I know him as teacher! He came to me one night; I thought I was dreaming, but perhaps I wasn’t. he came to me in a still small voice; I listened; I listened carefully! He asked what I could do to be closer to God. I could not answer! He asked again, how can you intentionally practice being closer to God. I was confused, so my first response was to say that I suppose that I would have to reset my life and start with a new perspective, perhaps looking around me and recognizing that I am not alone, I am a part of nature, and nature is a part of me. I cannot thrive unless nature thrives. This teacher then reminded me that I was first made to tend His garden. . . and listen for His word.
Come with me; step into my spirit of love and imagination for a minute; come with me across the bridge from false beliefs to the land of love, peace and beauty, where a community of true freedom is daily life. This is the place where I am real because we are real. Our eyes are wide open to the Love of God all around us. God see in all of us, all through us, all above and below us; God protects us, walks before and behind us, keeping us safe wherever we go. God gives us a capacity to love as strong as a piece of bamboo, very strong and more pliant than we could ever imagine. May Love find you and may you be humbled in the presence of finches.
I look at the world and wonder, on a daily basis, if only. Then I asked myself if only what? What am I looking for? There is so much out there that could change. Look at the person on the street making a home where I fear to go. And I used the word fear because I’ve never been there. Jesus went there. Unafraid! He lived with the poor. He lived with the sick. He believed that in them. He knew he had to live with those people. Those people. My people. My brothers, my sisters, truly less fortunate than me. Like Jesus, I know who’s out there who needs help. But I fear going there. If only. Two very powerful words. Teo words that dare us. To go where we don’t want to go. If we could shine some light on that passage, we might try; however, it is the darkness of the nights and our ignorance and the madness of those areas that we refer to as “if only” that scare us. Scare us away from working with those that need our help, that we know who we are out there, waiting. . . just waiting for us to turn and see. If only. Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
Unfortunately, we are trained to be disconnected people. All of our heroes in life are go-it-alone supermen who conquer all the villains that life throws in front of them, who then hop in their vintage cars and drive off into the sunset. Many of our books and most of our movies have the same theme. We have this theme because in reality our life is a series of burdens and uncertainties that disappoint us in our shallow, uninteresting daily lives. At some point, whatever our employment is, the joy and gloss is torn off to reveal the toil and mundane existence of the boring everyday existence of modern life. In our hearts and minds, we gradually deteriorate to a state of nothingness and joylessness that looks for any excitement it can find. Our physical world cannot give us this excitement forever. The light in our hearts must rise out of this mundane state allowing others to share in the will that God has put in the very core of our being that other people can observe and share, seeing the joyful difference, but realizing the similar internal feelings in their own very beings. When it does, this light from our hearts, that we all share, bears the image of God, raising us out of the mundane existence of human drudgery that no longer needs the artificial movie hero we formerly worshipped. We have overcome the enormous of influential disconnection to the message that Jesus taught so long ago and still teaches today, Love, God’s unending Love is always with us and outlasts all of our troubles, connecting us in infinite Love.
Do you see that person standing in the back of the crowd? She’s the one who is always sitting alone, many times hiding her face, too shy to speak her voice. Those few people who know her say that she has a very gentle heart, a very caring heart. When she speaks, she speaks with authority about the plight of the oppressed; she cautions that God wants us to value and respect people of all traditions and cultures equally. She laughs when she says that we should be a part of humane-ity. We should love one another as Jesus says. Could she be called by God to be our leader with her too-gentle heart? She offers God’s Grace fully and often, could her wholeness suffer the cruelty of our harsh world?
In the spiritual adventure of what we call life we discover that our life is like a drop of water in God’s eternity. With our family and friends always walking beside us, catching us when we falter, we are always assured that we are on the safe and treasured path that God has given is yesterday, today and tomorrow, allowing us to walk in His grace. When we forever take God’s Love and Grace as our everyday mantra, we treat all whom we meet with love and peace in our hearts and on our lips. Truly, Life is Good.
Here it is, the end of another year! As true with all years, we have had to climb a few hills, but we also had some smooth paths to walk also. Generally, God has been good to us. As we approach the new year let us all keep on the path that God has paved for us. Greet others with a smile and share with them God’s love. Know your own heart and its ability to grow every time you meet others. Be in good health and trust your instincts; God put them there for a reason.
Do you feel it deep within you? It’s always there but not beating. Not beating like your heart. It’s a warmth that’s always there. Sometimes you try to ignore it. But it shines through regardless. This light is the soul that God places in our hearts that shines up through our faces for others to see; we feel, but cannot see it in ourselves as others do. We can only see it shine in others. It is God’s wonderful plan seeing the light within you shine for others to see, and for you to see their light shine to see their beauty.
Meditating to Heal 
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