Category: Hope

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Sow seeds of Love

I keep thinking about that story, where a monk goes to his superior and says, I do my little alms and make my little prayers, and what more can I do, and the superior answers, why not pray to be turned into flame? That story has always gotten to me and I’m not sure why. What does that even mean? I think the story isn’t about martyrdom, it is more about zeal, about being all-in. So what does that mean, in 2017, here, now? Why does the story affect me at all?

Because you always think you are not doing enough. You always fear you are falling short of some impossibly high standard I have set for you.

Well, yeah—perfection. Be ye perfect, right? Straight A life, right?

This is the common interpretation, God as School-master, ready to grade performance and knowledge, every day an exam, every hour a pop-quiz. No wonder you, so many humans, are so stressed. A better understanding of perfect would be complete or whole. Scripture also says, perfect love casts out fear. Imagine a container, full to the brim with water, full even to the point of overflowing. There is no room for anything else in that container. A life lived in perfect love, a soul made perfect in love, would have no space for fear or any of fear’s outworkings, like greed (which is fear of lack) or jealousy (which is fear over position or opportunity) or hatred (which is fear of being less-than, of being ignored, of being taken for granted). Take away fear, all fear, and replace that with love, genuine love, and look what happens to your day and in your life. You treat others well and you treat yourself well. Your gifts and talents are fully developed and used to bless others, blessing yourself in the process. You have no lack. And if everyone around you is living from the same mindset, no one else has any lack either. Perfect love is the answer to every one of earth’s ills.

But, Lord, we don’t love like that. And some live the opposite—they are so full of fear they have little or no room for love at all!

It is tempting to look around and try to grade others. That is why I said, “don’t judge.” Be concerned with your own vessel, with your own heart, your own life. Fill yourself up with My Love.

How do I do that with folks whose values are so different than mine? How do I love those who do terrible things, who show no love at all?

(Gently) Little One, they need love most of all. The only way you can show love to such as these is to pray to see with My eyes, with My heart. Pray for a crack in the dark to let the light in. Pray for the tiniest crack in their bedrock of fear to let the water of Love seep in. Pray for Love to increase. Pray for seeds of Love to flourish and grow in the unlikeliest of places, in the most arid and polluted of circumstances.

The Sower sowed seed everywhere, in all kinds of soil, remember? Do you think the Sower was stupid? Or wasteful? No, the Sower is a parable of Hope! You be the good soil that brings forth a multiplication of seeds—and then dare to be a sower who scatters seeds of love everywhere, trusting that some will sprout, some will grow, and will transform the desert into a garden. That is the promise, about rivers in the desert and dry places holding a well. You grow in Love, and sow in Hope, and know, no seed of Love sown is ever truly wasted.

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Loss

Loss is hard, no matter how I think about it. I have friends going through it, right now.

The portal you call death is a lot like jumping to hyperspace, or going to warp speed—all of a sudden, the essence of the person is too large, too fast, and holds too much energy for the physical body that has been its home. The soul jumps to Eternity, leaving behind the empty shell. In this eternity there is no separation, not from Me and not from anyone loved in this life. In fact, since Love is the core of Being, the soul actually experiences unity with everyone and everything, while still retaining individuality. This is a mystery beyond your comprehension. You see glimpses and hints, nothing more.

Lord, the Old Testament warned against trying to connect with anyone who had died, so that warning makes me, I am sure makes a lot of us, wary. Yet some days I would like nothing more than a conversation with my Mom or Dad, or Patrick. That is why those dreams about them are so precious.

What the Old Testament warned about was substituting that contact for a genuine connection to Me. In Me and through Me and through the power of My resurrection, you have access to anyone for all of history. Who do you think sends you those comforting dreams? Who do you think summons the blue butterfly or the pileated woodpecker, just when you need some reassurance?

I gave you these earthly relationships to be an eternal blessing to you. I don’t intend you to remain in grief over the loss of physical contact. Instead, try asking Me to arrange experiences where you know your loved one has communicated with you, in a way personal and private to you, and see what happens?

Lord, I will never forget driving home after Christmas 2000, when Daddy died Christmas day, and the smell of his pipe tobacco that he got every Christmas in my childhood filled the car out of nowhere.

Not out of nowhere, out of Beyond. Out of Eternity. No, your father is not smoking a pipe in heaven! But that experience—what did it do for you?

I felt as if he was somehow near, along with my Aunt who gave him that tobacco, saying that he was okay. That he was well and healthy and somehow aware of me and where I was. It was a powerful moment of connection.

