The Clockmaker

Lord, You know what Oct. 18th means to me, that day long ago that I heard from You in that church service when those visiting pastors came. I can’t believe I spent that day of all days in the ER!

Every day is that day for you, now. Unlimited access, 24/7, 365. Then, you needed validation, assurance, healing. Now, you need confidence, boldness, healing. Then, you believed hearing directly from Me was reserved for the few, and you felt fortunate to receive a few paragraphs, spoken from the mouth of a prophet, with your name attached. Now, you know My Heart is to have a deep, abiding relationship with everyone, everyone on the planet. That is My Purpose. And, as the Cross demonstrates, I will go to any length to have it, even play to human wants for justice that are misguided.

Misguided?

Much of what passes for justice is really revenge. What I want is so much bigger, so much deeper. I want forgiveness because I want transformation. I want everyone and everything in right relationship, in harmony and in balance. I created the Universe as that place.

But we sinned, we didn’t listen to You—and we got kicked out of that place.

 Think of the story this way. Humans managed long, long ago to upset the Balance, to introduce enmity between themselves and the natural world and between one another.

Wait a minute! Wasn’t the Serpent the Enemy?

Not until they listened. Not until being out of balance seemed more attractive than in balance, and war seemed more attractive than peace, and hate seemed more attractive than love. Imagine a different ending. Imagine Eve saying to the serpent, I think you are mistaken. Let’s go talk to God about this. Imagine a role where humans were—as I intended—stewards and teachers, learning from Me and teaching others.

But the kicked out part?

Eden is just another word for life lived in balance. They destroyed the balance. That is what led to the separation and the sense of shame, guilt, and fear I never intended for My Creation.

But…but if You really are the Creator, I mean, if You began everything

Think of Me like a clockmaker, crafting and then winding a clock. The clock is designed to keep time and keep it accurately. But dust or dirt can clog the works, causing the clock to malfunction. A good clockmaker will clean and oil his clock as well as keep it wound. The possibility of it winding down always exists—but so does the reality of all running smoothly as long as the clockmaker stays involved. But what if the clock could somehow run itself, wind itself? I gave the clock—humanity—the power of creative choice. I give that same power to every baby born.

Because each child is born now into an out of balance world, each child has to choose at some point, and then choose over and over, who to believe and who to be. You are choosing to believe in Love and Peace and Joy as a Way, a Way of Being in the world, a way of living moment to moment and day to day. It is, in Native American terms, the Good Red Road. It is, in both eastern and western terms, the Way.

Every human who chooses this way helps tip the earth ever so slightly back toward the balance I created in the first place.

Here I Am — I’m Yours

So, Lord, I definitely, desperately, need You to lead me, photographically with Your spiritual foundation. My gift is the being led part—I mean, the following-Your-lead part.

Let your heart expand into what it loves—into what you love. Find extraordinary connections in amazing light—but seek out the new. Don’t try to “repeat success.”

The “nations that stream to the brightness of your rising” are the wild kingdoms. You attract them. You welcome them and you love them. Pay no mind, give no mental space or attention to what anyone else is doing. You go and you do the work I Am giving you to do.

Here I am—I’m yours. So here I am: here is my heart. Here is my mind, my brain. Here is my mouth. Here are my eyes, my feet, my hands. Here are my words. Here are my songs, the notes that make music. Here is lyric and poetry; here is melody and harmony. Here are words, essays, stories, prose. Here are images. Here, the works of my hands. Here is my lifelong connection, and longing to connect, with animals. It’s all You.

 These are like the days of Noah to Me—there isn’t any animal that won’t—or can’t—teach you, that won’t come to you. My entire creation is yours, is available to you. Remember the legend of Arthur. Your kingdom is Peace. Call your nations, the wild ones. They will all come to you. From elephants to ants, they are yours. They will companion you always. They will teach you of Me.

 

 

Connection

Lord, what would You say? Come to the silence, quiet my chatter, that is what these morning pages are supposed to help me do. Inner knowing to me means hearing from You. It means receiving when I don’t know.

