Category: Love

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Walk with Me

Lord, I have 15 minutes. Maybe 20. I have done everything except get quiet. I lay awake too long to begin, quiet. Lord?

You think you can’t hear Me in a “brainstorm.” Worse, you think I can’t hear you. When you cannot quiet your mind, I. Am. Still. Think about that. I Am Still. What if I cannot be still, cannot be still and know, you ask? Then look to Me, the Great I Am, the One Who Still Is, Who Is Always, Who Is Present, Who Is Both Active, and Still. Let My Peace penetrate your unknowing. Just walk with Me. You will find My companionship to be all you need today, to begin. To begin your day more centered, more grounded, more focused. Just walk with Me. Decide on a pace that lets you remember all you do know.

You are being Martha and neglecting Mary. Look up the verse. (I do that.) See what it says? I don’t scold Martha for being busy–which is what you always think. It is not the tMartha was busy, or that she had a lot that had to get done–which is what you say–it is that her attitude needed adjusting. And the best way to adjust attitude is to realign with Me, which is what Mary is doing in the story. It’s not about preferring one sister over the other. It is not even about sibling squabbles. It is about Martha being distracted, worried, and anxious or upset. Does this sound like anyone you know?

Okay, so there has to be a third way, for busy people. The story goes on to say only one thing is important.

Yes, and that is?

Oh, of course! Love! Love You, love others!

And–love yourself. Take care of yourself too–and living in a perpetual state of worry and distraction, even if you try to say it’s all about others, isn’t actually loving anybody. So, walk with Me. Let Me show you every day what your own “good part” is, what that looks like in the context of your work, your home, your family and friends, and the larger world.

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Give-Away

Lord, You said an extraordinary thing to me the other morning. I was driving, not taking notes. And by the way, I love that we can talk, do talk, anytime, anywhere. Thank You. Thank You for that. So I want to restart that conversation, because I never got back to You on what You began to tell me.

I was thinking about friends who are vegetarian, and wishing I were, actually. And thinking how often, even though I try to thank You, and thank the animals, for my food, I regret that something else died so I could be nourished. In the midst of that thought, which is a very old thought for me, I remembered the verses in Genesis, where in the beginning of the story, The Great Story, You gave humans the green growing plants to eat. And then after the Ark, You added in the animals. And so, driving the other morning, I said to You, why did You do that? I wish You had never done that!! And then You said…

I said, it was the animals’ thank-you to humankind, for saving them in the great flood. It was their idea, to give-away back to humanity.

So…NOT Your idea. I mean, You didn’t. I mean. I don’t know what I mean. You didn’t force them. You didn’t throw them under the bus, so to speak.

No.

But if I am reading the story right–and let me just say, maybe I am not, maybe all of us aren’t–the point of the whole story seems to be, You made the flood happen in the first place. The story’s point is, You caused all that destruction, to punish and destroy humanity. Because we were, collectively, so awful.

That is one way to read the story. Here is another: how many times have you wished for a do-over? You’ve wished that the minute a sentence came out of your mouth and you saw the reaction on the face of the one you were speaking to. Or you took an action you later regretted. You’ve wished for whole chapters, months and years of your younger days to be rewritten. The idea of a Great Ark and a Great Flood could be read as a story of destruction. It can also be read as a story of redemption and hope. In the story, Noah spent years building that Ark. It could have held much more than sailed with him. The point is that many were invited to come aboard, but refused. Who listened? The animals listened–as you sometimes experience them listening to you. It is really a story, again, about taming and saving this planet’s creatures, more than a story about condemning this planet’s peoples. It is a story about choices, and consequences, and about one man’s determination to do all the good he could, for anyone and anything that would listen to him. Noah did not view creation as something to be exploited but as something to be cherished, and preserved. That is one lesson of the story that is rarely taught. And in response, the animals thus spared decided to forever knit their lives with humanity by giving the ultimate sacrifice and allowing themselves to exchange their individual lives for the health and nourishment of humanity.

