Aug 11 2008
Meditations
Meditations- Daily Affirmations
For over four years now I have risen daily before dawn and sat in stillness after reading a verse of scripture. What follows is the fruit of that quiet time that I want to share with you. As you will see the format remains the same. Someone suggested that I share this with a wider audience — my family and friends.
November 21, 2008
Scripture:The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart and will all your soul, and live. Deuteronomy 30:6
Prayer:
Lord, here is a verse that I do not recall reading previously. Help me to fathom the wound.
Response:Yes, it is a wound. You might even consider the circumcision of the heart a branding applied to your heart to remind you of my love for you and that in my love you belong to me.
Sometimes, you don’t realize the impact that you have for your descendants as your ancestors have had for you. The fervor you feel in the darkness of the pre-dawn you owe perhaps to an ancestor – lineage or aligned in prayer – who offered prayer for you over the centuries past. In those moments, take time to pray for those immediately around you who will inherit the space that you now occupy; then reach further out in prayer to those many miles distant who also are your spiritual heirs and then for those who follow — hundreds of years into the future.
Now I want you to dwell on why you carry this wound – that you will love me with all your heart. Meaning? In the stillness of your heart, free of all the distractions that await your attention, you consciously express in that silence your love for me. And like the air you breathe, you experience life to a full dimension, not one envisioned earlier, even the day prior.
Spend a moment on the last word of this verse – live. It is my charge to you whom I love.
All for this morning.
November 19, 2008
Scripture:Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs: 5-6
Prayer:
Lord, help me to trust and acknowledge.
Response:Quite simple, isn’t it? You have come upon these words many times and it seems always easier to trust when you assume what the ending is, or you want it, to be. Is there not some similarity as when you watch a performance you have seen many times previously or at least a theme of the same ending and you watch it again and again, waiting to see what you have in a sense planned in your mind? Well, you are in for a special treat. Each scene of your life can hold your special attention if you are conscious, awake, because what unfolds you did not anticipate.
In such a theater, I ask you to suspend disbelief and embrace trust with all your heart. Disbelief is truly the imposition of your own understanding – the ending to a scene that you have planned on, and instead you are met with surprise. All I ask – and I repeat – all I ask is that you trust me with all your heart – not mind.
And in foregoing your rush to decide the ending, you will acknowledge me in your trust and will discover a gift that had proved elusive up until that moment. Simplicity will enter your life, as if for the first time, and that winding path with its mind numbing alternatives will ease before you into a singular path – no less arduous at times – that is straight. And in that instant the clarity of my love will descend upon you and enfold you.
All for this morning.
November 17, 2008
Scripture:By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Hebrews 11:8
Prayer:
Help to restore a faith in me that does not linger in hesitancy.
Response:First, earlier in a verse above, you read of Abel – And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. (Hebrews 11:4). Don’t you see how extraordinary that thousands of years later, you still hear in faith the words of one long dead. When you read the words of Scripture, realize as I have said before that they are chosen and spoken to you for this moment.
Let me return to Abraham’s faith. Whenever you hesitate to embrace a truth because you don’t know where it is leading, consider this – Abraham listened to the call. This means that he prepared himself to listen by setting aside time in prayer, by observing closely what was happening about him, by studying. His listening was not reserved for a special day or a special season. No, he listened every day. Listening was woven in him as a special thread is woven into a precious fabric.
Next, he acted upon what he heard and this was not limited to a pious Amen. No, he set out on an arduous journey across a desert, through land unfamiliar and hostile. He obeyed the call. For you the call might not be as dramatic. Yet trust me when I say you are called across the desert of your environment and at times your heart. And you like Abraham have no idea of the destination, yet I ask you to move out as I did Abraham.
And Abraham did obey the call, but please do not diminish Abraham’s willingness because you see he could have remained where he was with his people. But he did not and his people followed him. And this faith, as with yours, is rewarded every time, yes every time you venture out in response to my call.
All for this morning.
November 15, 2008
Scripture:Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2
Prayer:
Help me to cultivate perseverance.
Response:Before I address perseverance, let me have you consider pure joy. Has the term been overused so that you miss its essential meaning? Pure joy is not dependent on or staged to the externals in your life. Pure joy is a sense that all is well with you, despite the external circumstances that could diminish that joy, if you allow it.
Pure joy is a manifestation of our direct connection in faith and you know its presence in my love. In truth, you cannot disguise this joy. It is evidenced in all you represent as you journey home. Pure joy is transparent for all to see even if they only get a chance to glance in your eyes as you walk by. Clearly, pure joy is abundantly clear to those with who you are in regular and intimate contact.
Now how do I relate such joy to the trials that you all face – be it of health, age, financial, relationships of all kinds, professional, emotional? All the latter, especially when they are in stark contrast to pure joy, serve as a foil to this mystery of joy that I am revealing to you. How else to explain this joy except to say that beneath all you experience is who you are and to become in my love?
Perseverance is simply that patient waiting, not in an anxiousness that peers constantly over the horizon. Perseverance is allowing, even welcoming, an unfolding to occur in you and your life in faith. With endurance, patient endurance, you prove that you are faithful – most importantly to yourself. When all circumstances could or even should discourage, you remain steadfast, present to my love in faith. So indeed celebrate in adversity – even if quietly.
All for this morning.
November 13, 2008
Scripture:
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5
Prayer:
Bring me to a deeper understanding of these all too familiar words.
Response:Let me begin with the word good. For this morning, think of good as being in harmony, in balance. I bring you in harmony with my goodness, that is, if you allow, are willing to experience this balance. It’s as if you are standing on a high dune with the breeze blowing sharply and you are on one leg. I am there to get you to bring that other foot down and secure or attain your balance so that you can observe what is happening about you and not be concerned about tumbling down the dune.
Turn your attention to the word love and pause there. Love is so difficult to define for you adequately, however, within you resides the meaning that you recognize immediately, I say immediately, when you encounter love. Love is a generosity of spirit that knows no limits, no bounds; it is outward reaching; it is not to be discouraged or dismayed – and for you it is that and more. It is impossible for you to comprehend what forever, so you will have to take it on faith. Forever is as long as joy creases your smile; it is the length of a tear that flows into your heart; it is the stretch of your hand in compassion; it is the depth of the stillness that surrounds you; and finally, it is beyond any comprehension of time that corners your mind.
Through all generations tells you that you are not at the end of the line awaiting the message to be passed to you. My word to you won’t be garbled. I speak to you each day in the present. When all generations are gathered as I speak to you, you will speak to others who passed through various times and cultures and faiths as one in my love.
All for this morning.
November 11, 2008
Scripture:He fills his hands with lightening and commands it to strike its mark. His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach. Job 36:32-33
Prayer:
Fill me this morning with a sense of awe that transcends the headlines of . . .
Response:Awe is the correct word. And awe is found within beyond, far beyond, the fears that seek to overwhelm serenity and peace. Awe creates a sense of I see, I understand, and in that understanding patience springs forth and of course my peace that surpasses all understanding.
Awe too requires a pause – to observe me working in your world and in you. It is similar to hearing me and my intent for the first time though my lightning and thunder have resounded for ages in your empty field. Awe requires you to look up and listen, or be within and still.
As much as you would deny or contest this, to be conscious of me in your life is to see me in every step you take, every gesture you make. Awe is otherworldly and is discovered within as you reflect upon my presence in your life and those around you.
All for this morning.
November 8, 2008
Scripture:Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:4
Prayer:
This verse gives me pause as I fleet around.
Response:
Oh, if this verse could be on your lips during the day as you do rush about. I assure you that repeating it would indeed cause you to pause and in so doing you might discover that the shadow in your life and days diminishes.
This verse is not meant to cause you to be anxious by estimating or calculating the breaths remaining to you or to your loved ones. Rather, this verse encourages you to align your life to that breath … that breath of this very moment. In alignment you will experience a centering in my grace and the fleeting shadows will dissipate in my light as you become present.
This verse encourages you to stop what you are doing and be. This might sound as a riddle to some, though the words apply to you all. What purpose is served fleeting about? Isn’t this the day to come to a screeching halt even for a moment and linger in my word of love? Isn’t this the day to allow my grace to penetrate a frozen heart – whether it is your heart or someone who needs your solace? Isn’t this the day to offer in prayer, sacrifice, or service my love to ease the suffering that surrounds you – whether near or far?
This verse has a threefold purpose – to get you to pause, question, and act.
All for this morning.
November 7, 2008
Scripture:Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
Prayer:
I have read this verse countless times and it seems more often than I care to admit I do not take the essential meaning within. Give me a nudge.
Response:I trust that you are sitting securely in your chair with your feet properly positioned, your body balanced – weight evenly distributed. And there you have it. Anticipating the nudge, you are alert, awake and that is what you must do to begin to understand the significance of this verse.
The reason that you cannot, it is just not possible, flee me is that my Spirit lives in you. And when you do try to flee, you seem to be weighted down, and you are. It is as if you were running across a field with heavy bag whose weight causes you to shift it from one hand to the other. And all the time your progress slows, you grow weary, you lose your direction, and the weight of the bag causes you to lose your balance. So it is only when you resign yourself and take your seat in the middle of the field and allow yourself to listen to your labored breathing that you begin once again to sense the Spirit lives in you.
Now once you accept, really accept that the Spirit lives in you, now consider deeply that you are my temple. And, I might say, not a temple built in some forgotten ravine, but a temple crafted in excellence and beauty on a mountain top for all to see and for all discover. Because – and this should not be news to you – in seeing your temple standing aloft, each and every viewer is prodded, or let’s say nudged, to discover his/her temple within. Just imagine what your environment locally or stretching across the globe would be when – and I didn’t say if – that realization, that awakening in my grace occurs.
