Things that open my heart...

Beautiful Christmas music by orchestras.

Puppies discovering snow for the first time.

Kindness of strangers - sometimes in a strange land.

Changing scenes out my office window.

The smell of coffee early in the morning.

Someone reminding me of an early memory we shared together.

A laugh taking me back to my childhood.

A decorated Christmas tree that is filled with red ornaments, white lights and red ribbons.

A small puppy demanding some attention - a quick hug, a snuggle and a quick tongue lick means, "That's enough for now."

A pipe organ playing "Silver Bells."

Walking through an art gallery with beautiful paintings, sculpture and art objects.

Little children giggling on a merry-go-round as one of the grown ups pushes it faster, faster and fastest.

Did this help you remember some for yourself?  Allow this season to "open your heart."  

Wait! Whose Story is This?

During a conversation with a good friend, she, off the top of her head, explained why all of "my" activities of the recent years were exhausting me  when I told her that I was tired and had again given notice that my last Sunday at Unity of Norman would be December 28, 2014.

Listening to her talk about my story stunned me.  Wait, whose story is this and why is she telling ME my story?  

And the light dawned!  She has no story to tell.  How sad that she choose to tell my story as something that she discovered.  

Just as recent, an acquaintance of mine, called me and suggested I read a book about the "Harbingers of the Old Testament" because she wanted my opinion on it.  Why would I want to read about a radical Rabi justifying being Jewish?  I have enough books to read about being a good Science of Minder.

While in the ministry, I have accumulated several thousand books which I have professed on several occasions that I want to read.  I have done that and have disposed of many.  Many more to go.  My story friend, suggested I reread Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way," to get an inspiration on what to do next in my life.  

It took everything I had in me to not blast her!  You read the book.  Tell me what You got out of it.  It is time for You to live Your dream and allow my dream to be all mine.  No wonder we are encouraged not to tell people what it is that we want to experience in our lives.  The ideas and dreams get dumped on big time.  

Have I learned my lesson?  You bet!  She can get her news from me through our annual Christmas letter.  Maybe she will discover something she would like to do, or dream, or have an idea of her own.  God, I hope so.....

It's Terrribblle

Between coughing, sneezing, achy muscles and a runny, runny nose, it's terrribblle.  I can't remember ever being this sick!  There is a way of saying terrible that Alan makes it sound just awful.  Well, that's me right now.  Just terrribblle.

I had all of these plans to get done before I started on my Christmas stuff and now all I am doing is shuffling around the house being beyond miserable.  Being in bed is terrribblle - my back is so sore.  About the time I get comfortable in the recliner, I have to sneeze, cough or blow my nose.  It is terrribblle.

This is not complaining, mind you.  This is just stating the facts that I am sick.  Normally, I would take this time and get some reading done, watch some shows I missed "On Demand," or just sleep, sleep and more sleep.  None of that is working for me this time.  

Don't know what has invaded my body, but it is achy beyond hurting.  None of my "meds" is working for me this time.  Being in bed just makes me ach all the more.  So, my solution is to camp out in the recliner for the next several days.

I will be back when I am feeling better....

Holidays

I am convinced that holidays were invented to remind us to be something better than we are.  Thanksgiving is to put us into a state of mind that fills everything with gratitude. Even the titles of the holidays allow us to fill in what it is that we need at the time.

Valentine's Day is for us to remember that love surrounds us all the time and that we can give and get love whenever we feel the need.  I remember a class I took years ago, we had to find fill out a card to ourselves and the following Valentine's Day, we received it in the mail.  I was thrilled to find out that I loved myself - there it was in writing - in my own hand - and it said, "I love you."

Easter is to remind us to use our imaginations and play with eggs, candy and baby bunnies.  One Christmas, in one of my sermons, I told the congregation that we, as Religious Scientists, didn't believe in Christmas because we were not Christians, but that we did believe in the Easter Bunny.  So sad, so many people without a sense of humor. 

This holiday, Easter, is to remind us that we entomb ourselves and that sometimes we need help in rolling away the rock that keeps us stuck in whatever.  When I remember, during those times that just suck, that within three days, it will all be over and I will be in a different state of mind.

Why do we have Labor Day?  And we get to rest on a "labor" day.  Doesn't make sense to me.  But rest I will.  

Christmas remains the myth because most of us believe it in.  I know, it is fun to give and receive wonderful gifts.  Some of us are very creative and know how to do more with very little.  

Veterans Day is obvious.  We need to remember that there are those to are willing to give up their lives for us.  A trip to Washington D.C. and seeing the Vietnam Memorial was and event I will never forget.  It moved me beyond words that so many men gave up their families, friends, and life for us.  I don't know whether or not I could do that.  So, I am grateful for the reminder that there are those who are that courageous and generous.

