Friday, February 26, 2016

Reframing the Present

 The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for.  And the most you can do is live inside that hope.  Barbara Kingsolver

In every house I have lived in, there are some things I miss.  For example, in our last house in Texas, we had a small room that we outfitted with two recliners, bookcases, a small table with a lamp on it between the recliners, and a very small television set, and a CD player.  I was such a pleasant room that I took to calling it our "enchantment room."  It was comfortable, quiet, cozy and always warm or cool depending upon the season. 

In our current house, we have a "catch all" room that I took to calling the "craft room" because it holds my sewing machines, yarn supplies for knitting, crochet, pattern books, table, storage cabinets and small leather chair with foot stool for reading or research.  I like the room but I never liked the label for it.  

While reading a magazine the other day, an artist referred to her "junk" room as a "studio."  It was like the lights went on in my head.  Of course, I have a studio where wonderful ideas and projects are created and manifested.  

When I told my beloved that I was changing the name of the room, he told me to put up a sign so he would remember.  How funny!  He uses the room to read when I want to watch some television program he can't abide.  So, now I have a "Studio, formerly known as the Craft Room."

My lesson in all of this is that all I have to do is reframe something that I don't like or just rename it so that it becomes more comfortable to use or refer to in my life.  Now, how simple is that?  Why haven't I thought of that before in my life?  I invite you to "steal" that idea to make your life "simple, fun and easy." 

Friday, February 19, 2016

Missed Opportunities

Whatever is right in God can be right in our own life through the constructive use we make of our thoughts and prayers.  Whatever good there is, whatever joy, happiness, health, and abundance we may think of, these are ours to have, to hold, and to enjoy.  Mostly we do not think big enough, we pray in too petty a manner, and we are afraid to experience more of what God has to offer.  The Magic of the Mind - Ernest Holmes and Willis Kennear

How scary!  Not praying big enough.  Thinking that we are asking for "too" much.  I wonder if there is such a thing as "too much?"  

Since I have had the time to heal from my oral surgery, I have been thinking about my life and about the roads not traveled.  I can remember at one point while I was in the ministry in San Francisco, that I was having difficultly with my voice as I was doing a one hour radio program and then a one hour Sunday service soon after.  It was suggested that I take voice lessons.  I did.  So, I was "singing" scales.  And I discovered that I was very good and my voice was wonderful.  So, as my voice got stronger I was able to get through my two hours on Sunday with ease.

However, it never occurred to me that I could be using my voice to be a singer.  How could I not make the association?  I was so focused on "being" a speaker that "being" a singer, I guess, was out of the question.  Now, I have to wonder, what else was out of the question for me?  What else did I miss because I couldn't see the opportunity?  Why was I thinking so small?  Who taught me that?  


After reading the above quote, I am reminded of the small child who was waiting for jam and bread while his mother was spreading the jam and he said, "Please give me too much jam."  I get it.  Please give me too much.  I have been settling for far too little up until now.  How about you?  Have you been settling?  Or are you open to the opportunities that surround you?

Monday, February 15, 2016

Relax - All Manner of Things are Well

You already possess all the inner wisdom, strength, and creativity needed to make your dreams come true.  Sarah Ban Breathnach

When we are in the midst of all manner of "stuff," it is hard to remember that we live in the "promised land" and that the universe is here to support all that we can imagine for ourselves.

When I am in pain, or in forced rest to heal to from surgery, I forget that I am spiritual being having a human experience.  I want everything to happen NOW.  I get impatient for what I want and my expectations seems to be unreasonable.  

This week, my prayer partner, reassured me that all I had to do was to relax.  She would make sure that all manner of things were well with me until I could see it for myself.  Whew!  What a relief.  I was then able to relax knowing that not she, but God had my back for awhile.  

I forget that when I am writing in my journal that I can write myself into wholeness.  I forget that I am precious and important to God.  I forget that I have choices even when I feel as though I don't have any.

This week, I am determined to relax and remember that all manner of things are well, that I live in the promised land and that life supports all of what I am.  I invite you to join me in the process.  

Friday, February 5, 2016

Having a Wilderness Experience

Wilderness - a bleak, numbing word that instantly calls to mind a feeling of hopelessness, nothingness, barrenness, and most of all, a sense of powerless ness.  There's a reason that the biblical expression "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" has come to mean abject abandonment.  

It is in the depths of your life that you will discover the invisible necessity that has brought you here.  John O'Donohue

"According to an ancient legend, the word Wilderness didn't conjure up a place of punishment, but rather a place of learning, spiritual growth, understanding, healing, and accomplishment," Sarah Ban Breathnach tells us.  "...your experience in the Wilderness was designed to prepare or propel you toward your destiny.  Or pry you loose from whatever was keep you from it."

Hard to believe that the Promised Land has a Wilderness in it.  Harder yet to believe that we would even create a Wilderness experience for ourselves in order to up level our spiritual experience.  

In the writings of John O'donahue, it states that "For millions of years, before you arrived here, the dream of your individuality was carefully prepared."  Who dreamed us here?  Did we or did God?  He goes on to say that, "You were sent to a shape of destiny in which you would be able to express the special gift you bring to the world...Sometimes this gift may involve suffering and pain."  


When I think of this last statement, I think we are the ones who come up with the suffering and pain.  I really don't think that God planned for us to experience it.  Even in the "Promised Land" and some of the experiences I have had, I have interrupted them as "pain" when in truth, they probably weren't pain at all.  Maybe they were "resting" periods in my "wilderness" experience.  I can look back on my life now and see how I misinterpreted many of my experiences.  I just didn't know any better.  Now, I do.  I forgive myself for my ignorance and it is time to move on.  Thank you God.