All for this morning.
November 4, 2008
Scripture:The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment. 1 Corinthians 2:15
Prayer:
Help me, particularly this day, to be a spiritual man.
Response:Please don’t limit this insight to this day. First discern the message that I am providing to you. It is the spiritual man – and of course woman – whom I ask to pause and allow that spiritual, grace -endowed nature, to override the chatter of the external in all you do. Who you are, is clear; how you allow that person, that you, to be seen in your actions, requires pause, reflection – even if as you say for a nanosecond.
Momentous decisions or even not so momentous decisions serve to train you to observe, decide, and act. Sometimes you find that as a spiritual person you choose a path that is not popular. This does not mean that you are on the right path and your neighbors have diverted to ruin. What it can mean, only you will discover later, is that you chose a narrow path through a mountain gorge that led you to a valley of great spiritual and inner tranquility. And in that instant of discovery, you no longer seek to compare your journey or path to those who traveled a different – perhaps even more popular route.
So today and every day, reflect from the heart and your decisions will be enriched in my grace and love.
All for this morning.
November 2, 2008
Scripture:For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1Corinthians 2:11
Prayer:
I sense this truth reaching me across time into the present. Bring me deeper.
Response:Spend a moment reflecting upon how your thoughts hidden in the recesses of your heart are at times misunderstood by those around you. I am not suggesting this so that you can go about bemoaning that you are misunderstood, but rather to emphasize the truth of what you read and meditated on from the scripture verse. Only you know the thoughts that you either do not convey or those that are not understood. Of course, everyone knows the thoughts that you are able to convey, clearly, without judgment, or excuse.
So what is so revealing about this? Well, it shows you that there is a residence in which you dwell that is not the dwelling place of bricks and mortar with which most times you would prefer to be associated – and of course I am using bricks and mortar to cover whatever your persona shown to the world is.
And that dwelling place, that spirit, is known to you. It is you. That should not be difficult for you to understand, though you might resist that knowing as you might resist accepting who you are.
Now the essential grip of this verse is so too with God. It is the Spirit of God that knows in the deepest level of the meaning to know God so different so often from the depictions of God, the representations, that surround you in the bricks and mortar that you construct to keep yourself from knowing this Divine Love.
But all is not lost. The Spirit that knows most intimately the thoughts of God, ranges over you and shares that knowing with you and in the process you know yourself, or begin to know yourself, in the knowledge of God.
So the next time you feel that holy breeze, that Spirit breeze, pause and listen.
All for this morning.
October 31, 2008
Scripture:However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 9
Prayer:
Bring me to your truth.
Response:You might think that upon reading this verse there is nothing more to do but wait expectedly. Yes, of course, there is an element of truth in this; however, what I am asking is that you nourish with my grace a heart-sense that brings you closer to the truth of my love and promise. Escape if you can the world of your senses where it is not uncommon to use the senses to determine whether you are making any sense or not.
This verse is a challenge to you. If your senses won’t give you a hint, what will? And there is a second question tied to the first – give you a hint of what? Let’s take the first question. I am asking you to suspend your earthbound walk. Remember, I said suspend for this moment. Allow yourself not to be ruled by your senses. I did not say not utilize them for as you can appreciate my words that ring in your heart right now you are recording through your fingertips; I am asking you to roam in your heart and listen without ears to me. Be surprised as you are touched without controlling the outcome. Feel the release as you become light in my grace.
Allow in that freedom the realization, the enlightenment, to enter and manifest within you, namely that my love for you exceeds to a new dimension what you ever could have conceived limited to your mind. In fact I urge you to keep your mind out of this experience.
And realize, if nothing else during your journey, my love for you and my solemn promise to you that even you can’t possibly imagine what I have and am preparing for you – though you get hints as if you have caught a glimpse of the wrapping.
All for this morning.
October 29, 2008
Scripture:“Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven. Can his forces be numbered? Upon whom does his light not rise?” Job 25:2-3
Prayer:
Bring me to a sense of awe this morning.
Response:It is quite easy for you to capture the awe. All you have to manage is to remove yourself from the cycle of time that has you performing one action after another. It is in pause – dismissing the notion of time for a moment – that your soul perception catches the meaning of the question – Upon who does his light not shine?
Yes, it is a rhetorical question. Of course the answer is no one, yet how many spend their time looking for the light on others and do not relate this verse to themselves? Yes, the light does rise on you and the real question for you to address is, how does that light manifest in your life?
It is good to rise before the light so that you reflect on your life, your existence without the light. For those uncertain about the light, it is critical that you share, even witness the light rising, so that they too can see the truth of what I speak. However, before you can share this truth, you must take time to experience the light in your life. Please do not consider the rise as routine. Is the second breath that you will draw in this instant routine?
Be prepared once a week at least to sit before dawn and experience the darkness yield to the light that is rising upon you. No need to recite a prayer. Your presence is what I ask and your acknowledgement in silence of that light that shines on you in singular fashion.
All for this morning.
October 28, 2008
Scripture:But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. Psalm 33:18-19
Prayer:
Eyes, fear, hope, love, death, famine – all words that caught my attention this blustery day.
Response:So let’s begin with eyes – accept that my eyes are on you, not as a casual observer, but as an intimate lover. Think of instances when you were in the same room or even separated by miles, even oceans, and you sensed the intimacy of love though your communication might have been limited by a glance across a crowded, noisy room, or in a letter that took ages to receive. In such experiences you get a glimmer of how I observe you in love as if we were one – and we are.
Don’t dwell on the word fear. In fact, if you can, substitute the word awe for this morning. Here the all powerful is your intimate partner and is every bit and more concerned about you as an intimate friend and partner. You have in your midst someone who can move and even create mountains, and that someone is me who loves and graces you daily.
Hope is a word that in your apparent self-sufficiency – though it is an illusion – you don’t embrace deeply enough. I seek you to be hopeful. In hope you demonstrate to me – but more importantly to yourself – that you have declared your faith, patience, and love – and all this without the seriousness of a somber solitary, but with the joy of someone rejoicing in a crowd of loved ones – if you can imagine such a scene. If you can’t, do your best to create or contribute to such a gathering.
Death – and this might be difficult to comprehend – is a friend. It is death that frees you from the control of the material – and you don’t have to experience death to understand the truth that I share with you. Accepting death, allows you, frees you, to live in joy and in my love. Accepting death imbues you with a clarity that is missing as you puzzle a future, missing the present moment.
Famine – is not only one being deprived of physical nourishment, but even more importantly spiritual nourishment. So you discover daily, in each gesture you manage, that in my love you are delivered from such famine and instead experience a joy and spiritual nourishment . There will come a time when the word famine will be alien to you and you will have difficulty even defining or recalling it. Pray for such a time.
And finally, a word about that the blustery wind – see the wind as my presence breezing over you in love.
All for this morning.
October 26, 2008
Scripture:“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Prayer:
Speak to me of heart.
Response:First, let me say something about peace. Peace is a walk before dawn and observing the slither of a moon and the rich panoply of star formations overhead, and sensing the stillness in your heart as if wrapped in an impenetrable cloak. The concerns that could easily draw you from your cloak await your distraction, but you chose to remain still even though you are walking the path. That is the peace about which I am speaking.
In case you missed it, the cloak is my grace and love. Notice I did not describe it as armor because indeed you do feel the environment you are in, you do suffer the pain and sometimes agony, but mostly anxiety – and through the fibers of the cloak you become one with the environment without succumbing to its destruction, to its trouble.
Consider what you have experienced to date on your journey – the joys and sorrows, and how as you move along your peace in my grace goes undisturbed except in instances that once might have gone unchecked. That is the peace that I promise you – but you don’t have to wait behind a closed door for that peace. You have read that there are no closed doors and therein is contained a great truth.
Pray this day for those who might dismiss or not recognize the cloak in which they too are wrapped. Pray that they reach down and feel it supple fiber. In case you didn’t realize, it is an all weather garment. And you might not have realized it because it is light and does not burden you. And finally, you can lend the cloak to a neighbor without diminishing the protection it affords you, and in so doing help your neighbor to recognize the feel of his/her own garment.
All for this morning.
October 24, 2008
Scripture:Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23
Prayer:
I’m afraid that there are times when you don’t have to test me rigorously to know my anxious thoughts.
Response:Please notice that I did not say that I would test your anxious heart. In my grace your heart cannot, I repeat, cannot be anxious, though thoughts intrude as if to dispel the tranquility. If the truth be known, at the deepest level it is not possible for your anxious thoughts to disturb the peace that resides within you at the deepest, deepest level. So you can question or even say what good is that, if anxious thoughts do disturb your peace and I say, go deeper, and deeper still. Deeper still is both a direction and a suggestion for stillness.
I test you so that you realize the progress you are making. And it may come as a surprise that you are all making progress even though it might not be evident to those around you, or even to yourself. As I ask you not to judge or even estimate the peace of your companions on the road, I also ask you to focus on your own capacity for depth. You are much like someone who has always had a desire to scuba dive and explore the depths for treasure; now you have a chance, learning to operate in a pool; or someone who wants to climb high above the clouds; and now I am showing you how to take each step without allowing anxieties about future steps to intrude on your training or your journey.
And yes, I don’t need to test you to know your heart, but you do. What you discover is that indeed the exploration/adventure you feel, the commitment you display, and the reward you experience in my grace, all confirm, if you will, a lessening of anxious thoughts.
As I mentioned above, no anxious thought can disturb the peace and tranquility of your heart. And if you question me or that statement, go deeper to discover my truth.
All for this morning.
