Today I went for a walk in the woods behind our house. I love to walk in these woods. Today there was a little squirrel in a tree who caught my eye. He looked at me and I looked at him, and we were just staring at each other for a moment. In that moment the wind blew my hair away from my face. The world seemed peaceful. It was a quiet moment, just the squirrel and I enjoying a look at each other.
I think the joy of life is often in those little moments. I feel those are moments of everyday grace. Little ways that the loving presence of God just breaks into our world and our little life and just makes us feel special.
A thought comes to mind - "new every morning." His grace is new every morning, fresh for that day, everyday grace to bring us through, to break into our lives, to give us joy, to let us know He is there and He is taking care of us, loving us, smiling at us.
I have a little quote on a card in my kitchen that says, "Thank Him for all the ways He breaks through this world to send you flowers." God breaks through. Grace breaks through. He is always there, grace is always there, love is always there, though we don't always see it, feel it, know it. He breaks through in everyday grace to let us see and know and feel that we are loved, life is special, He is here.
Thank you Father for those moments of everyday grace!
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
On Billy Graham..
I heard of Billy Graham's passing into heaven today, and it made me want to share something about the love of God here.
Years ago when our son was born, we gave him the middle name of Graham after Billy Graham. Only later did we learn that our son's birthday is only two day's from Billy Graham's birthday. It was special to know that, and I am glad our son has always had such a godly person to be an example for him.
I am thankful for Billy Graham's message of love, grace, forgiveness, kindness and brotherliness. He was a great example of humility and graciousness. He was so willing to admit his mistakes and able to share openly about his regrets, such as how he wished he'd spent more time with his children while they were growing up instead of being away so much on crusades. I love how he admitted his faults and yet was okay with himself for not being perfect, and was gracious with other imperfect people - which includes all of us!
He just exuded peace. He was so at peace with himself, others, God, and life. He lived life so simply, just walking with God in simple trust, like a child, knowing his Father would take care of everything. He was at peace about the future, about death. He was sure of the beautiful heaven awaiting him, sure of God being there to embrace him.
He was so simply in way he just lived as a regular old person walking with God. You could tell how much he loved to just be with God.
I read that his grandson went to visit him one night in a city where he was meeting some big leaders and wondered if he would find him in his hotel room on the night of the meetings. When he knocked on the hotel room door, Billy answered in his pajamas, and the grandson caught a glimpse of an open Bible on the bed in the hotel room. When he could have been out socializing or meeting with big national leaders, Billy Graham chose instead to have a quiet evening with God. I love that and think it really shows what kind of man he was.
Billy Graham wasn't perfect and wouldn't want to be idolized or even focused on. And I think that is the whole point and gives hope for all of us. We are all just regular people that God loves. We don't have to be great. We don't have to be perfect. We are simply loved as we are and our Father loves to just be there with us sharing life together and letting us know He's taking care of everything and will bring us home safely. He's always shining the beauty of the spiritual realm of His LOVE into our lives, our everyday, common, ordinary lives as regular old people!
I love how Billy said that when he died, he would be more alive than ever! It makes me glad to think of heaven and how joyful Rev. Graham is now, how well and whole, immersed in love, fully alive and fully in God's presence! And that is what we all have to look forward to! I am so thankful for that!
Years ago when our son was born, we gave him the middle name of Graham after Billy Graham. Only later did we learn that our son's birthday is only two day's from Billy Graham's birthday. It was special to know that, and I am glad our son has always had such a godly person to be an example for him.
I am thankful for Billy Graham's message of love, grace, forgiveness, kindness and brotherliness. He was a great example of humility and graciousness. He was so willing to admit his mistakes and able to share openly about his regrets, such as how he wished he'd spent more time with his children while they were growing up instead of being away so much on crusades. I love how he admitted his faults and yet was okay with himself for not being perfect, and was gracious with other imperfect people - which includes all of us!
He just exuded peace. He was so at peace with himself, others, God, and life. He lived life so simply, just walking with God in simple trust, like a child, knowing his Father would take care of everything. He was at peace about the future, about death. He was sure of the beautiful heaven awaiting him, sure of God being there to embrace him.
He was so simply in way he just lived as a regular old person walking with God. You could tell how much he loved to just be with God.
I read that his grandson went to visit him one night in a city where he was meeting some big leaders and wondered if he would find him in his hotel room on the night of the meetings. When he knocked on the hotel room door, Billy answered in his pajamas, and the grandson caught a glimpse of an open Bible on the bed in the hotel room. When he could have been out socializing or meeting with big national leaders, Billy Graham chose instead to have a quiet evening with God. I love that and think it really shows what kind of man he was.
Billy Graham wasn't perfect and wouldn't want to be idolized or even focused on. And I think that is the whole point and gives hope for all of us. We are all just regular people that God loves. We don't have to be great. We don't have to be perfect. We are simply loved as we are and our Father loves to just be there with us sharing life together and letting us know He's taking care of everything and will bring us home safely. He's always shining the beauty of the spiritual realm of His LOVE into our lives, our everyday, common, ordinary lives as regular old people!
I love how Billy said that when he died, he would be more alive than ever! It makes me glad to think of heaven and how joyful Rev. Graham is now, how well and whole, immersed in love, fully alive and fully in God's presence! And that is what we all have to look forward to! I am so thankful for that!
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Belated Merry Christmas
us. Just wanted to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is filled with joy, peace and love!
My family and I were out of town during Christmas. We drove across the country! We drove all the way from the South Carolina to Arizona to visit my hubby's mother, who is suffering with dementia. We wanted to be able to be with her for a little while she still remembers us.
We had a great trip seeing America and visiting with our extended family for Christmas. We saw swamps, prairie, forests, hill country, mountains and desert - whew! And we saw the license plates of 40 states in the US as well as 2 states of Mexico and 1 Canadian province!
I took along a book called Meditations with Julian of Norwich and enjoyed reading some in it every day.
Here are some things from that book that spoke to my heart:
"My own sin will not hinder the working of God's goodness."
