Author: rkcdlitt

I rise each morning and reach for the hem of Jesus’ robes, praying for His healing touch. But alas, His healing touch does not come. I turn my mind to prayer and meditation knowing that this time is spiritual not corporeal. I live my Life in God’s Truth, the consciousness of living in the realm of God’s Spirit, not my own.

I am not separate from God; therefore, I am a perfect reflection of God’s Truth and Life. So, I pray; I read; I write; I live. I join others in prayer bringing God’s Truth and sharing God’s Love. Every moment of every day, I try to keep my eyes on the path of life God gives me. I care not for the physical body that limits my actions, because the aura of Love fills my life.

As I hold the hand of my brother or sister laying in a hospital bed, we pray, we vow our love and life to God. We humbly ask for God’s healing touch, and it comes. But ii comes in his time, not ours; but it does come. Then we hug and say our goodbyes for the day, knowing that God has been with us in the room. As I walk to my car, a feeling comes over me. This is a feeling of extreme comfort. This is the gift of gratitude; gratitude for sharing God’s presence and Love.

©Russell Kendall Carter; BA, MAT, Dlitt.

I told my wife that I have loved her since before God placed us in our mothers’ wombs. How is this possible?

We all know how this is possible. We are all children of God, His creations; being a part of God’s creations, we are eternally brothers and sisters, siblings from the same parent. God knows our hearts and knows our soulmates. Jeremiah reminds us: “. . . before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. . . (1:5).”

I have discovered that sharing God’s Love with all whom I meet brings me closer to God. I listen to others’ stories; and when they say something that reminds me of our relations with God, I probe deeper to understand how they feel the way they stated. I may share my feelings, but only when asked. By sharing our stories, we become closer to what Jesus promised that when two or more come together, He will be with us. And, we can feel His presence.

One truth about this is that we do not need AI or cell phones to feel His presence, so, unplug and listen, God is here. If you don’t believe me, stand up, go into another room, or go outside. Stand up and take a deep breath. Do you feel Him; God is the very air we breathe. Feel Him? Do you feel the freshness enter you? This air is His gift; it is Him who heals.

This air is the life He gives; as we breathe in, Love, Promise, and Life enter us. The promise of tomorrow grows in us with strong love to share.

Then we exhale. All of these feelings of promise and Love expand from our hearts, taken by the air we breathe, it expands out over all of God’s creation, blanketing our brothers and sisters with Love and the same promise we are given.

And our prayers are. . . knowing You.

©Russell Kendall Carter

We all live a darkness created in our own minds. We suffer through the fog of our lives, praying for better days praying to be free of the burdens of life. Oh, how small we feel! So, we turn from these irritating thoughts to indulge ourselves back into our lives of technology. We return to the comfort of our lives, for our cellphones are our uncomfortable realities of what we consider places of ease and family.

What can we do without me seeing what our friends and families are accomplishing. We find pleasure in the Hades of our social life. We return to society’s stricture of acceptance; we are trapped by technology. We are suffering! Darkness has encompassed our lives.

We have tripped and fallen; with our tacit approval, our thoughts and lives are sequestered in obscurity. We must turn around and revisit what our lives truly mean.

God, search me, You know my heart. You know my every thought. Let me share Your words that enter my mind. Let them spread across the earth. It’s a little bit more Love that I feel when I too opened my heart through my desire. From You my thoughts go outward. I become a missionary, a missionary of your love, of your kindness, of your healing.

You are always with us. We are always with you. Oh, those who have joined you in eternity are still with us, and always will be with us. We and they will live through eternity. Assuring that all people feel the Love that You promise. Dear Lord. Bless me and help me to spread Your Love,. . . 

. . . which will cast off the works of darkness in this world.

©Russell Kendall Carter

I sit on my patio every morning, listening to the birds singing. There is a very oral outspoken finch. It sounds like she’s letting the world know that the sun has risen beginning the new day. It’s a shrilling sound; yet it’s a beautiful sound. It lets me know that God’s nature is living free! Such a wonderful sight. As I sit there listening to the birds, I watch a squirrel come down from the branch of our sturdy Maple and tentatively crawl across the patio border to the small feeder that looks like a picnic table; its tail twittering. Birds scatter. They go to the hanging flower baskets; they go to the hanging feeders. Chirping all the time. On one feeder there are sparrows; on the second, there are finches. We have some mourning doves on the third. The sun rises on the ground, and I see huge, massive birds, solid black. I believe they are crows. If not, they are very large Ravens.

All seem to live together, respecting each other’s territory. All species enjoy the feeder that’s on the ledge shaped like a picnic table. And the mourning doves love this one. But when Mr. Squirrel shows up, they scatter. Because he does not like to share. He loves the picnic table feeder and sits in the middle, daring any bird to approach.

Ah, the sounds of nature. In the morning, they awaken my soul.

I see a small shell. Walking across my lawn. Actually, it’s walking in the flower bed. It’s green and brown. It’s difficult to see camouflaged by the dirt in the garden. I see four tiny legs and a little moving nub sticking out the front. And I realized that it’s a very small baby turtle. And I listen.

Mr. Turtle, where is your voice? Why don’t you join the chorus of God’s nature this morning. And I listen. And I listen. Talk to me, Mr. Turtle.

I remember what Solomon wrote. “The flowers appear on the earth. The time for the singing of the birds is come. And the voice of the turtle. Is heard in our land (2:12).”

I listen!

©Russell Kendall Carter

When you awaken to yourself each day, you might feel vacant. There is an emptiness inside that cannot seemingly be filled. Thus begins the eternal scavenger hunt of our lives. We look outside ourselves because we need the gifts of self-created outer problems to strengthen our inner needs. And. . . we awaken our innate wisdom.

