Blessing: a Light in the Darkness

Posted on December 14, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Good Evening, God!

My wonderful husband Kit has this very month retired from running the Honolulu Marathon. He says he is switching over to running half marathons (13.2 miles). And so, God, it is a New Year for me — a New Era?

I am THANKFUL for Kit’s not running marathons! I am also thankful for slowly realizing that I did not instantly relax when Kit announced he wasn’t running the Honolulu Marathon.

It took me a while to notice that fact because my conscious mind was oblivious to the reality that my Body was still feeling stressed. It seems that my body is in the Habit of feeling stressed from mid-November to the Monday after the marathon. And my mind is in the habit of not noticing.

It is the old anniversary body-memory thing. Our bodies do remember! So, I now know that I need to comfort my body before and during Anniversaries.

But HOW to comfort my dear body? Hmm, saying that had me go online to find articles on How to Comfort Myself. And I found this one.

The article said that one way is to imagine that I have a bigger wiser self . . . and then ask it to talk out loud to my frightened anxious self. I like that idea! Then I thought, hey, I could imagine that You were joining in and agreeing with my bigger self. I like that idea even better!

We all need comfort, God! And I am quite certain that You long to provide comfort. Comfort and hope and love and peace and loving kindness and so forth. So, I love the idea of having my “Big” self join with You in speaking — out loud — words of comfort and love.

Now THAT will really be blessing myself. Blessing myself so I can let Your love and blessings seep through me!

Guess, I’d best go do it!

Tagged with: blessing myself, blessing ourselves, speaking words of blessing, speaking words of comfort
Posted in accepting my ability to REDESIGN, awareness, becoming the change I wish to see, Blessing, connecting, hope, LOVE, Peace, Prayer

A Bubble of Blessing

Posted on December 7, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

bonney-lake-010-3

Good Day, God!

I’m finding that Blessing people is becoming easier and easier. Today, while I was blessing a friend I had a fun thought which expanded a bit on the whole idea of Blessing. Into my mind came an image of the Bubble that Glinda the Good Witch traveled in during the movie, the Wizard of Oz.

A Bubble of Blessings! Perfect! Putting a friend I was blessing inside a Blessing Bubble seemed to be an absolutely wonderful way to focus blessings on that friend.

I immediately found my mind creating a Bubble for first this friend and then that friend. And then near the end of my Centering Prayer Time I put myself into a Bubble of Blessing. Wow! I loved it! I felt protected, safe, loved and as if I were being cleaned up . . . atom by atom.

I suppose God, that this is bubble idea is what comes of being a person who loves images.

But, let’s consider the possibilities here. Saint Paul in Romans 12:1-2 commands us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices — I alway pictured myself climbing up on a sacrificial stone altar — so we might be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Compare a stone altar with a beautiful rainbow colored Bubble. What a change of venue!

Of course, God, I want to be transformed. I want to be cleaned up, rewired, rerouted and repurposed. But, I’d rather You did that inside a Bubble of Blessing than on a stone altar.

Tagged with: a change of venue, Bubble of Blessing, Stone Altars
Posted in Blessing, Centering Prayer, clapping our hands in joy, connecting, Prayer, praying

Small Blessings and the Joy Factor

Posted on December 5, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Good Day God!

I’ve just discovered the JOY of writing with a brush! I’m not doing calligraphy . . . it is just that I am better able to express my feelings with a brush as I journal. And because I’m enjoying the basic act of writing more — I am enjoying journaling more — and doing more of it.

Imagine, God! I just change from a sharpie pen to a brush and my behavior changed. Such a small step. And I am looking for more of those small steps that shift my behavior. One such small step is writing a poem (blank verse, of course) after I do my Centering Prayer. Bingo! I love doing the poem and now I am Centering daily and aiming for twice a day.

Apparently, God, just introducing a small dollop of Joy into an act will double or triple how often I do it. Joy! Who knew? I guess I have been trying to change my behavior by Mind Power and Will Power. What weak creatures they are compared to JOY!

But it seems to me that Your church pushes the use of Will Power and has left the enticement of Joy to the “Other Side”.

How foolish of us.

Galations 5:22-23 says very clearly that: the fruit of Your Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And I cannot understand why we who believe in You do not offer to others MORE JOY . . . The Joy that comes from feeling that life is meaningful and from being/feeling connected with You.

Tagged with: a dollop of joy, blank verse, marketing with Joy, small steps, writing with a brush
Posted in Blessing, Centering Prayer, connecting, Holy Spirit, JOY, Prayer

Blessing My Past

Posted on December 5, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Sunset over our marina

Good Evening, God!

While going through some old notes I came across a quote or idea that said: We are to transform the Traumas of our past from Holes into Gateways for the Holy Spirit. WOW! That resonated with me.

