The Space Between

1 Comment

As I sit here this morning in quiet contemplation, I wonder what it is that the Lord would have me know and do today; I am thinking several things at once. First, today is Friday and it lays open and bare without the structure of work or requirement of appointments. That at first puts me at some dis-ease as I am so used to having my days booked and scheduled to the full. The other strand that is floating by my awareness is that I should be heading out the door for my morning run. But it’s still a little too cool for my liking, and truth be told, I feel less than motivated to go out when I have no ‘race’ on my calendar.

There are no idle thoughts. All thinking produces form at some level.
~A Course in Miracles~

So I am sitting here tapping away on my keyboard trying to be quiet and not upset so that I can hear the whispers and stirrings of Spirit. And yes, for many reasons, I am feeling a little out of sorts. All the ‘things’ that I look to for purpose and structure are lacking at this moment, and I’m trying to be okay with that because I want to fully occupy this time in space. I do not want to scamper away in fullness of care ~ I do not want to fill my hours with activity just to feel better about a momentary lull. I want to, and I think I am actually already beginning to, luxuriate in this quiet space between.

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility. ~Oprah Winfrey~

So today, this morning, this moment in time, has given me some ideas about possibilities; about change; about simplicity; about contentment in any situation and condition; today, in these quiet minutes I have determined that a reduction is necessary.

Examine these thoughts, because they are fears about outcomes. But this worry is based on your need to know. Break the cycle of those thoughts by being aware of the now. Savor the quest, not the finish.
The Cool Impossible ~Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton

It is time to reduce my dependence on the need to sate every waking hour with movement; there is a stirring this morning to learn a new rhythm for the day; to recognize the value of each rest and pause for the gift that it is. The space between is indeed a destination which my soul craves; I must come here often…so that I may find respite and renewal.

Racing or Running?

Leave a comment

What is your intention? Your intention for the day makes all the difference to how you will rate the finish line at day’s end. Will you race through your day? Or will you run through it? By definition, a race is a competition or contest in which there will be a winner with many runners’ up. Likewise, a run indicates quick forward momentum, when for a short moment, both feet are off the ground.

So what is your intention for the day? Will you treat it like a race and gut out your day, heaving with great sighs of breathing and straining with an intensity and focus that tramples every obstacle in your path? Or will you instead lace up for your day with careful pacing of your energies and metered awareness of the passing moments so as to accomplish those chores and duties you encounter through the day.

Racing through your days can wear you down and leave you feeling defeated if you don’t finish the day ahead of your to-do list. However, if we can run through our days with attention to our pacing and purpose, then we may accomplish what is most needful for today and be satisfied with no more or no less.

Kara-Goucher

Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.
Rumi ~ Persian mystical poet

Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.
Buddha

Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.
James 1:2-4 TLB

Truth Speaks…Across Cultures

Quote Leave a comment

Truth Speaks

Leave a comment

This morning I had one of those ah-ha! moments. I think it happened as a result of my crisscross reading of authors and genres of late. When I arrived at this intersection of ideas, I realized a transcendent principle had wafted its way into the forefront of my conscious mind: namely, that TRUTH transcends time.
Truth has no beginning and it has no end. What is true today, was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow. There is nothing new under the sun. Truth cannot be contained; it is of spiritual essence; it is not bound by time, space or matter;
it does not discriminate; it sees not ethnicity, gender, culture, status, age, politic or economy. Spoken clearly, spoken loudly, spoken softly it matters not how it speaks, or from whose mouth it issues; the voice of truth has many facets and speaks every language in existence. Truth is like the crown jewel of creation; its fount flows freely for all to partake. Truth calls out to those who have ears to hear…listen, learn, and live life to the full.

A Tough Nut

Leave a comment

imagesCAMC5ONE
Whether we use this term to describe a person or the hard shelled edible fruit or seed of a tree, a tough nut is hard to crack for many reasons. Sometimes I think of myself in these terms. I don’t know if others do, it doesn’t matter really, but I do know that mental toughness is a valuable skill to attain. As a runner, I’ve learned that mental toughness is absolutely essential when engaging in competitive long distance events. The ability to effectively manage bodily discomforts during a long distance run via the mind, can mean the difference between success or failure.

But long before I was a runner, I had endured enough hard-knocks which toughened me up in other areas of my character too. Of course, as a person who holds firmly to my faith as a Christ follower, I would sometimes feel guilty for the hard lines that characterized my inner self. But I rationalized this hardness of me, by perceiving it as my safety mechanism. Hardness protected me from those things, those people, those situations that had the potential to break me down.

And then today I continued my reading of a book by Anne Lamott, Small Victories, and what does she do but describe her beautiful friend who is dying from leukemia as “a pretty tough customer in her private life, though she had become visibly softer.” Ms. Lamott observed in her friend that it took cancer to ‘wedge a certain kind of person open, so that many new things can get in.’  Wham! Wow! Seriously? A certain kind of person? What kind of person? A tough nut kind of person? Um, yes…hello! So tough nuts get wedged open? by cancer? by hard things in life? Ouch! I don’t want to be that kind of person!