"God does not want us to be burdened because of sorrows and tempests that happen in our lives, because it has always been so before miracles happen."
"Just as the joyful Trinity created all things out of nothing, so also this same blessed Trinity will make well all that is not well."
"Our good Lord answered all my doubts and questions by saying with full energy, 'I can make all things well, I know how to make all things well, I will make all things well. And you will see with your own eyes that every kind of thing will be well.' God wants us to be enclosed in these words restfully and peacefully."
May His grace and love just enfold us all and carry us along in peace and happiness in this coming year and forever!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is filled with joy, peace and love!
My family and I were out of town during Christmas. We drove across the country! We drove all the way from the South Carolina to Arizona to visit my hubby's mother, who is suffering with dementia. We wanted to be able to be with her for a little while she still remembers us.
We had a great trip seeing America and visiting with our extended family for Christmas. We saw swamps, prairie, forests, hill country, mountains and desert - whew! And we saw the license plates of 40 states in the US as well as 2 states of Mexico and 1 Canadian province!
I took along a book called Meditations with Julian of Norwich and enjoyed reading some in it every day.
Here are some things from that book that spoke to my heart:
"My own sin will not hinder the working of God's goodness."
"God does not want us to be burdened because of sorrows and tempests that happen in our lives, because it has always been so before miracles happen."
"Just as the joyful Trinity created all things out of nothing, so also this same blessed Trinity will make well all that is not well."
"Our good Lord answered all my doubts and questions by saying with full energy, 'I can make all things well, I know how to make all things well, I will make all things well. And you will see with your own eyes that every kind of thing will be well.' God wants us to be enclosed in these words restfully and peacefully."
May His grace and love just enfold us all and carry us along in peace and happiness in this coming year and forever!
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Photos from Our Waterfall Walk
I thought I would put up some photos here from the walk my daughter and I took recently through the autumn woods to a waterfall. My oldest daughter showed me how to get these photos from cellphone to website. I am not very tech-savvy, so I appreciated her help!
Hope you enjoy these photos. It was like walking in wonderland going through those woods. Every tree was lit up with golden yellow. The place is an arboretum-type area, with labels on the trees and many wildflowers in the Spring. But the real attraction is the lovely waterfall cascading down many 'steps' - I think it is 60 feet tall. There are benches placed around for viewing. My daughter and I took a long time there just soaking in the natural beauty!
The woods were filled with golden-leaved trees!
Lovely stream flowing through the glen..
It was a perfect day, with mild temperatures and blue skies. I love looking up though the forest canopy to the sky.
Along the path to the falls..It's a short hike, but with lots of steps and slippery spots where water drips down over rocks and across the path. This just made the walk all the more interesting and fun.
The lovely waterfall, framed by autumn's color!
A rare photo of shy Sparrow that my daughter took..
Blessings to you all! Hope you are enjoying a lovely autumn in your 'neck of the woods!'
Hope you enjoy these photos. It was like walking in wonderland going through those woods. Every tree was lit up with golden yellow. The place is an arboretum-type area, with labels on the trees and many wildflowers in the Spring. But the real attraction is the lovely waterfall cascading down many 'steps' - I think it is 60 feet tall. There are benches placed around for viewing. My daughter and I took a long time there just soaking in the natural beauty!
Blessings to you all! Hope you are enjoying a lovely autumn in your 'neck of the woods!'
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Comfort from Julian of Norwich
I have really been enjoying The Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. I had read much of the book awhile back, but had forgotten many things there (or else not grasped them the first time through), so it has been a real joy to re-read this book as if for the first time.
It's wonderful how a person who lived 600 years ago can speak to us today with a message just as relevant as any modern "grace message!" I see so much of myself in Julian and her struggles with feeling guilty over sin, wanting to be good enough as a Christian yet putting herself down when she failed, wanting to be a good Christian following church teachings yet feeling God Himself was saying something different from what she had always heard in church...doesn't so much of that sound familiar and similar to the feelings we can have as we come away from performance based ideas into the light of grace and unconditional love? I just love the grace shared in this book. It is truly a message straight from God's heart to Julian's and ours, and as such, it is truly a timeless message that is endlessly satisfying and happy-making!
And there are many other things in this book that God has just pressed into my heart lately, reassuring me, encouraging me, and just warming me all over with a sense of awe at His great love. I guess we can never come to a full understanding of just how great that love is, can we? It's certainly far greater than I ever imagined!
I hope to share some of the ways God has encouraged me through the Revelations of Divine Love. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can do a few posts on that. Hope that is okay with everyone here at our little home on the web!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the autumn weather and changing leaves. My youngest daughter and I took a lovely walk yesterday through a golden-leaved forest to a beautiful waterfall. We felt like we were in fairyland strolling through the sunlit leafy glen, it was so beautiful! I am sure that where each of you live you are experiencing the same. Do you ever say, 'This year He has really outdone Himself with the display of leaf color!" That's how I feel about this year. What a blessing to enjoy this beautiful world. Blessings to all of you!
It's wonderful how a person who lived 600 years ago can speak to us today with a message just as relevant as any modern "grace message!" I see so much of myself in Julian and her struggles with feeling guilty over sin, wanting to be good enough as a Christian yet putting herself down when she failed, wanting to be a good Christian following church teachings yet feeling God Himself was saying something different from what she had always heard in church...doesn't so much of that sound familiar and similar to the feelings we can have as we come away from performance based ideas into the light of grace and unconditional love? I just love the grace shared in this book. It is truly a message straight from God's heart to Julian's and ours, and as such, it is truly a timeless message that is endlessly satisfying and happy-making!
And there are many other things in this book that God has just pressed into my heart lately, reassuring me, encouraging me, and just warming me all over with a sense of awe at His great love. I guess we can never come to a full understanding of just how great that love is, can we? It's certainly far greater than I ever imagined!