And did it increase or diminish your faith? Did it comfort you or plunge you into depression?

Lord, it increased my faith. And yes, it comforted me too—like the man I had lost to Alzheimer’s was somehow suddenly my Daddy again. Wow, I never put that into words before.

That was the exact intention, My intention, in the experience: to comfort and assure you.

So I can ask that my friends be comforted? And assured?

Indeed, yes. These are prayers I love to answer—happy serendipitous surprises of love.

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Heaven

Lord, I was thinking, if I died today, who in heaven would be there, to meet me, I mean? If I think of eternity as timeless, then people not yet born, people not yet died, could be there, but that complicates things. I was imagining, say, 20 years from now, and a heaven where even those who hurt me were there, were sorry, were healed themselves, and we could have in Eternity the relationship we didn’t have—couldn’t have—here.

Your first vision of heaven was as a place of healing, of reconciliation, of peace and love and forgiveness, a place of restoration and joy. Not judgment. Not regret. A place where all is put to rights, in body, mind and spirit. Do you think you can out-vision Me? Do you think you can out-imagine Me? Where do you think this vision comes from? In your vision there is only peace, not punishment, not torture. There are, literally, no more enemies in your vision. All swords, even Mine, are plowshares. You didn’t dream this on your own. You are tapping into the deep vein of My Love, My Peace. For those who must have vengeance, My Blood satisfies. But you have gone deeper even than this. You’ve gone to the bedrock of “seventy times seven.” That is why you don’t focus so much anymore on My Cross. That’s why you focus on My Rising. You picture Me alive, not dying.

 

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Pray for New Things

Lord, You keep talking to me about change, and about fresh. But Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun. Right?

What about “His mercies are new every morning” in the Psalms? What about Isaiah’s “Behold I am doing a new thing?” What about the “I make all things new” as a final promise in scripture? What about those?

You have to discern who is talking when you read sacred words or words that purport to be sacred. “A tree is known by its fruit,” remember? There is a fatalistic cynicism that masquerades as religion. Some of the tenets of that belief system are that human actions are pointless, that everything that happens is pre-arranged and that humans are merely puppets in some Divine morality play. That belief system bears fruits of despair, apathy, helplessness, and hopelessness. Does that sound like a tree of My planting?

How about this? Every human born has limitless potential to be unique and to offer the world a fresh perspective on life, on love, on joy. Every expression of personality, every latent talent, every overt impulse to creativity are all gifts of the Divine ensconced in humanity. The great challenge for every human born is to become. To become the best self possible.

Lord, then what about tragedies? What about kids born in poverty? Born in abuse? Born into the drug culture? Born in war-torn villages? Born sick from day one? What about them?

Do you think My Love for these, for those the world would term “the least of them” is less than My Love for those born into wealth? Into health? Into loving, caring homes? Do you think I rank-order by circumstance?

No, of course not. But I think so many have the odds against them before they even start out. And it’s not fair. I’m sorry to say it that way. But take me—I was born late, to a family that very much wanted a child. I was loved, cherished, taken care of. I had so many advantages even in being born to older parents. And I had difficulties too, like no grandparents because of that. But my folks really wanted me, and I have carried that knowledge, and their telling me I was special, all these years. So I had a head start over so many others.

And you have felt guilty for your advantages. Isn’t that true? You have felt ashamed of having such love, and over being gifted in the areas you are. Listen to Me. Every child is gifted. Every child born is loved by Me. But I don’t wave some magic wand and send a child into hell on earth or heaven on earth. Children are conceived naturally, and not everyone who conceives is an ideal parent. Inherent in that conception is a spark of divinity that includes creativity, personality, and the capacity to give and receive love. Some have those gifts cut short before they can even be opened. You have heard there is great joy among angels when someone decides to change their path for good, for the better. Well, there is also great sorrow among angels for every injustice, for every life cut short before its potential is realized. Eventually, on humanity’s last day, there will be no more tears. That is the day of rejoicing that is coming, for all of creation.

But what about now? What do we do about now?

