Are the storm clouds rolling inward to “punish”
or,
outward to “clear the way?”
The choice of perspectives is ours, alone.
Are you moving ”East to West, ” or seeing, traversing the true distance when God shows you, as requested by Casting Crowns?
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?
Instead of only “taking stock” of our lives annually, with regard to the people, places, and things we are grateful for, (we can see, hear, smell, feel/touch, and taste…,) perhaps we can become more mindful and appreciative of them on a daily basis.
Can we want less, expect less, and waste less… in order to value one another, ourselves, Mother/Father Earth… more? How can we approach each new day, honoring the healthy boundaries of our own... while doing the same for others?
For me, it’s about BEing true to that which I am called to BE. Serving; but, not serving until my well is so depleted I cannot honor a spiritual call. It is not giving of oneself to the point of the destruction of everything you know your soul to BE. That is not serving any Divine call; but, man’s. Don’t be disillusioned, we can have various “calls,” throughout our lifetimes… none of them have to mean ministering, preaching, teaching, or counseling. There are an entire array of ways to serve a “calling.”
How often do we receive pleas on the heart for giving to organizations, for folks that we and said organizations would pass by in our daily living… were it not for the recognition or additional funds to maintain programs, buildings, etc. If we do not have compassion for those with whom we interact daily, can we truly expect the organizational offerings to magically turn lives around? Or, do we offer a hand up, (not a hand out,) teaching (skills) in giving moments or opportunity… which includes calling for accountability of those abusing individuals or groups of people, organizations, and systems. This includes calling out and standing up in opposition to elitists systems, embracing opportunities to build better foundations for equitable living wages within every home, without the need for one or all adults, or in some homes... even the children, needing to forego self-care in order to work 3 - 4 jobs to provide for the bare necessities, let alone be able to continue their or their children’s learning and growth opportunities, with any measure of success.
To those generations who bought into the DOing to HAVE… be mindful of exactly what it is you now have. I’ve met so many who have the mindset those who are no longer willing to be a party to the elistists’ “DO what we want you to do, to buy what we dictate you should want…” so many of you don’t even have the clarity to see the ways you belittle those, while bailing out your own children and family members to avoid familial scandals, humiliation of family names getting into the “news,” etc. In all of the doing to have, the creation of a boom in addictions of all kinds took place, even within you and I; yet, we fail to even be cognizant of it. Maybe some struggle with family get togethers; because, we fail to be thankful for the struggles we see others going through; because it reminds us of ways we fail, each day. To “heal the world,” we need to first face and admit our own failures… within our families and our friend circles. Instead of blaming or continuing with the empty promises of changing to be more helpful, we actually, truly, whole-heartedly BEcome the change… by first, dropping to our own knees.