Grief, the "Great Kiss of Abundance"

In memory of these friends and family who shared of their abundance and added to mine:  Jean Augustine, David Farabee, Carol Rayl,Jody Luther, Richard Heavican, Ed and Marie Prokes, Martin and Bernice Heavican, Margaret Ann Heavican, John Augustine, Norma Uhlik, John Lambert, Grayson Lambert, McKinley Lambert, and Joshua Lambert , and the children, family, and teachers, and principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT... those who have lost lives in the service of our country.

The following is taken from a Quiet Day that I facilitated several weeks ago. In conversation and reflection,  we shared our abundance.... our prayers, our loss, our hope and our faith. 


With all the joy, excitement, and happiness that Christmas brings, many of us are also aware of the loved ones we've lost this past year, and years past.  It doesn't seem to matter how much time has passed, we just want them with us for Christmas.  Christmas is a time of abundance in all forms....love, hope, faith, family, fun, traditions, songs, food, children, scripture, lights, and, of course, presents.  And there is also abundance, even in our grieving.  Grief is simply a form of abundant love.  Grief, like it, or hate it, has its own abundance to share with the world.  If we hadn't truly loved, there would be nothing to grieve.  Love is the umbilical cord connected to every stage of grief, just as the umbilical cord is connected to every stage of a growing baby.  When you take time to stop and reflect upon grief, the womb this feeling of loss grows in, feeds, sustains, and nourishes every aspect of love and life.  Our tendency is to fight grief, push it away, believing that all that grief could possibly offer us is pain and sorrow.  But grief, like love, requires our attention, and our sharing it.  Tears are really just another form of laughter- both cleansing what ails us....the essence of both being freedom...both heal, both transcend our worldly circumstance, and carry us higher, and experiencing either tears or laughter, often leads to the other.  We've all laughed so hard we've cried, and we've all cried so hard, that we end up laughing.

Embracing abundant grief, we also embrace change.  Grief is the great passageway to change...the bridge we all must cross to a new way of being in the world.  Change has its own abundance to offer, if we can remain open, available and teachable.  And with change, often feelings of anger show up. Anger, in its true abundance, says to the world.... I cared, I loved, I believed, I invested, and I trusted in abundant life!  Don't be afraid of abundant anger.  It too, when given the chance to express itself in a healthy manner, cleanses, heals, and can free us, so that we might have life and live it abundantly!  It is our nature to change, and when we get angry, change has begun to touch us.  Change hands us an invitation to care, love, believe, invest, and trust in life yet again.

Grief, sadness, loss, and anger, are often all believed to be negative feelings.  But we can learn to love even crying as much as we love laughing.  We can learn to love, and embrace, the abundance of the "closed door", the "empty nest", and the "short life".  Part of the negativity of grief, is that we believe something has been taken from us, stolen from our ownership...that we had a right to someone or something for a guaranteed certain amount of time.  True grief, in all its abundance, gently, and very bravely, hands back to God, what was only God's in the first place.  There isn't anyone or anything that is truly ours.  Everyone, and everything, is loaned to us as a gift, so that we might learn how to love more abundantly, forgive more freely, and grow our spirits, more effortlessly.  Grief, the tears, the anger, the loss, shows us what an abundant gift we had while we had it.  Grief never diminishes or lessens abundance. It emphasizes it, makes it pronounced, and intensifies its loveliness.

The eternal sleep that we are witness to so often, causes us to "awaken" to the abundance within our own inner self.  We are like Sleeping Beauty, slumbering our lives away, until something happens, and often it is a loss of some type.  That "something", that "event" leans over us, loves us, and "kisses" us, and suddenly we remember who we are, who God is, and what we are meant to do while on this earth.  Grief is the "kiss" of abundance that searched for us, and found us.  Grief unlocks a treasure chest within us, where all abundance is stored, overflowing with jewels// waiting for us to pick them up and place them around our necks- each piece of precious gold, each strand of shimmering silver, and every last carat of sparkling diamonds... the jewels that adorn us as everything invisible...love, happiness, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,patience, and freedom.  Grief is the passionate "kiss" that awakens us to healing, loving, and forgiving.  Grief awakens us to the only abundance that we truly possess, and that is everything that we cannot see.  Grief reminds us that there isn't anything or anyone that can "make" us happy.  We must learn to feel and live abundantly without the abundance of things and people.  Real abundance does not depend upon the attainment of perfect circumstances... the perfect spouse, the perfect job, the perfect children, the perfect church, the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect health, or the perfect length of life.  Abundant grief always points to abundant life. Everyone of us lives forever because we are Love, and Love can never die because God is Love.  Death is simply a change in the form our spirit has taken. People come to us as Love, which has taken on the form of a body, in order to communicate that love to us.  Our abundance lies in the truth that we are not our bodies.  We are Love.  Bodies do not live.  Love always lives.

We can both grieve and be happy.  We can experience loss and live in abundance.  Grieving doesn't suddenly make life an and/or proposition.  If I am grieving, then I can't possibly be happy.  Quite the opposite, we grieve because we shared happiness.  We shared abundance.  We can grieve and laugh, and even giggle.  It is okay.  We can grieve and still have fun.

Abundant grief casts away everyone's darkness and causes them to shine brightly, giving off an eternal flame that never dims.  No matter how many poor choices someone may have made, no matter how many dumb things they may have said or done, no matter what they suffered from, no one, in their right "grief-mind" cares.  In our right "grief-mind", we only see the love they shared, who they forgave, what they did for people, and how they made people feel....how they changed someone's life for the better.  The rest doesn't matter.  The abundant griever finally sees as God sees, loves as God loves, and does as God does.  We are here to learn how to live like the abundant griever every day of earthly llife.  Abundant life needs and depends upon, the beauty of death.  Abundant life needs the simplicity and the power of loss and letting go.

 

They  were more precious to us

than the sparrow, the robin, the bluebird,

or even the wren.

As we kept vigil over their preparing to fly home,

We prayed that they would light upon their chosen sturdy Branch of Peace,

where their soft song would be heard,

and her wingspan broadened.

 Every time they soar higher, we will feel

the same eternal, gentle breeze that has lifted her, and carried her

upward to larger skies.

The Tree of Paradise salutes them, where

deep inside, they already knew its sturdiness,

its shade, and its shelter.

They was already quite familiar with its beauty, its provision,

and its protection, and in their

deepness, they recognized every branch that extended its welcome,

,

 remembering every leaf as a faithful friend…those fallen,

those changed with new color, and even those just beginning to form.

Everyone that loves them gathers round its circumference, rings of generations encircling their life.

May they fly to its safety, its strength, and its shade,

where a Heavenly Vestry of a thousand Holy People lines its branches.

May they soar to the highest branch and sing a million hymns of cheerful, happy Sunday songs,

and may our friends feast on The Word-Seeds of their Creator to their heart’s content,

 proclaiming them to us from the holy lecterns of our memories.

Their songs will be heard in every Fall and every Winter,

 every Spring and every Summer.

Fly home to the Life you’ve always known.

Fly home to the place you’ve always loved.