Follow your heart. Follow your path. You love to pray—pray for newborns, pray for foster families, pray for communities where drugs and gangs have taken over. Pray for peace. And don’t buy into the cynicism that says nothing can change, or that there is no possibility of newness in these homes, in these families, in these communities, in these villages, in these nations. Pray for New Things to increase and abound. Pray for a spreading ripple of grace and mercy, of kindness and compassion. Pray for hearts to rule hands and heads. Ask, and watch how you receive. For your very act of asking can change the flow of events, can alter circumstances, can reveal choices to others that might otherwise go unnoticed and unheeded. Pray for miracles of enlightenment. Pray for aha moments all over the globe. What do you have to lose? Try praying instead of lamenting, and see what happens.

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Fear of the Future

Lord, I feel like Kingsley. Sometimes he is content to play or chew, sometimes to nap or cuddle, but the last couple of days he is so wiggly, so squirmy, as if he can’t settle or get comfortable. I am picturing myself exactly like that—arms and legs flailing, wanting down, wanting to run. For him, this is natural and healthy; he is growing and running towards his future. Me, I feel as if I am trying to run away from it and it is looming larger and scarier every day.

Do you think I have changed? Do you think I no longer Am already in your future, preparing you, preparing your life for the days ahead? Do you think the future is some country where I Am not present, not involved, not caring about and for you?

Some people struggle with anger or pride or selfishness. You struggle with fear and worry. These are your challenges. You have made much progress in trust and faith, but let Me ask you a question. I already know the answer, but I want you to hear yourself say it: do you think I Am no longer good? No longer Love? No longer Peace, or Joy? Do you think hope is foolish and gratitude is empty? Do you think all I have said, all I have done, is a lie—or am I a truth-teller still?

Oh Lord, I know You are all those things—and more. I know You are good and kind and that Love and Peace and Joy are not only Your gifts but also Your very nature.

But…? You are thinking a But…

But we get thrown curve balls. You have said You are not testing us, or not just for testing’s sake. You have said You don’t cause natural disasters—or, I am paraphrasing now—human health ones either. So if these challenges are not You, then what are they? How can I understand them?

Do you remember what I said the other day about a clockmaker, making and winding a clock?

Yes.

Now I want you to imagine the clockmaker doing something that in your limited viewpoint seems pointless, even unacceptable. I want you to picture the clockmaker holding in his hands a clock that no longer keeps time, that constantly stops and starts. Picture that clock scratched and scarred, with vestiges of its earlier beauty marked by years of use, faithfully ticking away, but no longer able to function anywhere near its peak performance. Now picture the clockmaker carefully disassembling the clock, the very clock he himself made. I want you to imagine the clockmaker taking all these parts and laying them out, cleaning and polishing them, repairing where needed, and adding new parts to the pile. Now watch as the clockmaker assembles a new, even more beautiful and intricate instrument that doesn’t need winding and that keeps perfect rhythm for eternity. Who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t want to be that? You see clues in nature even now. Why do you think you are noticing all the butterflies this season? Why do you think you got to watch the caterpillars and chrysalis formation? These were all meant as gifts to encourage you, to give you hope. What do you do with Kingsley when he seems frantic?

I hold him close so he can hear or feel my heartbeat.

And?

And he calms down, almost immediately.

Let Me hold you close. Listen to My Heartbeat. Remember Who I Am. Remember Whose you are. And know this: every human clock you watch unwinding is being readied for a limitless life of perfect rhythm, perfectly balanced, perfectly in tune, perfectly aligned. Do you—can you—believe for this?

Yes, Lord, I can.

Then let this strengthen, encourage and comfort you. If you can calm your new puppy, why can’t you let Me calm you? And don’t run away from your future. I still have much to give you, much to show you, much to share with you. And you have much to share with others. Be at Peace, Little One. Sleep easier tonight. I Am with you, and with everyone you love. I will never leave you, nor will I leave them. So, you rest in My care and let Me care for your loved ones.

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More on Faith and Love

The vet came, and we are going to have to put Mikey down, soon. I am thinking maybe even today. It’s wild, I journal yesterday about him, and now, this. I might’ve said, I don’t have the faith to see him healed but now, after what You said yesterday, that is not it. Is it?

Love would let him go. Sometimes Love holds on and sometimes Love lets go. True Love is discerning–it knows its time. It knows its purpose in each situation, each decision. When Love knows it is not yet time to let go, then Love energizes faith; the knowing what is best, what is most loving, gives the power for healing to happen. True Faith is believing in the reality and power of Love, in what Love can do in the world, whether it be in a sick body or a broken heart or a devastated community. And since I Am Love, Faith at its deepest and purest has eyes to see Me in every situation, to see My Hand in everything–not as Cause, necessarily. Sometimes as Cure.

