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?

With constant shifts during a pandemic, there’s a constant barrage of information and staggering fear-mongering disinformation seemingly everywhere. The same preface often holds true for organized religion. In Christianity, for example, if The Bible is “The Book…” why are there so many different denominations within Christianity and so many variations or versions of The Bible? 

Of course, that was a rhetorical question. Just as there are as many faiths or religions to speak to the variety of the ways different Children of the Divine can receive The Message, there will be variations within each of those faiths or religions… who offer it.  

Perhaps it’s time to take a step back and wonder why so many of the Christian religious zealots who choose to want to browbeat or bully those who do not follow The Word, (as in the King James Version or more archaic or literal interpretations,) are also often the ones who’ve insisted on building The Church as idol monuments or as professed, “testaments of faith.” Then, clearly not “doing as Christ did” which was to BE among the people… not convincing people to spend their money building and maintaining churches, bringing other idol symbols like stained glass Biblical scene depictions where Jesus has mostly been portrayed falsely as Caucasian, with gold or gold or bronze plated crosses… despite Jesus dying on a mere tree/beam/hunk of wood with a thorn of crowns that if on an alter would be a more accurate depiction of what The Bible identifies to be “The Story.” I mean if they want to remain true to what they profess is the original, “true story” for accuracy’s sake, why do they blatantly overlook the ways they are failing implementing ALL of The Book, literally? 

I find it amusing; but, heartbreaking most of the time, how blind we are at the many ways those of us who have/had been Christians, walk blindly or turn a blind eye to so many glaring inconsistencies or manipulations in what’s professed within the church walls during the services, or amongst one another outside of them, to be from The Bible. In speaking with, listening to, and reading works by many theologians throughout my lifetime, there’s one consistency. Each person, each human has our own interpretation of The Word… despite reading the same words.  

Throughout history, we’ve seen many religious leaders use The Bible as their primary tool to brow-beat or bully their congregants, their “subjects…” to keep them “in line,” while trying desperately to hide their own sins and actual crimes… often choosing defamation as their secondary deflection tool. In other instances, those who prance around within church walls or groups using defamation and other narcissistic tendencies are too often excused as simply mistakenly coming across as “overbearing.” What if we actually took the biggest lesson from all of those enlightenments to be that we can ALL have our own interpretation of The Bible… and perhaps, The Word(s) we need to listen to the most or give the most credence to adhering or trusting wholeheartedly are the ones the Divine whispers to us directly? We ALL have a direct line to The One who created us in perfect Divine love and image. Why is it we seek so badly to disregard that direct connection with the Divine we know and feel deep within… in exchange for greater reverence to DO for those maligning what The Son became incarnate and SHOWED us… to BE? I know I’m not meant to understand the answer… and that’s okay. Amen.

Often in life, we fear that which we do not understand. Sometimes, we don’t even know everything that we do not understand; because we don’t know… what we don’t know!  

We can ask for help; but often, only if we feel we know what help to ask to receive. When we don’t even know where to begin; because we feel we’ve asked for everything we know to ask about with regards to help… sometimes… it leads to death. Too often, relationship death, mental death, soul death, spiritual death, and if not addressed soon enough… perhaps physical death.  

It’s up to us to monitor the levels of our health in all of these arenas… and to make the adjustments needed for optimal health for us and each of our relationships. 

We need to not fear letting go of things or people that are meant to be seasonal in our lives. Whether it is our jobs, our spiritual homes or practices, our physical fitness routines, our nutritional health practices, our creative outlets, or our relationships with others. If we are to learn and grow, as we are here to do, we need to not be stuck in the mindset of controlling or hanging onto things that we need to release… in order to make room to welcome the next gifts we are to receive for the next portion of our Divine journey. Sometimes, in order to not die… we must let go, to let... growth!