I hope to share some of the ways God has encouraged me through the Revelations of Divine Love. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can do a few posts on that. Hope that is okay with everyone here at our little home on the web!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the autumn weather and changing leaves. My youngest daughter and I took a lovely walk yesterday through a golden-leaved forest to a beautiful waterfall. We felt like we were in fairyland strolling through the sunlit leafy glen, it was so beautiful! I am sure that where each of you live you are experiencing the same. Do you ever say, 'This year He has really outdone Himself with the display of leaf color!" That's how I feel about this year. What a blessing to enjoy this beautiful world. Blessings to all of you!
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Total Eclipse
(image from http://taostyle.net/2017/08/total-eclipse-sun/)
Yesterday the area where we live experienced a total solar eclipse. While my husband saw the eclipse on a break from work in town, the kids and I were home here in the countryside and got to enjoy this beautiful phenomenon right in our own backyard. We were in awe of this beautiful and rare (to us, at least) natural event!
As the sun dimmed, the temperature dropped several degrees. Then for that short time when the moon completely covered the sun, we experienced what looked like sunset/sunrise colors in the sky all around the horizon in every direction!
One thing that was amazing to me was how the animals reacted to the eclipse. In that balmy, deep twilight the crickets began chirping and other night insects began to sing, too! As the sun's rays peeked out again, it was just like morning, because the rooster began to crow from our neighbor's coop! I saw that nature works like clockwork, the animals responding to cues in nature such as temperature and brightness/darkness. Right on cue, when sunset or sunrise cues came, the animals reacted as they always had.
I feel that's how the message of grace is for me. My spirit responds to it just like clockwork. Whenever I hear the truth of God's unconditional love and acceptance, the assurance that He's carrying us to a perfect happy ending, my spirit just leaps up within me and does the happy dance! It's like my inner person can clearly see God's loving face and my heart just melts in joy and peace! I guess God's love sets my inner cricket to chirping every single time..this message never gets old. It's just as special, as fresh and new, as invigorating as the first time I ever heard it.
Thank God for such love that refreshes our hearts every time!
Monday, July 24, 2017
Life in the Past Year..Full of Ups and Downs
I know I haven't been actively posting on this blog for a while.
So many things have happened in my life, with our oldest daughter starting college, my husband switching to a new job, watching my mother deteriorate from dementia so that she no longer recognizes me, and the biggest upheaval of the past year - the passing into heaven of my beloved father, the best daddy in the world and one of the most special people one could ever meet.
So life has been surging on in its ups and downs this past year, and I just haven't been at a place of writing much.
But I want to extend my love and greetings to all and wish all a happy and joyous day in Him. He certainly carries us through the ups and downs of life, doesn't He? Without Him, I couldn't make it. But thankfully, He is here and He is so wonderful. Even when things are dark and we don't feel Him, He's still there. I'm glad of that, especially since the world felt so dark and lonely and cold after I lost my dad. God was there in the coldness. I couldn't feel Him at all, but He was there and He got me through.
I see now that He is with us just as strongly in the dark and cold and lonely times as He is in the 'super-spiritual, receiving great revelations, feeling spiritual joy and strength' times. It doesn't matter what our perception is or what our feelings are; He's still there holding us. He's the constant. He never changes. He never lets go. He never has and He never will.
So I greet everyone and send out blessings and wish you all the best and hope your days are good and full of joy and peace. Isn't it a relief that grace is true, that unconditional love is true, that God is truly good? I'm so thankful that all is well deep down, no matter what's happening on the surface of life. And I'm so thankful this life story is going to end well. That gives me a lot of peace. Everything is going to be okay, for He's involved in the writing of our story and He is the God of happy endings!
So many things have happened in my life, with our oldest daughter starting college, my husband switching to a new job, watching my mother deteriorate from dementia so that she no longer recognizes me, and the biggest upheaval of the past year - the passing into heaven of my beloved father, the best daddy in the world and one of the most special people one could ever meet.
So life has been surging on in its ups and downs this past year, and I just haven't been at a place of writing much.
But I want to extend my love and greetings to all and wish all a happy and joyous day in Him. He certainly carries us through the ups and downs of life, doesn't He? Without Him, I couldn't make it. But thankfully, He is here and He is so wonderful. Even when things are dark and we don't feel Him, He's still there. I'm glad of that, especially since the world felt so dark and lonely and cold after I lost my dad. God was there in the coldness. I couldn't feel Him at all, but He was there and He got me through.
I see now that He is with us just as strongly in the dark and cold and lonely times as He is in the 'super-spiritual, receiving great revelations, feeling spiritual joy and strength' times. It doesn't matter what our perception is or what our feelings are; He's still there holding us. He's the constant. He never changes. He never lets go. He never has and He never will.
So I greet everyone and send out blessings and wish you all the best and hope your days are good and full of joy and peace. Isn't it a relief that grace is true, that unconditional love is true, that God is truly good? I'm so thankful that all is well deep down, no matter what's happening on the surface of life. And I'm so thankful this life story is going to end well. That gives me a lot of peace. Everything is going to be okay, for He's involved in the writing of our story and He is the God of happy endings!
Thoughts of Grace After All These Years
It's been years since I first heard about God's grace, acceptance and unconditional love.
Yet I find that reading about that grace and love still makes me cry.
I guess it shows how powerful this message is, how true it is, and how much my heart needs it.
Here are some grace thoughts that have been going through my heart and mind and touching me in deep ways lately:
God made us, not so we could give Him glory, but so He could give us love.
Even when everything is all wrong, deep down everything is all right.
Even if I'm all wrong, I'm all right to God.
God always loved us and always shall love us.
We were always His adorable little innocent ones.
God can't see any sin in us! We're perfect darlings to Him.
My true nature, that I've always had, is good and loving. I take after my Dad, Mr. Love Himself!
He loved us so much He became a human, so He could share every part of our life with us!
I"m part of God, in God, held by God, and therefore always safe.
The universe is a good place because a good God is at its heart. He made it, He sustains it, and He will bring it to perfect fulfillment.
At the heart of it all, everything is ok and always will be okay.
God always wears a smile, always lends a helping hand, always gives an encouraging word.