Whether holidays are character building or not, I like it that whatever holiday comes up, it is a reminder that I need to think about, reflect, maybe make some changes, and create something better for myself.  I will willing to take your hand while you support me in this...

What's in store for today?

We are told that we choose the life we live beforehand.  We choose beforehand what it is that we want to see.  The more I think about this concept, the truer it seems to be for me.

Recently, we returned from a trip to Texas and then, because of the cold temperatures predicted in Oklahoma, we were going to spend about 8 days either going east or west depending on the weather forecast.  We decided to go west.  We decided to explore southern Arizona.  I remember telling myself that we were going to explore, discover and see some amazing scenery, have wonderful experiences and eat fabulous food.  

I must say, I made some amazing choices because all of that happened for us.  We skipped the snow and ice that blanketed Oklahoma and had some wonderful times exploring Tombstone, Arizona.  We walked the streets filled with cowboys, watched the equivalent of a western court jester - I can't think of what they were called in the Old West, ate home made chocolate fudge, and watched the plow horses pulling the old stage coaches.  For a time, we were in the Old West and I could imagine what life must have been like during those times.  

We toured Bisbee and looked at original art in its many forms including the prices, drove through and around Sierra Vista and then back to our base in Benson.  I was delighted to get back to hot and cold running water, a delightful heat source and to be able to sit across from an electric fireplace reading a book and sipping tea.

One of the major things I appreciate about my life partner and companion is the fact that we have been able to live several of our dreams, one of which, is traveling in a huge motor home.  I love taking the comforts of home with me and it allows us to travel with our three puppies.  Snuggling with a warm, furry puppy is one of life's greatest luxuries.   

Now, I am ready to create a greater dream, a larger life and to only see good, beauty, wonder and awe around me.  Join me?

Mystical Experiences

"Everyone who is destined to have a spiritual transformation comes to the journey with a wound as big as God.  There are very few people who become advanced mystics because they simply feel happy on a Sunday afternoon."  Andrew Harvey

Being on a spiritual journey is one of the hardest adventures I have ever undertaken in my life.  Granted, the rewards have been many but getting to the rewards takes a huge amount of discipline and focus.  Many times, the urge to just give up is very strong.

As Andrew Harvey says, most of us come into the spiritual life because of the wounds, or the desperation that we are at the end of our rope and there is no where else to go.  As a last resort...God.

One of my spiritual practices has been with a written journal.  In it I have captured many of my moods, experiences, anguishes, pains of all sorts, and, many times, just conversations with God and things that I want to get out of my head.  I have realized that once I have written something down, I can forget about it.  In this process, I have gotten use to telling God all sorts of things that are bothering me, exciting me, things that I want to explore or just questions that come up. What I love about the experience, is the answers that come in new ideas, insights or concepts that allow me to explore and contemplate on a different level.  

Some of the ways I explore are with words games.  For example, I use the "what if," this happens but I use it in a positive way or what I would call an up-leveling of the issue.  What if it turns out to be the best thing I could have done?  What if this is better than anything else I could have thought of?  

Another is the "I wonder if," and take it to different conclusions.  I wonder if this could possibly be the answer that I have been looking for all these weeks?  I wonder if all of this is for my highest and best for the moment?  I wonder what else there is about this that I need to know?

What I know for sure is that when I am experiencing the deep "wound" of an issue, that writing it all out and turning it over to God does wonders for my psyche and my sense of well being.  I invite you to give it some thought and see where it takes you.  Some of my answers have sometimes felt a bit mystical.  Some magical.  Some just ordinary. 

The Start of Something New

Last night I was initiated into a Sorority Club with lots of pomp and circumstance and some well placed humor.  I was warned to wear loose clothing and to have a spot picked on my body for the formal tattoo of the Sorority emblem.  

Needless to say, I had to give some serious thought to even joining when I decided that with the humor some of them had, this was a joke on me.  It was.  No blood letting or tattooing process.  Only someone holding my hand so as not to get away and for someone "standing" for me during the process.  

There was lots of "vowing to" and listening to lots of rhetoric symbolizing the purpose of "sisterhood."  

I was presented with a ribboned pin, a yellow rose and a secret handshake.

Secret handshake? Yup! So secret, I can't even remember how to do it. I will have to practice that one at the next meeting - if I can find someone who knows how to do it.  

There is something wonderful belonging to a club where we all have something in common even though we come from different backgrounds and have different interests.  There is a common bond of knowing that we "belong" and that we are the "favorite" to a select few.  Wonder what a convention of all of us together would feel like?  Something to think about.

For now, I am glad that I am "vowed" in and that the only secret part of the organization is the handshake.  On to the community service and doing good for the masses not as "chosen."  I know that all of us are truly blessed in our lives.