Your Thoughts/Experience:
“In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
If what is considered ‘bad’ happens to those who are considered ‘bad’, society applauds. If what is considered ‘bad’ happens to those who are considered ‘good’ society expects the back to be straightened, while the bootstraps are pulled up. In either case, victimhood is held, by the good with the bad, or the bad with the good. Someone or something becomes a ‘rightful’ victim, albeit without recourse, without explanation, without hope. Holding as a truth an identity of victimhood is septic, infecting all willing to believe victimhood as both identity and purpose.
In truth, bad and good people and events are constructs of a society that colludes to separate and isolate. I am myself, but you are ‘the other’. We are us, but . . . and so it seems to go. Framing a personal identity around victimhood, strangles individuals and societies, the belief in which chokes the ability to see beyond labels.
“Yet you, Lord are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. “
Isaiah 64.8
Take a Moment to Listen:
Neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’, you simply are the extension of Love in all glory. During situations and experiences of discontent or pain, know that the intent to remain focused on that birthright allows a particular clarity of vision. Clarity of vision strengthens intent and resolve while encouraging your identity as a child of Love. Choices that you make result in a consequence of that choice, even as sometimes there seems to be no choice, just a block in the road going forward.
No punishment or pain could be meted forth by a loving creator who sees and holds only a child molded of Ultimate love, peace, and joy. There could be no loving God who is also a master of punishment and prizes. Trust that all experiences in life give an opportunity for growth in the core of who you are and as Love holds you to be.
All of Heaven stands by you, in you and with you.
Guided Meditation
Unexpected situations or negative circumstances can invite us to feel victimized by life. We might even look toward negative outcomes as our answer to confusion or general malaise. We get upset and feel like life is totally out of control. How do we respond when life’s situations present us with challenges?
Sit in a quiet place and take a deep breath. Ask God to be with you. When have you felt like a victim? What was that like? It’s natural to feel helpless when that happens. Sometimes we may think it’s a punishment from God.
What would it be like to know that negative situations are not a punishment from God? How would it feel to know that God wants to help you? What if He were helping to guide you, rather than hurt you?
Tell God how you feel. Take your time. He wants you to open your heart and mind to him. Now can you listen for His response? Can you hear Him tell you He loves you and that He wants to help you? How does that feel? Do you have space to see problems in a different way? How might God be guiding you?
Your Thoughts/Experience:
“The only true liberty is in the service of that which is beyond all limits, beyond all definitions, beyond all human appreciation: that which is All, and which therefore is no limited or individual thing: The All is no-thing, for if it were to be a single thing separated from all other things, it would not be All.”
Thomas Merton
Capturing wind in a mason jar and labeling it ‘wind’ cannot make it all of wind, just as capturing ‘light’ in a mason jar and labeling it as such cannot make it all of light, for both wind and light cannot be both individual phenomena yet in totality as it has been taken from the totality of their respective experience. Both wind and light exist in a totality, which then expresses its identity.
While wind and light are by far poor examples for that which is All, the examples underscore several of our human needs: to isolate, to label, and to identify. That which is All cannot be contained in an isolated mason jar and labeled by any name therefore; It cannot be definitively identified as this or that, belonging to them or those alone.
Though the All (or All there is) has been given various and sundry names and attributes across time, those names and attributes are a mere series of mason jars in which human beings attempt to isolate, label, identify and claim as theirs alone. Wars have been fought and continue to be fought over the ownership of these mason jars, which we suppose contain the right name and attributes for a god that we then claim to be our own. But this would be a god by mere human design alone and not of Truth. Nevertheless, the All remains, in expansive totality touching the edges of our willing consciousness. Let us put away our mason jars, our fear and our justifications and reach to touch that, which is in Truth, total Love and acceptance.
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19
Take a Moment to Listen:
It matters not which name you call upon, for each name will draw comfort, healing and unity to you. Open your willingness and your heart to that which flows through each and every person equally, as It flows through all of blessed creation.
Guided Meditation
We often want God to help us, but are confused as to what it is we really want. Sometimes we think we know what we want because our plan would be better than God’s.
Sit in a relaxed position and close your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths. As always, ask God to be with you. Is there a problem that you definitely want help with? Think of it now. What have you supposed the outcome to be? Is there only one outcome or several? How do you know which is best? How do you know which would be the most beneficial to everyone involved including you? The answer is -you really can’t know.
Can you begin to see that you might not know the best outcome for a situation? Can you try and allow God to deal with the situation in His way? Ask for His help.
Try now to experience how much God loves you. Sit with His love embracing you. Then try and carry that love and experience with you.
Your Thoughts/Experience:
“. . . Life is easy. Life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings . . .”
Anthony de Mello
How fearless are we? Honestly. If we were fearless, we would have no problem asking for help from heaven whenever we encounter confusing difficulties in our day -to -day life, but most of the time we probably do not. Why is that? Perhaps sometimes we may forget to ask, especially since we’re so used to handling things ourselves. Although handling things ourselves doesn’t always seem to work out the way we hoped it would, being independently human, we keep on trying anyway. Why else don’t we ask for help from the one source that knows how to help? Here’s a thought: Trust. Trusting assistance from God doesn’t sound too practical especially when we need practical, independent human help now. Hmm. How well is your method for gaining lasting assistance working for you?
How practical is asking God for assistance on a regular basis? Depending upon your frame of mind, it can seem like a no brainer, while at other times, the thought of stopping in the middle of an ‘incident’ of whatever kind to ask a non-physical person for help feels insane. While we readily and unwittingly trust our parents, relatives, and even coworkers for methods in handling difficulties whether they worked or not, we are not so readily willing to trust heaven’s guidance.
Trusting in the guidance of heaven necessitates moving away from the little will that we suppose holds our