El Roi – God Who Sees Me

by rkcdlitt

Every night, I whisper into the ear of my sleeping-beauty wife of 58 years, “I Love You.” Then, I look up, picture the great universal skies in my mind, thank God, for putting me in the life of such a wonderful woman, thanking him for the wonderful day we just had, and asking Him for just one more day. With her!

It is this simple prayer of thanksgiving every night, not  for my benefit, but for hers, that awakens me each morning knowing that God is good. But it is also the knowing that God Is with me as I live this life of a mere mortal man, struggling to be a near-invisible pilgrim of God’s Love and generosity in this world of abject greed and the forever “Me first” or the increasingly more common “Me only” societies that inhabit our small rock hurling through space.

My eyes were closed to the homeless standing on a corner asking for a handout. I could not see the wariness and hurt behind the eyes of those I called friends, who just happened to be a shade or two darker skinned than I am, or call God by a different name.

My simple prayer calls me to examine my deepest struggles and how I reflect on our damaged society which is dying by its own hand. my minor struggles mirror those of society. So, in my daily prayer and meditation periods, I sometimes struggle. It seems as if I am trying to hide from God, but no matter how lost I feel, I am lifted into the air and begin floating in my world of troubles and confusion. I then remember that I need not search for God, because (S)he dwells within my soul. . . permanently.

It is a door opening in my brain, letting the doubts fill the air around me, spinning in the songs of a carousel, over and over again until they die of their own accord. My soul is re-a-tuned to the beauty of God’s eternal recognition. My self-imposed nightmare of abandonment passes, and I again realize that my life is stuffed with miracles that I must share.

And just today, I shared a miracle. I spent time with two people who are part of society’s almost forgotten, a very kind female nurse and a very warm, compassionate man who refers to God as Allah, which is close to my name for God, Abba. For God is the father-mother of us all. I know that all of children of God.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

 

 “Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.”
– Lamentations 3:40

 

Sunrise. . .Sunset Join Me into Eternity

by rkcdlitt

Sometimes I wonder whether or not. What I’m thinking is rational. Christianity. Worships the Triune God. I find that to be repulsive sometimes. It’s more mythological than real. Do I believe in God? Yes. But there is one God. Only one God Not a three in one God. Holy Spirit in Jesus, Jesus the Son of God. That hurts me to my very core. That splits off the importance of God as far as I’m concerned. Why is it that we have to belittle God the master of creation. Why is it that we have to take something as important as God and bring him down to our insignificant level. 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. This is a statement to lift the importance of man over all other creatures; it has no real sense of reality. If I am created in God’s image? Now if I think about that. I look in the mirror. Can I see an image of myself? I don’t see myself. 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 imperfect image of what the ancients tell me God looks like. I’m not God.

However, what I am, and what you are, is a perfect child of God, created as a part of His creation, which is perfect in His eyes, but maybe not our eyes. But, then again, our eyes are not perfect. As an imperfect physical creation of God, as with all of His other creations on Earth, my body has a purpose. And when that purpose is complete, my body will return to the earth, as all the other creations of God do, to fertilize and/or make room for the next generation of the population to inhabit the Earth.

The difference is, as mankind does, I have a functioning soul that will last for eternity as a part of God. It has never left God, therefor it will last forever. This is the perfect man created by God, the one to last an eternity. Will I be aware of this when my body perishes? I do not know, but I do know that my soul, the most important part of me, will go on. 

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

Meditating to Heal; RKCDlitt.blog

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God of Peace is Never Glorified by Human Violence.

by rkcdlitt

I watch the very morally weak leaders of our country parading in and out of the public’s view as if they have just celebrated the Eucharist at their church of choice. They want us to follow their lead and respond in like ways to their every move. But we know better; we have a much better way!

We know that God’s way silently flows through us and spreads to others, from heart to heart, group to group, and ultimately all around the globe. All people regardless of race, origin, sexual orientation, are worthy and deserve equal rights to have the chance to pursue their personal desires.

These are certain things I think about daily. Our souls define us; they are our true essence. However, we shall not forget that these leaders are also children born in the image of God and cannot be all bad. We must afford to give them the respect we would show to any other human on this planet. The wounds caused by the greed of this government and the lasting scars can be and will be healed by our love toward each other. With hard and considerate work, the churches of all faiths will step up to supply what is needed to live for all those who have been stripped of the necessities of life.

This is God’s way and what Jesus and prophets of other faiths mean when they say to love thy neighbor or welcome the stranger into your home as a friend.

Shalom brothers and sisters.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

Come and Become

by rkcdlitt

It is time to take charge of your mind, and as a result, take charge of your body!

It is time to become welcome in your own mind and body. Why allow yourself to be conflicted by all the news and trouble that others bring to you every day. Take the time to be in yourself knowing who you are and who you love and who loves you. Forget being distracted by ambition. This only brings you more frustration, more anger. Your family and coworkers are individuals who share the same frustrations and anxieties. Instead of responding to them with anger, try responding them with love, or at least a little tenderness.

Your responses of anger and frustration please no one, including yourself. However, they do have long lasting effects. The short-term effect is the possibility of everyone just  walking away displeased with nothing getting accomplished that day. However, the longer-term effect is that your coworkers may feel that you can no longer be trusted or respected. They learned that there’s a sharpness about you making them wary of you with a defined line that cannot be crossed. They no longer trust you and may no longer wish to be in your company.

The same can be true of your family. Your children could become afraid of you and will not trust you, will not come to you with their troubles. And you then strike out in anger more often. They also lose you as a mentor. They ask themselves what if any are the rules in the family for you and for them. And this will affect them for the rest of their lives. Such harsh unclear rules for children at age 10 or 12 living 70 years, losing that close trust with a parent, can be and often is devastating, one way or another to the child. On the other hand, if you hold that anger and everything in it, even if you don’t feel it, answer your children in love. Conceal your anger, your displeasure. Your coworkers and your family will eventually understand the mistake, will recognize your frustration and appreciate your calmness.

But more than that, they will see the trust that you put in them. And the love that comes along with it. They will see that  strong foundation of love in you. So that they will come along, I’m sorry, they will come back to you. And again, what’s wrong with problems? And when at times to build that team, they’re anxious to be on your team and support your efforts. So, at work it becomes a win-win proposition.

And at home with your family. No matter how tired and frustrated you are if you stop, take a breath approach your children with love. Take that time to take off the business show clothes. And be with your children, show them the Daddy side, crawl on the floor with them. Play with their toys with them, let them show you how to build one toy with another. All right, don’t. I don’t either! But I do let my grandsons explain them to me, maybe climb all over me. And when they run off to do something else, I look at my son or my wife. And I go, wow. Now I really don’t understand what a transformer is. And they laugh at me. As they helped me to my feet and set me back down in the chair. I know I’ll never be able to move again on my own. But, you know, I loved every minute.

Looking back on my relatively long life, in my sphere of influence, yesterday was our time for God’s perfection; and today is our time for God’s perfection. And as we stand together, claiming wholeness, not rightness, with God’s perfection as our guide, will also be our tomorrow and always.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt. 

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

Let Light Shine Out of Darkness

by rkcdlitt

Sometimes. . .

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.

 ©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

 

 

 

Newness, Freedom, Change, and Growth

by rkcdlitt

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?

*

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.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

 

 

 

Made in God’s Image

by rkcdlitt

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.

 

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

The Whole, Wide, Wonderful, Wounded World

by rkcdlitt

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. 

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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

 

 

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!

 

 ©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Value of Every Human Life

by rkcdlitt

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.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt. 

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

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Kindness

by rkcdlitt

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.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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