So when you eat, you do well to remember their earliest intent. Try not to focus on the product, or the process, at least not at first. It’s the same as when you ask for an animal or a bird to come to be photographed. They are nourishing you. You are calling them, and they are coming to you. If you continue to approach your photography with love in your heart, you will not have subjects, you will have collaborators. The creatures will collaborate with you. And if you could approach your meals with the same love, the same receptivity, you would find your body strengthened and nourished so that you could continue the work I have called you to do.

Eventually, everything and everyone comes Home to Me. So much fear has been woven into this! But I Am Source. From Me you have come and to Me you will return–all of you, all of everything. Some sooner, some later. Some dancing, some weeping. But all come. All come Home. And here is the Mystery: all find Love waiting. For Love overcomes All. Love overcomes fear, Love overcomes greed, Love overcomes pride, and at the last, Love overcomes Death. Light overtakes darkness, all the time, every time, and beyond Time.

So whether a deer dies of old age in the forest, or gives away to an arrow or a rifle, that deer comes Home to Me. And whether a young hunter dies of starvation in a harsh winter, or is nourished by a Give-Away deer, and lives to grow strong and lead his people for many years, in the end, the hunter comes Home to Me. Sometimes people give up too soon. The hunter could have said, it is no use. There is no game to feed me or my family. Many among you have not, because they ask not. More and more you are being schooled to believe that I Am Not. Not Good. Not Loving. Not Involved. Not Participatory. Not a Healer. Not a Provider. Not Interested. Or, simply, Not. Not Real. But I Am. Someday, all of those who believed Not, and taught Not, and spoke Not, shall too come Home. They shall come Home and find Love waiting. And all their Not shall come to Naught, and the Great Yes shall overtake them. The Yes of My Redeeming Love.

God, that’s mercy. That is extraordinary mercy. From You. From creation. And for us. I mean, humans. Honestly, we don’t really deserve it.

This is not a story about deserving. This is a story about Loving. This is a story about Great Love. Go thou and…  You get to fill in the blank. All of you. So what role will you play in the great love story of creation, unfolding? Every day is a new opportunity. Who and whose will you be today? Every rivulet in a waterfall flows in its own way, yet all have the same source. All are part of the whole and all are pure. Stay pure. Flow in Love.

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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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Bedrock

One of the AlAnon questions I need to remember is, do you fail to recognize your accomplishments? I used to make myself a celebratory cup of special tea; now I reach for coffee’s caffeine as fuel to do more, not to stop and relish what I just did. I think about it, then turn aside as if I haven’t really earned it. Says who, and by what criteria? When I say yes, but…I am engaging in dialog with the wrong conversational partner. And I never need to say yes in any context to that voice.

You are tired, yes, but actually very healthy.

Huh?

You keep choosing gratitude. You stubbornly dig to bedrock. And every time, every time, you find there your true self and My great Love. That is the conglomerate of your bedrock, your solid foundation. Not just My great love–for you know that is at the center of every heart, if only everyone would go within to find it. You know that now. But what makes this your bedrock, the key secret ingredient, is you. You, united with My great Love.

Not just My Love for you. Some stop there. Not just My Love for those like you. Some stop there. My great Love for all. That is part of the fusing. Think metaphors for fusing. Think glass–art glass. We are fused. You are changed, transformed–and so is My great Love transformed–transformed, again, into a body I can use, into a soul, into an expression, an outlet in the world. This transfigures you and in turn, your yes transfigures My Love into your day, into your time, into and through your life. Think about fusing. There is more depth, more truth here than you know yet.

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Loving my life

I just sat down, well I have been sitting, I guess I mean, I just stopped from placing inventory orders in order to (order, see that, I have order on the brain!), in order to catch my breath and talk to You and the instant I did that, I heard a chorus in my head of Hail, hail, the gang’s all here! So I guess I want to start by thanking You for my tribe. Really, God, thank You. I have such incredible support, staff, artists, friends, Pete–sometimes I almost feel guilty for being so blessed.

