Meditating to Heal

People travel the world looking for God. They visit different countries, find shrines, and pray on their knees before statues of saints and crosses. They visit places like the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is built on the site where Gabriel is believed to have appeared to Mary, telling her she was chosen to bear God’s Son; it has become a sacred location. Others visit the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed just before His arrest. All of these places are visited to feel closer to God (out there).

Then there are those who study mysticism! They travel to Iona in Scotland, believing it to be a “thin place” where the boundary between our physical world and the spiritual world feels notably accessible.

I have many friends who go to these places, and I say, “Good for them!” I can’t afford to travel, but I can afford to study, and I can afford to think and pray. I found God in the pets we saved; I saw God in the birds in the sky; in my limited visits, I saw God in horses and goats, and all the farm animals.

I see God in all the people I meet…everyone…rich and poor…especially the unhoused. These are generally the kindest, most helpful, most loving people I know. I find God inside me. I share God with everyone I meet. God is not “out there;” She is right here with us every day.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

Listening for His Voice
enlightens my path,
guides my footsteps to the goodness
that surrounds me.
God is the focus of my existence, and
His voice is my strength and joy.
I serve Him with gladness;
I am victorious listening, for
His voice shortens the time
I am in darkness.
When I falter,
I fall upwards
into His arms.
His truth is my life, my truth;
the Psalmist writes:
“For the Lord is Good,
His mercy is everlasting.”
His voice comforts my soul.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ike the sound of a trumpet,”
Revelation 1:10

All art changes us; great art changes us dramatically!
What are your gifts, and what fruit can they bear?
No one else will have your gifts.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin actually changed the world.

Your life is the rainbow to change the world.
Thank you for all you have let us experience.
Where, then, does Your call beckon us?

There are words we assume we will have time to say later:
Thank you, I forgive you, I was wrong, I miss you, or I love you.
Blessed are you who walketh in the counsel of our Lord.
Life, be a rainbow today!

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

I was reading a missive that mentioned that Jesus existed before time began. Well, I earnestly believe that we, as all being children of God, also existed before the beginning of time. We are all products of God’s Love, created by God… always. We are in His Grace for all eternity. This follows my belief that God’s freely given Grace of Eternal Love is the strongest gift in our foundation of support in our life. Nothing is stronger than God’s Love for us. And this is true through all eternity.

I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

I’m a crusty old fart! After a totally unadventurous four years in the Marine Reserves, twenty-nine years in a retail photography store, fourteen years as a high school history teacher, and nine years as a college literature professor, my life has been truly varied and truly blessed. This is because I married a wonderful woman. God truly blessed me every day of my life when I married her.

I’m reminded of a family cat that, on Christmas morning, would jump after all the rolled-up Christmas wrap that the kids would throw at each other after opening each present. After breakfast was over, no one could find the cat; Grandpa dug through all the rolled-up wrapping paper really low down on the floor and found the cat sound asleep.

We pray to God on high, but sometimes we find comfort below a pile of discarded foil wrap. Funny how sometimes our vision changes.

Look to the low, little, seemingly small or insignificant. This is where we often see God.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

I find it puzzling when a minister says, “Let us prepare ourselves for a time for prayer,” or, “It is time for our period of meditation.” I know that many who attend church are already in a mental status of semi-prayer when they enter, but most, sadly, are not.

I don’t know what it means to pray constantly, but I do know what Jesus says about praying to God:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

I cannot say that I pray constantly, but I do know that I love constantly. When Jesus asks that the second greatest commandment is to love others as ourselves, I accept that as gospel. So much so that it comes as an automatic when I meet someone new. I haven’t a care in the world as I choose to live in the glory of God, being a rainbow of love.

P.S. I love you. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

“O God, do not keep silent; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!” (Psalm 83:1)

I was out of it. really out of it. I was down so low, I couldn’t talk; I could barely breathe; I definitely couldn’t think. I have no real memory of the event. My wife called the Rescue Squad. When they asked my wife what was wrong, and how big I am, they sent two squads. Expecting a stroke, they sent me to the closest hospital.

Rushed me to the emergency room. Incoherent! Tests, more tests; something else; something around me, no, not around me, in me, no, within me. I was freezing, but there was a warmth within; I was shivering from the cold, but I was not cold. I felt the warmth of the love and concern and fear emanating from my wife who never left my side. It was this love and warmth that kept me alive.

My wife shared her gift with me; for I was too sick and incapable of thinking my own. My true-life cells of God’s aliveness within me were masked deep within me by the disease of pneumonia, and yet, You were there, with her, . . . deep within me where You always are, caring, loving, protecting as you always are. . . just as Jesus promises in all His teachings.

With love You protect and nourish me; the cells  of my aliveness that I share with You, my entirety, abound with eternal love and kindness that I try my best to share with all whom I meet. I love and thank you for your caring for me and all of my family. I follow what Jesus asks, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt 22. 37)

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.

Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99