You don’t follow Me by rote—You follow Me instead by “wrote”—by My word made real to you, spoken to you. I have never spoken fear to you. So don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of displeasing Me. You want, you seek, to make something tangible, something to help communicate and reinforce My presence with you, and with others with you, to help spark their faith in My goodness and My power to heal and restore—and My willingness to do so. The ingredients you are choosing connect you to the idea (and ideal) of connectedness to all living beings, and to living in peace.

You are making a new oil—an Oil of Peace. Your life of connection is peace, is a life of peace. Love is the bond of peace for you—and for Me. Under your Tree of Life are all the four-footeds, and the wingeds rest in that Tree’s branches, all at Peace. Eve’s Eden indeed.

The Sower’s Seed

So God, how does Your Resurrection affect daily decisions?

It takes the weight and burden out of the fear of making “the wrong decision.” What if you knew it was impossible for you to make a “wrong” decision? What if you interpreted “all things work together for good” that way? What if you saw your life–your daily life–as a continual unfolding of blessing–for you and everyone around you, everyone you come in contact with? What if you lived as though you really, literally, are a magnet of and for love and blessing, for peace, and for prosperity? A magnet of blessing in your world, magnetizing blessing to yourself and to everyone around you? Why don’t you try living “as if”–suspend all your disbelief, and live “as if” all this were true? Because it is. It is true. But your fears and worries blind you.

There is nothing wrong with the Sower’s seed. The seed is abundant and holds within itself all the power it needs to grow and multiply into an abundant crop of even more seeds. It needs good, deep soil, and water. That is your job. “Weed and feed.” That is your job. You are trying to find seeds and plant seeds; no–that is the Sower’s work. Your work is to weed and feed.

Follow Me

Lord, this morning I had a choice. I could rush off to church or I could sit here with You. Last week I felt the need to be in community, but this morning I felt I needed this most, being unrushed here, with You.

Ours is not a cookie-cutter relationship, a one-size fits all, follow this recipe, relationship. The Old Testament said, essentially, follow these precepts. But in the New Testament, what do I say? Follow Me. Come with Me.

The church has in large part taken New Testament principles and made new precepts to follow, and overlaid those on top of the Old Testament laws—not the ceremonial laws, those the church has replaced with ones of its own. To the extent a community of believers or any church institution is focused on precepts, that is the limit of the depth of relationship with Me they encourage.

To Follow Me is to engage in a dynamic relationship even more complex than any earthly one, for I Am both Parent and Brother, I Am Lover and Friend, I Am Defender and Protector. You know nothing quite like it on earth. Your best earthly relationships mirror one facet of what it means to be in relationship with Me, and that is what I am calling you, calling all of you, to.

How do you bond on earth? You spend time. You pay attention. Other than the parent-child relationship, which begins with the parent as giver and child as receiver, but then grows over time into mutual ways of giving and receiving, the best earthly relationships are reciprocal.

Freedom to be yourself

I am loving the Quiet right now…but I need to feed the dogs. And drink a smoothie. And then I will try to come back here. I sense You have something to say, and I don’t want to miss it. ……… So, God, what would You say? What are my priorities, today?

You have a need to be right. Let go of that need. It dates back to your father.

You mean, I have to be wrong?

No. I mean, you can be free. Free of the burden of having to prove yourself, over and over and over. Free of the secret fear that you are wrong, intrinsically “wrong” — that nothing you do is ever really right, is ever enough, is ever good enough. That is the root. Really, it is the root of much that burdens you, that weighs you down, that causes your anxiety. It is the sense that the one who should know is always saying “no”– always denying your ideas, your thoughts, your opinions, your accomplishments.

I, your Father-God, am Oh-so-proud of you. See? That makes you cry.

I, your Father-God, love you so much–as you are. I love your “quirks”– I made them. I sculpted your personality as surely as I formed your body. Your passions, your loves, your compassions, your zeal, your humor, your gifts–all that makes you “you,” I love. I beam over. I delight in. You have inspired, creative ideas all the time. We–you, and the God of the Universe–are “in cahoots.” In collaboration to make the part of the world you touch more beautiful, more joyous, more peaceful, more free. Today,  I free you.

On Abundance, “Best,” Competition and Destiny

I think I need to hear from You about “best.” As in, best in show; as in, do your best; as in, personal best; as in, best effort. As in competition. How does this relate to abundance?