October 20, 2008
Scripture:But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Prayer:
I am accepting of others’ weaknesses; help me to accept my own.
Response:I am asking you to be vulnerable for my sake. In your vulnerability, your weakness as you see it, you demonstrate an authenticity that you attempt to clothe with bluster and distraction. That is why I say my power is made perfect in weakness. Your weakness becomes a bold shield of authenticity that no weapon can penetrate.
In choosing, or at least accepting, to show your vulnerability, you show great courage, bolstered by and in my faith. Now this courage about which I speak is the word that reaches you this very moment. It is courage and yes my grace emboldens you in your weakness to be who you are resilient in my love.
You try so often to disguise this whisper that never leaves you. For today be weak and authentic and see and hear for yourself the power you sense surrounding and emanating through and within you.
Consider the promise, the pledge – my grace is sufficient for you – as you wander on the path to consciousness and awakening to and in my love.
All for this morning.
October 20, 2008
Scripture:If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
Prayer:
Please talk of wisdom.
Response:The word wisdom is used almost as frequently as love. Let me dwell on wisdom for this morning. First, it is not easy to pray for wisdom unless you know what wisdom is and in this knowing you have the basis for wisdom as you all have – or should I say – as you all are. You see, you are all wise, or if you prefer, potentially wise or with wisdom, if only, I repeat, if only you wake.
Your prayer – and it should be a daily petition – that with my grace you awake. Such a simple prayer and yet so many are fearful of consciousness and its consequences. Intuitively, you know that awake you can no longer avoid maturing in my grace and love.
Wisdom is not knowledge; it is not a mind thing. Wisdom is reconnecting, re- integrating fully with your heart. A person with wisdom is a person who pauses as it were to consider, reflect and is not determined by outside influences. You all believe that you act with independence, or at least you have made that claim. What I am talking about now is acknowledging in your action your heart or soul sense – and that is wisdom.
Wisdom, once acknowledged, is enriched in my grace. There is no puzzlement here, or false modesty. You know your wisdom and see its maturation. It is for you to accept, acknowledge this divine ingredient within you and to apply that wisdom in service. Incidentally, you serve simply by being wise in your environment, in your community, and in your family and with friends. You ask, how will I know I am wise? In the question resides the answer.
All for this morning.
October 17, 2008
Scripture:Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Titus 2:2
Prayer:
Reach me in my age.
Response:As you look back many, many years, you still recognize the person, the who, you are now. So what has changed? You have filled out in age – your weight is a symbol of what lurked within you as a youth. I am not looking for dramatic conversions of the spirit, though of course they do occur. I am looking for you to reconnect to a youthful experience when you recognized my truth and then allowed, perhaps, the exigencies of life to dull your perception.
In age, whatever age, you are given pause to reflect in your every day, in your every moment the wisdom that lingers and has lingered within you in my grace.
To be are two words, four letters that essentially sum up my message for this morning. I am asking you to be even, balanced, in harmony though you might be in the midst of a storm. The more you are able to drill down to the present moment – whether you are sailing single-handedly in heavy seas, feeling the crunch of outside pressures, enduring illness or loss – you will experience the present as the portal to eternity.
Then, you will discover within you temperance, self-respect and control, confidence in faith, and love that endures. And the surprise that awaits you is that others will recognize the same of you and, most importantly, in themselves.
All for this morning.
October 14, 2008
Scripture:But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22
Prayer:
Help me Lord to see in these fruits your presence.
Response:The fruits become for you the barometer of your receptiveness. You see the fruits are available for you all. It is not as if you are in a shop and select a few or even most. No, the fruits are showered on you as a spring rain. The deeper you are in stillness determines how drenched you are in my Spirit.
Each fruit is a manifestation of my love, though it would be impossible for you to isolate one fruit from the other. As you review the fruits, surely you will notice one whose taste you are only beginning to cultivate and savor, yet even that fruit has a taste that reminds you of one that you own – so to speak.
Ask the question, how can I enjoy the fruit of love and not show kindness; or how can I be gentle and not exhibit as my own self-control? The fruits are interlaced as a bouquet that you would give as a house-warming gift, or to celebrate a new arrival in a family, or recovery from a bout of illness. And all of these instances apply and invite the gift of these fruits. It is in life’s experiences, if you are aware, that the fruits descend within you to nurture, celebrate, console, and encourage you on the journey.
So consider the fruits as your sustenance, freely given to those who seek such favor. For today, take an inventory of the fruits that you carry with you.
All for this morning.
October 12, 2008
Scripture:“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
Prayer:
Again, so familiar. Bring me to a deeper understanding.
Response:The most important three words in this verse are
In getting up, the young man saw for the first time what he had been ignoring. And as you understand, seeing is not sufficient. Seeing without action is self-pity, a woe-is-me approach, that leaves you paralyzed. And that paralysis is fed by fear – it’s too late, what can I do anyway – and the past. Yes, the past. The paralysis of inaction – actually no-action – is the illusion of the past ruling your present, not someone else’s present, but your present.
Now, change your perspective to this scene, and see that father a long way off who is vigilant, watching, waiting, patient, forgiving, compassionate – a celebratory father, who without delay, spontaneously, not waiting upon protocol, rushes out to greet and love his son. See the father’s action. Can you just see the son getting up on his feet to go to his father? Now, see the father’s response – he rushes to the son who was a long way off. He rushes. The son gets up. So compare my love for you, my compassion, my patience, my expectancy – yes expectancy, and most of all my joy and celebration.
In reading this verse, you sometimes emphasis the depravity into which the son had slipped – in truth embraced. For this morning, I ask that you emphasis the joy and celebration in reunion that erases the past and with it all discussion of what prompted that aberration of behavior to occur.
Now how does this relate to you? You are called upon to be forgiving, compassionate, spontaneous, loving, patient, joyous, serving, generous with others, but do you see how these same gifts of the spirit shown to others is also to be applied to yourself? Yes, you are to be forgiving, compassionate, spontaneous, loving, patient, joyous, serving and generous with yourself. All is one in my love.
All for this morning.
October 9, 2008
Scripture:Set up road signs, put up guideposts, take note of the highway, the road that you take. Jeremiah 31:21
Prayer:
In these uncertain times, where are the road signs and the guideposts?
Response:This verse is especially important for you.
First, let me focus your attention on the road that you take. No longer can you wander as if any road is suitable. No, I want you at this moment in time to become aware – aware of the road that you are on. Look down at your feet; catch your attention on the steps, on shoes that protect your feet, the length of your stride. Wake up. You can slumber no longer. The alarm has been ringing and you have adjusted to the strident sound and almost consider it music. I give you some credit because I said almost.
Next, appreciate, if for the first time that you are on the road, on the path that I refer to frequently. Hear me, again as if for the first time. This is no time to think that you can seek refuge off the road in the woods. No, you are on the road and there is much for you to experience on this road, on this path, on this journey.
Take note of the highway should suggest to you that there are other highways. I want you to be aware of the highway that you are traveling. Don’t worry about someone else’s journey. Focus on your own highway with the same intensity as I ask you to observe your feet, the length of your stride.
And this journey is not simply for your benefit – in fact the opposite is true. In my love, I call on you to erect guideposts for those most troubled as they set out. Why would they be troubled? Could it be that they fear they don’t have enough provisions? Your guidepost should not only show the direction but also remind them that I have prepared sufficient provisions for every single soul on my path, my highway. There is absolutely nothing you can lack. You are and will be sustained. How is that for a promise? And my promises are not to be taken lightly.
And my road signs are not cluttered with directions and advice that might confuse you. They are not written in a language that obscures the meaning. I don’t expect that only scholars can embark with confidence. I call you all and you may well discover that you are setting guideposts for the very scholars who are looking for a hidden meaning that is lost in the simplicity of my message.
So in these uncertain times you are truly blessed because it will be for you to see with clarity the direction, for you to find yourself in my love, for you to know almost for the first time my grace in each and every step of your journey, for you awakening to the glory of my creation in a love that I share with you in abundance. Yes, discover that your cup does overflow in my love for you.
All for this evening.
October 8, 2008
Scripture:“No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:34
Prayer:
Help me to understand at a deeper level the words, they will all know me.
Response:Some times, or even most times, this verse escapes you though you have heard about and read about this new covenant. Please realize that this knowing is not dependent on newsprint or books distributed. This knowing is implanted in every heart from the least to the greatest, from the blind to those with sight, from the illiterate to those of great learning, from the infirm to the healthy, from the poor to the wealthy, from the disenfranchised to the powerful. What this means is that no one can deny – once access to the heart is cultivated, accessed – the spirit within that proclaims my love for you.
And I will forgive their wickedness is my generous promise that requires all of you to do likewise in your daily tasks. Wickedness to be forgiven must be known by the perpetrator as well as the victim. In awakening from the slumber into which you retreat wickedness of whatever variety comes into the light, can no longer be denied, and is to be forgiven.
They will all know me does not refer to a future tense, but rather the statement of a truth. You all know me though you make various attempts to deny or ignore this intimate knowledge we share. For this day, spend even a nanosecond in that direct awareness, free of the teaching of those who would distract you.
All for this morning.
October 7, 2008
Scripture:Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. Psalm 57:1
Prayer:
Surrounded by the news in the papers, this verse caught my attention. Please enlighten me to a deeper meaning.
Response:Consider the words take refuge and those times when you did so — climbing a trail when a storm comes up suddenly, on the water as a squall overtakes you, on the beach when storm clouds approach faster than you anticipated. Now recall the disasters that seem to overtake you from within – the loss of a loved one, the loss of a position, and even the loss of what you had come to believe. What do all these experiences from which you learn have in common? Yes, they all pass – the sun does rise again – though I am not saying without some affect on you.