Guilty?

You know how sometimes folks say this or that isn’t fair? Well, how is it fair that I have so much in my life?

Eve, what you are grateful for, and your attitude of gratitude itself, that was, is, My Plan, My Desire, for all of humanity. What isn’t fair, as you say, is that anyone on the planet lacks. And yet so many do.

God, yes. I was talking about that in a roundabout way with a friend today. We were both talking about folks we care about whose lives seem…what is the word I want? Not harder than ours, exactly. I mean, we have both seen our share and more than our share it seems, at times, of hardship–but we love life. We do. We love not only life, but our own lives. We love the possibilities in each new day. We love the mystery and wonder. I told her, I can be distracted away from trouble or sorrow in a minute, just by the flash of light on the water, or wings darting past my window. I am so in love with this big beautiful world, even on the days it seems small and not so beautiful. I just love it here.

This is all I ever wanted for My Children–and remember, when I say, My Children, I mean every single person. Or as your headline writers put it at times, for emphasis: Every. Single. Person. All of you. Or, speaking southern, all y’all.

Oh, God, You are too funny? All y’all? Really?

People assume I have no humor. How can they think such a thing!

There is joy in humor, Lord. Not the kind that puts others down. The kind that laughs for the sheer exuberance of it.

That is the joy I mean you to have. There are those who look for, and expect, and find, every single day, something to complain about. Something to be upset about. Something to get angry about. There are also those who look for and expect and find, every single day, something to rejoice about. Something to give thanks for. Something to smile and laugh over. That is who you have become, and it is beautiful to see. You shine, now. You do.

God, You did that. You did. It took a long, long time. And I cry sometimes still.

Of course you do. But even through your tears, you shine.

So I guess all I really wanted to say, here at the end of the day, is thank You. Thank You and I love You.

You are welcome. And I love you, too.

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Leadership and Trust

I just had another thought, thinking about leadership. It’s trust. I trust You. I do. But I don’t always trust folks. I don’t always trust folks who say they speak for You. I don’t want to be led astray, especially not in Your Name. And I don’t want to do that to anyone else, either. There’s another discomfort with the notion of leadership for me.

That comes back to what we talked about earlier, character. A leader’s heart is a loving heart. As long as you are walking in love, and speaking from love, you never need to worry about leading anyone else astray. And Love is your discernment as well. If you ever wonder if the counsel you are hearing from another is wise, and is right for you, use the love meter. Give it the love test. How does that counsel sit in your spirit? Is it occupying primarily a place of power, where others are forced to go along out of fear? Or is it emanating from love and concern for others? You have learned to measure decisions and weigh courses of action by gauging how peaceful they feel inside you, whether they bring you peace or increase your agitation. You have learned to follow the peace. Use similar assessment skills when someone else is seeking to be a leader in your own life or over your own heart–check their words and actions against what an attitude or action centered in love would look like or sound like. If it aligns, you know the action proposed is wise, and true, and then you can use your peace to determine if it is best for you, and in this time. But if the attitude or action reveals itself to be based in something other than love, such as fear, or pride, or arrogance, or prejudice, then you don’t even have to weight it against peace. It has already failed the love test. First consider love, then consider peace. Lastly consider joy. If whatever action you are contemplating meets all three of these, then you can feel confident about making a decision.

Humans err when they consider what they think is joy first, without regard to either peace or love. That can easily lead to a lifestyle rooted in selfishness. But if you approach your life first from love and next from peace, and lastly from joy, you will overflow with all three and you will not be able to contain all the blessings you will receive–nor will you be able to contain all the blessings you will be moved to give, for your heart and life will overflow toward others. Giving won’t then feel like a sacrifice or a burden, but will become a natural response, a counterpoint rhythm, as you share the many blessings you are receiving. And that, my dear, is leadership in action. Rooted in love, grounded in peace, and expressed in joy.