Fly in high, blue skies, unafraid and free.

Fly strong and happy.

Fly….. untethered by limitation, pain, and death.

Fly high and far, and follow the chosen path of your

Great Migration to a warmer place.

 

The Normal and the Mysterious

I don't know that there is enough "mother prayer"s or wisdom to go around in regards to the tragedy that Newtown, CT. has experienced.  I know as a mother, and a former elementary teacher,  I felt this one.  As a matter of fact,  I was completely caught off guard by my reaction.  I cried, and I cried hard.  I thought about how I dropped off my children at school, a normal day, with all kinds of normal plans, normal conversations, normal worries, normal schedules, normal activities, normal everything.....  And then a tragedy happens that changes "normal".  Those parents and their children had a normal morning and had normal plans for their day too.   Before this tragedy,  my "normal" wasn't really shaken.  I certainly watched other tragedies unfold through the news, prayed for those people too, commented on those events in passing, felt bad for those families as well, but twenty children gone, through an act of violence, from us, has caused me to reflect on what is "normal" and what isn't "normal" anymore.

Has violence become so "normal" in our country that now we are having to witness a large group of children become  victims of our country's addiction to fear, which has led to our addiction to wars, weapons, fighting, and revenge?  Has fear become so "normal" that we feel we have to have weapons, that are "normally" used in wars, that are so destructive and devastating, in the hands of anyone who just wants one because they can get one? For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline....2 Timothy 1: 7 Where do we need more self-discipline?....  Violent lyrics in our music, violent television shows and movies, and violence glorified by the media seems to have become "normal" for us, and now, yet again, we are experiencing  the consequences of this "normal". I literally just got interrupted by my son, while writing this, who is playing a math game that involved a monster and shooting. A math game that also includes violence. Why does a math game need to include violence in order for it to be fun?  So, the message to my son is:  Violence is fun and you can be violent and learn your math facts.  So violence must be good.  And as he walked away from the game, he is now making shooting sounds. This is a "normal" everyday occurrence for many parents.  It has become "normal" to expect heightened, and adjusted, security measures in our schools, our airports, our federal buildings, and even in our homes to try and combat what has become "normal".  When we turn on our local news in the morning, it is "normal" to hear the latest robberies, murders, sexual abuse cases, homicides, domestic abuse events, and drunk driving accidents.  It has become "normal" for everyone to question why God could allow these terrible tragedies to happen. We immediately turn to God, and ask "why" and put it in His lap, enabling our fearful and violent "normal" to continue. 

As we prepare for Christmas, with the birth of Christ, came a way to transcend this fearful and violent "normal" and create a new action-centered "normal."  Everyone is suggesting we have an honest "conversation" about the tragedy, guns in our country, and violence in general.  Even conversations have become the "normal" result, resulting in absolutely nothing, but a future tragedy.  Jesus came to show us how to take our "conversations" to the next level.  But don't just listen to God's word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves.  James 1: 22  This verse could also read, Anyone who continues to talk over and over about what God would have us do, and still does nothing to change the situation is only fooling themselves. Jesus came to show us how we have been fooling ourselves.  Jesus came to show us how we have allowed "apathy" to become "normal".  Blame has become "normal".   Division has become "normal".  Mental illness is "normal", preventing mental illness and caring for the mentally ill, is not.   Making money through the sale of guns has become more important than keeping our children alive, and that is "normal".  Desperate people doing desperate things has become "normal".   How much of this "normal" are we going to accept?  How much more of this "normal" are we going to allow.

Many of us respond to a tragedy with the belief that Only God knows.  Only God could understand.  Or, God works in mysterious ways.  There really is nothing mysterious about this.  What is mysterious, is why human beings continue to cling to our "violent" normal in all facets of our lives... from our newscasts, to our music, to our movies and television shows, to our video games, right down to the words we choose to use on a daily basis, and then wonder why tragedies like the one in Newtown, CT. happen.  What is mysterious is why we say we believe that God is all-powerful, and with God we have nothing to fear, and yet we continue to believe that if we don't carry a gun, someone is going to get us.  What is mysterious is how we have made fear more powerful than God, that fear manifesting itself in weapons, that we believe we have to have. What is mysterious is the fact that God has given us free will to make choices, and when we make choices that continue to enable violence, and we do nothing to prevent it, we blame God.  What is mysterious is that many of us have been taught the Ten Commandments...Thou shalt not kill, and we continue to create and foster an environment that invites unnecessary death.  We cannot blame this one on God, or put this in the category of  the "mysterious" ways in which God works.   God, by design, gave us free will, so that we might be able to act when necessary to change our sinful "normal" into an expected miracle. Miracles must become our normal.  

Christmas is about the birth of a "new normal", and Jesus, and how he lived his life was "the new normal" the salvation, that he came to show us how to act upon.  God will save us from our current sinful "normal" when we decide we've had enough of the violence and we put our money, our laws, our time, and our priorities into a violence-free world.  God is waiting on us to use the gift of  our free will to bring about the peaceful, happy, safe world, we all say we long for.  This is what Christmas is all about....asking God to show us how to act, what to do, and how to do it, and then trusting that He will provide the power, the love, the time, the money, the people, the resources, the energy, and the grace of active commitment to do it.  Jesus lives when we allow other people to live!  

This time, lighting candles isn't going to be enough.  Saying our prayers isn't going to be enough. Crying isn't going to be enough. Reading the bible isn't going to be enough.  Only carefully discerned action can stop the violence.  Every person can do a "violence inventory" of our lives.  Do I have a gun, and for what reason, what kinds of shows, toys,  movies, and video games do I allow my children, and myself, to watch,  what parts of the bible do I use as bullets in order to justify my fear-based addiction,  when I feel fear, what do I think, say, and do? How is our favorite sports leading to violence, and what words in my vocabulary do I use that might even have a hint of violence in it?  Even the phrase,  I'm going to kill you, which all of us think and use at one time or another, can  be eliminated.  Everything matters.  This isn't just a gun control issue, it is an economic, health care, and national safety issue. Every facet of our life is impacted by violent tragedies.   We go to war over terrorism and wonder why anyone would want to commit an act of terrorism toward our country, when our country literally vibrates with the energy of terrorism on our streets, in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our homes.  What is true for ourselves is true for our country.  We are only getting back what we have "put out"....what we have allowed to grow in our hearts eventually manifests itself in the physical world.  

We can't afford to "soul search" anymore.  We must "soulfully act" now in whatever capacity God asks us to, and God is not just asking, God is begging us.   

Tomorrow, I am going to take all three of my children to their schools, to learn, and be under the guidance and protection of their schools, trusting that they will come home to me happy, safe, and untouched by violence.  Every morning, I pray from the book, The Power of a Praying Parent, by Stormie Omartian.  She has several prayers in there for protection that I say every day, and after what happened this past Friday, I am affirmed in why I choose to wake up an hour earlier than my children and pray for their needs.  The power of prayer will see us through, but even more important, the power of united action, will change our violent normal into a new peaceful, loving, forgiving normal.  May this Advent/Christmas season usher in a "new normal", a prayerful and Holy Spirit- calculated, and intentional  action-oriented solution to ending all tragedies.  

