WHATEVER DRIVES OUR LIVES

WHATEVER DRIVES OUR LIVES
OR WHAT DIRECTION IT TAKES – we are still loved and guided by an inner guidance system. Thinking about the anniversary of the moon landing recently, it has me considering the complicated guidance systems that NASA has developed over the years of our space explorations. These systems are so complicated that they are able to direct satellite telescopes to see way beyond our own solar system. One important legacy of this is the availability to all of us of GPS. Many modern travelers do not even know how to read a map because they depend on their GPS devices and apps so completely. For most of us who use this system, it is an enhancement to our ability to travel in ways we never could before. It has improved military operations and makes rescuing climbers and hikers a possibility for saving their lives, where they might not have survived before. As wonderful as the advantages of GPS are, we all have an even greater inner guidance system that can bless us.

When we were first married and living in northern Vermont, as a change of pace, we would drive around on the back roads, get ourselves lost and then find our way to somewhere we recognized. These were dirt roads and did not always have any signs to tell you where you were headed. I relied on my radar-like sense of direction to help in our journeys. When it came to my life’s path, my sense of direction failed me more than it helped. It was only when I learned that we have a different kind of built-in direction finder and then used it regularly did I get the twists and turns start to come back to center and actually make forward progress. This inner guidance system we are given is the Holy Spirit, living within us and loving us without fail. It is part of our original equipment. We are all made with this blessing. To gain the blessings of this system, we need to learn how to open ourselves to begin understanding how the guidance works. Prayer and meditation are the practices we can use to begin our connection to the Holy Spirit. Maintaining our connection to the Spirit is strengthened by connecting to nature and all that is a part of creation. Any other practices that help us keep ourselves open will add to and broaden our connection into all our activities of the day. Using playfulness to find ways of connecting is particularly helpful. The Spirit is playful and delights when we are also. Jesus was both ironic and playful. We have trouble seeing it and translators may not have conveyed it either.

There is a little story of Jesus and his disciples going to Capernaum. When they arrived the tax collectors approached one of the group and challenged them with the question, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?” After a question to Peter, Jesus tells the group this.  27 ”However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.” In the midst of this tense situation, Jesus used irony and playfulness to make his point. We can also advance our day by letting the Spirit help us be playful in the way we keep our connection to the Spirit. It may make itself known as a different way to see what is happening in front of us, or seeing the joy in the antics of children or animals. God approaches us in a myriad of ways and we have the choice of responding in both straight forward and playful ways. How will we respond today and the innumerable days ahead?   Oh loving and joyful God, we are looking for ways to make our connection better. Help us find ways, in our daily activities, to do them in closer connection to you. Show us ways that are sustainable and even fun to do what must be done in our lives. We thank you for the ways you make even the worst things in our lives better because of your unconditional love.  Amen.     PEACE

WHAT SHAPE HAS OUR PATH TAKEN?

WHAT SHAPE HAS OUR PATH TAKEN
AND HOW CAN WE BEST GET TO WHERE WE ARE “SUPPOSED” TO BE – or at least near it? If we try to visualize what our path looks like so far in our lives, it may not look like we think it should. Many have a lot to say about what our path should be. This blog may have even made you think a certain kind of path is the only acceptable kind. That has not been my intention. Regardless, some may still feel it that way. I dislike the word “should” and here is why. The invitation to this blog, written a long time ago, says it beautifully. “Join us daily to explore prayer in its broadest expression, linking us to a relationship with a present and living God of promise and possibilities, instead of expectations. Possibilities offer us choice and expectations are full of shoulds. God offers us unconditional love and acceptance, that may grow through prayer. I hope this blog may assist you toward prayer becoming part of your life every day. Prayer can help us in specific situations or become the basic building block of a closer relationship with God. Welcome to love.”