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Road Trip

By the time you read this post, I will be out of town on a buying trip for a few days. While I am sure God will not be silent, and that His Presence is everywhere, I am not certain about internet access or carving out time to post while in the company of others.

I plan to begin posting again just as soon as I return to my home computer, certainly by the middle of next week.

In the meantime, I leave you with these thoughts.

If you are one of my regular daily readers, thank you. I imagine I will have lots to say when I get to sit here again! Maybe these few days are a time to begin a new practice of listening for yourselves. If you don’t already, take the few minutes you might spend reading this blog over the next few days, and instead, write out your own gratitude list. If you already practice gratitude, you might spend this time doing what I have just begun again to do, and write out some affirmations to concentrate on during your day, especially if your day gets busy, or stressful. What are the three most loving, most affirming things you wish someone, Someone, would say to you? Those words that would make your heart sing, somehow convince you that all will be well, or that would give you the direction you need if you are contemplating a choice? Why not write those down, even if they seem as if they are “only” your words, your hopes. And then, look and listen. Look and listen right that minute, look and listen throughout the next day. Do you hear, do you feel, do you see evidence of those words coming back to you in another, deeper, gladder, Truer Voice? I can promise you this: you are more deeply loved than you can imagine. My prayer for you while I am away from my computer for a few days is that this little hiatus will provide you with a personal experience similar to my own, convincing you how wonderful, how beautiful, how sacred, and how special you are to God, and how very much you are loved.

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Valentines and Ash Wednesday

The Calm I feel this morning is already a Gift of the Day. It’s a day of cards and flowers, chocolate and hearts. It’s Mama’s Homegoing Day. So what would You say today?

Just as there truly is no separation, no distance, between us, between your spirit and My Spirit, there is also no separation between you and anyone you love who has stepped out of Time and into Eternity. Your Mother is not only aware of your past, and present in your now, she is also present to your future and your future fuller reunion.

God, when I look back, all I can feel is thank you–and how full they made my childhood, how much experience they crammed into stay-cations, local parks, a big yard to explore–and Mom especially, she really wanted a girly-girl but instead she got me, and how she went with that, eventually. Thank You.

Today is also about Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. A day we are supposed to be sad and fast and sacrifice.

I already sacrificed. Remember Nehemiah? The odd instructions he received: When the books of the Law had been found, and everyone began to mourn and wail and fast, focusing on guilt and shame, and I told him, no! Rejoice! Gather together! Feast! Celebrate! It has always been My Heart to have My People rejoicing rather than sorrowing.

So you can choose today to focus on Love as a positive force, a guiding and drawing purpose that brings you closer to others, or you can focus on Love as a negative force, demanding perfection and driving you further apart, leading to isolation. Which of those look like My view, My idea?

The positive uniting force, Lord.

That is right. Unfortunately, today, many will choose the rigors of ritual over the free and joyous expression of Love. The juxtaposition of Valentine’s–a day celebrated in what is called the secular culture, which is just everyday life, which I entered into in My humanity, and blessed with My presence–and Ash Wednesday–a day set aside for humiliation and shame–could not provide a more stark contrast. Choosing joy today, or any day, does not lessen your spiritual life, it heightens it. So I say to you and through you what I said through Nehemiah: This day is sacred, so rejoice!

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I Heart…

In less than an hour, it’s my birthday. Although, if I am being precise, I really turn 61 somewhere around 8 a.m., not at midnight. Last year was the landmark/decade birthday, but I can’t help wondering about the year ahead. In Narnia Aslan told Lucy, no one can know about what will happen, but—

That is not what I said.

What?

As Aslan, in Narnia. That is not what I said. What Aslan actually said was, no one is told what would have happened if…And then what did Aslan say? Anyone can find out what will happen…

Oh, yes. Right, by taking action, by moving forward. Part of me wishes I could look ahead, have some foreknowledge, and part of me is afraid to ask for even a glimpse.

