Thursday, December 31, 2015

EMBRACE THE MOMENT



January 2016
The moment in which we live is far greater than the eons of time that stretch out before us. For only in the moment, only in this moment can we experience our self. This sounds good but do we really believe this? How many tasks can we perform at a single time and how quickly can we complete them? Surely if we are quick, and we know ways to help us to more efficiently use our time, we can increase the amount of things we do in a day. In every facet of our life we may find we have placed quantity over quality. Is it any wonder when we gaze out through the window before us in to eternity the present moment seems quite insignificant?

Only a devotion to excellence will enable us to live entirely in the moment and to turn aside from our passion for more. If our present is lacking in love, joy, peace, goodness, persistence, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control what then are we seeking to increase?  Until we can fill our daily life with these attributes more of anything else will make life increasingly more difficult.

If we take a single task and break it up by steps, completing only one at a time, looking never to the next step, we will have an example of the focus necessary to devote our self to excellence. Here our joy comes from meeting the task before us and not the ones that lay ahead. For only when living in the moment can we shut out those distractions that will rob us of our focus. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could lose our self in the task before us and not be concerned for its completion? If we plan well we will have set out the steps before us to go where we wish to go, and if we have faith in our plan we will not rush toward its conclusion.  We will devote our heart and our mind to experiencing each step with an eye toward excellence.

We often think that our goal is vital and how we arrive at it as secondary, when in fact it is the process that is of greatest importance and arriving at our goal is secondary. This is not to depreciate aspirations and goal setting but the goal is simply the final step in the process and not the only one. If we surrender the grandness and glory of a step taken with a devotion to excellence what then will we have achieved in its stead?

We have the capacity to grow toward perfection. Our Lord has promised us the future. He will not withhold it from us so where are we rushing. We will get there but if we meet him with soiled robes what does it say of our faith? If our life is stained with fear and anguish, with a lack of devotion and only a faint promise of excellence what is the whole purpose of our journey?  

Let us use the season well and start the new- year with a new set of priorities. The present is overflowing with promise that we may live in the moment and devote each step along our way to excellence.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Christmas Greetings 2015



Christmas 2015
Two thousand years ago the embodiment of Infinite Loving Kindness walked the earth in flesh and bone. He not only loved all who he met, he permeated the entire realm with the love of our God. In this way all that live in flesh and bone live also in the embrace of God’s unspeakable tenderness. His life was the revelation of what God would be like in human form. So astounding was this two thousand years later we still find it difficult to accept.

However it is even more surprising that our Lord, as man promised us we too can embody His incomprehensible goodness. Further, we do not have to do anything to qualify to be walking, talking channels of blessings. Having been created in the image and likeness of our Lord we are already His. We need only to believe sufficiently so that we behave as love incarnate.  All that separates us from being the embodiment of Infinite Love is our attitude. Once it has been set aside all that is good, all that is holy, all that our Jesus permeated the realm with will pour in to each of us.

Where may we begin? Our Prince showed us by example, he promised we can become as he. Who do we believe? Do we believe the promises of Love made man or do we believe our fears of inadequacy? Let us hold up these two beside each other, the word of our holy treasure and the voice of fear calling from within each of us. Which seems more credible? If the promise of Infinite Love seems more reliable then where do we begin to set our fears aside? In our acts, in our deeds there will Eternity find a home.  Just being kind, one to the other is the beginning and the end of our journey. For kindness, tenderness and compassion are the hallmarks of Eternal Love. When we so behave the living love with which our Jesus permeated the entire realm pours out through us. In this way the promise comes to fruition, we become that which we would worship and He becomes us.

As we go about our daily doings at this Christmastime let us remember we are His; the children of Infinite Loving Kindness. May we remember the promises of our Prince and behave as if they have already come true. For if we so live they will have become true. They will have found a home in our life and we may begin to live up to our heritage.

May God bless you endlessly and awaken within you a sense of your own divinity.


