Meditating to Heal

I have thought a great deal about the power of love this week. Reading the story of Maximilian Kolbe, I can only praise a true image of God’s love. When I was in the Marines in the 1960s, I knew that to sacrifice one’s life for another Marine was heroic; now, I believe it is what Jesus would have wanted of me. This is because God anoints us with the essence of life, and we must demonstrate His love by giving ourselves to assist others.

I live my life leaving all evil thoughts and actions behind only to offer love to all I meet. This is what God calls me to do daily. It is why I rise daily to experience the love of my wife of 54 years and to hear and see the beauty of God’s creation. I do not separate people into us and them. There is only we because we are one in God’s creation. God anoints us with love to share His grace with all we meet, human or beast.

When we speak words that help others, we share the blessed light of Jesus, glorify God. There is nothing that is more powerful within us than our words; we, therefore, must speak with love in our hearts and voices. When we do this, we create goodness in others and the world. By choosing love in our words, we reveal the presence of God within us and Jesus with us. We are made in His image and this image includes wisdom and when practicing love, we are truly glorifying His name, as Jesus asks in the Gospel of Matthew.

So, walk in God’s light of Love.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Forgiving is something that we humans have difficulty with; sometimes I think we fear forgiving for what it may bring. Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to love God, but just as important to love one another as He loves us. Society makes us victims; but I am not a victim; I refuse to be. Society may try to hurt me, but it can never break me, because I am, as you are, a child of God with a soul created to love.

My soul is not perishable; my material body is. God raises my soul in Grace, giving me the opportunity to transform myself from a broken human to a perfect spiritual entity, my spiritual being. I will not call it a body. My spiritual body accepts me for who I am; it accepts you for whom you are. There is only love that brings us together; there can never be anger.

When we accept ourselves for who we truly are, we can forgive. I must add a qualification here. Jesus invites us to love others as ourselves. This means before we can love others, we must love ourselves. Before we can forgive others, we must forgive ourselves. To do this we must give up anger, anger at ourselves. Anger is a form of killing, and if we follow the ten Mosaic commandments, we know that killing is not allowed.

When we stop being angry at ourselves, we becomes closer to that perfect being that God creates; you know, the one who loves.

© Russell Kendall Carter

The word choice comes from the Old English word chis, meaning fastidious, or to me, discriminating. This is an important distinction; we cannot rush through our choices, not if we elect to follow God’s light. We open our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, allowing God’s heaven to lead our lives; this begins within and shines out for all to benefit.

From Psalm 18: “I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” From this stronghold, we learn patience, but a different kind of patience. We learn to endure all that tries to bury us in hatred, racism, and anger. God does not want this for us.

Victor Frankl writes in CAC message today: “The way in which a person accepts their fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which they take up their cross, gives them ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to their life.”

Meditate on what this one sentence means in and for your life. When we yield our passions to God, living a life reflecting the teachings of Jesus, we glorify and honor His name.

© Russell Kendall Carter

We are all confronted by evil; to me, most of this evil comes in the form of trite expectations expected by society. We are pressured by family, friends, political leaders, and our religious leaders to conform to a society that in reality does not exist in God’s world. Each new generation is preparing for a new age that never arrives, except only in its thinking.

There is only one way to live. We must open our hearts, push our education into the back of our minds and think in the present, or as spiritual philosophers say, in the now. When we do this, we realize that our life is meaningless unless we see others as children of God, accepting that they also are created by goodness and reflect the same. This is our one moral duty.

Matthew reports the words of Jesus after His sermon on the mountain that we must live a life that gives honor to God by our good works. Ours is not the glory; glory is only in and with God. We share this glory because of God’s love and faithfulness to us. Both of which we must share with others to realize and live in God’s glorious presence. I think of the purification of the Levites by YHWH. This symbolic action brings the gift of God within us. In effect, the Israelites were sacrificing the worldly pleasures of one sect of their group to bring God’s presence within the entire population. This is what our priests and clergy do preparing for their life of ministry. However, we must do the same in our personal lives.

