Meditating to Heal

Wisdom needs an open mind. In my morning meditation, a thought appeared, reminding me that when God asked Solomon what he wanted, he asked for wisdom. He did this to enable him to judge people as God would. Wisdom is a gift from God, and it is one of the gifts that must be shared, or it is worthless. We have been given this gift as the light and love of Jesus. And as He did, we are asked to share our gift with all whom we meet. Each new day, a new age of congeniality is possible.

Practicing Wisdom, which is discipleship, we will demonstrate the glory of the Holy Spirit, and as when a pebble is thrown into a pool of water, the ripple effect spreads this glory throughout the world. Remember the only thing that does not change is change, and we must make the change to improve the world; this is an invitation to act now, not later or someday, but now. Let us make our gifts count, make this one of the changes that benefits all. I think this is a good New Year’s resolution!

© Russell Kendall Carter

One of my favorite images is in the story of the twins; I beleive it was original told by Henri Nouwen. Many of you are familiar with it; if so, enjoy the imagery; it is everlasting, and I consider it a modern parable:

Once upon a time twins were conceived in the womb. Weeks passed and the babies grew. As their awareness grew, their joy increased. “Isn’t it fantastic that we have been conceived? Isn’t it wonderful to be alive?”

The twins began to explore their world.
When they discovered the umbilical cord that bound them to their mother and nourished then, they sang for joy. “What great love our mother has for us. She even shares her own life with us!” However, as the weeks grew into months, they suddenly noticed how they had changed.
“What does this mean?” one asked.

“It means that our stay in this world will soon end” the other replied.
“But I don’t want to leave”, the first retorted, “I would rather stay here forever.”
“We don’t have any choice” the other replied, “but maybe there is life after birth!”
“How could there be” the first asked, doubtfully. “We will lose our lifeline and how could we live without it? Besides, others left the womb before us, and no one has ever come back to tell us that there is life after birth. No, birth is the end!” So, one of them went into a state of deep anxiety, asking: “If conception ends in birth, what meaning has life in the womb? It is absurd. Maybe there is no mother behind all this.”
“But she must exist”, the other protested, “otherwise how could we have got in here? And how could we survive?”

“Did you ever see our mother?” asked the first. Maybe she only lives in our imagination. We invented her, because in this way we can better understand our life.”
And so the last days in the mother’s womb were filled with thousands of questions and a great fear. Finally, the moment of birth came.

When the twins left their mother’s womb, their world, they opened their eyes.
They cried out.
What they saw was beyond their greatest dreams.

One day, at last, we will be born.

New Hope Tomorrow

God gives us tomorrow with a light that overcomes darkness, allowing a new hope rising within us, enlightening all humanity, and covering our globe. When we awaken each morning, we arise to the renewal of experiencing God’s Love. When we let The Word enter our very beings, we are renewed as His disciples. As we face troubles, God will always answer us and be with us. Although we are born of flesh and blood, we are born of God; we are His children.

This morning, as I pray for God’s Kingdom to be done on earth, and I continue to pray for true fellowship withal peoples. It is only this way that life with God is both holy and eternal. Accepting this truth, I look at all people, from all cultures, speaking all languages as part of my family. I pray that our combined societies do not forget to care for those in poverty. Without caring for these forgotten people, no society can truly prosper, and no society will last. Jesus taught us neither that power nor greed lead to eternal life and God’s everlasting love.

© Russell Kendall Carter

There is so much to think about the topic of hospitality. As I meditate each morning, thanking God for another day, I often experience thoughts on hospitality. We all enjoy the eternal hospitality of a loving God. We learn about giving and receiving hospitality from Jesus. He shared meals with both sinners and the hated tax collectors and experienced great condemnation from the Pharisees. They dare not accept these outcasts as part of a legitimate community, lest they would have had to accept them in the Temple. Jesus defied their taunts, offering God’s hospitality to all.

I practice hospitality as much as possible. It is very easy for me to offer a place at my table for people and share a meal and glass of wine with my neighbors, many of whom live alone after the death of a spouse. What is difficult for me is accepting hospitality from others. A neighbor recently said he would cook a meal for my wife and me; he loves to cook. After much back and forth, I finally gave in and said “okay.” Is not this what Jesus taught?

This is a persona flaw that I look to God (and the examples set by Jesus) to overcome. We all have a lot to learn; perhaps this new year will show improvement. . . with God’s help.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Remove yourself from the

vanity of your life;

create friendships –

the bonding of lives,

find righteousness.

