Your Thoughts/Experience:
“The most powerful form of prayer, and the one which can virtually gain all things and which is the worthiest work of all is that which flows from a free mind. The freer the mind is, the more powerful and worthy, the more useful, praise worthy and perfect the prayer and the work become. A free mind can achieve all things. But what is a free mind? A free mind is one which is untroubled and unfettered by anything, which has not bound its best part to any particular manner of being or devotion and which does not seek its own interest in anything but is always immersed in God’s most precious will, having gone out of what is its own.”
Meister Eckhart
We are attached to those things that mirror our perception of what is positive: Personal beauty, a talent that the world applauds, a pleasing address and our circle of friends are all attachments making up the fabric of who we believe ourselves to be. Even the way in which we celebrate our notion of God is an attachment. Whose place of worship is correct? Whose form of prayer most likely heard in heaven?
Here lies the challenge: we can suppose that others might have a more superior manner in which to commune with the Almighty and that the communion derived from method a or b or c is acceptable within society, or we are certain that the way in which we celebrate our notion of God is ultimately correct, having been handed down through generations. However, the free mind, we are told, is free to explore that which we may be called in a form that may be different from the methods and ways of general society or even from generations before us. The free mind does not use its ‘little will’ to suppose or impose. The free mind consciously steps away from the ‘little will’ deliberate in its intention to bathe in the very Will of God.
While we certainly have choices to make regarding ways in which to live, our relationships or how to seek God it is the ‘small will’ which is our own, that is doing the choosing. Attachment to our little will, along with all of the choices it decides upon, cannot by its very nature assist us in experiencing communion with Ultimate Love.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Colossians 4:2
Take a Moment to Listen:
Come rest your heart with mine. Together we will see through Love’s eyes that which needs to be seen, hear through Love’s ears that which needs to be heard, and embrace through Love’s own what needs to be embraced.
Guided Meditation:
God is with you right this second surrounding you with His love. Take a moment to experience His presence.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath. In your mind, see yourself surrounded by nature. Perhaps you can imagine an old, beautiful tree with knarled, fat branches twisting upward. What kinds of wild life are home to this tree?
There is a small brook that runs by your feet. You can hear the bubbling water as it bounces from the rocks and pebbles. Hear it?
Sit under the tree and relax. Breathe in the peace that you feel here. In that peace God begins to speak to you of His Love for exactly who you are. What does it feel like to hear Him? Can you accept His love for you?
In any language or form God shares his boundless love with all that is created. His love surrounds a shared smile, a quiet moment, a helping hand and a kind word. His love is intertwined with every movement that reflects Love’s Will.
Breathe in deeply. Release your breath. Feel the peace and surety of God’s breath within your heart. How is it that you share His love?
Your Thoughts/Experience:
“But the ultimate reason for our hope is not to be found at all in what we want, wish for and wait for; the ultimate reason is that we are wanted and wished for and waited for. What is it that awaits us? Does anything await us at all, or are we alone? Whenever we base our hope on trust in the divine mystery, we feel deep down in our hearts: there is someone who is waiting for you, who is hoping for you, who believes in you. We are waited for as the prodigal son in the parable is waited for by his father. We are accepted and received, as a mother takes her children into her arms and comforts them. God is our last hope because we are God’s first love.”
Jürgen Moltmann
We are a society that idealizes academia. It is generally believed that academia and academicians from any genre of study must surely hold the answers. We revere doctors and place attorneys on pedestals. We place our hope in them. Our hope for healing and our hope for justice is trusted. We trust those who will heal us and those who will deliver justice to our door. However, if our healing is not imminent, or justice becomes elusive, our hope and our trust become cynical, or we may consider justifying the outcome. Maybe we did not deserve healing or justice. Maybe we misplaced our hope and our trust.
We have placed our hope and our trust upon other human beings to be there for us with unequivocal conviction, just as we safely store our notion of God into a personal closet with that same conviction. While we must trust and hope in others in order to maintain and grow in given relationships, placing trust and hope unequivocally upon any one human being gives another an incredibly heavy burden to carry.
Just as trust is a shared intimacy, which grows in depth with time and experience, hope is a promise fulfilled as trust deepens. We are unequivocally embraced by the very Love that created us. Love waits in patience for our tired return. What more could we hope for?
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
Take a Moment to Listen:
Come my sweet child into waiting arms. Your return gives heaven reason to rejoice. Place your weary head upon my shoulder, for you are home, as you are here wrapped in the very space where you began.
Guided Meditation
We walk through our day -to -day lives on automatic pilot, forgetting how much we are loved and treasured by God. Forgetting that we are the beloved and as such, are embraced in every space of time that we experience.
Sit in your favorite place and close your eyes. Again, breathe deeply. Invite God to be with you. Can you feel His presence? Can you allow yourself to experience His unconditional love and endless peace? If you cannot—ask Him to help you.
Allow yourself to stay in this space of God’s love and peace. Feel yourself enveloped in His endless care. Listen as He tells you that you are His beloved child. Allow yourself to experience the sweetness of this love.
Ask God to help you remember throughout the day how loved you are. When you forget, you can ask Him again to help you remember.
Your Thoughts/Experience:
“When we are at wit’s end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer. But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?”
Karl Barth
Anyone who has had experience with tired or confused children also has experienced the bedraggled way in which they communicate wants or needs while in that emotional state.
“I’m thirsty,” they whine. “Here honey, would you like some water?” you answer hopefully. “Noooo, I don’t want thaat,” the answer comes swift and sure. Nothing you offer is acceptable, yet they are thirsty and want something, even while they’re not sure what that something is. Though they seem to believe that they know. “I want Sugar Wow, I want Sugar Wow.” Sound familiar? In much the same way we ask, “Lord, I really need you to help me with this situation,” even as we have already envisioned a dozen scenarios in which God could help that would be acceptable to us. Should, heaven forbid, the answer is not one we wanted, then we are either angry with God or ourselves or both also for reasons we have already worked out somewhere in our psyche. Much like an over-tired, or petulant child we ask or demand help