In that note I had a written down a few “holes” from my childhood. One was when at under six I had drawn an anatomically correct male dog. A neighbor was visit my mom and while I think she was mostly amused by my drawing I learned instantly that it was “not done”! I had definitely been put in a box. Even though I did take life drawing later on.

But the Hole that I felt called to pray about was about cancer. At this point I was maybe 12 or 13. In my memory my father was describing to me how my great grandmother’s cancerous nose had looked. My father was clearly not just revolted but frightened! And he transferred his fear to me. BOOM! DONE!

But how to make of this fearful moment a gateway for the Holy Spirit?

I began by blessing my father. I blessed him first as a fellow human being. Having a Fear lodged inside us is awful. As I blessed him it was as if the memory changed. And a layer was added between us. Then I blessed myself. Blessed my young dear self then . . . and blessed my Body right now! Finally I blessed him as a daughter . . . forgiving him. This all took place in what I guess was Your Time, God. Because I have no idea how long it took.

Thank You, God! Blessing that memory was so helpful. That small bit of grit has been enclosed in a smooth pearly covering. It is still there but without exuding the fear . . . the distress . . . and the anger.

Tagged with: fathers and daughters
Posted in Blessing, connecting, Forgiving, healing, Holy Spirit, letting the Holy Spirit flow through us, Prayer, praying

Blessing My Body and Our Country

Posted on December 3, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Splash

Good Evening, God!

This afternoon, as I was doing my Centering Prayer, I fell into Blessing. I started with You. You are easy. The more I bless You, the more in awe I am of Your Complexity and of the overwhelming goodness of your Being.

In spite of — or maybe because of — my not having a really solid definition of just what blessing is. . . . I find that a lot of positive emotions and feelings swirl around inside me as I bless. I like it. Blessing is clearly positive and feels like a mix of total acceptance, loving kindness, appreciation and a sort of feeling of kinship. When those feelings were swirling around inside me, I tried to extend them to myself.

Total acceptance? Well, I’m more at peace with my Shadowy parts . . . realizing they need to be loved and carefully managed. Loving kindness? As I realize what a small and relatively young being I am . . .yes, I can extend loving kindness to myself. Appreciation? I like being me and I am thankful to be me.

Also, as I was doing my Centering Prayer, an idea resurfaced from several days ago. It is clearly my calling to care for myself . . . my body and mind and heart. And this Individual Body is somehow analogous to our Country . . . Our Body Politic. Hmm. I was overwhelmed with the awareness that it is also my “calling” to care for and bless Our Body Politic. Bless ALL of us.

Perhaps this is part of what You intended in I Timothy 2:1-2: I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

And, of course, God, this excellent advice isn’t just for me! May we all join together in praying for one another . . . praying and blessing every one of us!

Tagged with: I Timothy 2:1-2, Our Country, relationships
Posted in appreciation, Blessing, Centering Prayer, connecting, healing, kindness, LOVE, loving myself, Prayer

Blessing myself — a new frontier

Posted on November 30, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

bromeliad

Good Evening, God!

Today I began the “assignment” to BLESS myself. I started with blessing You and that helped me to better understand blessing. Before, I didn’t even know that I didn’t understand what blessing was and involved. Now I am beginning to feel how different it is from praising You.

Ever since reading Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers, I have practiced offering up the sacrifice of praise. But praising You seems like a head-centered activity. It is an act of will! I do it as a clear intention. I don’t do it because I feel like it.

But when I started to Bless You . . . it felt like my solar plexus was involved. As I understand it the solar plexus is big hub of nerves that seem to connect all the parts of me. Dense! And it felt activated as I blessed. Blessing You was easy. And as I blessed You, I felt somehow “closer” to You. It was as if warm, loving and caring feelings were emanating from me.

Then, when I started to bless me . . . I could sense those feelings extending into myself. And even though I am calling them feelings . . . they were deeper and more primal than feelings from my heart.

My Body and Being really appreciated — or maybe the word is NEEDED — the loving kindness involved in blessing myself. And I must stress that this is not selfish. Really, God! If I do not extend loving kindness to myself — how ever can I extend it to others?

I’m starting to understand the phrase: Out of our innermost being will flow rivers of Living Water. That is what You want pour into and though us!

Tagged with: Blessing myself -- a new frontier, Psalm 103, The Miracle and Power of Blessing
Posted in Blessing, connecting, healing, health, Humility or Needing Help!, kindness, LOVE, Prayer

More on Blessing

Posted on November 29, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Good Evening, God!

I’m back after doing a few minutes of Blessing You “with all that is within me.” (Psalm 103:1) And I realize that blessing You is putting Everything in Perspective. That enlarged perspective is having a funny effect on me. The small details of my life matter more — in that everything matters — and I matter. Thus my delight in this photo of a yellow hibiscus that I took on my morning hike.