Please now spend a moment in reflection on what refuge means to you. Consider how you seek at such times to escape the howling wind or the rains that buffet you or the seas that have suddenly risen to where escape to where calm, even relative calm prevails.
And it is the same for the disasters that overtake you from within. Even more important is the refuge that you prepare – a metaphoric clean well lighted place – for you to ride out the storm and maybe, just maybe, find that in time – when the storm has passed – you have prospered through the experience.
Think of yourself in the shadow of my wings. First, how did you get there? In the rush of the storm you might not remember. But you are there – if you so will. How did you know the refuge that I offer? This is where experience, your experience serves you so well, and your experience only grows as you trudge the path and sail the waters of life.
My invitation is current and constant – come to me in times of disaster, even when those around you are oblivious to your disaster or overwhelmed by their own. In the stillness of the stone cabin with the roaring fire, I will comfort you and bring you to an even greater awareness of my presence in your life. Your only requirement is to take refuge.
All for this morning.
October 4, 2008
Scripture:Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3
Prayer:
Just as I often come upon a verse with which I am familiar but seem to be reading for the first time, I don’t recall ever reading this verse previously. Please allow me to explore more its meaning.
Response:Don’t spend too much time in thinking about what others do. Rather accept responsibility for the path that you are own. At times in your life you sought teachers to confirm what your itching ears wanted to hear; explore what motivated you. It is quite natural to follow the words or the teacher who will not really disturb your life pattern and will allow you to indulge yourself – even if deceptively.
You must have gathered by now that my words and my love are meant to disturb your life pattern. I call you to resist the impulse that by now all is accomplished on the path or journey while in truth you are still tying your shoelaces. I disturb your life pattern with my love. Yes, I disturb your life pattern with my love. Have you ever been in a crowd and hear your name called and are not sure you want attention to be called to your presence. Well, I am calling your name and you are in a crowd, and further I won’t stop calling just because you are trying to convince me that you do not hear me.
Sometimes what I have to say is not, I repeat not, what your itching ears want to hear. And yet, if you are to be honest with yourself, down deep in your heart those words are exactly what you have longed to hear, but did not make time to listen.
Indeed, I am leading you on a path you have never travelled heretofore; yes, I am fashioning you into a priceless piece of pottery worthy of honor; yes, I am commissioning you to share my love – it is so simple – with those who search distracted by the clatter that surrounds. So relax in that love.
All for this morning.
October 1, 2008
Scripture:All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 16
Prayer:
Please tell me more about God-breathed.
Response:God-breathed is my way of telling you of my presence in the present. As you sit in silence and read Scripture, reflect upon the words; I am present bringing you directly the enlightenment that you are ready for that day. Understand that the enlightenment is not limited by the words upon which you reflect. The words provide the opening; they set the stage for what is often a much deeper insight than you anticipated and one that takes you to a place you might rarely visit.
God-breathed has a fiery context to it, a living quality, that burns the dust from a historical volume lost on some library shelf. The more accustomed to being still in my presence the more you will experience a space infinite where you are one with me. Shake off any thought that I am calling you to an upper room removed from loved ones and responsibilities. To the contrary, I call you to be still and listening in soul-full alertness amidst the world in which you live. How else for you to beckon, touch those who have yet to discover my peace, love.
In the beckoning, you put to service the God-breathed message with which you become imbued. If it were not so, it would be better that Scripture, all Scripture, should remain on the dusty shelves of ancient libraries.
All for this morning.
September 30, 2008
Scripture:When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. John 21:9
Prayer:
What about the fish on the coals? What is the significance of them?
Response:Note that Jesus suggested to these frustrated fishermen that they toss the net on the right side of the boat and they did it and caught a catch they could hardly pull to the shore. And then they are invited to breakfast, to a celebration actually, where they contribute some of their fish to the fish that are already grilling. So what’s the significance of the scene in your life today – not the lives of some fishermen of two thousand years ago?
First point, the celebration, reunion, was not dependent upon them following the advice of someone on the shore that they did not even recognize. There were fish being prepared for their arrival. You receive my word – even though it might not be as specific as to where to toss your nets – and it is up to you to follow my directions. However, realize that my joy in your company does not depend on you complying – though I desire it so. I am prepared – yes prepared – for the celebration to begin as soon as you step off the boat of your life and approach my light – even brighter and warmer than a fire grilling fish on a beach.
And just think how the celebration of reunion expands and deepens when you contribute the fruit – in this case it was the fish – of their labor to the feast. And I invite you by all your works of service to bring your contribution so that our celebration will be overwhelming in its joy.
Finally, see in this mysterious stranger on the beach whom the disciples did not recognize, the stranger in your midst with whom you share your labor of love.
All for this morning.
September 28, 2008
Scripture:[T]he other disciple . . . also went inside. He saw and believed. John 20:9; “I have seen the Lord!” John 20:18; The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. John 20:20; “Stop doubting and believe.” John 20:27; “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29; But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31
Prayer:
Help me to understand belief.
Response:Belief is a transformational experience. Until you experience it you will have difficulty explaining it. Try to explain swimming to someone who doesn’t know the depth of water. Yes, a transformational experience that you control. Control you ask? Yes, control. I can lead you to the lake; can even be standing knee deep in the water and invite you to enter so that I can instruct you. Unless you are willing to get wet we can and do continue our dialogue from afar with you imagining what it feels like to be wet, to be gliding on top of the water without fear of drowning. I am sure that the symbolism of baptism has not been lost on you.
Believing is a transformational experience because for the first time you are present. You are not lost in past fears nor are you anxious about a future that is yet to unfold. Belief is the boldest action you will be and are asked to embrace. Yet, belief is not without its inestimable reward. Plunging into the waters your doubts are washed clear in that moment and in every moment you remain present to my love.
Belief is a deliberate act on your part. No one can do it for you. No one can force your belief. Yet know that my grace enfolds you and attunes you to hear me in all the scenes that capture your attention in the course of the day and night. And you cannot blame another for your failure to believe. Resistance is natural as it is natural for a child to resist the gentle urgings to enter the water to learn to swim.
So see belief as a surprise that snatches your attention, fills you will unsurpassed joy and wonder at my love for each of you.
All for this morning.
September 27, 2008
Scripture:The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. John 19:35
Prayer:
feel this man reaching across the centuries with his testimony.
Response:Yes, this unnamed witness is standing in your presence to tell what he saw. How many times do you witness the miraculous in your lives and hesitate to attribute the manifestation of my love as no more than a coincidence? At such times, those who hear your story can quiz you, doubt your description of events, or accept quietly the mystery that enfolds your existence, your life.
Notice in the recounting, he hopes, even prays that you also may believe and share his joy. However, he and you know that is left to you as to whether you will believe, doubt, reject – even though you don’t dispute the account. You see, believing what I tell you does not assure that you will embrace my message.
You can’t avoid the truth that it is left to each of you to act on what you believe. And action, like the prism of a crystal, has many sides and in the light many colorations. Action includes embracing my message through understanding and reflection, works of service and generosity and compassion, the adaption of a peaceful spirit, obedience, prayer, prudence, patience, and trust – and all this in my love.
So I ask you today to become the unnamed man mentioned in this verse and give your testimony in words and actions that reflect for others the change that has occurred within you. And why do you do this? So that others may believe and share your joy.
All for this morning.
September 25, 2008
Scripture:“You are not one of the disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked him. He replied, “I am not.” John 18:17
Prayer:Yes, this verse I have also head and read many times. I have also felt relieved that it was Peter put on the spot, and not me.
Response:Don’t be too relieved. I want you to think about Peter and his ultimate answer, I am he. You see, you are quick to point out when someone doesn’t measure up to your expectations, including yourself. Now, for a change, and make it permanent if you can, dwell on the occasions when your answer is I am he.
For most of you, the question will not incur the danger that Peter feared and eventually overcame, but rather it will be in those ordinary incidents that surround your everyday life – and please be aware that there are no ordinary incidents. Believing that most of your waking moments are ordinary, allows you to save yourself for the big moment that often times doesn’t come or worse you don’t recognize it.
Consider also the words contained in the question – You are not one of the disciples, are you? Be in the present. He was not being asked if he were or intended to be a follower. So consider what it means to answer, Yes, I am. And what does that require of you, because as I have said, this verse is written and passed to you at exactly the right moment in your life? And don’t think it will be the last time I will ask that question of you.
I know you can answer with a lengthy list of do’s and don’ts, yet I want you to explore also what the affirmative reply means in a deepening relationship with me – and this is not all about do’s and don’ts.
This question is about relationships, relationship with me. For you to answer affirmatively, you see for the first time, you are awake for the first time, and you love for the first time.
So instead of emphasizing Peter’s denial, I want you to draw strength from his affirmation and all your affirmations that resound in your heart.
All for today.
September 22, 2008
Scripture:“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3
Prayer:Sometimes I am struck by the power of one verse, and this is one of those times. Bring me to a deeper meaning and understanding.
Response:Yes, you are being given an insight into what this eternal life is all about. Eternal life – those two words are repeated over and over again with all sorts of interpretations. And here the explanation, though brief, is given to all of you who are not still slumbering. Let me make the explanation even more exciting – you are getting a hint and even more in this life entrapped as you are in the body.
Eternal life offers you a knowing of me. I say offers because if you do not become conscious you will miss it as you slide over the words that seem so familiar, yet you do not pause and ponder on the meaning. Know me. Here I reduce the several words to two. Know me. Can you say that you know your partner, your loved one, your children, grandchildren, your friends, strangers you encounter, even your enemies – and here I am promising, yes promising that eternal life offers you full knowledge of me.