God wanted to show us He was non-threatening, so He came as a tiny baby to show us we have nothing to fear from Him.
God is vulnerable and sweet, gentle and friendly.
God has no wrath. He is perfect peace, the opposite of wrath.
God does not punish. God heals and restores.
God does not destroy. God is the author of life, not death!
God never demanded our perfection. God has no demands at all of me. God simply accepts and embraces me as I am.
I am totally and fully accepted. I am accepted with all my shadows. I am accepted without any possibility of being rejected. I am accepted now and forevermore.
He is fine with me as I am! I'm perfect to God.
God is delighted with His child - me! He sings over me and loves to just look at me. I'm His pride and joy!
I am a beautiful and awesome person. God is pleased with me right now, as I am in this moment.
God says, "What sin? I see no sin in you. You are beautiful and there is no flaw in you."
At the heart of it all is a grace that embraces us, carries us and isn't going to let us go.
There is a lightness to God's love and grace. He makes our inner heart light. It's the lightness and joy of heaven and we'll enjoy it forever!
Yet I find that reading about that grace and love still makes me cry.
I guess it shows how powerful this message is, how true it is, and how much my heart needs it.
Here are some grace thoughts that have been going through my heart and mind and touching me in deep ways lately:
God made us, not so we could give Him glory, but so He could give us love.
Even when everything is all wrong, deep down everything is all right.
Even if I'm all wrong, I'm all right to God.
God always loved us and always shall love us.
We were always His adorable little innocent ones.
God can't see any sin in us! We're perfect darlings to Him.
My true nature, that I've always had, is good and loving. I take after my Dad, Mr. Love Himself!
He loved us so much He became a human, so He could share every part of our life with us!
I"m part of God, in God, held by God, and therefore always safe.
The universe is a good place because a good God is at its heart. He made it, He sustains it, and He will bring it to perfect fulfillment.
At the heart of it all, everything is ok and always will be okay.
God always wears a smile, always lends a helping hand, always gives an encouraging word.
God wanted to show us He was non-threatening, so He came as a tiny baby to show us we have nothing to fear from Him.
God is vulnerable and sweet, gentle and friendly.
God has no wrath. He is perfect peace, the opposite of wrath.
God does not punish. God heals and restores.
God does not destroy. God is the author of life, not death!
God never demanded our perfection. God has no demands at all of me. God simply accepts and embraces me as I am.
I am totally and fully accepted. I am accepted with all my shadows. I am accepted without any possibility of being rejected. I am accepted now and forevermore.
He is fine with me as I am! I'm perfect to God.
God is delighted with His child - me! He sings over me and loves to just look at me. I'm His pride and joy!
I am a beautiful and awesome person. God is pleased with me right now, as I am in this moment.
God says, "What sin? I see no sin in you. You are beautiful and there is no flaw in you."
At the heart of it all is a grace that embraces us, carries us and isn't going to let us go.
There is a lightness to God's love and grace. He makes our inner heart light. It's the lightness and joy of heaven and we'll enjoy it forever!
Saturday, June 25, 2016
What Follows AFTER
After night, day
After winter, spring
After rain, sun
After dormancy, life
After cold, warmth
After ebbtide, high
After waning moon, full
After drought, replenishing
After bitterness, hope
After ruin, mercy
After agony, compassion
After anger, release
After fear, security
After failure, grace
After turmoil, peace
After sorrow, joy
After endings, beginnings
After death, life
After time, eternity
After everything, LOVE!
After winter, spring
After rain, sun
After dormancy, life
After cold, warmth
After ebbtide, high
After waning moon, full
After drought, replenishing
After bitterness, hope
After ruin, mercy
After agony, compassion
After anger, release
After fear, security
After failure, grace
After turmoil, peace
After sorrow, joy
After endings, beginnings
After death, life
After time, eternity
After everything, LOVE!
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Innocent Babes
We're innocent babes in His arms!
Even though humans have been confused since eating from that ole' law (knowledge of good and evil) tree, the image of God hasn't been erased from us, and there is still that core of good humanity, worthy of dignity and love, deep within us, that 'something' within us that longs for God and longs to do good, 'delights in His will,' loves beauty and truth and naturally reaches for light, knows instinctively that we are meant to love and seeks love, seeks to find kindness and seeks to be kind, seeks understanding and seeks to be understanding, seeks good and seeks to do good. An innocence deep down within us all. I just can't look at the face of a newborn baby and think that baby is bad or even half bad - I can only feel delight, rapture and joy at the miracle of this newborn human, innocent and sweet! When I look in the face of a newborn baby, all I can see is innocence, beauty, purity and goodness.
I know our minds became confused and we were 'separated and enemies of God in our minds, doing wicked works,' but how wonderful that that was only in our minds! We were never really separated, never really enemies of God - our minds thought so through law thinking, dividing things into good and bad, seeing ourselves as bad and thus separate from the good God - but I don't believe that we really ever changed from being those basically good, decent humans that God made, one with Him deep down, for 'He is the spirit in man' as Job says - He's our core, it's His Spirit that gives us life and is in us at the core of our humanity! His Spirit, His good nature, His image, His imprint, His DNA of Love within us all!
Isn't it wonderful that Christ is revealed IN us, that the Spirit bubbles up and overflows from deep WITHIN us! Jesus didn't come to put good into us but to let it out! There was goodness inside us all along! It gets me excited to think I have always been good deep down, not evil, bad, dirty or sinful in nature! It's only that my mind didn't see this, lies poisoned me and took me captive to vain, law thinking and evil thoughts about myself, seeing myself as bad, and others too. This caused all kinds of problems and made me act so contrary to my true nature of goodness and love as God's creation. But Jesus came to be the truth that sets us free, sets our minds free!!!
He freed our minds to see our goodness, see that we have the imprint of God within, setting us free to really live as the children of God, the Spiritual beings we always were. Our latent goodness, our latent "God-ness" can pour forth, and out of our innermost being flows rivers of living water (the Holy, Pure, Good Spirit that's always been there inside) because we're not seeing ourselves as bad anymore but embracing our true identity, believing the good news, seeing ourselves as sons and daughters of the Father of Love who have that same character of Love!