We are images of God,

but not as pure; when

mindful of God,

we humans

live in Grace.

Trapped in

unfulfilled life;

shed the yokes

society suggests

we wear.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Put away your cell phone; this call cannot be answered on an electronic device. God calls us as individuals; God calls us as community! With a new year beginning, this is a suitable time to renew our relationship with God. Remember, God wants us as much as we want God. When we recognize God in our lives, we begin the purist, flawless paradigm available to us; we see God in our hearts but cannot recognize the Almighty God because His true presence cannot unequivocally be understood.

A good friend of mine to reminded me that God is present to each of us only in our minds and in our hearts without which there would be no God for us. God’s presence and spirituality are here for all; for each He is individually present. God’s Grace flows as a calm river throughout all of creation, all of humanity. As we lay by this gentle river of comfort, we hear God calling us to lift ourselves from the darkness onto the lighted path Jesus shows us every day.

I am absorbed by the flowing river of Love and Comfort when meditating on my relationship with our Almighty. I am encouraged to cherish all life on earth; I am invited to respect all living creatures; and I love my neighbor, all of them. These are such small requests from our Gracious God. I am unconditionally blessed by this stream of water and thought, soaring in God’s promise of Love and Compassion.

We are baptized into the body of Christ; therefore, we are all children of God awaiting His voice in our hearts and souls. Let us join all of the other travelers and listen for God’s voice; He calls all of us to bask in His Love.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Being thankful for the Love and Grace of God.

Saying thank you is really not enough; but it is a good start. When we say thank you and truly mean it, we create and deepen all relationships. This is one of the missions we accept when we pray, when we accept God in our lives. When we are thankful, we allow gratitude to grow both within us and around us, joining others in seeing and learning about appreciativeness and gratitude in society. What a great gift!

When we say, “Lord, hear my prayer,” we share all of God’s blessings and gifts with others. The Psalmist writes, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” We truly thank God only when we are willing to thank each other, especially when it is just a thank you for them being in our lives. When we spread our arms in thanksgiving, it is like a cell door opening and freeing us, liberating us from loneliness and prejudice.

God accepts our thankfulness; He asks us to spread our gratitude with others; this means that we must look seeing those who have little in this world. We are thankful for our blessings, and we share our blessings with those in need, realizing the Love that Jesus gave to us. Thanksgiving is for all time, not just one day a year.

I sit at my desk, pray for those on my prayer list and meditate on the words of Jesus. During this time, I often think of my parents and my sister, all have passed, but I am not without them. As I sit here writing about them today, being thankful that I was able to share their lives with mine, they are in the room with my, hugging and wishing me a happy new year as we end 2021. I am truly blessed by family, particularly my wife of 53 years, my two children in their forties, and my three grandsons, ages 19, 3, and 1. Thank you God for a wonderful family.

Lord, hear my prayer; allow me to have the courage and the strength to share my gifts with others. Your gifts are blessings grow and flourish only when shared. Open my heart to share my gratitude and Your comfort for the existence of all peoples.

© Russell Kendall Carter

There is so much to say about the creation of Wisdom. I firmly believe that God created Wisdom before He created all else. And, just to complete this enigma, by means of creation, God created wisdom. God created order out of chaos, out o darkness. We live in darkness until we recognize the light of Wisdom, God offers. With the birth of Jesus, God offers us the Wisdom to live with, to live by.

But we create our own darkness by not recognizing Wisdom as an art of our lives. In one of the daily meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation, CAC teacher Barbara Holmes writes: “there is the darkness of determined ignorance and hatred, impenetrable and smothering. There is the tiny microcosm of darkness that gave birth to the universe, its new realities, and new worlds. There is the mothering darkness of the womb, and the protective darkness of the ‘cloud by night.’” This is the darkness that is manmade.

This is also the lack of recognition of Wisdom living within us. I remind myself that Wisdom is a feminine noun; Wisdom is the female side of our beloved God. This Wisdom brings us knowledge; this Wisdom also nurtures us as a constant companion of Love. This path of Wisdom, although lighted by God, is a path that when we travel it, we also bring our innate darkness with us. But that is all right. We will make mistakes; we will sometimes be wrong; but, with an open heart and mind, we learn.