Can you put aside all your cognitive thinking and simply dwell on this extraordinary, supernatural, over- -the- top , solemn oath, promise, or whatever other word you need to appreciate fully, in the depth of your soul that you will know me, the only true God. And please don’t get bogged down on debating the words the only true God. I am here for you and you and you. I know you. In fact, if you can be in a place where there are no witnesses, you know that I know you, and I am gentle with that knowledge, and you also know that gentleness.
Realize that when you catch a glimpse of me, though you will say that you hardly got a glimpse or worse that you would have difficulty recognizing me, realize, I repeat, that you are in fact getting a hint of eternal life – a life that those loved ones who have preceded you are enjoying in as full as a capacity as they seek – I did not say as they sought. What do I mean here? Have you ever met a mysterious though not threatening stranger and failed to ask his or her story – and then later regretted it. Well, I am imploring you in love to ask in prayer my story and in that quest you will truly glimpse eternal life in my telling that will affect each of you most deeply – and eternally.
All for today.
September 21, 2008
Scripture:“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:26
Prayer:These words are deceptively easy to understand. Perhaps, because I have heard them so often that I miss the essential meaning.
Response:That is fair to say. That is the reason that I implore you to read for truth not volume. Don’t allow your mind that is training to reach for the next word and the next sentence. Teach it to pause and incidentally that it what I ask you as well – pause. Also, put aside your notion as I have said repeatedly that these words are historical. This very verse, each and every word contained in it was composed for you this very moment. If you could touch the print it would still be damp.
With this approach, see what I make known to you – my love. This revelation is for this day and every single day upon which you wake. And when you no longer wake in this body, you will need no reminders, you will not have to train your mind, me love will be self-expressive in you as you are in me.
These words allow you a glimpse of how my love works in you. It is a swirl that knows no boundaries. In fact there are no boundaries – no way to say where my love begins and yours ends. The love I am to you knows no national, political, gender, cultural, ethnic, age, religious boundaries. It is left to you with my grace for you to first sense/perceive this love and next to share/infuse those around you and afar with that love.
If you were asked to sum up my message, four letters would do it – love. Spend time this day in comprehending what love means to you and how you are asked to share this love – which is divine.
All for this morning.
September 19, 2008
Scripture:“You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” John 16:20
Prayer:Speak to me, please, of grief.
Response:Grief is like myopic vision. All are involved or overwhelmed by one scene; you are not able to take in everything surrounding you and within, and you are not yet able to see in a timeless dimension. I mean that for the moment you seem ruled by time and space. I say seem because once you see in this existence a paradox that eternity hints at, you are able to put or apply a more accurate understanding to grief – and for that matter joy – and the events that trigger both in your life.
Grief and joy are not either or. Now that is something for you to consider. Grief and joy are not either or. They are like veins in your body bringing sustenance to all regions of your heart, mind, and body. Your joy is deeper, richer, more generous in its display, more outward as it is enriched – say enriched – with the grief of whatever variety that you experience, about which you remain conscious, that is, do not ignore.
Grief is the bitter herb that proves to be the secret ingredient in a recipe of inestimable worth and taste. In time grief brings celebration in your life to its essential meaning in joy.
Let me conclude as I began – You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
All for this morning.
September 18, 2008
Scripture:“I have told you this so that my joy may be within you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11
Prayer:Can you talk of joy?
Response:Love and joy are often misplaced and both are essentially my message to you. Joy can best be described as being in tune and harmony. You are one in joy and love as if you were participating in a grand chorus or orchestra. Your joy is to know no bound and needs no reflection such is its spontaneity. Joy is taking flight after waiting so long at the edge of the cliff before you let go of your fear of heights.
Joy holds immediate recognition. You need no one, even me, to tell you that you are joyful. Though there is some preparation for you to do. First look about you and within you with clean eyes as if you have composed something and now must reread it, proof it. Detached you see what is written and not what you thought or intended to write. Joy stems and is evident in detachment, untroubled and untrammeled by what is not. Think over these words one more time. Joy is an honest and open expression of my love.
You should ask how can you increase your joy? Well, this may surprise you. In my love your joy is absolutely boundless. You can’t increase it, though your awareness of my love in you as you awake does increase the perception that the joy has multiplied. Again, using an analogy I have used before, sometimes you appear to yourself that you are paralyzed or just sitting in a dark room. Adjusting to the dark, you begin to see that you are surrounded by treasures of inestimable worth and that those treasures are reserved for you. Joy is that awakening and the realization that you are in a treasure house of my love. Your only challenge is to wake up – not an unreasonable request.
So today, enough of talking or considering your woes be they financial, personal, physical, relationship – instead spend the day – yes, the day, not an hour or minutes – in the treasure house that I have created for only you. And next, share that treasure house with others, those you meet, or with whom you live or work, and notice how your treasure house expands with riches.
All for this morning.
September 16, 2008
Scripture:“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26
Prayer: I am listening.
Response:And this is exactly how I reach you – through your attention, listening. Your listening is not limited to the words that seem to swirl in your mind. No, the listening that I speak of is the listening that might occur in the middle of the night when you wake and wonder what has woken you. Instead of fretting with an anxiety of the sleep you are losing, simply listen. You might hear something and further you might discover as quickly you are back to a restful sleep.
I guess you have concluded that the teaching about which I am talking is not confined to a classroom or to a pulpit for that matter – though there are many instances that the words that reach you would surprise even the speaker. Adopt a style of listening that is without judgment, one that opens to a deeper meaning sometimes disguised by the gesture, tone, or purpose of the speaker. See beyond, or rather hear beyond, as if you are pulling back a curtain.
I am not presenting you with a puzzle, you see. In fact, note the words I will remind you. If you are still, sufficiently still, you will recognize my message and your only question will be, where did I hear this before, it seems so familiar?
So on the breath of the wind I reach you in all your circumstances and at all times – no exceptions.
All for this morning.
September 13, 2008
Scripture:“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46
Prayer:Sitting before this single light on my desk before dawn, help me to understand better your presence.
Response:I want you this morning to reflect upon illumination. And the illumination I talk of is within. Take the scene that you describe in your prayer, and realize now that the light I bring to you all is an illumination that brightens all within you. It is as if you become the eye or beam of that light. With this light that I illumine, you see with new eyes. Consider now that you direct the beam. Wherever you turn you are now in my illumination to see colors and subtleties that you would have missed as you would a painting done by one of your masters. And I am the master artist who instructs you and brings light and illumination to your heart and understanding.
And as you appreciate, the light is not reserved for or restricted to your eyes. Consider this light a light of clarity. Where there was doubt and confusion, I offer truth. It might not be the truth that you think you sought – I said think you sought – but rather a truth that resonates in your heart and one which you recognize.
I come to you to dispel darkness. Now what is so bad about darkness? The darkness that I talk about is a darkness that paralyzes you because it prevents you from venturing out on the path, out beyond yourself and self-absorption. You see, there are times that you hesitate to expand in my love, satisfied with what you have grasped and control, and fear of losing it – whatever it is.
I come to embolden you in my love, to step out, commence your journey because I am lighting the way for you. You are no longer in darkness. Repeat those words and sense the confidence and conviction they give to you – and this light is not on loan. You don’t have to give it back. My light is a gift to you and it will not extinguish.
All for this morning.
September 12, 2008
Scripture:“Did I not tell you if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40
Prayer:I am speechless in the quiet of this morning before dawn. Take me to a deeper understanding.
Response:What catches your attention? Is it that the words seem to be spoken as if for the first time and you hear them as if for the first time? No need to look around and fear that someone might have heard these words spoken to you? Your reaction in your heart cannot be overheard or even seen. You are in a private space that allows these words to fill your consciousness.
Yes, the time is now for you to shed all caution and believe. Please don’t retreat into history and debate events that occurred and were recorded. No, sit still and hear what is spoken to you this moment for the first time. Listen deeply. Do your best not to turn aside from the promise that you will see – I repeat will see – the glory of God in your life as you believe.
It is as if you are in a darkened theater and you have been sitting patiently so long that you close your eyes. While not sleeping, you are not especially conscious. As you sit quietly, you have not noticed that the curtain has been drawn unveiling an eye-catching scene but your eyes are closed, and who knows, you might have slipped off into slumber. Well, this very moment I am saying to you awake. Come forth into consciousness. You don’t have to wait for your body to cease functioning; I am asking you to wake now. See the glory of God reserved for you in this very moment – not the next moment or a moment that has passed.
And don’t be lazy. Don’t expect me or someone else, your neighbor, to describe this glory of God. No, open your eyes, awake, and then speak of this glory that surrounds you. Jot down in your mind or even on a notepad what you experience. You will be surprised how in this process you become more attuned to this glory, your vision improves. And you will also be surprised to discover that as your vision improves so does your conviction.
All for this morning.
September 10, 2008
Scripture:“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. “John 10:16
Prayer:How about this one flock and one shepherd?
Response:If you are looking for an endorsement for some words on exclusivity you will be disappointed. My words are meant to reveal and encourage inclusivity. I would rather you spend this time to consider what it means that they too will listen to my voice.
Instead of dwelling on why you are or should be in this one sheep pen, consider instead the voice that you hear and recognize. You see it doesn’t matter the credentials you claim, the pew in which you sit, or the recognition you receive or think you should receive. Rather it is most important that you hear the call, recognize the caller in your life; and then that you act, that is, that you follow me out of the confinement of that sheep pen. Oh, the images that I present you as you journey outside for the nourishment that you trust that I will and do provide.
