Sometimes we don’t see the damage to our roots or the foundational core of our being until we’ve fallen or become visibly “cut down.”

It’s up to each of us to decide to lay where we’ve fallen to rot and decay away from whom we know we are Divinely, or to get up and walk into the space we know is ours to hold in the world... for ourselves and for one another. 

Don't be another ”Dead Man Walking” as sung by: Jeremy Camp. 

Most folks have heard at least this one line of a song, “Let there be peace on earth… and let it begin with me…” right? At least within the Christian community, within the USA, you probably have. What a concept.  

I think it’s a smidge funny… how nearly everything written nowadays is assumed to have been written with “a tone,” whether it is or isn’t… we often don’t even realize how our pasts still come into play, within our day-to-day. Many profess to be “healed,” yet, often I have found the energy and professions of these individuals… including myself, has showed me otherwise. 

Lengthy is the list of those professing to be able to heal, coach, etc. “the broken.” How often we find the primary “revelation” residency within those healing and coaching programs to be the same old, same old… “sanctioned” teachings or readings by the few “great and wise ones,” simply regurgitated with a twist of lemon or lime… because they’ve fallen for this “new order” often taking the elitists’ programs to learn to heal themselves; then, they’ve paid them again to teach them how to coach with the same material. If we were truly paying attention, did we not learn both in the first “revolutionary program?” Are the “elders of the info” given credit within these “new” courses/programs? Over the past decade, I think it’s become almost anecdotal… those who can financially afford to attend “healing” and “overcoming brokenness” coaching/classes/courses etc. then deem it their mission or life goal to “heal the broken.” If one has read the book “The Greatest Miracle in The World,” by Og Mandino, one would realize the entire industry, as well as medical psychology and psychiatry are based or “led” by those living on or within having or “should have been” ones who have the clinical diagnosis of codependency!

Here’s a novel thought: What if, instead of assuming people who are human, and experiencing the same range or ebb and flow of emotions that even Christ himself exhibited or showed us is innately born within us… we simply swallow our uncomfortable-ness in those moments. What if we became more Christ-like and actually offered the sacred space of listening to a person sharing the depths of their heart with us, without feeling the need to go elsewhere; because, maybe we have some unprocessed/unresolved emotional baggage that we’ve professed was healed; but, were merely engaging in the business of “the doing and the having;” because, others said it was… “The Way?” What if “The Way” is actually welcoming and encouraging the conversations and sitting within those moments of uncomfortable awkwardness, sharing and walking side-by-side through “The Truth…” in order to get to experience the great-full-ness of “The Life” and “The Light” within each of us?  

What if we acknowledge our fear of conversing “amidst the uncomfortable…” or that IT is the true underlying reason for the high rates of addictions, crimes, suicides, homicides, etc.? What if instead of giving presents that may or may not bring even a fleeting moment of happiness during a holiday season, we give the Gift of actual PRESENCE with one another, and make a commitment to do so… a little more each day? MAYBE THEN, each of us could find more harmony within ourselves and let go of the need to “heal” or “fix” those we perceive as “broken.” Maybe when we can also acknowledge our definitions for things like “success,” “attractiveness,” and “wealth” are not all the same… we can begin to truly see value in one another; and, experience true… “harmony within.”

As we enter each year filled with new opportunities, instead of making New Year’s resolutions… maybe we could take daily, insightful, intentional action. Resolve to remain quiet a little longer in the morning, or upon rising for our day. Perhaps, get into a planned and dedicated self-care practice, where instead of getting everyone else’s needs or “crises du jour” taken care of first, which can easily turn into the rest of the day, most days, even if it means rising from our slumber a little earlier… sit still and just BE. BE. Still. BE listening to the silence and sacred spaces deep within us. Reconnect to the BEautiful, wondrous, and Gifted child that still resides in those deeply quiet recesses of our soul. That child that perhaps came bouncing into the living room to watch cartoons, read a book, or ran outside to play… early on a Saturday morning, when parents might have hoped for a few extra winks of sleep. But NO… out you came with your bounding enthusiasm for the dawn of the new day… filled with awe, wonder, and miraculous splendor! What if we dedicated time and space to just be still, perhaps put on a meditative instrumental piece, (peace,) that allows our busy brains to remain calm a few moments longer, (instead of going right into worry or anxiety hyperdrive as soon as our feet hit the floor.) What if in that time and space, we could begin to identify and reconnect with the Gifts we always had within us; but, had forgotten; or, had let become lost or shoved into a locker, tossed onto a bottom shelf, like refuse. That is, until the end of a school year, when we were forced to pick it up, clean it up to keep it, or toss it into a trash can?  

How many of us let the noise and distractions of man’s agendas and the world… lead us to discard the greatest parts of everything/everyone we were created to BE? What if we instead, spend this year living it as “The Year of The Sacred Self…” a return to the childlike wonder where we felt the Divine Unity of our body, mind, soul, and heart… whether we knew that’s what it was called, or not.  

Sometimes, it takes the whole world stopping, essentially, for some folks to truly listen to everything going on in our immediate purview. The folks who are most uncomfortable in those times, may have been the folks who were so disconnected from Self, they didn’t or perhaps… couldn’t see it as the opportunity and probably the greatest little miracle… despite so MANY people throwing their hands or arms up into the air plenty of times in previous years… prayerfully, desperately pleading… “Lord, can you please just make it STOP?!?!” Well, that collective energy or sigh was heard. Our cries for a reprieve from the chaos, the dissonance, the hurt, the hate… was heard. We received our break. The question is… did we honor the opportunity to do the “life reboot”or “reset…” to return to listening to the sacred spaces and voices deep within us… or did we continue with the outwardly shame, blame game of man… and continue the divisiveness? 

Did we offer constructive insights of things we knew to be true, or were we merely playing a record with a scratched groove of disharmony and discontent without seeking advice from the wise ancestral knowledge within us? It’s never too late to begin a new course or path. If not now? When?