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation

so why should I be afraid?

The Lord is my fortress protecting me from danger, 

so why should I tremble?

When evil people come to devour me,

my heart will not be afraid, 

even if I am attacked,

I will remain confident. 

For he will conceal me there when troubles come;

he will hide me in his sanctuary.

He will place me out of reach on a high rock. 

I am confident I will see the LORD's goodness 

while I am here in the land of the living.

1.  What, or who, causes us to be fearful, preventing us from taking action when the call to action is so urgent?

2.  How did you react to the tragedy in CT, or any of the many other violent tragedies our country has faced?  What image of God do you turn to in these events?  

3.  What gives you hope for a peace-filled future?  What is your part in that peaceful future?  What can you do today, tomorrow, and in the weeks to come?

4.  What is just one change you can make toward that peaceful future?   

 

 

Stretch Marks

A new church year is here, and we start our brand new church year with a woman and mother, named Mary.  Our entire church year begins with this young lady, approached by an angel, who told her that humanity's salvation would depend upon one simple word "YES!"  We really know so little about this mom and I know many people, especially women, who crave to know more of who she was....an everyday young woman, visited by an angel, believed to be blessed by God, and chosen to carry, give birth to, and then raise, an innocent boy into a man who many would come to call our Savior.  Not married, but betrothed to a carpenter, named Joseph, her entire life uprooted and rearranged by the plans of God that she could not have seen coming.  She couldn't have predicted this for her future, but she was so willing to agree to it all.  Afraid, but fully cooperative, with such few details, about how it would all transpire.  She "signed on the dotted line", without a thought given to reading the fine print:  By signing this you agree to risk your life , to be pregnant without a husband for awhile, to let go of all control of your life and the life of your child. By signing here,  You agree to be available to the Holy Spirit's promptings, direction, and power and you promise to raise this boy, who we have already named Jesus.  Oh, yes, and you will need to ride on the back of a donkey just before you are ready to give birth, not in a pretty bed with crisp, freshly sterilized linens, but in a manger, full of hay, manure, open to the elements, and with curious animals all around you. He will live a short life, but a life that will impact the hearts and minds of generations to come. You will need to be brave, dependent upon your God. 

I often think about this woman, and how one event, changed the entire trajectory of her life.  I often wonder about the everyday, average details of her pregnancy.  What kinds of cravings did she experience? Sweets?  Breads?   How much weight do you suppose she gained?  Did she have horribly swollen ankles like I did?  Was she able to take a nap when she got tired?  And did this ordinary young lady experience any morning sickness?  I often imagine her smiling and thankful for the first time she felt her baby boy move inside her?  Did she feel "favored" or did the "specialness" wear out with exhaustion, mood swings, and the everyday tasks that had to be accomplished for day-to-day existence.  She was human too, chosen by God, in this world, just like we are, but not of this world, just like we are.  Mothers worry, and I'm sure Mary did too.  Mothers just want their babies born safely, and in perfect health, and Mary was no exception. Can you imagine what she wanted for a birth plan?  No epidurals in that manger.  You can bet she and Joseph counted every finger and every toe, and  you can be sure that she longed to hear her baby's first cry and you can be sure that she rejoiced with every poopy diaper, every burp, and every tiny squeak.  I am sure that Joseph learned how to swaddle him and that they spent hours watching him breathe, his little chest moving up and down in the most perfect rhythm.  Was his first word Da Da?  When did he get his first tooth and can you imagine the happiness when he took his first step?

Jesus, this little innocent baby boy, was being perfectly knit together by God, deep inside of Mary, nestled underneath the chambers of her open heart.  Every last stitch of his life thought out and each beautiful row of his thoughts established in a perfect pattern of love and peace.  His  Mind, fearfully and wonderfully made for the world, a royal garment, we are called to wear everyday so that our cold  lives might be warmed, comfortable, and made so beautiful.  God knew every time this boy would sit on his mama's lap, sit in a temple, or sit on a mountainside to pray to his Creator.  God knew that he would rise up to the challenges of feeding the hungry, raising the dead, and healing the sick.  And God knew that he would rise up from his cross.  God knew every deep thought Jesus would have, every prayer he would utter in gardens, homes,  and hillsides, and all the instructions he would deliver.  In the inmost places of Mary,  God fashioned the inmost parts of God-With-Us.

As this little baby grew, Mary felt Goodness move in her, and Joy do its somersaults again and again.  Hiccups of Hope tickled her and Peace awakened her in the middle of the night.  Mary's middle expanded and so did Love.   Mary bore the stretchmarks of  the steady growth of faith, a faith stretched and stretched again by a situation impossible for humanity, but possible through God's grace and perfectly executed intervention. Our world's soul stretched and marked by a blossoming belief....belief in God's promise that help was on its way.  Belief that this little boy would grow up to be a man of prayerful action.  A little boy who cooed, laughed, played, crawled, napped, pottied, and giggled who would grow up to be a man who prayed, taught, led, fed, preached, loved, forgave, and rose from his own grave.  The weight Mary gained inside her would lessen the weight of our weary, tired, burdened world.  Inside Mary was the invisible, secret work of God  that would eventually be made visible by Mary's labor pains, her sweat, and her blood.  Mary's dark, inner womb was filled with Light. The night inside her grew a New Day for all of us.

I know Mary must have thanked God over and over for her cousin and friend, Elizabeth. Someone to lean on, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and a girlfriend to laugh with, both of them putting their feet up late in the afternoon, maybe a cup of tea or a glass of cold water, trying to figure out how God was going to put this all together. Both feeling as if they were walking in a dream.  They must have prayed together, cried together, laughed together, and made fun of each other as they outgrew their clothes... maybe the origins of the first MOPS or a Mom's Group.    

God searched Mary out, knew what her heart and her body was capable of.  God knew her thoughts would get restless, but that  her faith in God would bring victory for all of us.  She trusted the deepness of God's plans and knew that every thought God had about her life was greater than the sum of every other thought she could have, even fearful ones.  She knew that there was no place she could go, even a dirty manger, that God's presence would not be there for her.  She knew that God's right hand would hold her fast, even upon the back of that donkey.  God made Mary marvelous, wonderful, and God made Jesus marvelous and wonderful. What it must have felt like to carry and nurture the easy weight of God inside her!  There is no place that her mind could wander to, that would cause the Holy Spirit to flee from her or God's presence to be removed from this crazy and necessary experience.

God moved behind them both, before them, and laid His gentle hands upon every month of this pregnancy.  Every one of us has experienced an event, or maybe more than one, that has changed the trajectory of our lives. There are events in our lives that we couldn't have predicted in our wildest dreams, things that we can't imagine how they could possibly get worked out.  And, they do get worked out, every day... all the time. Angels seek us out and find us when we least expect it. God is always knitting together precious life out of something in our own live's deepness and our darkness.  Goodness moves inside us, Hope tickles our Center, and  Peace awakens us, lest we fall asleep to what is growing right beneath our own heart.  And Love, when we nurture it, stretches us and leaves its mark on the world.  Mary, our Advent Heroine, was a virgin, not because a man had never touched her, but because she didn't allow fear to touch her.