I believe the image of God is still in each person and is worthy of respect and affirmation. I believe that image is still there underneath the misunderstandings and confusions, law-thinking and law-breakings. We're still His creation, all of us are his offspring/children, as Paul said. Those who believe have had the blinders of the mind removed, have had clarity restored, and can really enjoy that relationship with Papa that is the birthright of all His human babies. But I do believe every person is good, just like their Dad, deep down where it counts, as seen in the innocence of babies and children.
This has really been wonderful to ponder and think about! I am still learning about all this and may be wrong about things, but these are my thoughts right now. I really believe we are all 'good eggs' and Jesus came to redeem that goodness in men - to bring it to light.
He redeemed us! I read a great definition of redemption recently. It basically said that when something loses its sense of value and that sense of value is restored, it's been redeemed. I think that is what He did for us - He restored to us our sense of value, showed us we're worthy, valuable, good.
He justified us. What does that mean? To justify means to prove somebody is in the right. To prove their innocence. To prove they are 'not guilty.' To uphold and demonstrate and show forth their righteousness, that they are a just person. A good person! That they didn't do wrong! Christ came to vindicate and justify us in our own eyes - to prove us righteous and good. Humanity put itself on trial through our 'law thinking' and God gave the verdict, proclaimed us good and 'just' by the cross, for even when we did our worst and killed His Son, Jesus was saying 'they don't know what they are doing' and calling us innocent deep down! Wow!
He justified the ungodly by proving us worth dying for and still good at the core, still God's offspring with a right to the palace! Satan had captured our minds and made us believe lies about ourselves, that we were bad and dirty and separate from good/God. Jesus came and showed us the truth of our belovedness and goodness and belonging in God's family, His truth setting our captive minds free! We thought we were orphans, He showed us we were sons and daughters of the one true God, His very own creation, in His good image of Love! He's always seen us as His good little ones, it was our eyes that needed to be opened to this.
The enemy could never change who we were deep in our core humanity.
He could never change our paternity!
We have always been in the image of our Father.
And that image has always been 'very good!'
Even though humans have been confused since eating from that ole' law (knowledge of good and evil) tree, the image of God hasn't been erased from us, and there is still that core of good humanity, worthy of dignity and love, deep within us, that 'something' within us that longs for God and longs to do good, 'delights in His will,' loves beauty and truth and naturally reaches for light, knows instinctively that we are meant to love and seeks love, seeks to find kindness and seeks to be kind, seeks understanding and seeks to be understanding, seeks good and seeks to do good. An innocence deep down within us all. I just can't look at the face of a newborn baby and think that baby is bad or even half bad - I can only feel delight, rapture and joy at the miracle of this newborn human, innocent and sweet! When I look in the face of a newborn baby, all I can see is innocence, beauty, purity and goodness.
I know our minds became confused and we were 'separated and enemies of God in our minds, doing wicked works,' but how wonderful that that was only in our minds! We were never really separated, never really enemies of God - our minds thought so through law thinking, dividing things into good and bad, seeing ourselves as bad and thus separate from the good God - but I don't believe that we really ever changed from being those basically good, decent humans that God made, one with Him deep down, for 'He is the spirit in man' as Job says - He's our core, it's His Spirit that gives us life and is in us at the core of our humanity! His Spirit, His good nature, His image, His imprint, His DNA of Love within us all!
Isn't it wonderful that Christ is revealed IN us, that the Spirit bubbles up and overflows from deep WITHIN us! Jesus didn't come to put good into us but to let it out! There was goodness inside us all along! It gets me excited to think I have always been good deep down, not evil, bad, dirty or sinful in nature! It's only that my mind didn't see this, lies poisoned me and took me captive to vain, law thinking and evil thoughts about myself, seeing myself as bad, and others too. This caused all kinds of problems and made me act so contrary to my true nature of goodness and love as God's creation. But Jesus came to be the truth that sets us free, sets our minds free!!!
He freed our minds to see our goodness, see that we have the imprint of God within, setting us free to really live as the children of God, the Spiritual beings we always were. Our latent goodness, our latent "God-ness" can pour forth, and out of our innermost being flows rivers of living water (the Holy, Pure, Good Spirit that's always been there inside) because we're not seeing ourselves as bad anymore but embracing our true identity, believing the good news, seeing ourselves as sons and daughters of the Father of Love who have that same character of Love!
I believe the image of God is still in each person and is worthy of respect and affirmation. I believe that image is still there underneath the misunderstandings and confusions, law-thinking and law-breakings. We're still His creation, all of us are his offspring/children, as Paul said. Those who believe have had the blinders of the mind removed, have had clarity restored, and can really enjoy that relationship with Papa that is the birthright of all His human babies. But I do believe every person is good, just like their Dad, deep down where it counts, as seen in the innocence of babies and children.
This has really been wonderful to ponder and think about! I am still learning about all this and may be wrong about things, but these are my thoughts right now. I really believe we are all 'good eggs' and Jesus came to redeem that goodness in men - to bring it to light.
He redeemed us! I read a great definition of redemption recently. It basically said that when something loses its sense of value and that sense of value is restored, it's been redeemed. I think that is what He did for us - He restored to us our sense of value, showed us we're worthy, valuable, good.
He justified us. What does that mean? To justify means to prove somebody is in the right. To prove their innocence. To prove they are 'not guilty.' To uphold and demonstrate and show forth their righteousness, that they are a just person. A good person! That they didn't do wrong! Christ came to vindicate and justify us in our own eyes - to prove us righteous and good. Humanity put itself on trial through our 'law thinking' and God gave the verdict, proclaimed us good and 'just' by the cross, for even when we did our worst and killed His Son, Jesus was saying 'they don't know what they are doing' and calling us innocent deep down! Wow!