Meanwhile, the Apocalyptic Future that has been waking me at 3:00 a.m. is being muted by my growing awareness of how much I do not know! In spite of how easy it is to connect the knowable dots — I am becoming more aware of the reality that there is SO MUCH I do not know! Actually, just considering the billions of galaxies is dizzying. Quantum Fields make me numb!

So, back to the small. Yesterday, I named my Solar Plexus as the site of my Blessing activity. Today, I looked up Solar Plexus and it is a real hub for a lot of nerves. Amazing! We Do have Amazing bodies! And I am tickled to think that my wild guess might have been pretty good.

I’m smiling at myself, God. Because, even being a Very Small Being, I still enjoy learning and trying to understand. I am glad You made us that way!

Today, I was still focused on Blessing You . . . tomorrow I will venture into Blessing me. That is definitely counter cultural!

Tagged with: Blessing the Lord, The Miracle and Power of Blessing
Posted in beauty, being a beginner, Blessing, Changing, connecting

A New Look at Blessing

Posted on November 28, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Good Evening, God!

Look what I stumbled upon! This Thanksgiving holiday I took it into my head to review, sort and donate some of my books. I have a lot of books. It took me all day to empty four book cases, oil them and then fill the largest of them. Then I rested. The books rested on beds, floors and desks. Five bags of books have gone off to our local library. I’m almost done.

But, the reward for me was discovering this book — The Miracle and Power of Blessing — by Maurice Berquist. I got it years ago and loved it. I’m pretty sure that at the time I tried to practice what I learned. But, not much remained!

So, here I am having another chance to absorb and practice the ideas in this book which is based on Psalm 103:1-4.which begins with
Bless the Lord Oh my soul, let all that is within me bless the Lord.
When I worked on blessing You this afternoon, I realized that the effort seemed to be coming from my solar plexus . . . not my mind or my heart. It seemed as if the Part of me that Blesses is Older . . . more Primal.

I am unsettled by that thought, God. Can it be that our Old Reptilian Brain wasn’t just vicious and red of tooth and claw? Could it be that it can Bless as well? That idea really surprises me! And after all the complaining I have done to You about humans having Too Much Old Brain . . . I realize I owe You an apology!!!

Well, Duh!

So, now I’m going downstairs to “practice” blessing You for a few more minutes. More on this tomorrow!

Tagged with: Maurice Berquist, Psalm 103, The Miracle and Power of Blessing
Posted in Blessing, Choosing to respond, connecting, Prayer

Valuing Friends and Fellow Countrymen

Posted on November 21, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Bergin, Norway

Good Afternoon, God!

I am glad to be here — sitting at my computer — AWARE of Your Presence. You are always present . . . but I am usually UNAWARE.

So, God, when I looked at this photo of Bergen, Norway I thought of our friend Nina Kay and smiled. Neither Time nor Distance have eroded our friendship. But, alas, after this dreadful election, I was afraid that Differing Opinions MIGHT erode friendship.

But, yesterday, as part of my “recovering” from the election, I realized that I had been caught up in a Web of Labeling. Sheesh! We Americans ARE Good People! In fact, I believe that all of us humans are basically Good. But I had lapsed into judging and labeling. Labeling opens the doors to terribly destructive behavior. And labeling has abounded.

It is now a few days later and I am puzzling over — How can I respond in a positive way?

The first thing I feel called to do is to clean up my Own Inner Landscape. I can’t just say that Others have been projecting their fears and angers out into the world. I have to look at how I have been doing that too. And — as best I can — STOP IT.

The next thing to do is to LISTEN and seek to understand WHY half of the country chose another path. I need to respectfully begin a dialog. Dang! Reality seems like one of those optical illusions — is it a vase? Or is it two faces? The drawing stays the same. It is just a question of what the viewer makes background . . . or foreground.

Well, God. That is a start! Please open my heart and mind . . . and yes, God, that will take faith, hope and love . . . all three.

Tagged with: being respectful, cleaning up my heart, Fear Not, recovering from the election
Posted in a prayer for healing, adjusting, asking for help for myself, attunement, background / foreground questions, connecting

Hope . . . Give us HOPE

Posted on November 13, 2016 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Morning hibiscus

Good Morning, God!

So, our Great Political Tug of War is officially over. Thank You for making it CLEAR to me that I was to accept the result — trusting in You and Your Grace and Love.

Of course, You made that extra clear to me because exactly 50 years ago as a 17 year old, I reacted to the 1956 election loss with great anger and an act of Heart Hate. Caring DEEPLY about a result — caring deeply about having our own Right Way — makes us so vulnerable to the evil of hate. Certainly I was. Well, I still am. So I appreciate Your Protective Warning. I am focusing instead on Vaclav Havel’s quote about Hope.

[Hope] is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out.

That is how I see my HOPE of our coming together for a country that talks together and works together. With Your Help, I will not give up on that hope.

Posted in a prayer for healing, Caring, connecting, healing, Hearing, hope, Hope as a gift from God