Whether you realize it or not, hearing my call to all of you creates a community of believers, as the inner voice summons you outside in my love. It is not important whether or not you can box that belief in a culturally acceptable forum. It is so very critical that you cast all doubt aside and listen to my voice that might be hidden in your loneliness, patience, acceptance, hope, perseverance, relationship, and of course love, and that you act upon this summons, yes summons.
No need to compare notes as to the octave or timber of the voice you hear from that heard by your neighbor; but much more important to distinguish my voice from the chaff of your active life, speaking to you directly. And once distinguished, for you to sit still with your ear cocked in the direction of the wind upon which my message flies. I call all of you outside the comfort zone of your life established in the familiar such as the sheep pen. The paradox is that then my voice will be most clear to you.
All for today.
September 6, 2008
Scripture:Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.” John 8:43
Prayer:I guess I need some instruction on what it takes to listen.
Response:As you might realize, listening is more than scoring high in a hearing test. Some of the best listeners of my word are those whose hearing is physically impaired – but oh their spiritual hearing is finely tuned. So wedded are you to the physical state it is sometimes an overwhelming concept for you to digest that the listening of which I speak occurs when you turn off the impulse to speak, turn off the distractions of technology in which you are implanted, gaze gently about you, and let go of that tension that flows more than blood through your veins.
Once you are successful there – and only you can decide to bring rein to your senses – you will experience a symphony you never heard previously, a lashing rain in the midst of a hurricane that cleanses your heart, a quietude that defies distraction.
And what I call you to is not to lose yourself in nothingness; no, I am not calling you to float as jetsam in a galactic stream. I am calling you to fold yourself figuratively inside out and hear me reverberate on and in your heart a message of love, my love, not distilled to ease its impact. It is as if I am asking you to stand upside down, break the mold of thinking that has conditioned you to miss my message, to embolden you to seize my truth – despite all your inhibitions caused by previous disappointment.
All for today.
September 4, 2008
Scripture:When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Prayer:Speak to me of the light of life.
Response:The light of life presents itself to you as a heightened consciousness, awareness. I say heightened because you are discovering from your first breath until your last that you are awakening – at least that is my plan for you. You see, at death you won’t be sitting around or lying around. You will be fully conscious in spirit. You will be spirit awake to the extent that you have shed the thickness that shrouds you as a blanket in the darkness of night.
Following me is like leaving your cell. You imagined the cell door was locked, but discover to your wonderful surprise, actually your graced surprise, that the door swings open quite easily. At first you seem to be following a shadow moving down the corridor holding a lantern. In life that shadow seems to be lost – hopefully for only a moment – as you turn on to another corridor. As soon as you retrace your steps, there’s the lantern again only now it appears closer and brighter as you have corrected your course.
And my promise is that in following diligently along the corridor that light held for you is that you will never walk in darkness, or perhaps it is more accurate to say you need never walk in darkness. Let me provoke you, stir you – if you follow me, you cannot walk in darkness again. It is not possible. Oh, but now you must spend some time on my meaning of the words follow me.
Let me spend a moment on the meaning of light of life. Your headlines seem to be filled with the darkness of life. I want you to put your newspaper aside and think of the headlines you would write for own news release as it reflects, relates to the light in your life. What does light of life mean to you? The words are easy to understand but more difficult to apply unless you see that light of life as my gift to those following me out of the darkness.
And finally, I am not suggesting a row of robots in step marching forward. Rather I see you joined by so many hurrying along, cheerful, loving, even carefree, courageous – such is your confidence and most of all your consciousness and awareness. You have thrown aside that dream state that had confined you to the dank, dark, spiritless cell in which you were imprisoned. Quite a cause for celebration this light of life.
All for today.
September 3, 2008
Scripture:s“You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.” Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. John 7:8-10
Prayer:Surely, there is a deeper meaning in this verse.
Response:The deeper meaning is what you experience daily. You are asked to journey on your own without crutches. Of course, I mean this figuratively. You are asked to trust in faith and to continue your journey, accepting that my presence will accompany you. Clearly, you have many examples of this in guiding young people, or from a time when you were young yourself. Well, now you are young in spirit, not a bad thing. And you are asked to go out into the world that at times seems as imposing as attending an annual feast. And further you are asked to represent who you have become and you won’t be able to look over your shoulder and point to me when someone challenges you. You have to manage by all appearances on your own.
That is what I want you to take from these verses this morning. Realize that I am never far though you might seem to be on a desolate trail, and even if it appears that the feast has been called off, or instead of companionship you are alone – even lonely.
And take the word or rather the underlying meaning of the word secret, a word which you have studied. Accept that it is secret for a time because of circumstances or reasons that you are not ready for yet. I say yet because all does become manifest even in things secret. And notice, where such circumstances become open is at a celebration, the Feast, to which all were traveling. So be confident that you will understand all, the lights of self-illumination will shine at the feast to which you are all journeying . Take heart.
All for this morning.
August 30, 2008
Scripture:The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. John 6:63
Prayer:It seems that I never tire of learning more of Spirit.
Response:Repeat those first four words – The Spirit gives life. You overlook the significance of the meaning as you consciously and responsibly take care of your physical condition. To any threat to good health you usually respond in whatever way or means you know or learn. This should not change. Here I am reminding you, yes reminding you, that the Spirit gives life, eternal life. Understandably, these easily grasped words hold a mystery that you at best only see faintly through a curtain. My promise to you is that the curtain will be pulled and you will comprehend in spirit a panorama of consciousness that is simply beyond comprehension now.
That is the reason that I tell you that faith is so important. Hear my words and accept them. I am not asking you now to see how these words apply or have applied to others whom you judge less than worthy. The words this morning are only written and spoken to you – not anyone else, even if someone is close by or in the next room or in the same church. See the words – I have spoken to you. Make no mistake. Do not take refuge in a crowd – even a holy crowd. You cannot escape me. The Spirit gives life and my desire through grace and love is to give you life and give it abundantly.
In listening to me, hearing my words, reflecting upon them, Spirit is showering you with a life that you still can’t comprehend though you know there is a difference in you – the you that resides in the depth of your being. This showering is every bit as manifest as a rain shower you encounter suddenly though the sun continues to shine.
For today identify the life in you that cannot be measured by taking your blood pressure or temperature. See it in your walk – along the path that you are treading. Tread lightly – you are spirit.
All for this morning.
August 28, 2008
Scripture: Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. John 6:10
Prayer: How many times do I ignore this simple command?
Response:Yes, it is so easy to fill your ears with noise, even if the noise is of the should-of’s you think you must accomplish, and you do not hear my command: Sit down. As in this scene there was sufficient space for all to be accommodated. And so it is in your life. And this respite was not just to get off their feet, but to prepare them for a message once, I repeat once, they were fed.
Can you see how this same formula for the nourishment of your soul works? First there is a gathering of the willing and interested, perhaps even the committed. People were lined up not because of some command to appear. It was not you see a command performance, but rather an open air concert for which no tickets were required.
Next, there was wonder on the part of those present. They held an interest in discovering the mystery that had been hinted at in the stories that they had heard or perhaps even witnessed and this curiosity outweighed any social or societal concerns that they were going against established norms of the day. Their interest in the spirit even outweighed their concern for the physical since food and drink were in very short supply.
Though impatient to get on with the show, they listened when told to find a place and rest in the verdant field around them. Listened is a key word and one that prepared them for the message to be delivered.
So the message for you today is to let go of any of your preconceived notions as to how it, whatever it is, is to occur in your life. Go against your learned response that says that you have to do something, and contrary to your inclination take a seat and listen. And in following my directive, you will discover that your cares of the moment are met and more importantly your deepest longings that exhaust your imagination to explain are fulfilled in my overflowing love for you.
Extraordinary isn’t it that just when you are ready to do something, I ask you to do nothing and listen; just when you think you have learned so much, I ask you to un-learn; and just when you believe you are discriminating, I ask you to be indiscriminate and generous in your service and love.
All for this morning.
August 26, 2008
Scripture: Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. John 4:36
Prayer: Help me to learn to reap in my own life.
Response:In your own life includes most especially every place you touch within a day’s time. Consider from waking that each moment presents a widening field on which you gaze and to which you are invited to reap the harvest planted and nurtured over the season of growth with rain and sunshine. As in your life, your growth and readiness for the harvest have depended upon a mixture of warmth and sun, cold and gray, rain and even drought for the harvest to stand so sturdy ready for reaping. So you are called upon, all of you, to likewise become the reapers of the harvest, the mentors and teachers and listeners to those who someday will do likewise.
Reflect for a moment and perhaps during the day those sowers in our midst or perhaps those who have transitioned who figured prominently in preparing you for the role of reaper – a task I call you all to perform in my grace and love.
And don’t miss that I am not suggesting that you are merely involved in an activity to keep fit, though fit you will become. No, the activity you are being called to perform is the harvest of the crop – not a crop – of eternal life.
As with any harvest there is a timing involved. Reapers are needed so that the crop does not deteriorate in the field. And you see it when the crop is left almost convincing the crop that there is no further purpose for its existence but to occupy a field. You are being reminded that this crop is meant for eternal life. There is an urgency to respond to the growth cycle, to ensure that this crop proves to be the nourishment for those who come later to continue the reaping. Your wages are as abundant as the crop and are also measured in terms of eternal life.
So remain in the field today and see yourself as the reaper of a harvest that was planted long before and awaits your precise touch in celebration of my love.
All for this morning.
August 24, 2008
Scripture: Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and the people were constantly coming to be baptized. John 3:23
Prayer: Tell me more about the deeper meaning of this phrase.
