Come together with forgiveness
His family experienced what he called a “come together Christmas.”
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
He flew to Chicago four days before Christmas to see his mom and dad. Mom has an increasingly difficult fight with cancer. Her 88 years of memory are more and more spotty. Dad is stalwart and holds the fort admirably. It is beginning to show, however. He owns 100% of the do, go, shop, buy, prepare and repair. The visit was busy. Tiring. The days went by fast, as their minutes dragged.
Christmas Eve he flew from O’Hare to Denver International. His wife and daughters had started the Texas-to-Denver drive several hours before. They would all come together at his in-laws’.
That half of the clan has its own history. His father-in-law is not without a cocktail from mid-morning til bedtime. Mother-in-law proudly proclaims her 20-year denial. Laughing she punch-lines that she means denial of sobriety. Sister-in-law gave up smoking cannabis as soon as Colorado legalized its sale. That’s when she merely switched preferred consumption to chewing, like cowboys chewed tobacco in Colorado’s prairie.
The three days in the in-laws’ home were not what he is used to. The conversations rarely stayed on course, unless they were simultaneous monologues on diverse topics. There was often disagreement. Loud disagreement.
Recounting the week surrounding Christmas Day, he never lost his smile. He spoke with the post-holiday enthusiasm of shared love and happiness. He sounded sincere. I asked him what made it a good Christmas.
“We were with family!”
I love the explicit forgiveness–absolute and unconditional–in what he said and how he said it. The behaviors and the disease and the emotional suitcases were no matter.
What matters is the spiritual oneness of our human families and our Family of God.
Prayer of Thanks for Forgiveness
Sweet Source of All That Is,Giving forgiveness frees me from the burden
of “wrong” consciousness.
That I forgive lets me, causes me
to look beyond my human view
that something is wrong.
When I forgive I let go of what I see as wrong
and I embrace the truth that all is Spirit.
Spirit is good so all is good.
I love when that letting go and that embrace
come together.
And so it is. And so I let it be.
Amen.
Love and blessings,
12 January 2019
In: Forgiveness, Happiness, Prayer · Tagged with: Forgiveness
Wake up and get up
Do you ever wake up and not want to get up?
As Kay and I exchanged good mornings before the Sunday service, she asked me: “Do you ever wake up and not want to? I mean, not want to get up, not want to do anything?”
I think I was about to shake my head. Kay continued, “My friend asked me just those questions. Those questions got me thinking”
They certainly did. I watched Kay’s lively face become more so. Her voice increased its emphasis. “When I wake up, I breathe. Consciously. Then I breathe again And my friend’s question makes me consciously thankful that I can breathe. It also reminds me how good it feels when I can concentrate on my breathing.”
I just smiled at Kay. She said, “And that, too! Smiling. Smiling is another reason I am glad to wake up and to get up from bed! It feels good to smile and it feels good to receive a smile from someone else. I’ll remember to smile a lot the next time I see my friend.”
For the next wonderful five minutes, Kay shared perfectly simple completely outstanding reasons to wake up and to get up. Kay’s list included cooking breakfast, sitting on her deck, walking, talking, and cherishing memories. About the only thing I would add to Kay’s list is the chance to hear someone (like Kay!) excitedly sharing their wonderful realizations.
Maybe nothing is a tragedy, but I think we can say that to live without appreciating this life is at least a shame. Everyday Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck
Thank you, Kay.
Breathe for a moment. Let your face smile. Take a step and another. Say a word. Be aware of the little things that are big reasons to enjoy your life every day.
Wake up and get up prayer
Sweet Spirit, thank you for the power of every morning’s wake up.
Thank you for all the reasons we have to then get up.
The power of breath, of face-washing, the joy of breakfast,
the energy of morning tasks are everyday joys,
everyday gifts for which we are thankful!
Thank you that the life we experience
and the life we enjoy give us
–thanks to your presence and your power–
unlimited reasons not only to wake up
but also to get out of bed, to salute the day,
to look forward to the everyday chores
and the once in a lifetime experiences the beautiful day holds.
With joy and love we are glad that we can get up and wake up.
And so it is. And so we thank you, Spirit.
Amen.
Love and Blessings,
In: Authenticity, Breath, Gratitude, Grounded, Prayer · Tagged with: Attitude, Everyday Life, Gratitude
When paths cross, what are we to do?
When paths cross
When paths cross, what are we to do?
A morning walk in Fayetteville, AR, showed me amusing, enlightening intersections of paths.