The world always has expectations of us and does not react kindly when we don’t fulfill them. The church has had its “shoulds” built-in for most of its history. Of course, the church is really people who are acting out their fears and having “shoulds” is a way of forestalling some of the problems that might come up with people who don’t follow the rules. That is the way many people feel is the way to live, in order to please God, or at least not get on God’s bad side. These reactions are from a worldly point of view, based on God acting the way all rulers of the world act. It is not the way God is. As God’s children, we are loved unconditionally. This is not easy to remember when the world is bombarding us with other perspectives of God. Even the Bible can steer us away from the truth. Exodus 33:33 “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” This quote, while not being wrong, can give us the view of God only loving us if we are pleasing, and somehow find favor with God. This is not a perspective where we live in relationship with God. This speaks about a God at a distance and we do pleasing things to get God’s attention. It reflects the view of God at this time in prehistory. This is not the God who always loves us, even when we mess things up. God’s love for us is unconditional. So how does this help on our pathway in life?

God is always with us on that path. My path is a very crooked one and yours may be too. This does not mean God has less love for us. In fact, it is because God is with us and helps us learn from those detours we take that we have any chance of getting on a more direct path. My way in life had so many twists and turns that I had trouble seeing which way was forward or which turn would take me farther from my intended direction. As I have learned from God and my angels, the way has gotten less confused and cork-screw like. Definitely, the spiritual practices the Spirit has helped me develop are helping to keep the detours on my way to a minimum. I have had many opportunities to make bad choices. It is because of the Holy Spirit within me that I have been guided to see other ways I could choose. I am eternally grateful for this loving influence and the vision to live my life on a much straighter path now. I pray with the help of the spirit that we may all find different choices that come from a loving Spirit.  Oh loving God, we are humbled by the kind of love you show all of us. Help us see it is not the vision of love the world shows us. Take away the “shoulds” and show us a different vision of the creative ways we might live and make choices.  Amen.     PEACE

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES THAT FEED OUR SOULS

FINDING SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
THAT FEED OUR SOULS – and enhance our relationship with God. “Who am I, Lord, that you are mindful of me?” (Psalm 8:4) Sometimes we may just stumble onto practices that work for us and other times we have to live through some trial and error experiences to find what is most nourishing to our spiritual selves. The possibilities are vast and beyond numbering. Anything that supports and encourages us to seek and live with our Creator can be a spiritual practice. What gives it that distinction is the repetition in our daily lives. Note that we do not do any of this on our own. In various ways, God is motivating us to find the best ones that work for us. The more we allow this process of the Spirit working in us to draw us closer, the more we will discover practices that work for us, bringing us joy and love.

To begin my day, I start talking to God as soon as I wake up, sometimes even before my eyes open. It usually involves being grateful for my life and a new day in which to serve God, in whatever ways are laid out for me. When I actually get out of bed, I go and look outside, at God’s creation. I look for signs of life – animals, birds and plants, at particular flowers in bloom. In the winter months, it is harder to see life. It is still there, even if we have been given snow or ice. I look for the well-being of the trees, the birds and whether there are walkers or cars going by. I am still in contact with the Holy Spirit, either actively speaking internally or just being open to something they want me to see. I let the Spirit flow through me to all I can see and send love with it. I never let go of my contact with the Spirit, no matter what I do next. If I go out in the car that day, I pray and ask for safety for all those around us on the road, while also asking for protection from evil and patience in dealing with anyone else I encounter.