If you can learn to live from Love, let Love be the foundation for everything you do and think and say, you will have the kind of faith that can move mountains–if moving a mountain is truly what Love needs to happen! You can also have the kind of faith that moves you–that inspires you to take action, all based in Love. So you see, letting Mikey go is an act of Love, and therefore, also an act of faith, an assurance you are doing the best thing.

But it still hurts.

(Gently) Yes, little one, I know. I better than anyone know the hurt Love experiences in the world. This is little comfort to you now, but the world I envisioned, the world I first created, the world where Mikey is now, has no hurt, no time, no limit, no end. It is only and always Love. Mikey has simply returned to that which he was created to inhabit all along. He is the one who is Home; you are the one still absent. Remember how I said yesterday, Faith connects others to Me through your Love?

Yes. What did You mean, exactly?

If you can believe, you will experience the connection to everyone you have ever loved, who has passed from sight, but is with Me, alive, in joy. There is no separation within Myself. You really do inhabit parallel universes–that is one way of phrasing it. The more you can open yourself up to eternity, the more of eternity you will experience in your earthly life. You have had moments of this, dreams of this, flashes of this. These were not anomalies. In a real sense, any sense of separation you experience–from Me, from those you love–is the anomaly. Love Is. Mikey is now held in purest Love. Allow your heart to rest in this knowing, if only for brief minutes at a time, and that knowing will comfort you beyond your mind’s understanding. And you will experience what you call “faith”–walking the bridge that connects you to Me, and to others. You pictured a tightrope, high, scary, windy. See how solid it really is? See how beautiful the country? You have glimpses and then the vision fades. Be not discouraged. Just feel the Love.

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God’s Gratitude List

What in the world would You say, today?

As a parent, you want–I want–the best for our children.

Yes. And…? But…?

No “and.” What can you add to “the best”? No “but”–no exceptions. What is hurting your heart today is fear.

Ok, Lord. It’s hard, though. It’s really hard. Fear makes people do crazy things.

That is why I want you to “be not afraid.” That’s why I want you to focus on Love.

So, God, do You have a message for me to share today? A third way kind of message? I can barely hear You through my sorrow.

Your world is not hopeless, nor is it helpless, although it seems that way to you right now. I have called you to love mercy and to walk open-hearted with Me. When John the Baptist was murdered, I needed some time alone, some time to commune with My Father, some time to receive new strength to meet the needs of the hour. You need that, too–you, as a person and the larger “you” of community and nation. Mostly you need to hear that Hope and Love are not foolish, though they seem so to you now. You try to make Gratitude Lists, even through your tears. Would it surprise you to know I have a Gratitude List, too? Would you like to know some of My Gratitudes for today?

I, God, Am Grateful for loving hearts that struggle to find goodness when all around them seems to be falling apart.

I, God, Am Grateful for anyone, everyone, willing to engage in listening to those with opposite points of view in order to reach common ground and build a better tomorrow.

I, God, Am Grateful for every act of brave kindness, from those who sheltered others in Las Vegas to those who stand up to bullying on the playground.

I, God, Am Grateful every time any person shifts to a loving, peace-centered world view, and seeks to implement that shift in their own relationships with their families, their friends, and strangers they encounter day-to-day.

And I, God, Am Grateful for you–and millions more like you–who get discouraged but never give up on Love as the Way.

Keep shining. Your world needs rainbows through its tears. Keep the Light on.

 

 

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Choosing Love Over Violence

I am sitting outside, in the swing, wanting the feel and sounds of the outdoors. We now have a new “the worst mass shooting” in our national history. Here is what I know: it’s not You. It’s no part You. I don’t know how to pray, what to say to make sense out of madness.

Imagine a father with a family feud–that is easy for you to imagine; you live there. And you see how it affects him, day to day. You see how his heart aches and how he tries to just go on despite it, throwing himself into his work, having given up on trying to broker any peace. The difference is, I can’t–won’t–ever give up. So as long as there is one war, one fight, one enemy, I, God, carry within Myself both unutterable grief and boundless joy and hope–joy over, as your Bible puts it–“one sinner who repents”–which really means, one person coming home to his or her best self, one person laying down hate and choosing to love, or at least, to learn to love. This is the duality people sometimes sense within Me, and try to explain through words like Light and Dark or Yin and Yang. The unity in the duality is Love. Because I Am Love, I hold both grief and joy at the same time, and because I Am Love, I Am always ready to show mercy.

