retired literature and writing professor; I write spiritual, meditative, and prayerful blogs. My life is devoted to prayer and healing prayer for all I meet.
I had one of those days yesterday; we all have them. . . occasionally. Mine don’t happen often, but when they do, they happen in a total way. When I arose yesterday morning, I felt great; my hopes were exceedingly high; I ate a real breakfast instead of just toast and coffee; then I proceeded to begin my day.
I made the mistake of going right to my computer to do the “necessary” work, instead of spending and hour or so reading or meditating. I opened my computer, got on the phone to rearrange two doctor’s appointments. Both went exceedingly well.
Then, I lost it! Instead of proceeding to something useful, I decided to decode some of my email’s (aways a mistake). I first sifted through and eliminated to periphery of junk mail, then decided to respond to those who asked about a resent blog. I opened the first, I reached into my bag of a witty but intellectual brain to find an appropriate but humorous response and. . . nothing. I found myself falling down a hole; not just a hole, but Alice’s hole, and at the bottom was the very fat and very angry Queen of Hearts. I had fallen directly into her beautiful and rich garden of freshly grown Brussel sprouts ! Ooh, and I hate Brussel sprouts.
Obviously, my productive day was over; I directly went to my TV and forced myself to watch reruns of I Love Lucy. Just to let some light into my dark day.
We must look within ourselves without any shame whatsoever; we are who we are; we are struggling through this life just as everyone else is; let us acknowledge this basic fact and do it without shame. It is a simple fact of life. It means understanding that we will have pain, and that it is only when we accept this fact and stop waging war within ourselves that we can be at peace within ourselves and share that peace with others, just as God asks.
In the Old 1599 Geneva Bible John 10:16 reads: “Other sheep I have also, which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one sheepfold, and one shepherd.” That’s a mouthful none of us need to share; simply put as my brothers always say, we are brothers and sisters all, from the same Father, only we have different mothers. Yes, we are all related.
We have a war going on inside of us. Am I good looking? Am I too fat? Should I go back to college? Do I have the right job? Am I the right sex? Am I too skinny? Would I look better with blond hair? Am I the right gender? Do I go to the right church? Why do I go to church?
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Stop! STOP! STOP! WHO NEEDS ALL THIS NOISE GOING ON IN ONE’S HEAD?
I humbly paraphrase the poet Rainer Maria Rilke by saying, be patient with the unsolved issues in your own heart for in the future God may provide the answers as you share Her Love with others.
Sometimes, just sometime, what we are is simply God’s gift, and that is perfection in Her world.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not what I’m thinking is rational. Christianity worships the Triune God. I find that to be repulsive at times. It’s more mythological than real. Do I believe in God? Absolutely! Yes! But there is only one God. God is the master of our creation, all creation. Why is it that we have to take something as important as God and bring Her (Him) down to our level of unimportance? If we believe what’s written in the Bible, and I understand that Bible was written by mankind for the purpose of mankind. It says in the Bible that God created man in his image. I am created in God’s image. Now if I think about that. I look in the mirror. Can I see an image of God? I don’t see God. I see an image of myself. A reflection. An imperfection. But not myself. Seeing myself is impossible. Because it’s not me. So, therefore. If I’m an image of God, I’m not seeing myself.
I have trained myself to see God in the faces of all whom I meet. This has changed my life. I am a happier and more sedate person, for I am not seeing evil; I am seeing contentment; I am seeing God’s perfection. Even when the person I meet is not a perfect human, I see God; I take her hand, or place my hand on his shoulder, while we are talking. We join together into each other’s sphere of friends or even families of love and understanding. We joke, se talk, we share! When we part, we part as friends; I always part with a simple blessing because we both have changed and become different people.
I grew up and matured in the life of the church. Two different denominations shaped my life, along with other factors that tried to influence how I should look at what life in the 20th century was supposed to mean; education, war, then the rush to earn money. And tucked in between all that, marriage, children, family, and the celebration of life in church. This was the life of the successful 20th century man. Life, family, and church, all incorporated by the struggles to earn money. Because . . . . . Church and money ruled our world!
