwards and I want Time to carry you as a river, around the bend to new and never-imagined vistas. Maybe you have flashed hot and gone cold because you can’t reconcile how to grow and have balance while you stretch into new directions.

What directions, Lord? I am seeing a sort of sprawling live oak, growing where the wind has sculpted its path from behind.

The force of the river can be said to be from behind but we think of rivers as flowing towards. Think of the wind as blowing towards.

Towards what? Towards where?

Towards a life of Adventure and Experience. Towards a path that opens before you as you walk it. Towards a trail that you blaze, with your words and your work. You need time for words—your own and others’—and you need music—your own and others’. And you need beauty. And you need serenity. And you need vibrancy. And you need customers, paying patrons, for all of it.

And my part is?

 Your part is to keep walking. To follow the stream. To let the River flow where it will. To listen for My Voice. I do not drive you in a wilderness, I lead you through pastures of plenty, pastures of green. Stay in Psalm 23 a while. Stay in Psalm 23 until you see it fresh, every day, in your own experience.

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Longing

Lord, recently I had this aha moment. I was thinking how I always come back to art journaling or vision journaling about travel. And I realized I have been beating myself up about that. The aha came when I thought, what if I always come back to travel because I am meant to travel. What if it is calling me and literally is part of Your calling on my life? What if this longing I have is from You to begin with?

 So, Lord, I have this want. But…I shall not want.

Stop right there. You are reading the Psalm incorrectly. You are applying the wrong English definition of want.

You are thinking, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not long for…anything. You have made longing for sinful. No, no, no!

The meaning is, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack for any good thing.

What is a good thing for you? Of course body nourishment, sustenance. A safe place to live and work. Meaningful work that brings you and others joy. And yes, travel. I didn’t create this beautiful, diverse world and then sentence you to spend your days behind some small fenced-in area.

You cannot let the fear of what might happen, which you carry every single day anyway, stop you—stop you from living your own life in the now. You keep hitting Pause, and then getting up and leaving the movie of your own life. You keep stopping the action to live in the commercial.

Write down, right now, quickly, all the places you can think of that you want to travel to.

Lord, I want so much…

I am I AM; I Am your Shepherd, you shall have all you want, all you long for. For it is I Who planted these seeds of longing within you. And after you have begun to fulfill your longings for beauty and connection here, I shall unroll the map of the world, place by place. You shall be My Creation’s ambassador. You shall go and see and experience, and teach, and come back and share and write and create and go again, all with camera in hand. Your blessing will bless and enrich many others. You are an explorer of light; you shall not lack for any good thing.