Recognizing the illusions of our physical worlds, our inner strengths grow. We objectify two opposite things – our desire for wealth and our desire for real friends. Our inner emptiness roars inside us, tossing us much as an angry sea would. One side of our little boat is an angry sea, while the other promises calm.

When we realize the recognition of the inner person and their loving companionship is most important in our lives, our turmoil disappears. We turn to the acknowledgement of the value of the inner persons we meet and befriend, we accept this as the loving influence of peace in our lives. We awaken God within us, and the something missing disappears. We are at peace with ourselves.

©Russell Kendall Carter

Like it or not, whatever we do to one another matters to God. When we see God’s love on the face of those we meet, our vision of the world is forever changed. We recognize that the status quo cannot remain as it is. As good stewards of God’s Grace, our only true duty is to serve one another as a loved person. Any gift we receive, we are duty-bound to share with those less fortunate than ourselves.

Our society has allowed, and many times encouraged us, to be surrounded by fear and danger. If we do not spiritually raise ourselves up to stop these negative influences in our society, we will all suffer. As people of faith, we will be forced to carry the struggles of humanity getting heavier as we walk. We must enlarge our faith; we must open our hearts to demonstrate God’s Truth and Love which has no room for hate, danger, and fear.

Our struggles against this fear and danger must be supported by the outright courage of our innate knowledge of our true relationship with each other as God’s creations. The glory of God rises within us; we have the innate Wisdom given by our Creator. We must study our hearts intently to learn what we already know.

Our lust for freedom must include forgiveness of ourselves and forgiveness of all others. This forgiveness is the human passion for position, power, and monetary wealth. When in reality we find that we have someone’s hand we must hold and say thank-you; and then to repeat this love to all whom we meet. Then I can pray for God to give me one more day, that I may strive for the faith to share with all those with whom I live on this Earth, God’s creation.”

©Russell Kendall Carter

Our uneasy thoughts

bring the imperious night

to the forefronts of our childlike  brains.

Our inner beings mourn for

the return of an innocent mind.

Our Gethsemane-like moments

are comforted by His self-effacing assertion

And faith once again becomes

the providence of our existence.

©Russell Kendall Carter

When you awaken to yourself each day, you might feel vacant. There is an emptiness inside that cannot seemingly be filled. Thus begins the eternal scavenger hunt of our lives. We look outside ourselves because we need the gifts of self-created outer problems to strengthen our inner needs. And. . . we awaken our innate wisdom.

Recognizing the illusions of our physical worlds, our inner strengths grow. We objectify two opposite things – our desire for wealth and our desire for real friends. Our inner emptiness roars inside us, tossing us much as an angry sea would. One side of our little boat is an angry sea, while the other promises calm.

When we realize the recognition of the inner person and their loving companionship is most important in our lives, our turmoil disappears. We turn to the acknowledgement of the value of the inner persons we meet and befriend, we accept this as the loving influence of peace in our lives. We awaken God within us, and the something missing disappears. We are at peace with ourselves.

©Russell Kendall Carter

There are two totally disconnected stories of God creating man in the Bible. In Genesis 1, God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. . . (26).” This is spiritual Mankind, made in the same form as God. There is no form, Mankind, just as God, has no form that we can recognize, no material likeness to anything that we can imagine. Mankind is eternal with a perfect beginning and no ending. This means that you and I are eternal beings created by God.

In Genesis 2, “God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (7).” This means that man (notice no capital m) in mortal with a limited lifespan, not eternal. You and I were born in our mother’s womb and will die hopefully after many years doing God’s work here on earth.

But then God throws us a curveball (sorry for the sports analogy). And like a good curveball, it can blow right by us. However, if we see it coming, we can hit this pitch right out of the ballpark. We go back to Genesis 1, “God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night’ (5).” 

The eternal creation of Mankind is the light of God’s creation, spreading brilliance throughout God’s creation with Truth and Love. There is no beginning nor is there an end. This light is eternal, as is Mankind. The creation of mortal mankind is the dark which is the life of this weak creation, subject to illness and all types of mistakes, burdened with a painful beginning and a painful end.

While we live our mortal lives, we can do so tending God’s creation, or we can live our lives in selfish search for money, fame, and ego. It is our choice whether we live in light or live in dark.

©Russell Kendall Carter

I almost titled this Doubting Who We Are, which would be too negatively unreal. The treasure we call life is not a fleeting thing. It never ends! We are well before we are born into this world and continue well after we leave this world to return to God’s domain.

Now, before you begin to digest this Truth, or argue with me, the interim between  our mortal birth and mortal death can be quite challenging. Many of us have doubts as to who we are. During our mortal life, we search for comfort; and for most of us that search is for money, because with money we can buy comfort. Or so we think.

This physical comfort is not long lasting; its beauty fades with time. The novelty of the adventurous life we live is not everlasting. Regardless of monetary wealth, this thrill of life fades as we age. And our new search begins; and leads us to Truth! Leads us to God!

And this thrill is eternal; it is; it is spiritually and intellectually fulfilling. When we read the message of Jesus in the first four books of the Christian Bible, we gain an insight into God’s message for us. And if we are truly adventurous, we read the other personal testimonies that were rejected by the powers in Rome. These lost books of the Bible opens our minds to God’s message for us, God’s Truth for us. And that is Love.

God wants us to love Life. Love the life that God gives us; and more importantly, to love the life of others just as much. This is the healing message of Love told to us in the many diverse parables of Jesus. Love brings us family; Love brings us community; Love brings us Life; Love brings us Truth; Love brings us Love. Love lets us know who we are.

©Russell Kendall Carter