Monday, October 26, 2015

THE VALUE OF DIFFICULTIES



From time to time we may wonder why we are experiencing our current conditions. We may think they are heaped upon us by others or they are the consequence of our past behavior. Some of us may wonder if they are karmic, the result of our behavior in past lifetimes, others may think they are misfortune, while yet others of us simply have no idea of the cause of what we are experiencing. No matter what we think in our suffering it is likely we are meeting our self and we have brought conditions about so we may benefit from the experience.

It is important to understand we are children of Infinite Mercy, His grace and goodness are absolute and such a God would withhold from us any difficulties that did not have the potential to bless our life. Without such a premise life can become a trial, an affliction and an insoluble puzzle. However if we can accept that He who is loving kindness has allowed for conditions to unfold in our life the way they have, the cause becomes less important than what we do with regard to them.

There are millions of us on his planet at this time who may be suffering and surely not all of us are aware of the cause of our experience.  Yet, suffer we do and we each have the same opportunity to use our experience as a blessing whether we are aware of its cause or not. If we recognize we have at least some responsibility for bringing about our difficulties we can stop feeling like a victim and take charge of our life.

We may wonder if we do not know the cause of our difficulties how we are to use these things we are suffering from at this time. Let us first consider our suffering may be neither a punishment nor an opportunity to undo anything we have done.  It may indeed be an opportunity to instead do those things we have not done. There are none of us so unimportant that others do not depend upon us. We can make a difference in the lives of those with whom we interact and current conditions may be the perfect setting for us at this time.  If this rings true to any of us we may wish to consider how we can use these experiences we have brought about to be a blessing to those around us. If we cannot find an answer let us begin anywhere and the answers may come as we move on. What we need is a willingness to begin that will energize our activity and the signs along the way will appear only after we have begun our journey.

May our Lord, the creator and keeper of tender loving kindness, bless your life and hold you in his embrace. May He guide you to transform your pain into grace that you may bless the lives of all of those little ones He has placed into your care.

Monday, September 28, 2015

AWAKENINGS


To awaken a sleeping child it is far better to speak to them softly; to caress them gently and persistently rather than to shout at or shake them. For what is the gain to have them awaken traumatized by a shocking experience? Are we awakening our children with love and patience or with anger and frustration?

The way a child begins the day is largely due to how that child awoke in consciousness. They are then free to process and build upon that experience but if we are the awakener it our responsibility for how they began their first moments of awareness.

All too often we use shock as a method of waking our brothers and sisters that we believe are only partially aware. It is fast, often easy and effective but our impatience may result in a trauma that is not easily overcome. In fact, our lack of patience and the absence of gentleness may result in a hurdle too high to overcome for those we wish merely to awaken. This is not how we would prefer for our children to begin their day nor should it be how we choose for our brothers and sisters to begin theirs.

Kindness and gentleness are acts of love, they require much of us and they are gifts of inestimable value when poured out freely upon those in our life. Our behavior can set the stage for healing or for suffering, for our self and for those around us. To what would we awaken others, to kindness, gentleness and healing or to anger, impatience and suffering? We may not be responsible for what others do with their day but if we choose to awaken them we are indeed responsible for providing that upon which they will build it.

The best way, the kindest way, the gentlest way but the most difficult way to awaken others may be through example. A good example is not only observable but it is ultimately irresistible. How we behave can be the foundation upon which others will build their day. It is an act of love steeped in patience that is at the same time instructive and inspirational.  However if we choose to awaken others by example we must be willing to persist for as long as it takes to change lives.

It is a high price to pay to be the example to awaken someone, to change their life and be a force for healing, but the outcome will be a life transformed. If our effort results in awakening just one person, changing just one life, becoming a bridge over which only one person can find healing, our life is justified.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

I AM YOU



I am everything and there is nowhere that I am not. I am perfect and there is nothing I need. I desire not because I lack but because it is simply the nature of infinite love seeking expression. When I drew you from myself I showered inexplicable love upon you. I called you forth to grow as an individual so we could express our eternal love, one for the other.

When you were Me you were unaware that you were. Now that you have become aware that you are you are only partially aware that you are also Me. You are one of My heart strings and all that you do creates a magic symphony. I live in you as you live in Me and we are never apart. And this My holy treasure is our eternity.