I next find myself ruminating on this idea while I’m running later in the morning. And of course, I’m thinking about tough nuts and how hard some of them are to crack open. Then I considered the destiny of the hard to open nut…it isn’t pretty…and I am sure you know what’s coming…the hammer, right? That’s right, a tough nut gets the hammer or it gets tossed into the waste bucket. And why I wondered do we treat hard, unopened nuts with such force and determination? Why, because unopened, nuts are not good for much of anything, except maybe the compost pile. A nut’s value is in its insides, its fruit or seed is it vitality; its life-giving energy; so first, the hard shell must be cracked open.

So yes, I am, from time to time, a tough nut to crack. But that’s only because I think ~ or rather, I perceive ~ that ‘hardness’ is akin to safety, to sanity, to longevity. But thankfully, today some cracks have been made anew on my tough outer shell; and through the cracks I continue to realize that hardness does not so much protect as it does to isolate. When I isolate my inner self, I shut out the illuminating life force of LOVE.

It takes LOVE to crack tough nuts like me, and you, open. It takes the LIGHT of LOVE to warm and guide us to safety outside our hard shells. But it is LOVE, and LOVE ONLY that will never fail to guide us so we may go forward to discover the treasures hidden for us in the hard things of life.

Lighten Up!

Leave a comment

He says my smile makes my eyes light up and my face shine bright. He says my smile makes all things right…in the world…his and mine. I chuckle when he tells me this silly little truth, because a smile sometimes is the hardest thing for me to do. ‘We are not children anymore my dear; our days are full of care and bother, under our bridge has churned much water. So please glance light, and notice not my furrowed brow; I must pack my smiles away for now; for safe keeping in a trunk somewhere, I think’. But then I remember how a smile…his smile, warms me with delight; how it makes hard things simple, and simple things light. I hear his words replay, a gentle reminder to send a smile his way; and before I can raise a practiced scowl, a bubbling arises and quivers my lips; my eyes light up and my face shines bright, and I can’t help but do what he asks. So I send him my smile…and delight of delights…my smile is returned and makes all things right…in the world…his and mine.

inspirational-smile-quotes

Smiling really does delight and lighten the hearts of those in the world in which we live, and there is science to back up what we seem to know intuitively, namely, smiling releases those happy, feel-good hormones into our bloodstream, sending positive healing nourishment coursing through our circulatory and immune systems. A smile needs no lexicon, no thesaurus, no cross-cultural dictionary…it spans every ethnic boundary. It communicates acceptance, honor, joy, delight, love and fun. Sometimes we smile to be polite and that is an extremely helpful and socially acceptable behavior to practice in our modern, fast-paced society. And while the polite social smile may not carry with it the genuine warmth and sincerity of an authentic heart-felt smile, used liberally throughout our busy days, it still does a world of good, for the sender and the receiver.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
Mother Teresa

What Have I Been Given?

Leave a comment

Little or much it does not matter, for what do I have which has not first been given to me?

Natural ability or talent? I may exploit such things given as a rite of birth, for glory or self fulfillment…for these things desire an outlet in performance and achievement.  But to keep that glory for myself is to stunt and strangle their potential to bless and encourage others.

What do I have which has not first been given to me?

Strength and good health? The first and greatest wealth I can possess…do I use my strong arms and back to assist those less fortunate, or do I assume a posture of superiority over those who are sick from disease or depression?

What do I have which has not first been given to me?

Knowledge and wisdom? What I know and understand I have gleaned from others who faithfully broadcast their life experiences; whether in their doing or in their writing…I receive the benefit of their insights because they first gave.

What do I have which has not first been given to me?

Success and wealth? Whatever of these I have amassed, I have as the result of hard work plus ability plus good health plus knowledge. All these things which have already been given to me by others. To curb an appetite for more,  I find I must refuse attachment and disseminate liberally so as to allow these gifts to do the greatest good.

What do I have which has not first been given to me?

Love and family? By birth and marriage and acquaintance, I have family.
I love and I am loved. I complete and I am completed. The circle of love does
not, cannot end with me…but like everything else, it grows and extends from
me when it contributes to others.

Yes, I have been given much indeed…and the requirement, the responsibility that comes with receiving these gifts, is indeed great; but greater still is the loss, the loss for me, the loss for others, if I fail to recognize and fail to act upon this knowledge…that what has been given is a gift…to share…without measure.

Successful people have a social responsibility to make the world a better place and not just take from it. Carrie Underwood

When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. Luke 12:48 (Holy Bible, New Living Translation)

Faith…Lost and Found

2 Comments

In the Faith Wears Combat Boots? posts, I tackled the topic of faith: defining it, describing it as having feet, as wearing boots, as being able to work for us and through us, as an outward sign of our belief. But what happens when we feel we have lost our faith? What are we to do then? Can faith be lost and found again?