My mid-life struggle began in violence after a near-fatal auto accident, a pool full of teenagers, and a love of reading history. God spoke to me and led me into the world of education, and I became a high school teacher, where I began to learn what was really important in life. Let me rephrase that; I learned really was not important I life; it has taken me many years of searching to approach the fact that I still do not truly know the answer. But I did learn during my first year of teaching that it is impossible to teach anything to young minds anxious and begging to learn. As a high school history teacher, I tried to open their minds to allow them to think for themselves and not be shy about sharing their thoughts. I was a guide, a mentor, never a teacher. And oh! How they succeeded!!!!
Over my twenty-five years of being a mentor to students of all ages, (I returned to college to get a doctorate in literate and taught in a local community college, where my oldest student was 72)and all backgrounds, and all religions, I opened my minded to all cultures and learned more from them than they could possible have learned from me. To this day, I believe that we all were blessed by being together.
I have been blessed with a variety of students who have made me a better person. From valedictorian to football star to a boy with severe cerebral palsy, or an Iran war veteran with PTSD, or an immigrant who has difficulty with the English language. All have blessed me by making me a better person and allowing me to be called aa mentor in their lives.
I am honored with the knowledge all of my students have shared with me, and at age 82, I do not know how much more time God will give me to learn more about life and what is important.
What I have learned is that we are all made in God’s image.
I opened my Bible at random before meditation today and my finger fell on Genesis 27: 15. “Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.”
We all know the story about Jacob’s fame and fortune thanks to Rebekah’s duplicity; or let us call it dishonesty. Is this why all of man’s history is based on duplicity and when extreme, spreads to wars? I won’t blame Rebekah because man’s quest for more has everything to do with it. Duplicity and greed seem to run our world.
I fear our greed is leading us to another huge international war. Those with money and power want more; they feel that their mansions and yachts are not as luxurious as “the other’s” are. They weren’t gifted with a personal luxury plane of their own.
Jealousy and greed are the fore-runners of great international tragedy, We must all pray that these forces of personal lust do not cause the earthquake that shatters the dreams of the other.
But —– call me an idiot; call me a fanatic; call me a man of too many dreams!!!!
But I believe that if we all turn our faces to Sol (our Sun) during the daylight hours and turn our faces to the billions of lights in the night sky, we will find God, or the name you call your all-mighty in the religion you practice; and in the clamor and noise of all the voices screaming the will of love and peace to Her (or Him if you prefer), God will hear the voice of a little three-year-old girl squatting by a stream with a small stick in her hand drawing a picture of her pet sheep in the mud, praying to God “please don’t let anyone hurt little Molly.” And God will hear her.
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I am now 82! I was born in wartime. I have lived through six other wars, police actions, armed conflicts, etc. Call them what you will; people died, and not just soldiers. I pray for the soldiers and the victims on boths ides; all are brothers and sisters whom I love. We all share a deep Love from God together.
See the little girl in the middle; her life is too precious to harm. Let us Love!
My wife shares the name of the actress who was Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s. and just as Wonder Woman is, my wife is the perfect role model for the feminine force for good over evil. It has been a priceless gift in my life to have this wonder of unfailing love behind me in everything I do.
God teaches us to share our blessings with all the people we meet. Both my wife and I have done that throughout our lives, and we have raised our two children to do the same. And now married, they are doing the same with their children. Sharing God’s Love with all from generation to generation has been a wish of God’s since the days of Eden.
When we meet a person we know, or someone who may be a stranger, and we pass the peace of God with them, look into their eyes, see if there is trouble in their hearts. Remember that God is with us always, for if someone is suffering with depression, we must try to lift them with the joy of God’s presence. This is why I think that the passing of peace should truly be the passing of joy, for God want Joy to be in our hearts. And this will enhance the value of every human being.
Repeat to yourself our favorite verse from the Bible, Tanach, or the Qu ‘ran. What is God saying to you? What is it in your life can you give up allowing a little more kindness to enter? Can you find that one thing within yourself that defines the real difference between happiness and joy?
