Thoughts held in mind, produce after their kind.
Whatever you are thinking about, mulling over, pondering, ruminating on… will produce results. If you are harbouring in your mind and thoughts a problem, your face and emotions (energy in motion) will probably reflect those very thoughts.Read More »
How do you practice gratitude?
“You say grace before meals. All right.
But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” ― G.K. Chesterton
I’m 23 days through the 28 days of “The Magic”, by Rhonda Byrne. You can say what you like about “oh, it’s New Age” or whatever you want, but I have loved the practical application of gratitude in my life this month!Read More »
Easter has just passed, and while everyone was focused on Jesus’ resurrection I was busy thinking about my personal “death” and “resurrection”. I don’t know about you, but it seems that every 6-7 years, life presents us with a “breakdown”: grow through this experience or be doomed to repeat it in 6-7 years time! They say that after every breakdown, comes a break through, and I think that this is very true for all of us, especially spiritually. Without the break down, we would never be forced to break through!
Over the past months, I have been convinced that I need to focus on my spiritual well-being, putting God, as Source and Substance first in my life. I find this to be particularly challenging. Source: as in source of my
If I focus on one aspect of my life, I typically exclude the Divine from other aspects, unconsciously. So, I constantly find myself “going it alone”, and then try to come back to center. When I remember that the Infinite is the source of my abundance and finances, I forget about my health and well-being. When I focus on Divine as source of my emotions, I get caught up in my thoughts.
So, over Easter, I was busy contemplating: what do I need to release and let go of? What beliefs and thoughts and feelings no longer serve me? What would I be better of without?
And even more importantly, perhaps, what do I need to forgive and release? What baggage am I carrying around, emotionally and in my thoughts, that needs to “die” in me and be released?
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” — Buddha
The same goes for suffering, hurt and pain that we hold onto because it has become part of who we identify with. Who will I be if I let go of this? We talk about “renewal of our minds” and yet strangely consider it okay to hold on to those beliefs and habits which do not allow us to grow, renew and resurrect.
I started March on the right foot: a morning spent on World Day of Prayer in prayer and forgiveness. And yet, when we arrived at Easter, I was very aware that there was still work to be done in forgiveness and release. I needed to renew my mind even further. I needed to focus on forgiveness of self, and release and let go, so that I could move past mistakes of the past and grow.
We have developed, as a human race, many concepts of death and resurrection. We speak of rising like a phoenix from the ashes, and this symbolism exists across many cultures. For the Greeks, it is the phoenix, but it is also the Benu bird of the Egyptians. For some, it is the Nimbus, closely related to the sun. The Jews has the Milcham, and the Persians had the Simurgh. Native Americans have the Thunderbird, Russians have a Firebird, and the Chinese have the Feng Huang. Finally, the Japanese have the HoHo bird. These are all symbols of resurrection after loss.
The phoenix is a legendary bird that can live for 500 years. Knowing that the end was near, the phoenix builds a funeral pyre for itself. It lies down on this pyre as it begins to die and burst into flames, consumed by the fire. Then, from the fire, the phoenix emerges, renewed, purified, more beautiful and regal than before. And so the cycle of life would begin again, for another 500 years, dying, purifying, returning more beautiful than ever, into perpetuity.
And so, I have been ruminating about what has died or is dying in my life that it’s time to release?
What should I simply release and let go of, so that I can rise again, a more beautiful and better version of myself?
As a spiritual being in a human body, what does eternity and perpetuity look like? If the Kingdom of Heaven is here: what does that look like in my life and experience?
And so as Easter moves into Pentecost – a time in which we rejoice in the Oneness that we have with Wisdom and Comfort – I am invited to contemplate what my renewal and resurrection looks like.
As I live in Presence each day, committing to Peace in my life, I am assured that I have everything that I need. That the source of my abundance and sustenance, my emotions & feelings, my thoughts and my bodily health is Perfect. I am simply asked to allow the Light to fill me and flow through me.
One of my homework assignments this week was to write a personal covenant with God.
A covenant is a two-way promise. God promises us certain blessings in return for our keeping the terms we accepted when making the covenant.
In considering my covenant with God, I looked at the following to draw inspiration:
In reading all of these, I came to the realization that our covenants with God actually start on God’s side and promises made, and on our side is our acceptance and fulfillment. So, I chose 5 verses on which to base my personal covenant:
1- Jeremiah 29: 11 – I have had this on my vision board all year (2017), as part of my vision of who/what I am and the life I am building:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
2- Psalm 46: 10
Be still & know that I AM
I got this tattooed on my back at the beginning of the year to remind myself of where my strength comes from! With a phoenix rising out of the fire, and a reminder that out of the burning bush, God speaks to us with a small, still voice.
3- Jeremiah 31: 33-34
I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
4- Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
5- Philippians 4: 6-7, 9, 13, 19
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
13 I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me.
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
And so, based on all of this, I decided to try to put into words my Covenant:
I am a strong woman, blessed with everything I need and having everything to give! I take to heart the promises of Divine Supply: I know that my every need is already taken care of and that God’s purposes in my life are to prosper me, plans for hope and a future. I release all anxiousness & worry, knowing that my prayers and gratitude have power on earth and in heaven. My God will take care of my needs.
I promise to be still: I will allow the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, to guard my heart and mind through Christ in me, the hope of glory.
I promise to learn and receive and do, to allow God’s law to be in my mind and written on my heart: to be a shining child of God, knowing God from the inside out! I accept that I have been chosen and called, and I respond, saying “yes”.
I am strong and courageous, things of this world do not frighten or dismay me, because God is in me, with me and for me, and God is with me wherever I may go.
There’s nothing like having high expectations of yourself and raising the bar. And one of the areas in my life that I have started to refocus on is spiritual growth.
Admittedly, it all started in 2008 when Dr. Taylor challenged me to become a “Virtuous Woman”, according to Proverbs 31. Now THAT is a woman I am very happy to imitate. Following on from that, she challenged me to become “wise”, so I started reading a chapter of Proverbs each day, to increase in wisdom. I was reading a lot of John Maxwell, on leadership, and each of the other books I read seemed to take me back to the Bible. (Why is it that the good authors on leadership are all from churches?).
Eventually, that lead me to reading other books of the Bible and then to start reading Bible study books. I got hooked, somewhere along the line, on Elizabeth George and her book “A Woman after God’s own heart”, referring to David being a man after God’s own heart.
In her book, which I finished some time last year, she challenges each woman to choose 5 topics and over the next decade become “an expert” in those 5 areas.
So, I’ve chosen 5 topics that caught my attention, principally because of Proverbs and also in part because they are areas that I simply feel I don’t understand.
Anyway, by 2020 I want to be an expert in these 5 areas of the Bible. So, when reading my Chronological Bible I am paying special attention to everything about these topics, and I am accumulating a library of books that study these topics. And trying to get a little further ahead each week in reading and studying about them and how they fit into daily life.
One of the other things I’ve learned about is tithing, and since for me “time is money”, I am tithing not only my money, but also my time to study. So, setting aside about 2 1/2 hours each day for prayer (practicing prayer) and study. And all sorts of different study aids and guides to keep me motivated and moving.
Divine Presence: Letting the Infinite flow in my life 