FAITH by DEFINITION:  1) confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2)  belief that is not based on proof; 3) a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc.

Faith and belief are bound together tightly when we say that we have faith in someone or something. The basis of our faith is a deep-seated knowing, a confidence we possess in our hearts and minds which may allude understanding or logical reason. When our faith is put to the test, we rarely welcome that opportunity with open arms. And yet, in order for us to truly KNOW that our FAITH is REAL and VITAL, it is sometimes necessary that we LOSE our FAITH, if only for a while. This loss can seem to us as a death; to lose faith is to feel as one who has been betrayed; or as one who is suddenly orphaned from everything and everyone which gave us sense and reason, trust and security. But maybe we haven’t really lost our faith, perhaps we have simply misplaced it…like our keys…or like the widow’s coin.

Luke 15:8-9 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses
one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every
nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can
be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me!
I found my lost coin!’
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language)

Maybe our loss of faith is necessary to birth a more perfect understanding of faith into our hearts and minds. If our deeply held convictions fail to support us when we need them most, maybe we need to dig around the recesses of our inmost soul to determine what exactly we were believing in the first place.

“If your faith is never tried then your faith can never be trusted!”
        M.L. Sanchez

To lose faith, may indeed be a gift if the loss causes us to clean the cobwebs out from our initial belief. If the loss moves us to do the work of discovery, of asking ourselves again what we truly believed and had confidence in, then we should not fear the temporary displacement, but rather welcome the occasion for introspection. We should not fear losing the specter of faith which masquerades as authentic ~ a phantom belief must be allowed to blow away when the winds of adversity challenge it. An authentic faith is like the widow’s coin, it can be found when diligently searched for.

Luke 11:10 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches
will find, and for the person who knocks, the door will be opened.
(from GOD’S WORD Copyright © 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations
Bible Society.)

 

Faith Wears Combat Boots?…continued

Leave a comment

If faith were for sale, how much would we be willing to spend for an ounce of faith? Would an ounce of faith be enough to carry us through one dark night of the soul? Would a gallon of faith be enough to carry us safely through that illness that threatens my life or the life of a loved one. Can I stockpile or horde enough faith to stay the storms and stresses of this life which afflict and assail from every vector? Usually, when people talk about having faith, they imply a positive attachment to it. Faith is generally thought to be something of value in one’s life. Faith is not usually associated in negative terms. Remember the definitions of faith: 1) confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2) belief that is not based on proof; 3) a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc. This is why we look to our ‘faith’ to carry us, to work for us, when the storms of life test and try us. If faith is to be of an any assistance to us, then it must be sturdy enough to maintain itself when it is assaulted and scrutinized. So when faced with uncertainty, why do we question the quality of our faith? Why do we assume that our faith is weak or that we have lost faith in the face of severe challenge. Either our faith works for us or it doesn’t. We can’t purchase or acquire ‘more faith’ when we feel our reserves are running low. Perhaps we should consider the possibility that our faith is weak because it is untested. Consider this, if an athlete doesn’t show up for his race, he will never know if his weeks and months of training were enough to get him across the finish line. Doesn’t a strong faith require similar training? If our faith is short-winded and flimsy, then the likely source of its impotence is lack of conditioning. A faith that wears combat boots is a faith that has been strengthened by quality exercise and discipline. I like to think of faith as a life force ~ it has breath, it has power to sustain. But faith, like breath and life, cannot be hoarded and stored in a warehouse like some commodity. If we want a faith that supports, protects and comforts us in the midst of life’s challenges, then we must realize that our faith is made strong and reliable only when it gets to work in Boot Camp.

Faith Wears Combat Boots?

Leave a comment

What is faith? Dictionary.com defines faith as 1)confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2)belief that is not based on proof; 3)a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc. So faith does not require scientific proof to make it true for a believer; either one has faith or belief or confidence or trust or not.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. Thomas Aquinas

How do I get faith? In order to exist or be real for us, faith requires something from us; it is not something that happens to us in passivity; faith does not descend upon us like an ethereal mist; Faith requires action and input from our conscious mind and heart to believe that something is true. We get faith and we empower faith by our continued belief. Faith is very personal; it is a knowing belief which we, the believer, hold and possess as our own. For most of us, we must have some initial life circumstance or experience to help us decide whether or not something is worth believing or trusting. Instincts alone do not help us have faith; we are not born with a slab of faith, but we are born with the capacity to test, choose and adopt beliefs which seem right and trustworthy to us. So to get faith, we practice believing. But wait, PRACTICE implies work! And this is where the combat boots come into focus. If we want evidence that a belief or faith is REAL, then we would expect our faith to work its way out of us…a REAL FAITH has LEGS and FEET and ARMS and SHOULDERS. It must be put to work to be of any real value to us and others.

A body that doesn’t breathe is dead. In the same way faith that does nothing is dead. James 2:26 (from GOD’S WORD Copyright 1995)