Response: For you this morning you are being reminded of the practicality of your spiritual life. Check yourself to see that there is plenty of water and you are not isolated. This advice applies in all things spiritual, including, most especially, in service and relationship. It serves no one if you decide to open up a baptismal fount in the desert far from an oasis, or conversely at an abandoned oasis where the water is plentiful. There is a harmony, a balance in the life of the spirit. Respect it, don’t try to have the environment conform to your control, but flow with it as the water flows and the people come.
In a sense, this verse also reminds you of the obvious that you might have a tendency to overlook when you are decided in your views – and I mean when you are closed to viewpoints that clash with what you consider bedrock beliefs. See how this verse also describes relationship – relationship of John with his followers and the strangers that have heard of him and journey out to see for themselves. It is also relationship and trust of those who do wander to where John is to see for themselves his truth. Consider the trust they shared with their fellow travelers, especially as they were confronting the norms of their society, even challenging those standards. That is freedom, or at least acknowledging their freedom as each of you is responsible for your own awakening in my love.
What happens when the water runs out or the people no longer appear? It is time then to move as the ancient cities of Delhi and other places relocated as the river carved out another path that skirted the original establishment of the city. Call it change, but I would prefer to encourage again openness and a certain excitement for what awaits you each day.
In all your dealings with others be of the light. What does that mean? Again, I repeat – be gentle, patient, open, listening, serving, compassionate, forgiving and loving. And if or when you are able to reflect in your actions – remember this is all about conveying, embracing this spiritual traits – what I have just said, you will be in a place of plenty, nourished by the flowing waters and you will discover that even if you are a recluse you will be surrounded in love.
All for this morning.
August 23, 2008
Scripture: The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John3:8
Prayer: It was windy on the beach this morning, help me to use that experience to reach a deeper meaning for this verse.
Response: See yourself as a kite in such a breeze before dawn. Feel the exhilaration of flight without ever being able to place yourself in relation to the ground. This is a good description of your spirit aspect, not confined or contained in your body mass or limited to the ground that you can walk or run.
Now bring that kite in your imagination to the dawn. Observe the colors that come out reflected in the sun’s light. See how you can even distinguish your kite from another’s. Now you can sense height or elevation, experience soaring even higher or plunging downward on a draft. What is constant is the seeming aimlessness of the wind.
For just a moment step out of your body and become aware of that wind that rushes within you in the consciousness of my love. No need to distinguish rituals that signify this rebirth as they vary from one persuasion to the next. Rather accept and acknowledge your own rebirth as it were. See in the rebirth you have and are experiencing a freedom every bit as free as the wind that rolls from all directions and heights, at speeds that are sometimes difficult to calculate, accompanied by sounds that lull and sometimes frighten. Now the question I ask with the freedom—this rebirth – you have been granted, what are you going to do in service to those who seem planted on the ground alone?
All for this morning.
August 22, 2008
Scripture: He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. John 2:25
Prayer: What am I missing in this closing verse of the chapter containing words that my eyes drift over?
Response: Doesn’t the last phrase catch your attention? It is not what others say in condemnation or praise but what is within? What this verse is imploring you is that you first devote time to discovering who you are, yes, who you are within. Don’t rely upon what others say you are; you know better.
This self-knowledge is especially important when you come to say that in fact what others say about you is not quite the case – good or bad. Don’t rely upon illusions of your own or others’ making to be who you are to become. Read this last sentence over again – it is not the puzzle you have made it out to be.
This verse should also encourage you as you wrestle with self-discovery not to be swayed one way or the other in approaching another about which testimony has been spread in speaking my truth.
And no you do not have to quote scripture to do this. Revealing who you are is sufficient; notice I did not say what you do. Who you are has the contents for a most interesting book whose ending you are still fashioning; what you do are words for a two-page resume.
And it is should be obvious to you that I know you. Who else spends the time listening to your inmost thoughts? Who else is always present? In your long or short life there has never been a time when I have not been so close your soul has touched me.
So the question is why? Why have I never, repeat never given up and said as you have said when discouraged – Enough? Well, the answer is so simple. It is because I know, yes know, what is within you. I have fashioned this ember of love and placed it within you. I have acted as a bellows when you feared it was extinguished – though you might have opted for a less dramatic manner of revival – and as a gentle whisper of breath to steady the flame.
So today gauge how the breath you receive is acting on your heart and how this action is creating within you a self-awareness that you sometimes ignore.
All for this morning.
August 21, 2008
Scripture: Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water;” so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so. John 2:7-8
Prayer: This is another selection I have read many times. Please give me a deeper understanding.
Response: Think of the words my cup overflows. This scene is one of my overflowing love for you. Nothing, it seems, no vessel can contain or constrain that love. You ask for peace and discover a peace that defies explanation or expectation. You were just looking to have an immediate problem solved and discover a life-changing strategy that releases you from daily torment and turmoil.
Recall that the incident occurs at a wedding banquet – the joining of two people in marriage vows, of two families in support, of a village in harmony. And the request is made to solve one problem. They have exhausted the nectar of their labor. Instead of referring for many generations how they had to curtail the toasts for long life and joy, they now celebrate for even more generations – until the present – a celebration that knows no end.
So with you. Don’t consider that the marriage feast ended a couple of thousand years ago, but rather see it as a celebration that continues into your moment. What was prayed for then is poured over you now in my grace. Remember how often I have told you that scripture is not limited to a historical document. You are reading these words today because I mean them for you now, I have selected them for you today.
This day act as if you are at the same wedding feast and have just discovered that instead of muttering among yourselves, you have been freed to celebrate my love in your lives. During the day toast – figuratively! – each display of my love in the celebration of the life you live and share with those around you and afar.
All for this morning.
August 20, 2008
Scripture: I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” John 1:33
Prayer: And who is the one who sent John?
Response: You know the answer already, yet you want confirmation. It is he, who sits opposite you when you are pressed for an answer to your prayer, when you sit still and listen, and when you try to make sense out of confusion or better chaos. And yes, it is he is with you this evening.
Your presence in consciousness is all that is required for me to reach you and you are aware of that connection. I say this because I am with you at all times and become quite adept at communicating with those of you who prefer to sleep. Be assured that you will awaken from your slumber. Take no comfort in refuting me by looking about and judging a neighbor or a stranger. I will reach you all. However, instead of taking a head count of those you judge won’t hear, silence your mind and concern yourself with your own consciousness. Once you do that, you will find that you contribute to the awakening of others.
There are some of you, like John, who hear, soul-hear, and do take action on the basis of what you soul-hear with more conviction than someone receiving a written order. Explore in your life when direction came from this quarter and in retrospect you are so similar to John who simply states that the one who sent him seeing no need to go into any more detail. None was needed; all understood. Notice for your own benefit that he did not remain in isolated prayer when he received the summons. He went out and performed this baptism for whoever lined up at the Jordan. Think of people in your life – those who stepped in a sense out of step to perform an act that at first glance seemed so uncharacteristic, so out of character, so outside their professional credentials and I could go on.
And you might think that such summonses are rare, and you would be wrong. In the turmoil of your environment – and I speak on a global level – many, so many receive daily a summons to act. I am not saying that you should pack your bags but I am saying that you should be at the ready to support others not so fortunate in my love.
Let me close by saying that you are all called, and my call to you uses all media to which you are drawn, and I do not exclude the medium of silent, listening prayer. And I of course take full advantage of your interests and passions that trigger your full awareness to reach you. With this message I am putting you on notice. You will be hearing from me. You might conclude that I am raising the decibel of my message. I would say you are waking and if a comparison could be made you would discover that I am whispering – no need to shout. I welcome you from your dream state to full consciousness.
August 18, 2008
Scripture: Though him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:3-5
Prayer: Speak to me of this light.
Response: These words are so simple. Your eyes wash over them like water over rocks. Linger, though, this morning and see how your life is the light that distinguishes you. Surely you understand that it is the light within you by which you are recognized, not the physical features that can be characterized by space you occupy and the color you reflect.
It is that light which I ask that you uncover. Do not move around as if you are in the shadows, or worse retreat into the shadows. The light is, I can say, your birthright. Each of you are distinguished by that light.
Now what is that light? It is the spark, the ember, embedded in you, and although you might make a mighty effort to ignore this spark you can do nothing to disguise its warmth, I might say its divine warmth. The light is a reminder of your origin as is the sun rising each morning.
You might not be able to see the light in the mirror so accustomed have you become to dwell on the physical wrapping, but you should find it easier to see it, experience it, with those who embrace you in love. So it should not be a great leap of faith to assume that if the light resides in someone who loves you, it also resides in you.
And this light is not static. Have you ever looked into a fire – whether in a fireplace, around a campfire, or the flame from a candle? See its movement. So it is with your light. And feed that fire and it grows. So with you, uncover your light – in a sense give it air, a breathe, bellows – and feed it with service, prayer, compassion, forgiveness, and love, and see, feel the brightness of the light, even feel its warmth as you engage others.
Realize the origin of the light, understand that it is entrusted to you, and you are charged with unveiling, feeding, and sharing that light.
All for this morning.
August 13, 2008
Scripture: When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4
Prayer: Yesterday I observed the meteor showers before dawn and this morning a brilliant curtain of red stretched across the horizon, help me to be conscious of you.
Response: I ask further that while conscious you serve. You see – I am not using these words as a customary introduction to a more convoluted sentence, but rather I am reminding you that you see. In seeing, you are able to penetrate the fog of unconscious action – at least sometimes. See the wonder that I spread before and around you as your alarm clock. Not someone else’s, but yours.
Once you really catch my splendor, you let go of all that ties you grasp to the earth that halts your flight – figuratively. See in the panorama of creation your role in service of recreating that splendor in whatever you do even if it is to tend a garden, relate intimately with those you encounter. Do your best to banish custom to your reactions to those around you and to your environment. Respond spontaneously from the heart in all you do in order to be-come.