At home, I ask for assistance with all those in need of prayer that day. I have done some of these practices for so long that it needs just a mention. Then I maintain silence and trust the Spirit will show me anything that needs to come to my attention. By mid-morning, I publish the blog, unless other things interfere. Sometimes I am delayed by writing a new blog that has been given to me. I read scripture in the manner that was in yesterday’s blog, opening my heart to anything that may enrich my day or cause me to ponder in prayer. There are days when I am called to write beyond what is given for the blog. Right now the Holy Spirit is working with me on a piece about the universality of God, instead of the idea of a male God. It also discusses the damage this has caused for all of us, although especially women. Writing has become a spiritual practice for me. It ties into prayer and studying scripture. It is also a great release for stress and a way that truth comes to me. This can even involve writing and responding on Facebook. Yes, even doing FB can be a spiritual practice, depending on the way it is done. For me, it has become a way of connecting spiritually with others who are on a similar wavelength. It can be one way of finding community. However, we choose to reach out and extend our spirit to others is spiritual practice. These practices, whatever we choose to do, are not just solitary endeavors. Attending worship or serving in the community can be spiritual practices, if we do them in that manner. Driving to work can be a spiritual practice, if we do it in such a way that we bring the Holy Spirit with us, while asking for guidance to get through it in the best way possible and giving glory to God. This honors God and everyone we encounter along the way. Consider how your day would change if you started doing this for all the activities in your day. Start with one and keep adding to it as they each become a blessing in your life and the lives of those around you. We can live this way when we rely on God to guide us and show us how to do it.  Loving Spirit, we need your help in taking the steps necessary to drive to work with love and patience. Help us develop all we do into ways of doing them with you and your guidance. Show us other ways we can keep in contact with you.  Amen.     PEACE     

FINDING SPIRITUAL FULFILLMENT

FINDING SPIRITUAL FULFILLMENT
IN DAILY PRACTICES – that bring us closer to God and the person God created us to be. Like musical notes on a page, spiritual practices are nothing but a concept if not played out in our lives. We need to hear, feel and absorb the resonance of music in our hearts. Spiritual disciplines are not meant to be exercises repeated for their own sake. They exist to give life to our connections to God. In recently looking again at the life of Brother Lawrence, the famous Carmelite brother in Paris, who gave voice to the Practice of the Presence of God, I came across a simplified list of the Rule of St. Albert or as is commonly known as the Carmelite Rule. More than 800 years ago the order was established on Mount Carmel. In a modern-day statement they confirm their purpose for the life they lead: “We live our life of allegiance to Jesus Christ and to serve Him faithfully with a pure heart and a clear conscience through a commitment to seek the face of the living God (the contemplative dimension of life), through prayer, through fraternity, and through service.”  

Rule of Carmel

• develop the contemplative dimension of our life, in an open dialogue with God
• live full of charity
• meditate day and night on the Word of the Lord
• pray together or alone several times a day
• celebrate the Eucharist every day
• do manual work, as the Apostle Paul did
• purify ourselves of every trace of evil
• live in poverty, placing in common what little they may have
• love the Church and all people
• conform our will to that of God, seeking the will of God in faith, in dialogue, and through discernment.

Obviously, we are not all going to become a member of the Carmelite Order or even follow their rules for living. However, this may shine a light on why some of us devote our lives to God and some seek certain spiritual practices that enhance and develop our relationship with God. It reminds me of Jesus’ statement in JOHN 8:  “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.”  Concerning one of the rules above about purifying ourselves of evil, this is also in the Lord’s Prayer. The request is “deliver us from evil.” We do not do this ourselves. When we develop a practice of envisioning the light of Jesus shining in the world, then call on Jesus to banish evil, we have developed a practice that has a very powerful and practical purpose in our lives. Just like looking at a page of music that is familiar and then hearing in our hearts what that sounds like, we can find ways of giving life to any spiritual practice, to bring the power of the Holy Spirit to bear in the ways we are led to come closer to God. Many of us read scripture and it can bring us blessings. If we begin with prayer and read in a state of prayerful meditation, the results can be much different. While remaining in that state, opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit and asking for wisdom and understanding, we stay with the words we have read, letting them rest with us. If prompted, we may be urged to read the words more than once. In a relaxed state of trust, we will be given new understandings of what we read. I hope the practice may bring blessings and God’s grace to all who seek.   Gracious God, we are grateful for the ways you make yourself known to us, both subtle and blatant. Help us search and find spiritual practices that enhance our life with you. Enable us to use our new understanding to become more effective voices for your love and mercy in the world.  Amen.     PEACE