Knitter God,

This Advent, please take the colorful strands of my heart and mind,

and in my deepness, knit together  something beautiful, comfortable, and warm inside me,

that I can give to the world to wear and enjoy.

Knit together a garment of  perfect peace,

and wrap my life in your soft love, where fear can never touch me.

Unravel my mistakes, God, and keep me from repeating them. Help me balance tension and ease with every row, making precious stitches of my blessings

and thanksgivings.

Even if my life should be undone and rearranged, the planned

patterns of your faithfulness remain visible and certain,
your creative genius perfect in every way
and flattering to the eye. 
You, O God,  knit my Savior together
inside his mother's womb,
and you knit my life and my very being together day after day, 
strand after strand, stitch after stitch, row after row.
May Goodness cover me, and threads of Hope tickle me.
May Love grow from my deepness, stretch me,
and mark the world with its stripes.  Amen.

Reflect On Your Life

For you formed my inward being, You knit me together in my mother's womb.
Psalm 139 

How has God uprooted and rearranged your life in a way you never thought possible?

When have you allowed fear to touch you?  When have you kept fear from touching you and experienced God's love?  

What is God knitting together inside you?  What do you wait for?  What is invisible to you now, but you hope to  be made visible in your future? 

 

 
 

  

God "Gets It" No Pressures, Just Pause

Yesterday, Charles and I sat down with planners in front of us, took a deep breath, and offered our calendars to God, hoping to approach the upcoming Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas/New Year season with balance and a sense of humor...knowing that we can make our plans, but it is God who orders our life.  Please, God, order the chaos of two December birthdays, school programs for three children, school parties, especially the one that I am in charge of ( 15 four year olds awaiting sugar and a craft that must include glitter or it just isn't a Christmas craft), the arrival of the Christmas tree, the outdoor lights, the cookie exchanges, the St. Nick ritual of shoes by the doors, the anxious/crazy children awaiting Santa, the shopping excursions, the services at church to plan for and participate in, the gift cards, Christmas cards, and debit cards.  The travel plans, the meal plans, the Plan A and Plan B to cover the "just in case" plans.   Please, God, order the full days of the chaos we choose to create. The chaos we have a love/hate relationship with.  We hate it, but we do all of it because we love it!

While Charles and I were coordinating calendars, thoughts, and trying to communicate expectations of each other during this season.  As I begin to anticipate the activity of the next couple of months, there is one word that keeps coming back to me again and again.  Pause.  And there is one place in scripture that speaks to me.  And Mary pondered all these things in her heart.  I always have high hopes of taking more time for prayer and reflection, like all the Advent/Christmas books, sermons, and devotionals suggest.  There are two Me's that fight for my attention this time of year. There is the June- Cleaver- Christmas- Angel- Me that can smile through Advent with my pearls and heels, smile through every day, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, decorating sugar cookies, never ceasing to pray, never missing a daily devotional, and loving every glitter-infused project that comes home from school.  And then there is the Rosanne- Barr- Bahh Hum Bug-Me who is happy with the store bought cookies, who maybe reads a devotional once or twice a week during Advent, who makes macaroni and cheese, with red and green sprinkles, for Christmas Eve dinner, served on Valentine's Day paper plates (they're red and Jesus is born in our hearts, right), who gets her Christmas cards out by the end of January, and who is happy to read The Night Before Christmas the day after Christmas.  I aim for June, try to limit Rosanne, and have learned to be content with a happy blend of the two of them.  

My only intention this Christmas season is to pause.  To just stop once in awhile and remember how absolutely wonderful it is to have three healthy children to celebrate Christmas with. To pause and remember how fantastic it is to hear them laugh and ask me for the twentieth time When does Christmas get here?  To pause and take in the scene of all of us decorating the tree together and choosing which ornaments we get to put on the tree.  To just stop and feel it, and cherish it,  because it is all a thin mist, a scene that will evaporate all too quickly.  I just want to pause and say thank you to my husband who never knows whether he is going to get June or Rosanne in November and December, and doesn't really care, who still throws his arms around me, gives me a kiss, and loves me anyway.  I just want to remember to stop now and then, look at the dusty nativity, and feel my savior, saving me from my insane self.  I hope to pause and think about the words in my favorite Christmas song, instead of just hearing it in the background.

Thank God the spirit of the season is for every day of the year.  We are not "Christmas- Busy" all year long, and God is just as present and active January through next December as He is this coming holiday season.  And that means the Christmas grace is always available.  The loving, redeeming, all-powerful God that is so present in our hymns, our Christmas pageants, our nativities, and our giving to those in need is just as palpable in February as December 25th.  We wait for Jesus to come into the world all through Advent and God waits for us to allow Him to enter our world, every moment of every day.   God doesn't choose a season to be more present or attentive to us in the way that we choose to give more attention and energy to God at certain times of the year.  Every day we can experience the same spiritual intensity and anticipation of God's coming into our hearts as we do on Christmas morning. 

So we can relax, and simply remember to pause now and then and say "Thank you, God, for understanding what we all go through during the holiday season. Thank you for waiting for me, while I wait for You." While standing in line waiting to pay for the gifts, pause. While you are waiting for the last batch of cookies to come out of the oven, pause.  While you are sealing the envelopes of your Christmas cards, pause.  While you wait in line at the UPS store, with your gifts to be made ready for shipping, pause.
While you watch your favorite Christmas movie with your family, close your eyes for a minute, and pause.  It is enough to know that God waits for us on the other side of the holidays, hovering over us, and loving us even more because He knows how busy you are. God "gets it". No pressures from God, only the ones we place on ourselves. He knows how tired you are.  He knows every last detail of your life, and blesses every last detail.  A simple, "Help me, God, get this right, and get this done!"  not only applies to our endless Christmas list, but it was the prayer that the entire world said before Jesus arrived.  "Help us, God, get this right and get it done!"  And he sent Jesus.  Pause, and say, Jesus, and you will get it right, and done!

Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends, to all who take the time to pause and read this blog, here in the United States and around the world...Russia, thank you for reading.  Brazil, thank you for reading. Germany, thank you for reading. Italy, thank you for reading. Great Britain, thank you for reading. Indonisia, China, South America...thank you!  I'm thankful for each and every one of you and I pray for you all every day.  Your support in the form of comments, messages and prayers keeps my heart "feasting" on the love of God and sustains me through the holidays!

God of Our Time and Our Lists,

I know the better part of this busy season

is to spend time quiet time with You,

but I find myself preoccupied with the endless list

of needs and obligations.

Thank you, God, that you patiently wait for me.

Thank you, God, that you understand and are

merciful at what the world has made the holidays into.

Help me say "yes" when I should, and 

"no" when I should not take something else on.

And every now and then, help me

sneak in a little time to feel your love and your help,

which you are always so ready to give.

I love you, God.  I love how you understand my busy life.  Amen.