He justified the ungodly by proving us worth dying for and still good at the core, still God's offspring with a right to the palace! Satan had captured our minds and made us believe lies about ourselves, that we were bad and dirty and separate from good/God. Jesus came and showed us the truth of our belovedness and goodness and belonging in God's family, His truth setting our captive minds free! We thought we were orphans, He showed us we were sons and daughters of the one true God, His very own creation, in His good image of Love! He's always seen us as His good little ones, it was our eyes that needed to be opened to this.
The enemy could never change who we were deep in our core humanity.
He could never change our paternity!
We have always been in the image of our Father.
And that image has always been 'very good!'
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Good Little Ones
Everyone is a "good egg" -
Our basic humanity is good, made in His good image.
Everybody wants to be loved and to love.
Deep down our motives are pure and innocent.
We're all sweet, open, good little children inside.
We're lovely little ones, the ones we were as toddlers!
We're little bitty children, needing love and being naturally open and loving.
We look to others and listen to many other voices and outside experiences to find out if we have worth and are okay and safe..but there is ONE VOICE that outweighs them all, and when we hear that Voice saying we're okay, even wonderful, and that everything is okay, even wonderful, and that everything will work out okay, even wonderful, then we really start to relax and believe it. We are grounded, we are centered, we are anchored, for we truly are experiencing Reality - Real Life - His Life in us!
Our basic humanity is good, made in His good image.
Everybody wants to be loved and to love.
Deep down our motives are pure and innocent.
We're all sweet, open, good little children inside.
We're lovely little ones, the ones we were as toddlers!
We're little bitty children, needing love and being naturally open and loving.
We look to others and listen to many other voices and outside experiences to find out if we have worth and are okay and safe..but there is ONE VOICE that outweighs them all, and when we hear that Voice saying we're okay, even wonderful, and that everything is okay, even wonderful, and that everything will work out okay, even wonderful, then we really start to relax and believe it. We are grounded, we are centered, we are anchored, for we truly are experiencing Reality - Real Life - His Life in us!
Friday, June 10, 2016
Grace - Strongest When We Are at Our Weakest!
Grace comes into its own in weakness, isn't that wonderful? It works the MOST magically and powerfully when we are bitter,
angry, in turmoil, doubting, at our lowest and worst. It always, ALWAYS flows in us and works its magic most noticeably, strongly and wonderfully JUST at those times when we are 'awfullest' - to others and to ourselves!
Grace is sufficient at all times for us..for His power is made perfect - comes into its own - in weakness..our weakness, failures, bravado, deceitfulness, cowardice, rage and angst!
And we don't have to get rid of confusions, doubts, or 'constrictions' in order to receive grace or get it to flow to us or through us...that's a condition, and there are NO conditions on grace! Grace itself gets rids of any barriers or constrictions in our thinking or beliefs WITHOUT our help!
Grace is always inside us, flowing in and through and upon and over and out of us..we don't have to do anything to get grace to come or work in our lives..grace ALWAYS comes to us, is ALWAYS with us, and is ALWAYS working in our lives, and Grace ALWAYS wins out in the end over any angst, fear, bitterness, failure, defeat, addiction, pain or turmoil.
Grace us always 'flowing like a river,' always flowing in, to and through us!
Love is with us, Love is living in us..
Love always wins, Grace always prevails!
Grace is sufficient at all times for us..for His power is made perfect - comes into its own - in weakness..our weakness, failures, bravado, deceitfulness, cowardice, rage and angst!
And we don't have to get rid of confusions, doubts, or 'constrictions' in order to receive grace or get it to flow to us or through us...that's a condition, and there are NO conditions on grace! Grace itself gets rids of any barriers or constrictions in our thinking or beliefs WITHOUT our help!
Grace is always inside us, flowing in and through and upon and over and out of us..we don't have to do anything to get grace to come or work in our lives..grace ALWAYS comes to us, is ALWAYS with us, and is ALWAYS working in our lives, and Grace ALWAYS wins out in the end over any angst, fear, bitterness, failure, defeat, addiction, pain or turmoil.
Grace us always 'flowing like a river,' always flowing in, to and through us!
Love is with us, Love is living in us..
Love always wins, Grace always prevails!
Everything belongs..
"For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are ALL things.
To Him be the glory forevermore!" Rom. 11:36
I have been thinking, how does this creation, this big world of humanity and everything else, look to God, from His perspective?
He doesn't see anything as 'away' from Him, since He is everywhere present and intimate with every atom, every photon, every pain, every joy, every moment, every thought, for every person!
He doesn't see just the present; the past, present and future all exist in His NOW. So He doesn't see us in process, unfinished, messed up, confused, or however else we may feel. He sees us complete and whole, seeing the end from the beginning. Really, for Him, have we every been anything BUT complete, whole, beautiful, pure and sweet? :)
Having such understanding of all our past experience and of all our thought processes today and of all the future fulfillment that awaits us, how could He see us as unacceptable, as 'wrong' or evil? We see sin, right and wrong, good and bad - God only sees His little children who don't know any better, who don't understand how much He loves them yet, who 'don't know what they are doing,' as Christ said on the cross
He is the great LOVE that embraces, undergirds, generates, supports and is the utter end of ALL things, so nothing going on in our lives is a surprise to Him, unacceptable to Him, or repugnant to Him. We are never repugnant to God! Nothing in us is unacceptable, nothing we do or say is 'not allowed' - He is big enough, understanding enough, strong enough, loving enough, to hold all our confusions, mistakes, doubts, fears, stumblings, and frailties. He remembers what we are. He made us out of Himself. His own Spirit supports our life. He is moving us to the perfect happy ending. Nothing has ever been in doubt. We have been safe all along, only we didn't know it!
Thinking like this, I realize I have never been separated from Him, never been alone, never really been 'lost' - not to Him, for hasn't HE been with me, known where I was, breathed every breath of mine within me, all along?! I was never alienated from Him - only in my mind, as Col. 1 tells me! He reveals Christ WITHIN us, not outside trying to get in..we see this and the Spirit flows forth from WITHIN our innermost being, where He has been all along!
