Maybe an interesting title, maybe not. Carving out the time to see yourself. Carving out the time to know your place in the world. Carving out the time to be with your God as you understand a god. Walking in nature even if within the crowded city. Sleeping in. Taking a nap. Walking for more than an hour, really anywhere.
What do you do to carve out the time? It is vital and we always need reminders.
Happy Carving !!
It is going to be tough to decide how to respond to the US government in the coming months. Do we wait and see or do we act out of fear and prepare for the worst? I believe that a time is coming where people who are aware and wanting to do the right thing will be severely challenged with balancing the letting go with right action.
I really don’t feel I can sit idly by and watch terrible things happen. But at the same time, I don’t really always know what I can do to change things.
I watched one of the protests in the days after the election. It was a demonstration of white supremacists. The two sides basically just had a stand off in the street where they were yelling at each other. I wonder what was the final tally of the cost of the police protection?
And then on one of the nights I watched as the police in riot gear unloaded on the street in front of my building. I felt a tremendous anger with authority at that moment. The demonstration that particular night did not seem any different than on the previous night.
It has all been a learning experience for me. I have witnessed people who are very serious about these demonstrations and are perhaps the type of people who would resort to violence in just a few seconds’ time. Those people exist on both sides of the issues.
So what is the appropriate response from a purely spiritual perspective? A nonviolent approach would most certainly be called for and perhaps there is some room for a wait and see approach. I do think those who choose the wait and see approach need to be careful that it is not in reality just the path of denial.
Things can change very quickly in this type of environment and we do need to be prepared.
Perhaps the path is one of wait and see and vigilance. Pay attention, pray your prayers, ramp up your practice just a bit. We can make it. Love has to be on our side. Justice has to be on our side. The Truth has to win out.
Peace
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to understand
Help us to honor our personal experiences with you
Help us to honor all personal experience
Help us to understand the place of dogma.
Guide us to deeper understanding of difference
Guide us to deeper understanding of sameness
Guide us to deeper understanding of ministry
Guide us to deeper understanding of justice and fairness.
Be with us now as we suffer
Be with us now as we rejoice
Be with us now as we pray
Be with us now as we “be”.
The heat and humidity was hanging on and we thought it would never end. Then there was relief this morning in the form of a nice shower and cold front. How many times are there situations in life that we think will never end? We keep waiting and hoping for the cold front to ease the situation and bring relief. Sometimes the situation is so hard that it just feels rigid and unmovable.
I think that during those unmovable times is where we need to have very deep roots in order to persevere. It is a challenge to find the time to create spiritual space for ourselves on a daily basis. We have so many commitments and responsibilities. However, if we can just carve out some time on some sort of regular schedule then the times of difficulty will be eased somewhat.
Regular spiritual practice does not erase the difficult times or serve to prevent difficulties, but regular practice will serve to ease the pain a bit and increase our ability to persevere.
I have given up.
They will never see the truth.
Can you see the truth?
Can you see the truth if you don’t live the truth?
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
What does that really mean?
My Labyrinth Journey 