Blog

You can hide as Jonah for a time,

Far away, below deck, under a plant.

Mercy will find you, will find everyone.

Walking with Mercy is the lighter burden, the narrow path, our Destiny.

Those repentant in Nineveh heard Jonah, put down their pride. The Queen embraced Mercy too!

Are you hearing Jonah’s call today? Will you accept the Mercy and Humility carrying you to Glory?

Start walking and learn there is a way to go, a path to follow,

Walk hand and hand with Mercy!

Good morning My beloved,

I am here with you, your biggest fan!

You are working so hard, trying to serve and following My will.

Slow down for a moment, allowing Me to hold you my beloved, you can trust My loving embrace.

My beloved, you are gathering so many people and experiences and things around you… you are so busy collecting and maintaining and cultivating, so busy indeed.

Be still and know My love for you…

You’re looking for affirmation in the faces and words, of those known and unknown to you and yet, here am I, within you, guiding and loving your every breath, appreciating each hair on your head!

You know Me, be still and know My Love within you, for you, for all.

Relax into Me, my beloved, I am within and around you, I am holding you.

I hear you My beloved, yes, My mercy and compassion are yours, always.

My beloved, it is finished, long before you knew you needed to ask, you are Mine.

You are my Beloved until the end of time.

Hight tide keeps quiet what lies below.

Low tide reveals known rejections …

Stolen land,

Built up by stolen, rejected, and wandering people.

Pride screams mine, no vacancy, for that which my loving heart knows.

No doubt, pride becomes proud’s undoing over time, high water has a way of wearing us down.

The blessed Ones weep, calling the contrite, those who follow Love and Peace and Justice.

When the tide goes out, need shows us the Way.

May we choose Isaiah’s compassion fast.

And may Mercy choose us.

How can we live more authentically? 

It seems that each one of us holds a deep inner yearning to live authentically. It also seems a key part of that authenticity is encapsulated by Pierre De Chardin in his famous quote: 

“we are spiritual beings having a human experience”. 

Deep down we may sense this or know it to be true about who we authentically are, yet we often have a difficult time accepting it, knowing it, and or living it. 

Ironically, to better understand our authenticity requires some skepticism about who and what we have told ourselves and listened to about what the world has told us, re who we are. Part of our dilemma is the attachment we have to the person we’ve tried to be (ego or persona) to get along. 

This short video by Gabor Mate addresses this briefly…

In the Bible’s New Testament, Romans chapter 12 Paul writes “do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

To “conform to the world” is something we all do. We experience conforming as necessary from a very young age and as we grow into adulthood. We can experience times when we sacrifice our authenticity to ensure fitting in, getting along, or perhaps even surviving depending on the circumstances.  

Conforming is part of our survival mechanism and helps us thrive under the outer “rules and norms” which come from our families, communities, places of worship, workplaces, countries, regions, affiliations, etc.

The paradox is that we know who we really are deep within, spiritual beings, having a human (world conforming) experience. 

We could stop here but it’s important to experientially explore the inner conflicts that exist and have arisen within each of us over time. 

These inner conflicts take many forms, including various levels of trauma, and it helps to address them to understand our authenticity which includes acceptance, spiritually speaking, of who we are and Divine Love which spiritually speaking, embraces and guides each of us. 

Please take a few minutes to watch this brief video by Bessel van der Kolk re trauma. 

We’ll work though some breath, mediation, and other practices in order to begin to discover our own sense of Divine authenticity within. 

Practice for your consideration:

Utilizing the story of Peter from the New Testament, utilize prayerful consideration of Peter’s life and actions (words too) to notice what speaks to you re “attachments” and or “authenticity” in Peter’s experience as a guide or mirror for your own journey. 

Once you’ve had a chance to consider Peter’s (and your own) experiences, ask God to guide you to see it all through a Divine Perspective, looking at you (and Peter) as  beloved children of the Holy of Holies. 

Consider what might be some things to do or not do(or things you want to do but are not helpful to the current relationship/context you’re considering) and work through various scenarios. 

In our modern way, we’ve complicated and justified a fairly simple act… “you who is without sin, throw the first stone” … in brief, we project our inner stuff onto others to make ourselves feel better.

Most know Jesus invited the crowd to step up if they were without “sin” and throw the first stone. They all walked away, knowing each of them, all of us, carry stuff within we’d rather not. And we deal with our own inner turmoil around whatever it is by “hurling it” onto someone else, and often we add the inner or outer comment “at least I’m not like that”

I’ll save you time today…

If you’re wondering if this applies to you, jump to the next question and ask how this applies to you. Because all of us humans fall into this trap. I know, I know, but you don’t want to be “like that”.

At present our political discussion in the U.S. has reached a place of collective stone throwing which is perpetuated by our inner desire to be the one (or the ones) who is right or good.

They are clearly worse than me… is our current collective mantra. Over time we will each be stoned by the crowd we thought we were once a part of.

Humility comes to all of us over time…

Our modern inner prisons of power, authority, and self-righteousness, can be escaped but the key of humility is often dismissed or utilized only as a prop.

Every spiritual and religious tradition point us to humility as the key or root to spiritual growth. Jesus looked lovingly at the rich young ruler and offered this “sell all you have, give to the poor, and come follow me” in answer to the young man’s question of how to inherit eternal life.

In modernity, we might hear this as a materialistic story of bygone days but hear the deep truth from the voice of Love. Embrace your own humanness, you own humanity, your own humility, and you will find your way home because each of us is Beloved in spite of our own (inner and outer) stuff.

Humility is the path, let us join arms and walk the path together.