Looking Back

Looking back over 2012 brings a sense of excitement over all that I've been blessed with.  This Blog has enabled me to capture much of it, and I thought I'd share a highlight from each month:

January: Winter Beauty

February: Eternity

March: Sanctuary

April: Seeing

May: Becoming Real

June: Conscience

July: Purpose

August: What the World Needs Now

September: Intentions

October: Potential

November: Thanksgiving

December: Good News

May God be made Real to you this coming new year in every corner of your Heart!

Link to scripture:   Hebrews 13:20-21

Take action:  Evaluate your life

Good News!

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." --Frank & Ernest

♫Hark! The Herald Angels Sing♫

Christmas Eve afternoon the snow began to fall.  I knew flurries were predicted but it was quite a surprise to see it stick and start to accumulate.  In the midst of my busyness I noticed there were quite a few birds about the yard, so I scrounged around the garage to locate an old bird feeder I could hang from the bracket outside the screened front porch.... 

I filled it with sunflower seeds.  Ken saw the first Cardinal, a bright-red male, arrive and then herald the new feeding station in the neighborhood....       ♫Cardinal Song♫

When he told me birds started flocking in from all over I couldn't help but think of God's Good News!  The angels heralded the coming of Christ and the shepherds gathered to listen.  

This morning while writing about it I realized the analogy also applies to us who have received the Good News--the Holy Spirit, God in us.  The Bread of Life that feeds us is something we should be singing about as the Cardinal did--not because we have all the answers but because we have a song of love in our hearts.  The Cardinal could not keep it to himself nor should we keep our Good News to ourselves.  

So why is it so hard for some of us to proclaim the Good News?  I think that is the question we each need to be asking ourselves.  As each excuse rises up it should be tossed aside or else we'll never get to the truth of the matter.....even if it means continuing to ask the question every day until you get an answer that leads to a solution.

Father, it's too easy to find reasons for our lapses.  They're all excuses.  You are God of all and in You and through You we have everything we need to unlock our hearts so that we can sing Your song of Love and Peace and Hope.  May I be so present in my life that I am aware of this from moment to moment.

Link to scripture:  Matthew 19:26

Take action:  How to Increase Faith

Our Children

This is my favorite picture of my boys when they were younger.  I framed it along with the quote below and hung it by my bed so I can see it every morning while I spend time reading God's Word and writing in my journal.  It is my reminder that my life (and all that it contains) is not my own....

In light of the tragedy in Connecticut on Friday I wanted to share again Margaret Woods' writings from 1777 that I shared in my June 16th post on Fatherhood....

Here is the rest of the quote....
"We are so incapable of judging with regard to our own happiness, or that of others, that it should lead us to a patient acquiescence in the Divine will:  a resignation which would not only enable us to say, "Thy will be done," but to feel that submission of mind which would preserve us in calm composure.  Things which appear to our present unhappiness and disadvantage have frequently at a future period proved a benefit, and we have been led to acknowledge that the Lord only knows what is best for us.  Suffer us to beseech, O Lord, more and more to enlighten us with divine knowledge, and having made us sensible of thy will, enable us to obey it."

Link to Scripture:  Amos 4:13

Take Action:  ♫God is in Control♫

To Be or Not To Be

"To Be or Not To Be" that is indeed the question.  

Those are the words that came to mind as I thought about my disappointments this morning--a reoccurring theme in my life.  But I am very glad to report that I finally got to the root of it!

I used to think I had a self-esteem problem--that I didn't think highly enough of myself.  I realize now that my self-esteem has been too high and that my disappointments stem from that self-esteem because I had unrealistic expectations for myself....and this then would spill over to other people.  Because I thought too highly of them, I expected too much from them, as well.

So I endeavored to understand what could be done about this problem.  I know the answer isn't to esteem myself or others less.  And just to not have expectations doesn't get to the root.  The answer came in Julia Cameron's little book of affirmations, "Heart Steps--Prayers and Declarations for a Creative Life".  She wrote, "I allow [God] to dream through me, to act through me, to create through me."  In that moment I realized it would be impossible to suffer any kind of disappointment if I just allowed this way of being to be....and the way to allow this is to stop judging myself by what I do or not do.  Instead I am just to be the channel through which God expresses His love.  God's love has many, many different ways to be expressed, and He accomplishes this through people who are open to Him.  Our personal prejudices (which are expressed through the judgments we make) block God's use of us--judgments such as "I can't" or "I'm not good enough" or "they can't" and "they aren't good enough".  

But then I have to go a step further.  I must be on the alert for such thoughts as "I won't".  How often do we passively resist God's Will for us by declaring that we aren't able (can't) to do something when the truth is we just won't do it.

So, the question is am I to be open to God and willing?  Or am I not to be?  That is the question!

Father, too often I lose sight of my own willfulness by hiding behind excuses of inadequacy when at the same time I declare that all things are possible through Christ!  No wonder I feel confused!  May I instead allow You to dream through me, act through me, and create through me.  Amen

Link to scripture:  Mark 9:23

Take action: Trust and Obey