SHOW GOD’S CREATIVE LOVE

WE SHOW GOD’S CREATIVE LOVE
BY THE WAYS WE HELP OTHERS – serving unselfishly. There are more opportunities than can be counted that show love to others, while doing something we are interested in doing. I saw a man in Home Depot with a service dog and it got me curious. He did not look blind and my DH and I had just been talking about all the ways service dogs are being helpful to people in need of support. We had just seen one at breakfast. In doing some research I found many organizations that are working in the service dog training business to support many disorders. The one that most interested me was the work being done for soldiers with PTSD and traumatic brain injury. I found a group of volunteers who have put together “Operation Delta Dog”, exclusively for veterans with PTSD and TBI that uses rescue dogs. I am very impressed with the work they have already done and are doing to improve the lives of both the vets and the dogs. Centered in northeastern Massachusetts, they network with dog rescue groups, even at a distance, to find good candidates for training. They are fostered sometimes, given an assessment for readiness and then introduced to a veteran. They then go through training together for about a year. The dogs learn to assist the vet in the individual ways they need support. It does wonders for both vet and dog. The site has vignettes of each dog in training and the ones that already graduated. Most of the dogs are the victims of being in a kennel for a long time and may have been mistreated. One had even been shot and was overcoming his own dog form of PTSD. It gives the veterans a sense of helping the dog, as well as receiving help. What a great reciprocal relationship for the two partners, that is all about love.

If you are interested in supporting such a wonderful enterprise, this is very worthy. It takes about $10,000 including all expenses to complete the training for one veteran/dog team. I intend to support them and I am spreading the word, of the kind of love God wants us to show to one another, even our animal companions. Check out – http://www.operationdeltadog.org/#!graduates-delta-dog/c1bj4

This is an example of taking something we love and turning it into a huge benefit to others. This group has their loves and interests that coincided into becoming a real ministry, even though it isn’t called one. God works through even those who are unaware of the reason they are doing good, except they feel it is the right thing to do. God of all creation, we thank you for those who do your work unawares. Help us to recognize and support this and other instances you help us discover. We ask a special blessing for this group, who are giving new life to traumatized veterans and their canine helpers. They are surely spreading your love in the world.  Amen.     PEACE

REJOICE IN SUFFERING

REJOICE IN SUFFERING
FOR IT BRINGS GIFTS OF ITS OWN – as we continue in our relationship with God. Suffering is never fun, but it is the fire that tempers us, making us stronger, as it teaches us how to live more purposefully for God, with a renewed strength we cannot achieve any other way. Seen in this way, we can recognize that suffering is a part of the grace and love of God, honing us for more focused lives. I can say this because I have experienced, through suffering, that God is with us, no matter what the circumstance we may suffer. God’s grace brings gifts that will help to sustain us as we go through the trials and God’s love for us is with us, telling us that even though we suffer, we are still loved and valued by God. It is partially because creation is broken. Our ability to choose is also a factor. We are not singled out to suffer. We are guided through the suffering when we maintain our relationship with God through the suffering. In the world, this seems counterintuitive. In God, we may come to understand this, perhaps not as logical, but certainly as truth. When we choose to be fed by God, we will have a different kind of experience, one that makes us stronger in the end.

We hear this expressed in Romans 5: “Now that we have been made right with God by putting our trust in God, we have peace with God. It is because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us. 2 By putting our trust in God, God has given us God’s loving favor and has received us. We are happy for the hope we have of sharing the shining greatness of God. 3 We are glad for our troubles also. We know that troubles help us learn not to give up. 4 When we have learned not to give up, it shows we have stood the test. When we have stood the test, it gives us hope. 5 Hope never makes us ashamed because the love of God has come into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” ” … Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. … now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Whatever we suffer, the choices we make will affect our future with God. As we come the suffering, our outlook will be changed. If we have made choices toward God, we will gain a more productive future. One that knows more about ourselves and how God’s grace can bless and improve our life’s path.  Gracious God, we are thankful for your supporting love, that moves us through suffering, to a greater understanding of whose we are and why we are needed to do your work in the world. Spur us to new acts of courage as we reach out with love.  Amen.     PEACE