The path of deciding
Sun was not yet visible yet the sky had opened to soft uncolor before bright yellow against calm blue. As I walked from residential streets into downtown, a crow perched on the curb’s edge twenty feet ahead. Its blackness had a deep purple-navy sheen. Its green-yellow eyes focused on an earthworm making its wiggly way from the street to the curb, oblivious to what awaited.
My conscience wrestled over whether to interrupt their drama, to save one’s life and extend the other’s hunger. At that moment the crow saw my approach, made four hops backward across the sidewalk. Its eye bounced from me to worm to me to worm. The crow was intent on staying safe and not missing a meal. The worm was intent on making it to the curb and the grass beyond.
Crow cocked its head, maybe confused, as I walked by and said, “Good morning! This is between you two.”
The path of admiring
Three blocks later I was at the city square: once Town Hall, still surrounded by beautiful shrubs and flowers. A man my age (I guess) rode by on his 10-speed. His hair and beard were matching gray, as if the faded blend of his white tee shirt and his black nylon shorts. His helmet, too, was black and white.
He pedaled steadily around the square, not fast. Into each corner he leaned carefully and kept his eyes ever on the road 20 yards ahead. He lapped the square four times as I walked along but one side. As we passed each other the fourth time, he lifted his gaze and smiled. I said, “Good morning! Good riding!”
I wonder how many more square laps he rode.
The path of gratitude
Some steps later, I was almost “home”. A cricket no bigger than my fingernail moved across the walk ahead of me. I paused to decide whether to wait and let it cross or to step ahead and remove its worry. I stepped ahead. As I had done for the crow and the rider, I smiled. And said, “Thank you for signing my morning walk!”
When paths cross: a prayer
Preparer of our Paths, we really are blessed
when another’s path crosses ours.
Need not be a human being and it is special
when it is.
The opportunity to share a greeting
or a smile or merely a nod of the head that recognizes
their existence and that it makes us glad and truly blesses us.
And lets us remember the beauty of our being,
of our existence, of our prosperity that this life is.
And when our path crosses that of some creature,
we get to acknowledge that the beauty of life
is not ours alone, is not for us only.
Thank you, Giver of this life, for the network of paths
we get to walk and follow and cross throughout our time.
And so it is. And so we choose to let it be. Amen
Love and blessings,
11 October 2018
In: Prayer · Tagged with: path, pathway
Peace in our political world
Peace in our world
Spirit of All Good, I affirm my faith and confidence
in the power of Divine Order and Divine Being in all of us.
I affirm our political peace.
The time is right for peace in our political world. Many of us want a specific result from the US Senate’s vote to seat or not to seat someone as Supreme Court Justice. To ask for that is to intensify the sense of opposition that seems to be the crux of our political melee currently.
We have from You the wonderful freedom to have and even to express our opinions. As we are human and possess the human ego, different opinions lead to a right v. wrong division.
The advice to “Let go and let God” is often offered. The second half of that is hard when and if we are concerned that we must get our way for it is the right way. And perhaps the “let God” half is hard because we suspect that human, non-spiritual stuff like politics and Supreme Court appointments do not matter to You. And so, we should not let go.
But You do care, for we are Your creation, Your expression of what is divine. You may not care about the ins and outs and ups and downs the black and white and gray of our everyday stuff. But You do care that we are spiritually aware, even spiritually happy and in peace.
Whether You purposely teach us lessons by the things that sculpt our daily life, I’ll not guess. I do not doubt, though, that at least You give us opportunities to learn, to learn about our spiritual Being, about configuration as I AM, about the ultimate joy of knowing and living the Oneness of You.
Praying for Political Peace
So, Ever Presence, I affirm as much to me
as to You that I am faithful
that any outcome in tomorrow’s Senate vote
is and will be for the best.
That is so no matter how difficult it is to see both sides
as best.
Power of our Being, I affirm with gratitude
the ultimate, the complete, the eternal Peace
of which all of us are made. And so
I affirm the Peace I AM
as present as every one of us
and as consciously allowing all of us
to see and be thankful it is in all of us.
Knowledge Supreme, You give us our wisdom
and You make True Knowledge possible for our God-minds.
That lets me know tomorrow’s results are entirely human.
Our Being—Peace, Love, Joy—allows us to see and be
beyond the separation our egos drive.
It is difficult, Sweet Spirit, to give thanks
for what allows the tumult present among us now.
Yet it is the powerful freedom with which You bless us
that allows the tumult to occur.
It is the wonderful faith with which You fill us
that allows us to anticipate the best of peace.
even political peace.
And so it is. And so we choose to let it be.
Amen.
Love and blessings,
5 October 2018
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