Expressing Peace. Poo. 76.
Poo and Peace
She was truly graceful, scraping dog poo from her sandal’s sole on the grass between the sidewalk and the parking lot.
As I ran past, I raised my arms in supplication. “It wasn’t my dog! I always pick up after…”
In a single expression she smiled and growled, “It makes me so mad!”
Perhaps 50 strides down the road I thought, “That’s what forgiveness is for!”
Forgiveness is for the forgiver more than the forgiven. Forgiveness lets one experience peace instead of ire. Laughter instead of grimace. Release instead of clinch. That is what forgiveness is for, I believe.
Forgiveness lets you let go of the human tumult that doesn’t do anyone any good. The poo doesn’t go away. The shoe’s sole will wipe clean.
When the tumult is released, peace replaces it. When we feel in our heart the power to forgive, the power that is ours, we experience Peace. If we don’t let the human mind get in the way, forgiveness is easy. It’s natural. It’s both giving and receiving a gift at the same time. The gift is peace.
Sweet Friend,
the power of Peace gives me the power to forgive
and to know the real forgiveness is for myself:
to free myself from itches, tensions, stress and strife
that I create.
The peace I know when I forgive
is the gentle flowing of your Love and Grace
throughout my being.
Watching where I step is how I feel your guidance.
Forgiving where I step is how I love your Presence.
And so I thank you, GOD, that Spirit lets me let go
of human disturbances, only as real
as I let them be.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Forgiveness, Humor, Peace, Prayer · Tagged with: Forgiveness, Peace, praying, spiritual simplicity
Expressing Peace. Pray Again. Again. 75.
Pray Again. Again.
I want you to pray again. Again.
Create a moment and enjoy praying. Pause. Then pray again. Another pause. Pray again.
You can probably think of something you do and when you do it again, it feels better (stronger, lighter, bolder, happier…). And the third time is better still. You’ll feel that with praying. I’m sure.
After I pray — for whatever reason or for any reason or for no reason other than praying — I have a slow rush of peace and a heart full of Peace. I’ve recently discovered when I take a breath or two in that Peace and then pray again, I experience exponents. Better times better, stronger times stronger, lighter times lighter….
And when I’m praying yet again it is better still.
No rules. No guidelines. No wrong way to do it because it’s only right. Just pray. Pray again. Again.
Good Friend, GOD,
talking with you never gets old.
Feeling your presence woven through my thoughts
never feels heavy.
Hearing your truth, free from all words,
lets me never doubt.
Praying isn’t a rerun.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Sweet Spirit,
opening my heart without any idea
of what we will share
has me enjoy just stopping by.
And I am not stopping,
always moving, dancing, running, hopping
feeling the One Energy we are.
Always. All ways.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
MotherFather GOD,
as many times I as I can ask
you are always there to answer.
As many times as I may wonder
you are quick to let me know for sure.
As many times as I may pray with you
you make me glad to know the cookie jar
is never empty.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Energy, God, Inner Peace, Peace, Prayer, Praying, Thanksgiving · Tagged with: Divine Spirit, Faith, Peace, Prayer, praying, spiritual simplicity
Expressing Peace. Doing Time. 74.
Doing Time
We should all be doing time.
I’m not saying we should be imprisoned, although many of our perceptions of time are sort of imprisoning. We make time, take time, steal time, save time, spend time, waste time — all of which create a bit of guilt by which we let time (there’s never enough!) imprison us.
Instead of those perceptions, we should do time. As in doing the bosa nova or the tango. Too often we take time to mean the future, the uncertain yet desired destination to which we are hurrying. Not as often but still perhaps too often, time means the past from which we drag our heals that we may not leave it.
I imagine Alan Watts included “living” as a category of art when he said, “For the perfect accomplishment of any art, you must get this feeling of the eternal present into your bones — for it is the secret of proper timing. No rush. No dawdle. Just the sense of flowing with the course of events in the same way that you dance to music, neither trying to outpace t nor lagging behind. Hurrying and delaying are alike ways of trying to resist the present.”
When we live for any time other than now, time controls. Time does us. That translates into hurry-scurry to fulfill our obligations and into distraction from the beauty of daily living. I share Maria Popova‘s worry about “showing up for our obligations but being absent from ourselves, mistaking the doing for the being.”
For thoughts about staying in the present, you may want to click back to any of these Expressing Peace posts: #70, #66, #62, #45, #35, #21. Or plenty of others.
GOD Who Frees Us to Be
and not to do
and not to race against time
or strive to save time
or struggle to beat time.
The joy of each breath
and the peace of feeling each breath fully
lets us out of time.
The thrill from stillness in the moment
as it happens
that it happens
and is ours to know.
The grace of leading the dance
jiving to the beat of what is now
and now and now and now.
We can deny that we are done by time.
We can give thanks that we do time
as we will, true to our being.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Inner Peace, Joy, Music, Peace, Peacefulness, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: God, Joy, Peace, praying, spiritual simplicity
Expressing Peace. Waiting in Line. 73.
Waiting in Line
statesman.com
At a breakfast meeting this morning, Cindy and I were waiting in line to fill our plates. The line moved quickly. The others were friendly. The food supply was ample. And as I stepped, stopped, stepped, stopped, stepped my way to the scrambled eggs and hash brown potatoes, I realized today’s topic.
Research from Cal State – Sacramento says Americans spend some 37 billion hours a year standing in line. That is a number too large to comprehend. It equals more than 42 thousand years.
That’s a lot of good time, I suggest.
For the moment, ignore the stress, tension, anxiety, feeling of time-loss you can feel when waiting in line. Whether it’s at the grocery store, the movies box office, the security gate at the airport, sitting in your car at the service station or the freeway merge, waiting in line doesn’t usually get high marks.
But it should. Carolyn Gregoire makes the point that “Most of us would like to have more peace and stillness in our lives…” I take that as a near-universal truth.
And standing in line gives us great opportunities to know that peace, to nurture it, to grow our ability to enjoy it.
How? Certainly, your thoughts of what will bring you the most peace-awareness are the best answers. For starters, I offer:
- Smile. Make eye contact with a stranger and send a smile. Chances are you’ll receive one in return.
- Perform a random act of kindness by letting someone in line in front of you or helping with a suitcase or unloading the grocery cart.
- Create — in your mind or on paper — a list of people, places, things for which you’re grateful. IOW, a gratitude list.
And when you’re through the line, a bit of praying will nicely complement the new-found good from waiting in line.
Maker of Peace,
how wonderful that you let me know
what might make me impatient
can be a chance for knowing peace instead.
Let me give attention
to specific sights and sounds around me.
Let me share a moment’s friendship
with a truly perfect stranger.
Let me release my time and energy
for the well-being of someone else.
Let me remember I have the power
to do all this myself,
to cherish line-waiting as peace-making
and realizing it is your Peace.
And so it is. Amen. Amen.
Enjoy Peace. Express Peace.
In: Inner Peace, meditation, Peace, Peacefulness, Praying, Spirituality · Tagged with: Intention, Joy, Peace, power of good, praying, spiritual simplicity
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