Here is all you really need to know. You will love the love of your life, for all of your life. And he will love you. When the road gets bumpier, you will have the ability and the circumstances to slow down, so the bumps don’t cause you to crash, emotionally, spiritually or financially. Instead of racing over or through the bumpy parts, you will walk hand in hand, each of you leaning on the other, and each of you both giving and receiving strength and comfort. At some point, I will call everyone on the planet Home. You will live through many Homegoings before you hear Me calling your name, and when I do, the joy that will rise up inside you will be so great, so powerful, your human body will not be able to contain it. In that moment, which you have labeled “death” you will become fully and eternally Alive and forever united to My Love and Life. It is hard for you to fully appreciate the joy, completely understand the risen life that awaits all of you on the other side of the veil you call Time.

When the day inevitably comes for Pete to come Home, although you cannot envision this now, you both will know, and you both will rejoice; he will rejoice because Joy itself will come for him, and you will rejoice, because you will realize that not even death can separate those who love one another.

You have asked in your heart a question that doubters asked Me, although your puzzlement comes not out of doubt but out of a sadness born from an anticipated loneliness. On earth, Pete has loved both Pat and you. So in heaven, whom will he love? And the answer is Love is All. Love is All encompassing, Love is All surrounding, Love is All infilling. In heaven, Love. There will be no more need for rank-ordering. When the glass is always full, there is no need for measurement. You will fully love, then, and you will be fully loved. Here, you cannot live without air, without breath. Then, you cannot live without Love. So much love, so much joy, so much peace, awaits you. And even those words are inadequate, for much invites a comparison to less-than-much, to little. That is why I so often Name Myself simply Am. Being. Love. Peace. These are synonymous in eternity.

So what does your 61st year hold? Wonder. Blessing. Strength. Resilience. Joy. Opportunity. Tenderness. What will be your part, your response? Gratitude. Peace. Serenity. Faith. Hope. Compassion. And yes, Joy.

Rest easy, little one. You have chapters yet to live, chapters yet to write. And you and Pete have pages yet to live together. Determine to write on every single page, happily ever after—and live that assurance, starting now. Keep sowing seeds of love, keep reaping a crop of love. Your entire existence together has been a loving journey. That will never change between you—never fear that.

Thank You, Lord. That is the best present I could ask for, tender, loving days together, however many there are.

I have told you before, don’t grieve in advance; don’t mortgage today to try to prepare for tomorrow. Be Here Now. Love Now. That is all any of you can really do, anyway. So purpose in your heart to do that, every day, and this really will be the kind of year you are always asking for others, your best year yet, overflowing with blessings.

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Positive Choices

Lord, I decided years ago, I have a finite amount of concentrated prayer time. Rather than spend it rebuking evil, I decided to spend it talking to You. I am trying so hard to turn away from malevolence, not give it more power by my attention to it.

Your every choice for good, for love, or for peace helps tip the balance in favor of good in your world. You keep making positive choices and so you keep having an increasingly positive life. Those who keep making negative choices keep having an increasingly negative life—until they switch. Until they begin to choose differently. Those who give themselves over deliberately to what you call evil, to choices intended to hurt or harm another, increasingly become the choices they make. They—and you—take on the persona and lifestyle and character of the choices made.

You are not safe because there is no evil, no malice. You are safe precisely because, despite the reality of evil and malice, you continually choose Me and My ways, and so you are surrounded by that which you have chosen to embody. It is My Spirit that protects you even when you don’t realize you are being protected.

But Lord, what about children? What about animals? Who protects them, the vulnerable?

You do. By your every choice for Love, you—and everyone like you—tip the balance in your world. That’s why I said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” You create and extend My Kingdom with every choice for good. You co-create with Me. If every single person on the planet did this at the same instant, the Kingdom would be fully realized.

Oh! As it is in heaven—right?

Exactly. You see?