Ponder in your heart this day why I am mindful of you. I am present at each breath you take. This is my call that you slow down and breathe each breath in that awareness.
All for this morning.
August 11, 2008
Scripture: He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. Ephesians 2:17
Prayer: With the clamor of war ever present, tell me what has changed.
Response: Do your best to dismiss the notion of sequential time, that is a beginning, middle, and end time, or to think of yourself as in the future of those who lived at the time Ephesians was written. Instead, see yourself in a present and this verse applying to you now and not as a historical document to be reviewed at your leisure.
Also, consider also the verse from Psalm 68:30 – Rebuke the beast among the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations. Humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war – which you almost selected for this morning.
I am present, this very moment and my message is one of restoring peace. For some it is a peace once won, for others a peace rarely if ever experienced; it is a peace that is born out of pain and grief, and sorrow and sometimes despair. It is a peace that knows no understanding, is beyond understanding, but the heart acknowledges and recognizing this peace. This peace is shorn of ambition, greed, self-absorption, and aggression.
See these words as I come and speak to you of peace wherever you are – distant as you are involved yourself and become anxious of what you cannot control, or near, in touch, within earshot of my words.
I want to call your attention to the phrase – Rebuke the beast among the reeds. That beast is not the unnamed they who haunt your media, but rather you who lurks in the darkened corridors of your mind, withholding your full commitment to peace in your every action of service, as if you have not heard this call to and of peace in whatever language or wisdom it might have reached you.
For today and every day, stay in the present and see what you can do to promote peace within you and within your immediate setting, and then with your free time devote yourself to earnest prayer for those experiencing the ravages of violence in whatever form and who are not afforded your leisure.
All for this morning.
August 7, 2008
Scripture: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43: 1-2
Prayer: I heard these words the other day. What is the deeper meaning?
Response: Have you ever thought that this journey you are on is in response to my summons. I am calling you home. And you whom I call is someone I know intimately. And I call you by name. When can you recall someone calling you to return? If it was as a child you might have not especially welcomed the call so busy were you, but you heard it none-the-less. Reflect on instances that you can recall or times in your life when you heard over the shout of others or the activity in which you were immersed that call from a loved one.
I know you by name. Understand more deeply the intimacy you share with me even if you seek to distance yourself from our relationship or feign that you have not heard. The latter ploy might have worked as a youth but not now. The reason that my voice cannot be lost in the turmoil around you is that my voice is within.
Also, think of the select circle around you that knows you intimately, knows your inner thoughts, your causes for joy and for grief. I think that you will agree that that circle is indeed limited, and in fact for some of you it might be circle of one – you. Well, I am with you in all the seasons of your life and it is my great love for you that I call you. Have no anxiety about what lies before you. I will not allow the elements to sweep you away. I am that rugged staff you use to negotiate the crossing. And you will recover from whatever danger or fear that you encounter because you are not alone.
I have summoned you by name. You are not a casual acquaintance, but rather the you for whom your name was first spoken. At times, you think of yourself in a crowd. For now and evermore, see that though in a crowd I found you. And why is that? Because I knew where to look.
All for this morning.
August 3, 2008
Scripture: But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with it mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. Psalm 131:2
Prayer: I hadn’t thought until now how much there is to reflect upon in this verse. Prod my discernment.
Response: You know instances, even times, when you are stilled without anxiousness. Recognize those times like now before the events of the day press you to move out of the stillness. It is not moving out of the stillness that is to be avoided – for how else can you survive and even flourish. The challenge is to move without anxiousness, without the anxiousness of a child who fears its source of sustenance will be withheld.
Note the image is one of a child that no longer requires its mother’s milk, yet remains with the mother. There is a source of confidence in this scene for the child growing to maturity and the mother acknowledging that growth.
So you see that the child is developing a self-confidence in its relationship with its mother; so you must strive for that same self-confidence with me.
There is trust as the child experiences a new dimension of love where the child is allowed and encouraged separation in a physical sense, yet the mother’s presence as mine is always evident.
The child develops as you do in awareness of what stillness of the soul means by being still. It seems such a simple notion one that you should take to heart – or should I say soul.
And finally, this verse says to you much about your essential being, your soul. Your soul is within and of you. Life is a journey that offers you many challenges but one so often overlooked is to give those around you and your environment a glimpse of that soul, no longer hidden within.
All for this morning.
August 1, 2008
Scripture: By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundation, by understanding he set the heavens in place, by his knowledge the deeps were divided and the clouds let drop the dew. Proverbs 3:19-20
Prayer: In the darkness before dawn, I sometimes overlook your wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Fill me with your words.
Response: Try, if you can, bring this cosmic description into your own life and your relationship with me. See how my wisdom, understanding, and knowledge preside over your life. For you see, it is my wisdom that covers you and creates your awareness of my presence. I am the mantle that you reach to pull close in stormy weather. And you do this almost by instinct.
And after the storm has passed, or it is still buffeting you, it is my understanding that calms your anxiousness. It is then that you gain a perspective of your life – that is your place in the universe of my love. It is as if you are transported to a safe distance to observe a tumultuous scene and now instead of chaos you see – understand – a pattern of healing.
And through the experience of wisdom and understanding, you acquire a cosmic knowledge, a memory it seems, that you retain and find nourished within you, and this same knowledge – and the insights that accompany you transmit to those around you in your actions of service.
And here you see the cycle of my love in the moisture from the deep that is let loose from the clouds to nourish all my creation.
All for this morning.
July 30, 2008
Scripture: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
Prayer: Lord, expound a bit on this verse that is bursting with import that I too easily overlook.
Response: Yes, this verse is challenging. Imagine, if you will, that you were walking, or trekking if you prefer, in an isolated area of great beauty. Consider the mesas and buttes of Sedona from which you travelled recently. You are alone and upon reaching an elevation the trail turns and there on the red rock is an ancient Indian painting depicting these words in symbols. You spend time deciphering the message, but once deciphered you are still pressed to understand the words, or perhaps accept them.
Faith is being sure – first, you have to ask yourself when in your life have you been sure of anything. And I am not looking for you to come up with the answer “never.” Have you ever been sure of another’s love and support when difficulties surrounded you? Have you ever relied upon a parent, mentor, counselor, or teacher to guide your development in your youth, and yes as you grew to maturity, and beyond – if that is possible? That is the sureness about which I speak. And the faith is knowing that support is there – like going into a familiar place – even in the dark – and placing your hand on exactly for what you were searching.
And what do I mean with the words of what we hope for? Well, sometimes it seems that what you hope for is hidden way down deep in your heart. You are hesitant to even utter the words aloud or even to whisper them for fear that you will reveal an advanced state of madness to others, or even to yourself. It is important in your maturation to give voice to your hopes, even if they cannot be overheard – though you hear them, because you see, those hopes that are nestled in your heart almost unseen and unheard form the basis of your faith. Your faith – not some memorized formula that others have given to you to repeat. Your hopes form the basis of your faith that proves steadfast in whatever calamity or adversity you face.
These words should catch your attention. How can you be certain of what you do not see? What a contradiction in terms! Your mind seems to be overworking trying to disceCertain of what we do not see.rn a logical explanation. Well, there is no rational explanation for the mind, but there is clarity in the heart once you become still. You should repeat these words whenever you seem overwhelmed, I am certain of what I do not see. While others might consider you mad, rest assured it is only a malady of the heart from which once stricken you will not recover though you will rest in my love.
All for this morning.
July 28, 2008
Scripture: They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord – the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Jeremiah 31:12
Prayer: Perhaps, the thunder storms and all the rain that fell drew me to the words about a well-watered garden. Teach me to shout for joy.
Response: Yes, to shout for joy indicates a certain abandonment that you would do well to cultivate. Put yourself at the top of a summit after a long and sometimes treacherous climb. With all thought of the descent put aside, consider your joy and the full expression that you give to that joy.
Well, that is what I want you to bring into your life today – unbounded joy. Express that joy from the time that you stir and move about in your surroundings. See yourself as the farmer that greets the rain, the thunderous rain, as the end of a drought. Feel how the parched ground is now soft and like a cushion for your feet. This drought was of the spirit and I have showered you this day and every day with my grace.
And look about you and see what I provide. I did not say provided because I want you to remain present. In a spare moment make a list, even if in your mind, of the bounty of your life in spite of your ailments and anxieties. Determine how you can share this bounty with those around you, especially those whose gardens are not as well-watered. And learn how in sharing your bounty even if limited to a gesture, a note, or a call it seems that your bounty overflows. And it does because you reaching out across the boundaries of space and time invite the rains to come – the rains needed to cultivate your garden to abundance.
So the lesson today is on your need to embrace and proclaim my joy, to rejoice in the bounty that I prepare for you daily, and, finally, on the words you will sorrow no more. Sorrow no more! What a challenge! To let go of every worry that seeks to disturb this moment – like every moment – in my presence.
July 25, 2008
Scripture: “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Luke 18:41
Prayer: Lord, that is my prayer as well.
Response: And the question I have for you is, “Why?” Is it just to satisfy the mystery of life, or to foretell some future joy or calamity, or what? It is important for you to explore what prompts this prayer.
As you have read and heard throughout your life, your prayer is already answered. Now comes the difficult part for you – to believe that it is so. That before the last word left your lips, even before the sound of the words formed on your vocal chords, earlier yet – before the un-articulated sense of aloneness gripped you – I restored your sight.
And how is it restored, you ask? And I respond, by your question. Now that is something for you to reflect up