We must practice being a gardener and prune those areas of our lives that are taking up space that are not allowing our love for others to grow. When we are in the proper mold of sharing love and kindness with all, there is an explosion of birdsong surrounding us as we visit others, and our hearts see others and their needs as they truly are.
So, let us read our own Holy Book, recognize the Love Letter it truly is, and pass on that love in the way of kindness to all that God asks us to do.
My first question is which Bible? Governing the Western world, there are three great books of learning. First, there was the Tanakh (what we Christians call The Old Testament) the struggles of the ancient Hebrews, the holy book of Judaism; then came the New Testament (written primarily by Hebrew scholars about a wandering Jewish prophet who many claimed to be the Messiah) this book became the basis for Christianity; the third great book is the Quran, dictated by God to Muhammed and adopted by the Muslims as the holy book for the third great religion, Islam.
The Middle Eastern and the Western worlds have been governed and remain governed by these three great faiths and their great books of history, tradition, and learning. Bless us all for the guidance we receive from our God above. God, called by three different names: Yahweh, God, and Allah. Regardless of what name we call our supreme being, regardless of whether we call God Father God or Mother God, it is the same God offering the same love, asking us to follow the same love: TO LOVE EACH OTHER, to offering a safe place to sleep for the stranger in our midst. Is it too difficult to offer love for our neighbor, to offer an open hand of aid, not close a closed fist of anger? Know the Bible and the Koran. None but the great books of love to our deities. Who is the echo Chamber of hatred? In a sense. His or Her books of worship reflect past wrongs that we have done to ourselves. But they also show us a way out of these wrongs. Showing us a way to joy and harmony, goodness, and love.
Speaking as a Christian. And I can only speak as a Christian because that is how I was raised. I can never see God. Because God is the only Something that is within me. It is a feeling. That I share. I know that he is here when I see that person begging on the street. Knowing that I can help him. By giving him a few dollars. I am too poor to share something other than money. My quarters are too small to open my home to others. I AM Not physically capable. Spiritually, I can lift others up. Christian-wise this has asked me to love others. And treat them equally and I do that. God loves all of us. Christian, Jewish, Muslim. We are all brothers and sisters. I have read the Bible. I have read the Koran. All beautiful works of literature. All beautiful structures of faith! Can’t we live by what they mean? And not by what? Their history reflects mankind’s wrongs and God’s help in correcting those wrongs. Let us love each other. As Yahweh. Ask God. As Allah asks. Is that so impossible to do?
“Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.” – James 5:13
I’m not sure what will happen next in my life, but I know what will not happen. All my energy will be devoted to bringing God’s Love and peace to my corner of the earth; useless spats are worthless to fret over. I pray that we can embrace one another peacefully with our hearts leading the way, allowing love to embrace bb you and me leading us from a state of fear to a state of comfort and trust.
The Love of God dwells within us all; it is our heart! It is the gift of kindness, compassion, and brotherhood, a Love placed there by God that cannot be taken way, only shared through Grace. O God, we are your children, Jesus promises us, “I will give you whatever you ask in my name, will be given. . .” He promises Love! He asked us to Love God, Love ourselves, and love our neighbors. He also asked who are our neighbors, implying that all people are our neighbors.
We are to love all people; that is what God asks. We must think before we ask.
Over 2000 years ago a little-known Jewish profit travelled from small town to small town healing those that the Pharisees and other church leaders considered unworthy or unclean. These unfortunates were not allowed to pray in the synagogues or bathe in the public baths. They ate from the trash bins and slept in dark spots away from the places where those in charge might find them and punish them for being poor.
Meanwhile, those with money ate the best food, drank their precious wine, bathed in the public baths, attended synagogues daily and prayed, blessing themselves for doing good. They gave very small handouts to those closest to the doors of the synagogues. And when they returned home, they punished their servants for small misdeeds while they were away.
Overall, our society is the same today as it was 2000 years ago; the only difference is we celebrate that wandering Jew in our houses of worship and call Him Christ our Savior, yet we undo everything He stood for and everything He practiced in His time while He walked among us. We are the outcasts, and we are the sinners; we have yet learned to heal. What hypocrites we remain!
Meditating to Heal 
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