I don't know much, but I do know that nothing
is wrong with us or our lives. There is not some magical thing we need to finally 'do' or
think or some hurdle in understanding we need to finally get over and
then we'll be different and better and changed. We are fine right now.
Right now we are complete. Right now we are perfect! This is a relief
to me.
Outside of religion, there are no demands. No
standards to measure up to. No judgments on us. We are outside of
religion. We are always in the realm of grace, for that's really and
truly the only REALITY there is! Grace was always reality, religion was
the illusion, the lie!
There are always things I may need
to change about my behavior. But there is nothing wrong with me as a
person! Isn't this wonderful? I am so tired of trying to improve and
change and get to the next level. I am so tired of wondering when grace
will finally 'work' for me and I'll be victorious and 'better.' But
what if grace has been working all along? What if I'm already perfect
and have been all along? Haha, it is such a sweet relief!
I
have seen myself as needing to overcome something bad within me, some
bad nature or whatever..but what if all along I've been good? What if I
have only needed to realize this, and then I can enjoy living?
Let's
separate ourselves from our thoughts. We are not our thoughts or
feelings. We are not our body or mind. Those are like computers that
work for us, taking in data and putting out responses, based on whatever
is stored in the memory and based on neural pathways set up in the
mental system through years of experiences. But that is not ME, that is not YOU, we are
spirit..always were and always will be. We are beautiful and holy and
perfect and complete children of God with perfect and loving natures.
We never had a bad thought, never did a bad deed. We are pure LOVE, just
like our Father in whose image we were made and from whom we came
forth. We have always been pure love.
There has never
been a law upon us. There has always been love upon us, understanding
and sweetness and light. We ARE light! WE ARE understanding and love and
kindness! Made out of Love, we ARE Love! We proceed from our Father like branches from a vine and have
the same nature, same character, same beauty and splendor and grace in
us! We are part of God and therefore can't be bad, don't need changing
or improving, are perfect and lovely and good.
We can
turn around and love our mind, our feelings, our thoughts. We can love
our body when it does wrong things, based on years of living in fear and
religious thoughts. We can sympathize with the mind even if it
continues having the wrong thoughts. Even if the mind and body keep on
playing out the same dumb ideas and actions, borne from years of
believing lies and putting ourselves down as 'evil sinners that deserve
punishment'..we can sympathize and take pity on our poor minds that have
been so confused by religion, that have been taught performance-based
acceptance or no acceptance at all..that have been fed a picture of God
that is so two-faced it would drive anyone mad, a god who is called
'Love' but hates those who cross him, is constantly judging and criticizing, and vindictively punishes anyone
who does not come up to an impossible standard. No wonder we have
problems with believing in unconditional love!! Anybody would!
Especially those of us raised in the church! We can just hold and love
and caress our poor distraught minds because they have been put through
so much!
The best thing we can do is get away from
religion, as far as we can, as much as we can. And just be. Just let
ourselves be. We are just where we are meant to be with God. We aren't
needing to change. We aren't needing to believe more. We don't have
to wish for some future day when we'll be okay. We ARE okay. Now.
Always have been. Always will be.
God will speak to us, is
speaking to us. God has been in us all along. There is a secret place
in us so full of beauty and light it would take one's breath away to
just glance at it sideways! There is an infinite ocean of love and
beauty within us, and it is heaven in us, God in us, the Spirit in us,
our true Self! We are in touch with God always. We are part of God, a wave on the ocean of the Eternal,
rising and falling in sync with His great breath, looking out on the
world through His eyes, one in Spirit with Him, one heart with THE Heart
of Love that beats for this world in complete, utter, beautiful,
terrific GRACE!
Even if we don't get over that bad habit,
that addiction, that fear. Even if we never seem to love ourselves
enough. Even if we can't understand grace, or God, or earthly
relationships, or how our own minds tick. Even if we blow it, never
'amount to something' in this world, never make an earthly friend, never
'produce' anything down here. No matter what, everything is perfect.
Everything is okay! We are home, we are part of the infinite Love that
made the universe, that beats within us, that never has let us go and
never will because we are part of His very own heart, part of His sweet
gentle breath, part of His own Being of Life!
We can't be anywhere else
but in Him and can't be anyone else but His own children. Religion can
try to tell us otherwise but we know we're just not part of that. It
was all a lie and is now exposed as the illusion it was. We have always
been in Grace, part of Grace, living in Grace, exuding Grace, supported
by Grace, carried along by Grace, even BEING GRACE! We can't be
anything else BUT the gracious, loving, good and perfect onces God made
us to be as part of His very own Self, His kids, proceeding forth from
the Father, His beloved children in whom He is well pleased, for as
Jesus is, so are we in this world! We are 'little Christs' and have in
Christ the picture of ourselves. The cross and empty tomb stand as testaments to the fact of God's love for us, proving forever that we really ARE His beloved children in whom He is well-pleased, with whom and in whom He is pleased to dwell, on whom His favor rests, innocent ones who 'don't know what we are doing,' justified (exonerated, proved innocent, proved to be in the right) against any charge made by religion about us at all!! The alienation was in our mind but never in reality. Union was always reality. Law was the lie. Grace was always the truth. He proved it to us at the cross by grace and He shows it to us in real time by grace.
When it comes right down
to it, God loves us. He loves us into rest. He loves us into
experiencing His love. He loves us into loving ourselves. He loves us
into healing. He loves us into waking up from the nightmare of
religion. He loves us into experiencing the reality of life in His
garden of grace. He does it all. It's all grace and always was. Grace
has always been carrying us along, getting us to whatever experiences
of God we need, bringing us through whatever life throws at us, pulling
us through to the other side, bringing us safely home at the end.
Everything is deeply okay, and everything will be ultimately okay. God
makes sure of it. We are safe and always were. He just IS Himself in
us and we know it and all is well. All is well! Every day is an
adventure, every day is a precious gift, to be enjoyed, savored,
relished, celebrated! We are free to enjoy life. We are free to
finally just LIVE it! Life is so precious. People are so precious.
God is so precious and wonderful. This is the life, this is grace!