Abundance says, there is enough for everyone to thrive, for everyone to reach their own best potential. There is enough food. There is enough opportunity. There is enough creativity.

Competition says, I have to be better than you.

Destiny says, I can work with abundance and become my best. The focus is different. Others may come along and rank-order, but when your focus is destiny, you are centered on your own performance, your own offering. Your own calling. You write a song, not thinking, I have to make this song so commercially viable that it outsells every other song this year. You write a song, thinking, what needs to be shared, to be expressed–and what combination of words and musical notes best accomplishes that goal? You write the song that is yours to write, and you give that song your best effort and focus…and then you write another song, and you give that song your best, too.

It’s like love. You love whole-heartedly every day–and someday, you say “I do” to THE love of your life, which in turn produces more love in the form of family.

Each love is your best love. And sometimes that love reciprocated chooses you–just as an audience chooses the “best” song of the year by responding to its gift, by listening or buying it. But the initial focus wasn’t to beat everyone else. The initial focus is to write the best version of your song. Live your best life. Sometimes others will notice and compare; other times, they won’t, and you are living in the shadows. Don’t fear competition–just give and live your best, not in a way that exhausts you but in a way that exhilarates you.

Narrow Road

Lord, You said it is easy to align ourselves again with You. Then why did You call it a narrow road?

There are many distractions pulling you away from Love, or Peace, or Joy. Narrow doesn’t mean hard, or hard to find or follow. Narrow merely acknowledges that the one Path, the Center, the place of maximum abundance of life is in Love. Peace and Joy follow from Love, as do health and wealth, as do goodness and kindness, as do mercy and faith.

Love is so far-reaching, it embraces and encompasses the whole Universe—and beyond. Yet it is called Narrow, because it is laser-focused in its intent and commitment. Love is the Way.

Stay Tuned

OK, Lord. Here I am at this point, where I need and want to get quiet. Try to hear You. Ask You to speak, to break in.

Imagine tuning a radio, the kind you grew up with, with its dial. Hear the crackle of static? Hear how stations get louder or softer as you dial them in or out? Here’s a secret—the music is always playing. I Am the Word, so I Am always speaking. I Am always speaking over you, over your life. Over your world. Over everyone in it. Like a radio station broadcasting 24/7, I Am always speaking. You just need to turn the dial.

Now, there are a lot of voices in your radio. Not all come from Me. Not all are inspired voices, just as a radio broadcasts all sorts of music and programs all across the dial. But each station has its own identity, its own voice. Be careful which stations, whose voices, you tune in to. Keep the dial of your mind and heart near Me. The other voices you hear in proximity to My Voice will ring true and can give you good counsel and encouragement.

This is a role you can play yourself, for others. You wonder, where is my own voice in all of this? Keep closely tuned to My Voice, and what comes from the depths of your own heart, and the reaches of your own mind, will be inspired, and give life.

Your broadcasters often end a segment or a program with the invitation, Stay Tuned. That’s good advice for a musical instrument, too. Stay tuned. Like an engine—stay tuned, stay tuned up. Stay tuned in to My Voice.

Legacy

Lord, what would You say about legacy?

I’d say, dream Big. Vision Bigger. “God has planted eternity in the human heart.” You think that’s small? Try to imagine: I, God, have planted—like a seed—Eternity. In your heart. A perspective that sees no limit anywhere, for anything. A mindset that anticipates miracles, not out of hubris, out of faith. A heart that knows Me, at depth, at breadth, at height, at length. Knows beyond “knowing.” A heart that feels certain. A heart that asks—and walks—in confidence, in assurance. Not out of arrogance, out of the conviction of the infallibility of our connection. A heart that knows I Am God, I Am Good, I Am Lord, I Am Love.

Do you love your son? I, more.

Do you love your husband? I, more.

Do you love the grandchildren? I, more, more.

Do you want the best for them? I, more.

Did your mother and father want the best for you?

Do I want the best for you?

Breathe that in. Release all doubt. Be a Champion. Act like a champion acts. Own it. Embody it. Attract the world to you, to your door. The world will be blessed by the eternity I have planted in you. Own your calling, own My choosing of you. Shine—blaze—you carry My light within you. Fear not the storm. You will spread the Peace.