Lord, it feels hopeless. Like “they” are never going to agree. It is such a beautiful day, here. And such a horrible, terrible day, there.

I have promised never to destroy your world. That doesn’t mean humanity won’t. You have to decide what side you are on–the side of mercy and hope and love and peace, or the side of vengeance and hatred and fear and violence.

Lord, You know my choice is for love and peace.

Is it? Where are you focused right now?

So how can I make a difference, make a stand?

By looking for concrete ways to show My Love, to speak My Love, to every hurting and searching heart you encounter. By affirming all you know about My Father-God heart. By calling people everywhere to lay down the weapons in their minds, the judgment, the retaliation, the name-calling, the bigotry, the envy, the violence in their thoughts and words. Every violent act begins with violent thoughts and words. Change the conversation. Change the vocabulary. Start in your own mind, your own thought, and spread the ripples outward from there. Sound the trumpet-call to Love.

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Learning to see

I have more “space” in my 3-page journal allotment. Lord?

You are learning where your power lies, where your strength is. You are learning the power of gentleness. You are learning where to apply stubbornness. You are learning there is a time to stand. Because of your tendency to reticence, you are learning to carefully consider your words when you do speak. You are practicing awareness and connection–to My Spirit first, to My beautiful world, to others around you.

Somewhere along your path, you picked up the idea that worry was a sign of caring. That you could not care without worry. From there, it was easy to pick up fear, and then, to let those become so heavy that they turned into panic. Hauling worry, fear, and panic, along with their companions anxiety and stress has exhausted you, and robbed you of joy and peace, of hope and vision.

The world has enough doom-and-gloomers. My world needs visionaries–those who see Light, who see reason to hope, who see evidence of My Presence. Hope is the evidence of things not seen–not seen by others. Not seen–yet–by the world. But you see! I’m telling you, you DO see. That is why and how you can have hope. Hope isn’t blind. It is seeing the evidence others don’t see. It is making the invisible, visible. That is what I mean when I say, you are My visionary. That is why the phrase “stubborn hope” has resonated with you so. It is who you are–who I made you to be, not blind, but seeing, and sharing what you see, for Who I Am.

 

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Don’t Be Afraid

Please. Will You hear my heart’s cry, and will You please intervene? Will You do this thing I am asking?

 

Because you have asked this, I say to you, I am hearing your cry, and I will act to save Florida from destruction that would have otherwise been. Not to show Myself strong–to show you, to show praying people everywhere, how strong, how effective your prayers are. I have asked you to pray, asked you to ask, so you can see how this works, how prayer, how connecting with Me and getting hold of My Heart, changes everything. “For it is not My will that anyone perish.”

Yesterday I asked, and I am still praying You weaken the storm, wring it out. So in advance of a strike, I see the storm is weaker. Thank You. And I posted my “I can’t hear You” entry.

Yes, you can.

You can hear Me.  And you know I hear you–all of you. I Am not deaf, and I Am not mute. Neither are you.

Okay, so, deep breath, what would You say? Now? To our fear? “Fear not” doesn’t seem practical.

Fear is a last resort. I never want any child, any of My Children, which means anyone on the planet, to feel afraid. I said “fear not” over and over and over. I sent angels to say “Don’t be afraid.” I don’t want humans afraid. That is not My will or My plan.

But isn’t Your will what happens? I mean, You are God–so, Thy Will Be Done–it’s Your will, it is what is supposed to happen, right?

Oh, little one, no wonder you are so afraid, so susceptible to fear and the torment fear brings.

No, My will is, sadly, rarely done. That is why what you call The Lord’s Prayer begins with, first, an acknowledgement that I Am Holy, which is another way of saying I Am Goodness, I Am Kindness, I Am Pure Love. Next comes “Thy will be done” as a plea, not as a statement of fact. If My will were done, you would be living in Eden: no shame, no regret, total transparency between humans, and completely tame wildlife. You would be fed, fulfilled, healthy, loving, and loved. There would be peace on earth.

I asked you to pray for God’s will to be done in the context of My Holiness, My Hallowedness, not to focus your attention on all that is wrong in the world, but as a way to align yourself with all that is good and right and true.

Right now, your heart-cries and pleas for mercy are good and right and true, and I promise you, I Am acting on behalf of all My people, prompting everyone to take action, to take shelter, to keep themselves safe in the storm. You ask, where am I? I am in the midst of Irma, weakening it here, turning it there, giving as many people possible as much time as possible to flee and get to safety.