GOD REACHES OUT

GOD REACHES OUT
AND WE HAVE THE CHOICE TO RESPOND – and then be an instrument for God. When we begin to find some understanding and maturity in our relationship with God, we also find what ways God needs us to work in the world. We become familiar with things we do that serve a loving purpose for God and we realize what gifts we have that we are given for the express purpose of advancing God’s work. We may not fully comprehend how it all fits together. We may be given a sense that we are needed to do certain things with an ability we have. Several years ago, we were living, for a week, in a house that extends hospitality to the families of those in area health care facilities. We were sealed out of our house to get asbestos tile removed, as a follow up to water damage we had. It is run by members of our church and was a blessing to live in that large house, instead of a small hotel room for a week.

In my family of origin, we have been gifted with what we call the baking gene. My sister and I both have it, our mother and one of her sisters had it, and their mother had it. My older son has it and my sister’s son too. I love to bake and I felt called to bake that week and share cookies with everyone who passed through the doors. It was a small thing, but it might just have been the little lift someone needed, one they would never express. Serving God with our talents need not be a big display, as long as it expresses love. That family, from our congregation, certainly lives out this scripture with this house they provide. In 1 Peter 4, we hear it beautifully summed up:  “8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belongs the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.     PEACE

THE DIFFERENCE WE CAN MAKE IN THE WORLD

THE DIFFERENCE WE CAN MAKE IN THE WORLD
IS GREAT – using what we are given. Becoming who God needs us to be is a process. We take the steps of belief, trust, faith and our relationship with God in order to grow into a productive disciple, one who does the loving work of God wherever we are. We produce fruit by living out the love for God and for others, wherever we find ourselves. Who knows when it will begin. In our process of day in and day out loving, we will begin to see and know a different way of reacting to those around us and the world. It might first be a smile in a situation where we never considered smiling before. It could be noticing the condition of those around us and our noticing that someone needs a steadying hand. It involves giving more concern to those around us than worrying about our own concerns or discomfort. Then one day, we may catch someone’s arm who has stumbled, while letting a little of our own self-centeredness fall away.

These are just small things we become able to do, on our way to doing greater things for God. For this, God provides us with tools – gifts, talents, learning and the greatest gift of all. In John, we hear about the final step of preparation Jesus gave to the disciples.  John 20: 22 “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Just as Jesus prepared the disciples, so the Holy Spirit prepares and equips us every day, for whatever we are going to face. We are called to live out the certainty that the Holy Spirit will always give us the tools we need, even before we know we need them. The way we do that is to live in the faith that we will always have those tools as we need them. We may need to say something important to someone. We won’t know we have those words until we open our mouths and they come out. They will come into our brain just as soon as we need them. I have experienced this for many years and it is exciting to be able to say something wise or profound that you know you didn’t think. It was just there. You are hearing it for the first time as you are saying it. Many have this same experience and they find it exciting and joy-filled too. The Spirit acts in other ways in us, by prompting us to reach out to someone or to pray for them. If we are around people who are fearfully reacting to something in the world, the Spirit may give us words of hope or assurance to introduce God’s perspective into the conversation. It is in this way that God’s voice is heard in the world. We are God’s instruments – God’s hands, feet and voice in the world. To do this for God, we must trust that we will be guided and given the tools we need to do what God needs us to do. It may be a small hand of assistance or a few words that turn the tide. There have been phone calls and prayers, prompted by the Holy Spirit, that might save a life, either literally or turn the tide in a crisis of life for someone. Let us not fail to act on a prompting from the Spirit because of fear. As we grow in our connection and commitment, we will know the voice of God when we are asked to do something in love. We are sent out to do God’s work, with all that we will need to accomplish it and bear fruit.  O Jesus, you have given your Spirit to all those who will accept it. We are grateful for such a monumental gift. It is beyond our understanding and yet we are asked to use the tools you provide. Help us grow in the faith and the trust we need to rely on those tools being ready as we need them. Support us as we learn from experience that what you provide will indeed make it possible for us to bear fruit. May we glorify God in living this out in our lives.  Amen.     PEACE