 

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, 

so that we may find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4: 15-16

The Lord God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will

take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love.

Zephaniah 3: 17

Reflect on Your Life

1.  Is there anything you can say "no " to this upcoming holiday season so that you can do something more mindfully and with greater joy?

2.  How are you going to take care of yourself through the holidays?  

3.  What "signal" in your daily life might help remind you to "PAUSE" - maybe a watch alarm, a certain song, putting on your seatbelt, standing at the sink, a note on your bathroom mirror ?

4.  Give yourself permission to:  (You fill in the blank)

 

A Little Over a Week to Go!

I had no intention of writing about the elections, and then Spirit kept prompting, nudging, and pushing so here it is.  My oldest daughter is truly understanding  elections and starting to ask some really good questions about voting - like how you do it, where you vote,  how do you know who to vote for, and how do you run for a position.   As I tried to explain to her about the popular vote and the electoral vote, I could see the wheels turning.... Why is it called a popular vote if only some votes elect the president.  That feels like unpopular to me, Mom.  Can't argue with that.  Then the the next question:  What if I want to run for president?  How do I do that?  I have to say that this question stopped me cold.  In theory, I know she should be able to run if she wanted to, but in reality, the amount of money she would need could prevent her. What a gift it is to be able to say to your daughter, yes, we live in a country where you could run for president.  Work hard, believe big,  and you could do this.  But all the while, I think everyone would agree that the amount of money it takes is an insurmountable obstacle for many people. Then this question.  How do you know which party you want to belong to?  Democrat, Republican, or Independent?  Then we discussed that there are other parties as well on the ballot like the Green Party.  Her response:  Why weren't they in the really big debates?  Why don't we see them on the news?  

Even children get the really simply things.  They get that there are some things about our democracy that need improving.  They get how mean people can be toward each other in an election.  I think even my nine year old understands and feels the division, the negativity, and the tension in the air.  How we view God really comes to the forefront when it comes to elections.  Both parties, Democrat and Republican are praying to God that their candidate might win the election.  There God sits, with half the country praying for their candidate and the other half of the country praying for their candidate.   Do we believe in a God who will take our side?  Do we believe in a God who will let half of the country "down?"  If your candidate wins,  half of the country will proclaim how good God is.  What will the other half say about God?  Can we dare to believe that God is larger than our two political parties?  Can we believe that God doesn't take sides?  Can we believe that God would choose whose prayers to answer?   There is nothing like an election to shed some light on the image of God that we have made in our own likeness, in order to survive the unknown of an election.  Surely God must be Republican.  Surely God must be a Democrat.   If God is for us, who can be against us?  God is for the United States, for all of us. And if we can believe that, then we can believe that  God knows the plans He has for us as a country.  Plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.  God is in control of the future of our country, not any one political party.

The United States is a country with a collective soul, a collective divine wellspring of energy, that God is very much a part of.  Just as God works in our individual lives, God is also working and active in this country's life. And we can find a great deal of peace that no matter which candidate is elected president, we can rejoice, because the energy of God is present and alive in both parties.  Hold onto your seats now....  It really doesn't matter who is president because God will work through either candidate to show our beloved country what collective thoughts need examining, what beliefs need questioning, and what actions aren't serving Love's purpose.  It isn't about the two parties at all.  It is about becoming awake and aware to how God is calling all fifty states to be transformed.  While there is a separation of church and state, there is not a separation of God from our fifty states.  God isn't religious or democratic or republican or independent.  Even institutions can't separate us from the love of God because nothing can separate us from the love of God.   We have nothing to worry about when it comes to this election.  Do not be anxious about this election, but in everything about this election, with prayer and petition, and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, all parties, and all votes, will guard our hearts and minds, no matter the outcome. 

Two or three and many more will gather at election polls all across the country and God will be there in our midst.  Pray before you vote.  Pray for peace, for understanding, and for trust that the outcome will be perfect.  Pray to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Pray that what our country needs to change will be changed and what doesn't need changing will be left in God's hands.  Pray for both candidates, not just the one you support.  Pray for our Congress, our local leaders, and our future leaders.  Pray that we don't become so discouraged by our political weaknesses and sins that we can all work together to build a true democracy.  Pray that the money involved can become a blessing, not a curse or a god.  Pray that our attention be turned to common ground again...that we all love this country and we all want to see it to do well.  Pray that our words on election day will encourage and build each other up.  Pray that whoever wants to vote, will be able to vote.

Love is patient.  Love is kind. It does not envy.  It does not boast.  It is not proud.  It is not rude.  It is not self-seeking.  It is not easily angered.  It keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. Corinthians.  Let us be patient with those of different viewpoints and ideas.  Let us be kind to the people of the other parties.  Let us keep no record of mistakes, lies, and judgments.  Let us not delight in our perceived "wrongness" of the other, but rejoice that Truth will prevail. Instead of making the other guy the enemy, make the other guy a brother, simply trying to make his way in the world, doing the best he can, with the knowledge he has acquired in this point and time.  This is a tall order, but we can do it if we keep our eyes fixed on God, and not the polls or the news or the advertisements.

We have an opportunity to be imitators of God in this election.  Help us, God, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 5: 1   We are invited by Spirit to be children of light over the next several days.  As a mom, I am very aware that my children are watching and listening to my reaction to the campaign.  I am teaching them how to behave during a campaign and especially how to respect the opinions and ideas of others that we may not agree with. Our children are our political future too! 

When we wake up on the day after the election, we are going to be okay, even if the vote we cast didn't get the result we wanted.  It is going to be okay because God is in control and our country is in God's hands.  No need to panic, get angry, or lose faith.  We are all going to be all right because God is with us.

A Prayer For the Election

God of All of Us,

Bless our United States.

Bless the candidates, the voters and non-voters, 

and the polling sites and workers.

Keep everyone safe, polite, and respectful.

Help us, God, to say and do to others what we would want them to

say and do to us.

Inspire our reasoning, as we make important

choices for our country.

May every vote serve Love's Purpose and  Intention.

Keep our words thoughtful, our actions peaceful, and our hearts faithful.

Have mercy on our country's soul.

Wash away any greed,  malice, or wrong-doing.

Cleanse the motives of our collective heart.

You, O God, will never take your presence away from us

or remove your Spirit from our life.  And for this we are thankful.  Amen.

Spiritual Challenge for the Week

Pray for the candidate you will not vote for... not that he loses :) but that he will be blessed, protected, and feel God's love.  

Reflect On Your Life

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 path straight.

Proverbs 3: 5

1.  What are your fears about this election?  What gives you hope for our country?  

2.  What do you want to see changed and/or healed in our country?  How can we begin to work together?

3.  How do you see voting as God's action in the world?  What do you say to those who feel that their vote doesn't count?  What is God saying to you about our democracy as it is?