Everything belongs. Nothing is actually separated from Him. Nothing is cast away or rejected. No part of us is cast away or rejected!
We can never do or say or think anything that will take us out of Him, out of His love, out of His grace.
For there IS no place outside of Him, outside of His love, outside of His grace!
He is so big that He contains it all, so loving that in Him everything fits together and belongs, through the perfection of Christ.
He is all, and is in all. In Him we live and move and have our being. The oneness of God always contains, embraces, holds, connects, shelters, supports, accepts all things!
We are floating in the ocean of HIM! We are wrapped up in His eternal arms! We are boats built by Him, sailing down His river, to His sea, blown by His breeze, coming to the ultimate harbor that is HIM! We are safely enveloped in His loving presence and acceptance, that delicious, refreshing, unconditional loving acceptance that is called GRACE!
Everything belongs.
Nothing is unacceptable,
'not allowed,' out of sync
or wrong or 'bad.'
Everything belongs.
Everything and everyone is home,
so nothing is lost or 'away.'
Everything is part of Him,
so nothing is separated
or needing to 'get' to Him.
Noone is a 'them' -
We are all His offspring.
He is with us all, for us all,
and reveals Himself IN us all!
Everyone is His offspring, His child..
Everyone is beloved, accepted..
Everyone is in His presence, home..
Thank you Jesus for coming to set us free in our minds, free from the lies we believed of separation, judgment, and fear. Thank You for vindicating us by the cross, thank You for redeeming us - restoring our sense of worth and value and goodness! Thank You for calling us innocents, for showing us we are all 'good eggs' after all! Thank You for not being ashamed to call us your brothers (and sisters)! Thank You for showing us we belong and need not be ashamed! Thank You for letting us know You are here within us and always have been, our dearest friend, closer than a brother, closer than a heartbeat. Thank You for assuring us that everything is okay, and everything will ultimately be okay! Now we can rest against our Father's bosom again, without any fear of harm. For we KNOW He is love and nothing else! Love does no harm..Our Papa is good to ALL and His compassion is over ALL His creation! Wow, we are so safe in those arms of love! Thank You for showing us that, for bringing grace to light through the good news! Thank You so much for GRACE!
To Him be the glory forevermore!" Rom. 11:36
I have been thinking, how does this creation, this big world of humanity and everything else, look to God, from His perspective?
He doesn't see anything as 'away' from Him, since He is everywhere present and intimate with every atom, every photon, every pain, every joy, every moment, every thought, for every person!
He doesn't see just the present; the past, present and future all exist in His NOW. So He doesn't see us in process, unfinished, messed up, confused, or however else we may feel. He sees us complete and whole, seeing the end from the beginning. Really, for Him, have we every been anything BUT complete, whole, beautiful, pure and sweet? :)
Having such understanding of all our past experience and of all our thought processes today and of all the future fulfillment that awaits us, how could He see us as unacceptable, as 'wrong' or evil? We see sin, right and wrong, good and bad - God only sees His little children who don't know any better, who don't understand how much He loves them yet, who 'don't know what they are doing,' as Christ said on the cross
He is the great LOVE that embraces, undergirds, generates, supports and is the utter end of ALL things, so nothing going on in our lives is a surprise to Him, unacceptable to Him, or repugnant to Him. We are never repugnant to God! Nothing in us is unacceptable, nothing we do or say is 'not allowed' - He is big enough, understanding enough, strong enough, loving enough, to hold all our confusions, mistakes, doubts, fears, stumblings, and frailties. He remembers what we are. He made us out of Himself. His own Spirit supports our life. He is moving us to the perfect happy ending. Nothing has ever been in doubt. We have been safe all along, only we didn't know it!
Thinking like this, I realize I have never been separated from Him, never been alone, never really been 'lost' - not to Him, for hasn't HE been with me, known where I was, breathed every breath of mine within me, all along?! I was never alienated from Him - only in my mind, as Col. 1 tells me! He reveals Christ WITHIN us, not outside trying to get in..we see this and the Spirit flows forth from WITHIN our innermost being, where He has been all along!
Everything belongs. Nothing is actually separated from Him. Nothing is cast away or rejected. No part of us is cast away or rejected!
We can never do or say or think anything that will take us out of Him, out of His love, out of His grace.
For there IS no place outside of Him, outside of His love, outside of His grace!
He is so big that He contains it all, so loving that in Him everything fits together and belongs, through the perfection of Christ.
He is all, and is in all. In Him we live and move and have our being. The oneness of God always contains, embraces, holds, connects, shelters, supports, accepts all things!
We are floating in the ocean of HIM! We are wrapped up in His eternal arms! We are boats built by Him, sailing down His river, to His sea, blown by His breeze, coming to the ultimate harbor that is HIM! We are safely enveloped in His loving presence and acceptance, that delicious, refreshing, unconditional loving acceptance that is called GRACE!
Everything belongs.
Nothing is unacceptable,
'not allowed,' out of sync
or wrong or 'bad.'
Everything belongs.
Everything and everyone is home,
so nothing is lost or 'away.'
Everything is part of Him,
so nothing is separated
or needing to 'get' to Him.
Noone is a 'them' -
We are all His offspring.
He is with us all, for us all,
and reveals Himself IN us all!
Everyone is His offspring, His child..
Everyone is beloved, accepted..
Everyone is in His presence, home..
Thank you Jesus for coming to set us free in our minds, free from the lies we believed of separation, judgment, and fear. Thank You for vindicating us by the cross, thank You for redeeming us - restoring our sense of worth and value and goodness! Thank You for calling us innocents, for showing us we are all 'good eggs' after all! Thank You for not being ashamed to call us your brothers (and sisters)! Thank You for showing us we belong and need not be ashamed! Thank You for letting us know You are here within us and always have been, our dearest friend, closer than a brother, closer than a heartbeat. Thank You for assuring us that everything is okay, and everything will ultimately be okay! Now we can rest against our Father's bosom again, without any fear of harm. For we KNOW He is love and nothing else! Love does no harm..Our Papa is good to ALL and His compassion is over ALL His creation! Wow, we are so safe in those arms of love! Thank You for showing us that, for bringing grace to light through the good news! Thank You so much for GRACE!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Aslan's Country, the Really Real World!