Listening to the parables, the teachings of Jesus, we learn a liberation found nowhere else. We recognize that our mortal world is filled with lies, prejudices, and greed. This is our own private “Dark night of the soul.” But when we listen and learn from Jesus, God’s only mortal son on earth, we are touched by true Wisdom; everything changes; and with Wisdom, we share it with others, we teach and nurture them to see same Truth; this same eternal Love.

When we pray, remember that God created Wisdom for us; in our prayers we should pray to walk the path of Wisdom Jesus brought.

© Russell Kendall Carter

I once read an article that said that life is an experience, and all should try it. At first, this sound absolutely laughable, even inane. When I think of it, however, I look at people, even those close to me, and see that what they are living is an existence, not a life. I was like this before I retired to just write, rather than continue teaching. Most of us just plod along, going to work, exercising maybe three times a week, partying, or doing house or garden work on Saturdays. So, I repeat, “Life is an experience all should have!” Try it sometime; you may be surprised.

We need to enlarge the size of our internal tabernacles and stretch our minds to see what beauty there really is to life. So, let’s open up our curtains, spread our spiritual wings to the right and to the left and see a new earth, see a new heaven where there is calm and peace, spiritual rewards, and everlasting love. God calls us every time we awaken in the morning. He is that little voice reminding us that there is something we have forgotten, or it is the voice that really says that all is not well and there is something we are missing but know not what. When we open our hearts and minds to the new heaven and earth, we understand the unbelievable comfort and grace that is there for us, that awaits us.

Each morning, God gives us new life. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” When we really experience life as God offers, we live in comfort, knowing that are loved; we are protected; we are blessed.

So, I repeat, “Life is an experience all should have Try it sometime; you may be surprised.” You will be blessed.

© Russell Kendall Carter

I recently read an email from Cynthia Bourgeault; in this piece, she quotes Abba Poemen: “Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.” I believe that in my heart dwells my soul. My soul is the presence of my spiritual perception.

I vision God in every way He wants to manifest Himself to me. I am nothing without His presence within me. In this post-Christmas period, I recognize the light of Christ that fills me, overcoming any darkness I may feel or experience. Jesus as the Christ wants to live in me, as He wants to live in you. It is our holy gift.

All of the Trinity, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, loves us and wants us to share this love with all we meet and all we think about each day, even those who we have not met but have heard of through tragedies in the news. We are all God’s beloveds, just as Jesus taught. I pray that God’s justice and peace to come to earth, restoring us to His holy presence, filling every heart, every soul with these Graces. We are doomed without our submission to God’s presence, and not just the presence that churches too often offer.

All churches must represent God in His true manifestation of Peace and Justice all over this planet we call Earth. By this I mean God’s peace and justice, not man’s; man’s can be and often is corrupted by selfishness.; God’s peace and justice is not; it is for everyone equally.

The only way that we can agree on anything is to allow Wisdom into our hearts and minds. And by Wisdom, I mean holy Wisdom, the Hole Spirit, whom I call Mother Wisdom, because in every language wisdom is a feminine noun, not masculine, boys. True Wisdom brings Grace to all, brings understanding to all, brings God’s Love to all. . . without exception, any exception. This is God’s way! Wisdom leads us to the eternal presence of God, as THE PRAYER says, for ever and ever. I give you this complete reflective quote from Brother Nicholas Bartoli of the Society of Saint John Evangelist, “All is truly well, because God’s Christmas gift of eternal life, of peace and joy beyond understanding, is already ours; we need only notice. The gift of Christ being born in our hearts, like a beautiful flower brought into being within the stillness of desert, is waiting only for us to trust in God, emptying our hearts of all that is not Christ.”

All we have to do is notice this. All we have to do is notice. This is what God asks us to do every day. I question if we have it in our hearts to keep this as our way of life. Greed is too prevalent in our society. There is too much pressure to succeed, to get ahead, to get rich. All of this is material possessions that wither away.

There is hope for us. Life would be worthless without this hope. I live every day in prayer. I share my prayers and meditations because that is all I can do at my age. . . pray and write and share. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, I experienced a wake-up call due to an icy road and a drunk driver. I suffered for a while, but God lifted me back to life, to a life much more productive than my previous life of greed and want. I was angry at first, but when I walked through the door that God had opened for me years before this, I awakened to the beauty and peace that Jesus taught.

I trust! I trust in God! That is all I desire to do.

© Russell Kendall Carter