4.  Where do you see the need for our country to ask forgiveness and mercy?   

5.  How do your individual choices affect the collective soul of our country?

 

Messes and Messages

I've noticed that, as a mother of three, I seem to just move from mess to mess throughout the day.  It starts with the breakfast dishes and doesn't really end till I go to bed.  What happened to my high school days when my entire bedroom was a mess, and you could barely make out a path from the door to my bed, and I loved that!  I didn't see a mess.  Didn't think twice about it, and once in awhile, I would get the urge to clean my room, and I did.  Now,  I love it when the house is clean!  It is my dream to clean my house thoroughly once a week with everyone helping, no interruptions.  Like I said, it is a dream! (I need to get a new dream!)  I stand with a load of barbies in my arms wondering why no one else seems to care about the mess I'm faced with.  Why do I have to ask these people over and over to clean up the same mess and to please put away what you took out.  Where do your shoes go?  What do we do when a bag of chips is empty?  Why are your clothes still sitting on the couch?  The same mess, the same requests, the same response:  Yes, mom!  I heard you.  Do I have to?  Why me? I think of Mrs. Brady who always had Alice by her side, cleaning up the messes in her blue uniform and white apron. Alice was the perfect housekeeper.  She was a live-in, she was always there to help the kids through their ups and downs, and always had a wise word for Carol and Mike. She  had cookies in the cookie jar and a glass of milk, a potroast in the oven, and you could always hear her whistle while she cleaned.   No wonder Carol Brady was always perfectly dressed, with a smile on, and  so calm all the time! Once in awhile I like to call God Alice. And when something comes up, I'll say Alice, what are we going to do about this mess?  And let's not forget Mrs. Claire Huxtable from the Cosby Show? Did you notice that her living room was always spotless?  Who cleaned up their mess?   When you have a baby everyone tells you to forget the house.  Let it be a mess.  Nothing else matters.  But sometimes, the mess does matter.  Sometimes you just want to walk by the fireplace mantel without sneezing because of the two inches of dust that haven't been disturbed since the last holiday.

Somehow the messes continue to get cleaned up, with or without help.  Once in awhile, I like to think of God as the Great Housekeeper.   I wonder how many times God has said the same thing about me.  There she goes again!  How many times is she going to make the same mess over and over again?  How many times do I have to help her clean the same mess up?  Relationships are all about making messes and then cleaning them up.  Whether you are a mom, a spouse, a daughter, a grandmother, a sister or a brother, an uncle or an aunt,  a friend or a stranger, life is all about making  messes, cleaning them up, and restoring order. 

When we arrive in this world, we arrive a mess.  We are not perfect bundles of pink.  There is a little blood involved,  our lungs need to be cleaned out, our eyes wiped, and all the stuff of birth needs to be washed away before we are wrapped in a receiving blanket and put into our mother's arms. And the mom who has just given birth is a little messy too.  And from that point on, our purpose in this world is about learning how to live and grow in a messed up world.  God has to tell us over and over again, the same message.  How many times do I have to say it?  Love each other as I have loved you!  And we get that for about a minute, or a day if I'm lucky, and then we make another mess of the same type and God has to tell us yet again Love each other as I have loved you.  The same messes in my house are made over and over again.  And I have to go through the same song and dance to get them cleaned up.  Life is not any different.  Everyday another opportunity arises to live with a clean heart.  Everyday we know we should love each other.  We know we have to forgive each other.  We know we have to live by the rules of compassion.  But just like a messy house, we are any combination of feeling rushed, pressured, lazy, exhausted, overworked, underpaid, and just plain done with it all.  And we'd rather put up with the mess than have to take the extra time and effort to clean it up. We have become used to the mess, and have convinced ourselves that messy is good!

All of us are faced with any number of messes in a lifetime.  Maybe your finances are in a mess.  We've all heard of messy divorces. We tackle the mess on our desks, and clean up the mess after the party.  Maybe your kids got themselves into a real mess at school on the playground.  I'll bet you've just recently been part of a conversation when someone has made the comment:  What a mess!  I'm glad its them and not me. Or my favorite, That girl is a hot mess! Life is really all about the messes,  either the messes we find ourselves in, or the ones we knowingly make.  Sometimes another person's mess becomes our mess, whether we like it or not.  The bible, from Genesis all the way to Revelations is full of our spiritual ancestors and their messes.  Think about it.  Adam and Eve made a real mess out of paradise.  One that some people would say we are still paying for.  Mary was in a real mess.  Pregnant with Jesus, and not married, was a real mess in those days.  Jesus made a mess in the temple when he threw over the money table.  He made a mess to prove a point. (That brings me so much comfort.  I've thrown legos!)  And then there's Moses.  Poor Moses.  Think of the mess God put in his hands!  A whole mess of people who did nothing but gripe and complain about being led from slavery into freedom.  God, in so many words said, I see the mess these people are in, and I need you to help me rescue them. I need you to help clean this up! Can't you just hear Moses say, Awwww! Do I have to?  Why can't Abraham do it? Isn't it someone else's turn?  Moses had inherited a real mess, and God promised to help him clean it up.  God is always the "Mr. Clean" in our lives. He has muscles, the golden earring in his ear, and the whiter than white T-shirt on. He puts all the elbow grease into our messes and we come out smelling lemon-fresh!  And, the real kicker, is that he's always ready to get out the pine sol again.  Never seems to tire of helping us clean up the messes we make. 

When God created us with the gift of free will, He had to have foreseen the mess we would make of our world.  When Olivia asks me if she can paint,  I take a deep breath.  Because I know that while she is busy creating a masterpiece, a mess is going to be made.  I know that, in reality, I'm going to be the one left to clean up and restore order.  But, I love her, and she loves to create and get real messy doing it.  Isn't that exactly like us?  Don't we love to create and have fun doing it?  Even if it means we might end up with a mess.  I stand by ready to hear from Olivia that she is finished and ready to move onto the next mess!  And I step in, hang her creation on our refrigerator, and clean up.  See what I made, Mom?  I hug her and she feels so proud of what she did.  And then when she offers to help me clean up, I cringe, because I know exactly what that will look like.  It is the same with Alice and me.  I create something everyday, and sometimes without awareness, I've made a mess when I didn't intend to make a mess at all.  But there Alice is, proud of me, loving me inspite of the mess, and always ready to clean it up, while I move on to the next mess. 

God's MESSengers love a good mess!  Messengers are those angels, saints,  prophets, and ordinary spiritual citizens who could foresee a mess about to happen, who would remind us about the mess of our past, or who had lived through a real mess to say, God rescued us yet again! Alleluia!  Think about the angel Gabriel who delivered one of the most important messages of our existence.  The message was this.  You are about to give birth to Jesus, the one who came to save us from our messy lives.  It was the message heard around the world.  A savior, the MESS-iah,  born unto us, in the mess of a manger, so that we might learn how to live Mess-Free!  

Everyday, how we choose to live our lives, sends a message to the rest of the world.  We are baptized messengers and we have a choice to be messengers of love or hate.  Messengers of fear or faith.  Messengers of life or death.  If you notice in  the word MESSAGE,  the word, sage is a part of that word, not by chance. A sage is considered to be a wise person, a holy person who has learned the lessons of love well.  A sage is nothing but a person of God who has heard the message, lives the message, and is aware of the mess, has lived through the mess,  and knows what it takes to get in the mess and help clean it up. 