C.S. Lewis certainly has a wonderful way of describing the joys of heaven..here are some of my thoughts after enjoying his descriptions of 'Aslan's Country' in The Last Battle:
The time bound self is just that, so time bound, just rising and falling like a wave on the sea, the sea always still in the depth, always the same no matter what momentary surface wave appears or disappears in so short a time..we are so simply all of us part of God the Timeless one (Eternal)!
The 'self' that thinks and breathes and acts and feels here on earth is like a little shadow/doppelganger of the Real Self that always IS underneath in the infinite expanses of God/the Spiritual Realm! The temporal self is about as solid as a mirror's image is compared to the real scene..whatever we 'are' here is but a faint echo of the True Us existing always outside of time in 'Aslan's country' - the Really Real World where we are all enjoying unity with one another and with God outside of time and space! Wow!
Time and space will eventually all fold inward and find themselves freed outward into the infinity of Love, of God, of the Really Real! And all that we had 'lost' in this world - whether friends, loved ones, homes, childhood joys, innocence, happiness, or love - will be found to have always been safely there at home; we will find ourselves to have always been there safely at home, in His garden, on His lap, actually part of Him as ever we were, are and shall be!
What is there to be really, ultimately afraid of when that is our beginning, our present upholding/foundation, and our ultimate guaranteed end (guaranteed because there all time exists in the Now of eternity/God and thus the end has already come and just IS)!
The time bound self is just that, so time bound, just rising and falling like a wave on the sea, the sea always still in the depth, always the same no matter what momentary surface wave appears or disappears in so short a time..we are so simply all of us part of God the Timeless one (Eternal)!
The 'self' that thinks and breathes and acts and feels here on earth is like a little shadow/doppelganger of the Real Self that always IS underneath in the infinite expanses of God/the Spiritual Realm! The temporal self is about as solid as a mirror's image is compared to the real scene..whatever we 'are' here is but a faint echo of the True Us existing always outside of time in 'Aslan's country' - the Really Real World where we are all enjoying unity with one another and with God outside of time and space! Wow!
Time and space will eventually all fold inward and find themselves freed outward into the infinity of Love, of God, of the Really Real! And all that we had 'lost' in this world - whether friends, loved ones, homes, childhood joys, innocence, happiness, or love - will be found to have always been safely there at home; we will find ourselves to have always been there safely at home, in His garden, on His lap, actually part of Him as ever we were, are and shall be!
What is there to be really, ultimately afraid of when that is our beginning, our present upholding/foundation, and our ultimate guaranteed end (guaranteed because there all time exists in the Now of eternity/God and thus the end has already come and just IS)!
Friday, January 22, 2016
God Loves us with ALL His heart, soul, mind and strength..He loves us as Himself..Wow!
We are receiving some lovely snowfall today and so I thought I might include a beautiful snow scene with today's ponderings (we ended up with 6 lovely inches of snow, almost a 'blizzard' here in the balmy southern US!):
A Quote from Richard Rohr:
The God Jesus incarnates and embodies is not a distant God
that must be placated. Jesus' God is not sitting on some throne
demanding worship and throwing down thunderbolts like Zeus. Jesus never
said, "Worship me"; he said, "Follow me." He asks us to imitate him in
his own journey of full incarnation. To do so, he gives us the two great
commandments: 1) Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and
strength and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31, Luke
10:25-28). In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us that our
"neighbor" even includes our "enemy" (Luke 10:29-37)."
|
My thoughts:
I just noticed or felt something as I read this..God invites us to
love with unconditional, perfect love..THAT is exactly how HE loves..how
HE loves US! God loves us with His whole heart, His whole soul, with all of His mind, and with all of His strength..with all that He is..He loves us as Himself..He
loves those who call themselves His enemies, He blesses them/us, and
does good to those who hate Him and spitefully use Him (misunderstanding
His true nature).
Wow! He loves the hurting and wounded people, loves the littlest
and the least, loves the ones others have forgotten, even loves the one
we try most to forget and deny - our own needy, helpless, hurting and
hurtful selves! He loves the part of us that is wounded and little and
lashing out in fear and bitterness, the one who has forgotten how to
love, forgotten what it ever felt like to be loved..that is the one He
loves, the one we think is our 'true inner selfish self'...when in
reality it is only the hurting and confused and tormented mind, not our
real true spirit self at all..that real and true spirit self is part of
God, one with God, and therefore always perfectly lovable and loving!
We love with an infinite, unconditional love because that is Who
we came from and are part of, that is how we were always loved and
always will be loved, that is the swaddling blanket we are eternally
wrapped in, that is the core of our existence, that is the hub of our
universe and the center upon which all of time and eternity is
grounded..that LOVE is WHO WE ARE, Who we came from, and Where we are
going to be forever!
God loves us with all He is..HE loves the part of ourselves that
we may call 'enemy,' the part we are ashamed of and may despise or try
to hide..He loves all of us, every part of us, in sunshine and shadow,
waking or sleeping, rising or falling, living or dying..HE loves us and
holds us and that is the ground of our whole lives.
The center.
The truth that makes everything okay somehow.
We are loved like a prodigal who is thrown a party instead of
being punished, loved like a happy child swung round and round by a
wonderful, doting Dad, loved like a little toddler who is safe in His
Papa's arms, loved like a baby nestled against its mother's warm bosom,
loved like someone who has just arrived safely home after a long journey
and finds everything just as it was remembered..the longing is over,
the search is ended, we were home all along, safe all along, in His arms
all along. Was there ever any other place we could actually be? No,
never. HE is everywhere we go. HE went with us into every dark alley.
HE was always there inside us. HE carried us all along. HE is the
Home we were looking for all along, and all along we were at Home in
Him..SAFE. BELOVED. HOME!
I love this Loving Papa who never lets go, who loves with such an unconditional and gracious love!
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