We must shed all unhealthy desires for worldly riches and accept that God is the only element in our lives that gives us life, invites us to shed all overbearing impulses that invade our consciousness and, helps us understand the reality of death.

I remind myself that for God nothing is impossible. Being 78 years on this planet, I sometimes complain about physical problems and insecurities. It is times such as these that I think of what God did for Zacharias and Elizabeth in their advanced ages. Nothing is impossible in God’s world. This assures me that evil, the banality of evil is ever present in our minds dictating untruths. Therefore, I meditate; therefore, I listen to God when praying.

© Russell Kendall Carter

     I muse a lot about how our soul is so intimate with God. I ask if each individual soul connects, or our combined souls connect, with God. I lean toward our combined souls because we share love and brotherhood. This is what God wants for us.
     If we (our universal soul) are embedded with hate and envy, there is no room for God, His Grace, or His Love. We must sow God’s words throughout our beings to open the door to what God’s kingdom looks like. God placed a heart in our bodies, w heart which contains this universal soul. It is the place where our purpose, our dealings with others, and our strength shows itself.
     We know that the only way to communicate with God is through our prayers; not prayers that ask for things, but prayers for listening, listening to His words for us. I am not very musical, but I know that when I pray, there is great music in my heart. This music gives me strength, gives me love, gives me the compassion to great all whom I meet with the love of God in my heart and in theirs. 
     God ascends through my heart and I shout with joy that His presence is a gift that I must share. It is too grand, too fulfilling, and to expansive to remain within me. I in the Bible that when I trust in God, I rejoice and am glad, glad for the life given to me by a gracious and loving God. We all are created in His image; we are brightly beaming with the infinite beauty given to us on this lighted path of Christ.

© Russell Kendall Carter

God’s intimacy with man

restores life, brings gladness,

relieves grief, suffering,

brightens our hearts.

Glory only in His words;

Wisdom and glory only from God;

His creation is within our souls,

‘tis never complete.

God’s son calls us friend;

His heart is our source

for energy, truth, motivation.

We are raised from the dust

and seek glory in His name.

He is well pleased.

© Russell Kendall Carter

A marriage between God and creation:
Intimacy, truly God’s plan.
The act of creation is not done alone.
Grant us the Holy Spirit,
restore life and comfort.
Create gladness in hearts;
cover grief and suffering;
speak with God . . .
through prayer.
Seek comfort only in God;
speak with the knowledge God gives.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Our hearts are
the burning bush
to which God speaks.

God comforts,
teaches, guides,
our open hearts.	

We are born 
in a world
filled with contradictions.

In our hearts 
God leads us
into everlasting life



© Russell Kendall Carter

I find spaciousness, for

open space unclothes me.

I welcome reality of God,

feeling the freshness

of the breeze within.

I listen in prayer,

float on the waves

of thanksgiving,

letting thoughts flow

and curbing my voice.

I do not seek perfection,

but open myself to discovery,

accepting truth and mercy. . .

God heals all.

© Russell Kendall Carter

I awaken each morning,

awed as a newborn seeing

the newness of the day.

I am not a perfect person,

but I know that as a weak human,

I am made authentic by the presence

of God in my life.

I am powerless whether

I will live another day.

The Grace of God is my protector.

I am authentic but not perfect;

God has allowed me to become

authentic in the frailness of my human body.

God forgives my misdeeds,

blesses me with His Grace.

I follow the teachings of Jesus,

fulfilling my duty to my fellow man.

I have worked at this for many years and

even though retired from a paying job,

I continue to serve through prayer and other ministries.

Wisdom has built her house within me –

that I may share God’s will.

When hard times visit me,

I do not fret . . .

or become alarmed.

I am always on my inner watch

and guard any negative or

forlorn thoughts

that enter my being.

As I do this,

I am as free as a child

frolicking in his play yard,

© Russell Kendall Carter