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE
IS IMPORTANT TO GOD – and understanding who we are is vital to contribute to the place we find ourselves. This is what God wants us to know. When we are made, we are given a unique set of gifts and talents that are particular to us. Each person is made this way. Through our relationship with God, we begin to know what those talents and gifts are. We have choices all along the way, whether to accept and embrace these or not. If we do, we will be on a path to happiness and fulfillment in life. As we grow and become comfortable with our choices of using what we are given, we will be blessed and can bless others in living out who we are. If we use an image to consider this, we might use Jesus’ picture of the vine producing fruit, in John 15.  “5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relationship – intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how the Creator shows who she is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”  

When we make and maintain our connection, we grow as a vine and produce fruit by doing what we are created to do. This is satisfying and we grow even more fruit. It brings the blessings of joy and peace into our lives. It is difficult to explain the sense of fulfillment, when we are living out the life we are meant to live. Our perspective changes and everything is seen through a lens of love. We will always have a choice whether we continue in living this way. God is present within us. Every day we have the choice of what we want to do about that. We can deny all of this and many do. Or we can make the connection to God and begin the journey of becoming who we are meant to be. It is exciting to see where that might lead us. It will be fulfilling and greatly blessed.  Creator God, we are given a life and choices as to how to live out that life. Help us see what our choices can be and guide us toward the best choices. Through your love and grace, show us how we might best produce the fruit you long for us to give.  Amen.     PEACE

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN JESUS’ LIFE

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
IN JESUS’ LIFE – help us understand how God’s plan was worked out through Jesus, and can be done in our lives too. Yesterday we looked at Luke 4, where Jesus reads the prophecy from Isaiah 61, in his own hometown. There is a discussion that follows this that is very pivotal to the events in Jesus life. He was talking about the famines in Elijah’s time, where many Israelites died, and in Elisha’s time when many had leprosy, yet only one was saved during all that time, a foreigner [read this as gentile] named Naaman, who was a Syrian. The Jews upon hearing Jesus say this got very angry and actually pushed Jesus to the edge of a cliff.  “They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.”  This is an early foreshadowing of Jesus’ death at the hands of the Jews. According to God’s plan, this was not the time for Jesus to die. Much more needed to be accomplished before that part of the plan would happen. Just as God had a plan for the life and earthly ministry of Jesus, God has a bigger plan for those that love God, and are committed to following God’s plan for our own lives.

It is hard to turn off the fear that we hear everyday, because it is everywhere we turn. So much of what we see or hear has either a blatant or subtle, underlying message of fear. The world has an ulterior motive for us being fearful. We buy things because of fear, or we believe what we are told because we are programmed with fear. We live our lives fearing that someone will kill us, or someone we know and love will be killed. How could this be the kind of life we are called by God to live. So, we need to find ways of turning off the fear messages and replace them we the message of love from God. Through prayer, we can begin to live with a different perspective, seeing the world God has created, without the ugliness. Being able to see the world differently strengthens and encourages us. We can learn to turn off the fear and live more courageously. The crowd intended that Jesus be fearful of their action against him. We need to look at the action Jesus took. He refused to be fearful and knowing what God needed him to do, walked away. I’m not suggesting that we get ourselves into an argument with those that disagree with us. God has resources that we will be blessed with, in order to work out God’s plan in the small ways we have in the workings of our own lives. Just as God gave Jesus power to do his work, so God gives us both power and tools to do the work God calls us to do too. Through prayer and the connection we have with God, we will learn to trust God what God provides. As we grow, we will become more effective at accessing what God gives us. We will bear the fruit that will help change the world.  Loving God, we thank you for the ways you have of helping us see a different world of love than the world of fear and evil. Help us show the other more loving world to others we encounter, by doing what you need us to do, using the power and tools you make available to us.  Amen.     PEACE