I get tired of telling my kids to clean up their rooms, their shoes, their toys, their snack cups, their laundry, and their crayons and markers.  But day after day, I keep asking.  Because one day, they will get it!  Either that, or they will be making a mess in their own house!  Alleluia!  God keeps asking us to clean up our messes!  Please, people, don't make me be Alice again!  Please people, don't let another child go hungry.  Please, people, don't let another war happen!  You know how messy war is!  Please people, don't let me see another person die from a drive-by shooting!  Please people, don't use me as an excuse to plan another terrorist attack!  Surely, God must get tired of watching us make the same messes over and over again.  Surely, God must be weary of the mess we make out of our lives.  When will we get it? When will we clean up our lives without having to be asked over and over?  How much of a mess are we willing to put up with?  How many times are we going to walk by the same mess over and over again, leaving it for another day?  We keep asking for the fingerpaint, and God keeps standing by, ready to clean it up and restore order.... every day of our lives. When we get that we have created the mess, and we take responsibility for our part in the mess, and we can help others become aware of the mess, then we can start to clean it up together.   We all say we're tired of the mess our country is in, or we're tired of the mess our public school system is in, or we're tired of the messes in Syria, Yemen, and Iran. It is true we are in a global/religious mess. Some of the greatest acts of violence have been carried out because of our religious beliefs, which have added to the mess in our hearts and minds.  Religious traditions, beliefs, and doctrines have contributed to a  great percentage of our global mess. How tired do we have to be to start preventing the mess from happening in the first place? Messes are made by habits of the mind and heart that need changing. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and we will no longer live in a mess!  Messes are allowed to grow because we think change is just too hard, too complicated, and yes, too messy.  Every mess we find ourselves in has started in our hearts and minds.   We are entertained by people's messiness! There are plenty of television shows about cleaning up.  Shows about hoarding, buying old houses and flipping them, and extreme home makeovers  - you name it - just look at the "messes" people put up with and watch, and the people that come in and restore order. 

I can let the mess get to me, or I can become part of the Mary- Maid plan of action. Mary, Handmaiden of the Lord,  got involved in a mess, so that she could help the world get out of the mess of war, disease, hunger, and poverty.  She accepted her role in the world's mess, and she knew in her heart that the messes we, and the world find ourselves in, are not impossible for God to help us begin to clean up.  No mess is too big for God to help us clean up.  Inside every mess, is a message of Salvation. And it is this: Have you been saved from the mess in your heart and mind?  Salvation is all about, returning to Love, surrendering our messy lives to God, and allowing Love to clean our hearts and minds up.

A Prayer for My Mess

God of Messes and Messengers,

Examine the motives of my inmost being, and keep my mind and heart

free of messy thinking, messy habits, and messy beliefs.

Create in me a freshly polished heart that sparkles with love

and reflects your bright light and your brilliant clarity.

Whenever I find myself in a huge mess,

may my belief in your ability to restore order and peace in my life

be stronger than my belief that living in a messy, chaotic world is our lot in life.

I know the plans you have for me, God.

And it does not include having to suffer through our messiness.  Amen.

Reflect On Your Life

For we speak as messenger approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News.  Our purpose is to please God, not people.  He examines the motives of my heart.    1Thessalonians 2:4 

1.  How has God helped you through a past "mess"?  How did you feel about the outcome?

2.  What is your greatest fear about the mess(es) you face in the present?

3.  How can you become a part of the solution of the "global mess" that we are in?  What is one thing you can do to start to restore order in our universe?

Spiritual Challenge for the Week

  What are the mess(es) you face in your life? Write down every detail of your mess.  Ask God for guidance and clarity as to how to clean them up.  Write down what God says to you. Surrender your mess to God.

Tag Sales and Moving from Here to There

I have decided that moms can measure their lives in mountains.  Mountains of laundry sit in baskets.  Mountains of bills sit on our desk.  There are always mountains of phone calls and emails to return, mountains of homework to oversee, and mountains of dishes  in my sink.  There are mountains of appointments to be kept and a mountains of snacks, toys, and dirt  in my minivan.   Just giving birth to a baby can make you feel like you can do anything - even climb a mountain.  

Mountains are hugely symbolic, especially in our spiritual lives. The geographical locations of important places in the bible were dotted with mountains.  Mountains and hills are mentioned over 500 times in the bible.  Since mountains are extremely tall, and close to the sky,  they were the perfect symbol to use in order to feel "closer" to heaven, since God used to be thought of as "way up there". When talking about God, we have a natural tendency to look up, and we do the same when the view of a mountain is before our eyes. We naturally look up to find its summit and see if there is snow at its peak We are reminded that if mountains fall and hills turn to dust, the love of our Lord will still stand.  Jesus often went in to the mountains to pray, and after coming down from these times in prayer, he often healed, taught, and fed God's people. His insights into God came from spending time up on the mountainsides, away from the noise and needs of the people. Jesus was often filled with the insights and the authority of God on a mountain, and after spending time on the mountain, he was able to make some really important decisions.   He chose his twelve apostles from a mountain.  The mountainside was where he delivered his most thought-provoking sermon on the Beatitudes and where he taught us to pray for, and love, our enemies. From the mountainside, he told us not to worry about your everyday life and taught us how to pray the Lord's Prayer.  And probably one of Jesus' most moving experience was The Transfiguration, which also took place upon a mountain. Oh, yes, and let's not forget Moses, who went up on Mount Sinai, and came down with the Ten Commandments. Mountains are considered holy places in the bible.  They have a majestic quality about them. They are extremely strong, yet extraordinarily peaceful.  And of course we are taught that if we have enough faith, we can move mountains. 

Just how do we move a mountain?  In order for us to grasp mountain-moving, we must  remember how mountains are formed in the first place.  Mountains form because two large landmasses of the earth's crust smash into each other, causing land to rise up and form a mountain.  We didn't live in biblical times, but even someone in the 21st century can turn to the image of a mountain and learn many things about the spiritual life that these massive landforms have to offer.  Mountains are always formed in our minds.  These are the mountains that we are called to move, and even promised to have the ability, and faith that is large enough, to move them.  The two forces that collide into each other, causing mountains to rise up in the landscape of our minds, are fear and lack.  When lack smashes into fear, the thought of the impossible rises up, and you have just created a mountain.  Mountains can arise at any time and out of any circumstance.  It might be a mountain of debt or a mountain of weight to lose.  It might be a mountain of grief to process, due to the loss of a loved one. It could be the deployment of a loved into a war, or the diagnosis of cancer.  Anything that seems to loom over us, causing us to be afraid and clinging to the belief that we won't have what we desperately need is a mountain. Fear and lack are like magnets. Lack of what we need immediately attracts fear.  And fear just keeps attracting more lack.  When the power of fear and lack join forces, and convince us that this is a situation that is impossible to overcome, something that even God cannot see us through, you are faced with your mountain.

We stand at the foot of this mountain and we panic. We worry.  We pray to a God outside of us, giving away our divine power to something external, when real divine power always lies within. We beg God, plead with God, and bargain with a God that we believe sits on that mountain, watching us struggle and holding back what we need.  We pray to an image of a God that is smaller than our mountain.  How could God have given  this mountain to me?  Why has God done this to me?  The image of taking both of our hands and pushing against this massive landmass with all our might, and moving that mountain even an inch, causes us to sweat...  feeling hopeless and alone.  How is it, that with faith as small a mustard seed, we could say to this mountain "Move from here to there, and it will move and  nothing will be impossible for us? Matthew 17: 20

Our thoughts of fear and lack, that we have allowed this mountain to create, are simply words that take up space in our minds.  Words are empty, and have no meaning, unless we attach meaning to them.  When faced with a mountain, we first have to ask ourselves, what words, or thoughts, will I choose to attach meaning to?  It is almost like getting ready for a tag sale.  What price is each thought worth?  Is fear worth 10 dollars and love worth 10 cents?  Is worry worth a million dollars and peace worth one dollar?  Or is peace of mind worth a million dollars and worry worth one dollar?  What price are we willing to pay because of our thinking? What words and thoughts are you willing to invest your energy in?  If God were having the tag sale,  there would be no price on perfect guidance, provision, love, and peace?  A big "TAKE FOR FREE" sign would be near these treasures. The mountains that we make  out of simple words that we attach meaning to, can easily be moved here or there when we stop to think about what we are telling ourselves about that mountain.  Since mountains are simply words and thoughts that pretend to be  mountainous situations, it makes sense that Jesus said SAY to this mountain...  what thoughts will you give words to, and what will you tell your "mountain" to do? Our mountain-like thoughts, do not have to control us.  We are simply an observer of those thoughts, and we can choose to think them, or simply let them go, giving no power whatsoever to them.

Don't resist your mountain.  Don't try to "move it" from here to there under your own strength. You have inherited creative divine authority to say to your mountain Move from here to there! You have the perfect amount of faith! Everyone has a mustard seed in them!  Don't push against it, instead "go with" your mountain. In fact, run to your mountain and don't look back! Bless your mountain because it is going to bless you! You've heard that what you resist will persist. Resist what it has to teach you, and the fear and lack will persist. 80 percent of the world's water supply comes from the mountains. The lessons our mountain holds are there to quench a thirst that we don't even know we have.  Trees and all kinds of plants can grow on mountains and sustain life and give shelter. Mountains are meant to grow and expand our spirit, and provide shade and shelter to us!  They arrive in our lives to strengthen faith muscles we didn't know we had.    "Going with" your mountain simply means to start climbing, sit upon it, rest when you need to, and take the time to think about what you are saying to yourself about your mountain. Reflect on your choice of words and thoughts that you are putting a price tag on.  The price you put on what you are thinking and saying to yourself, in a repetitive manner, is known as a belief.  If you believe that your problem is so special that even God cannot help you move your mountain  from here to there, you need to put a price on different thoughts, and repeat those words and thoughts until they are your beliefs. Mountains move from here to there, when we move our attention from here to there.  Move your thought from fear to peace.  Move your thought from the problem to the solution.  Move your attention from talking about the problem all day long to listening to God for answers all day long. You can move a mountain from here to there because you have created a new mountain... a new mountain of words, thoughts, and feelings that are of Spirit, not ego.  Words, thoughts, and beliefs can make a mountain of life, not death.  Beliefs can make a mountain of happiness, not despair. When you can make a new mountain formed from the landmasses of love and perfect supply, the other mountain simply dissolves, crumbles, and is cast into the seas of the bluest heaven and the deepness of true paradise.  It is the strength and beauty of this new mountain that you will return to over and over again. It is this mountain that you will go up to, climb upon, and listen to your inner heaven, receiving the thoughts of God. Having reached the summit, you will come down with the thoughts, the plans, and the solution to every problem you could face,  and you will lead others to the mountain simply by what you have been able to demonstrate in your own life.

   Jesus was transfigured up on a mountain top. He came down a different man.  Mountains have a way of completely transforming our lives to the point that we don't even recognize who we have become. Bedazzled,  full of starlight, and holding the morning star in our own hands, we leave behind  a person of fear and worry, that we won't want to see, or encounter again. The light we have become will blaze a path that people can follow to higher summits. Our friends may not even recognize us when we worry less and rely on God more.  Mountains transform fear into faith, worry into peace, and turn every need into perfect supply.  When we can fully understand that mountains are only made of our thoughts, that are simply  words that we  put into a sentence, that are repeated over and over both out loud, and in whispers, until we believe in them, then you have dismantled that mountain's false power. Then you can start changing the words and the sentences, and replace them with new sentences, that when repeated over and over again, create new beliefs.  Mountains love to create doubt about what God is capable of doing.  Mountains love to make you think that 'your God' is not in control and that 'your God' could never do that for you.  Mountains shrink back when you speak with mustard seed faith, that With God, all things are possible.  ALL THINGS excludes nothing.  ALL THINGS includes absolutely everything.  No thing is outside of this promise!  No thing is ever excluded.  No exceptions!  Create a new mountain based on that belief and everything really is possible!

When a mountain shows up in your life, it comes to you in love.  It isn't real. Because fear, lack, and doubt are not real.  Mountains love to produce fear.  But when you can give up your belief in fear...  when you really understand and  believe that fear isn't real,  and love is real... when you can move your belief from there to here, your mountain will move from here to there.  Speak with your divine authority, the words of Love, and watch your mountain move!

Reflect On Your Life

May the mountains yield prosperity for all ....  Psalm 72

1. How have you prospered from a difficult situation in your life?  
2. How have the mountains you encountered changed your image of God or grown your faith?
3. What have your mountains revealed about your character?
4. Who do you know that is facing a mountain before them?  What words can you say to them as they scale their mountain?  What actions can you take to help them move it from here to there?
5.  What in your life has been made possible with God's help and grace? 

Spiritual Challenge for the Next Week

Change a thought of fear into a thought of love and blessing.

Place a picture of a mountain in your bible, your favorite devotional, or in your prayer space, and create a sentence, or an affirmation or mantra, that speaks of God's love and provision.

When a fearful thought comes up, replace it with your new thought.

Example:  God only gives me good things.  I am worthy of the miracle I need.   

A Prayer to Move from Here to There

Majestic God,
In your hands, you cradle the deepest seas
and hold the highest mountains. 
Let my trust in you, O God, be as strong and mighty
as Mount Zion.
I bless the mountains in my life,
and I embrace their beauty, their strength, and their wisdom.
Make my thoughts and beliefs as beautiful and strong as you, God.
Keep me aware of what I think, what I believe, and what I
say to myself about the mountains I face.
You know every word upon my tongue, even before I speak it,
and you have discerned my thoughts from far away.
May every thought I think, and every belief I hold, move my mountains from here to there.
Thank you, God, that nothing is impossible for you!
No miracle that I could need is too hard for you to do.
Fear and lack have no place in my mind, or my heart, and when
I raise my eyes toward the mountains, I  know that my help
will come from you. 
Amen.