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Posts Tagged ‘awareness’

HOLIDAY SURVIVAL KIT

Posted in faith, Holiday giving, Love, tagged , , on December 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I used to both love and hate the holidays.  In many ways, I still think my “best” holidays were when I was a child and when my children and grand children were young.  Having youngsters around helps us all to see holidays through the eyes of a child, and that is something we all need now and then.

 

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Over the years, I have prepared for myself a virtual kit of tools that allow me to enjoy the holiday season and keep my sanity.  The tool I use the most is keeping my expectations realistic.   I used to have so many people in our house that I often wished for smaller celebrations.   I know God has a sense of humor, because he lets me know that when she gives me something I wish for, I am still frequently unhappy with it.  Our celebration these days (and for some past years) has become much smaller so I have learned to enjoy what I have instead of yearning for what it not possible.

 

 

My next most used tool is trying not to overdo anything.  I send fewer Christmas cards, I try to eat less sugar, I make sure I get more rest, I plan my shopping in small junkets.  I accept whatever physical limitations I have.  They vary from year to year, but with the aging process has come a few that are with me all the time.   This year I have had some back difficulties that make bending over painful, so I am wrapping less boxed presents and using more gift bags.

 

Another tool I need to pull out of the box frequently is to ask myself if I am having fun.  If I am not, I can ask myself “why not,” and then go on to ask myself what I could do that would make things fun for me.   Sitting by my parlor window with a nice warm shawl, a cup of coffee or tea, and a few Christmas cookies while I watch the snow fall can make me feel very peaceful and happy.  I have learned that I also need to stay focused on the fact that I am, indeed, feeling happy.  Awareness is a beautiful thing, but it is transient and needs to be cultivated.

 

I wish you a blessed holiday season, whatever you might be celebrating.   Use some of my tools or create some for yourself.  You will be glad you did.

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Practicing God’s Presence

Posted in faith, Higher Power, tagged , , on September 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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Many of us would admit that we strive to follow God’s will.  But how do we know what it is?  I have struggled quite a bit with trying to find answers to this question, and I have concluded that we may never know for sure what is or isn’t the will of God.  We just have to let our conscience be our guide.

I think (and hope) that my conscience has grown over the years.  My life experience has changed it.  For many years, I believed in God, but had no real relationship with Him or Her.  Today, I honestly do try to practice the presence of God on a daily basis.  The more God becomes a friend — someone I can talk to about anything at all that is on my mind — the more able my conscience is to act in my behalf.

It is hard to make God a priority in your life, at least it is for me.  But I try.  When I manage to achieve awareness of God working in my life, it goes much more smoothly.  And the great thing is that I can always reconnect when life’s irrelevancies have taken over my mind for a time.  Is your conscience improving day by day?

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VALENTINES DAY

Posted in Love, trust, Uncategorized, tagged , on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

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Today is a perfect day to think about love. Are you aware of how many different kinds of love there are? In English, there is only one word for love, but in Greek there are several. Valentine’s Day most often, though not exclusively, seems to exemplify the romantic kind of love. But there is also a fraternal kind of love we have for close friends and family, often referred to as brotherly love. Agape love is that which we feel for all of God’s creatures everywhere.

 
And of course, there’s self-love, which all of us need, but which easily becomes complicated. We need to love ourselves, but not in an egotistical way, and that is often difficult for many of us. Right after birth, we see ourselves as the center of the universe, but we soon begin to learn that there are many others sharing the universe with us.
As you progress through life, your ability to give and receive love  changes. As a small child, my love was almost entirely conditional—I loved those who cared for me and provided for me. As I grew into my teens, I found myself starting to deal with the “sexual attraction” kind of love—exciting, frustrating at times, complicated, and at times frightening in its intensity.
Maternal/paternal love is something else again, and can feel verwhelming until you get past the fear of doing something wrong and harming your child. For many of us, it may be the first time we have truly loved someone more than ourselves. Today, think about all the kinds of love you experience.   Reach out to someone with love.   Show love in an unexpected way.   And remember that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

Taken from “Talks with our Creator” for February 14th

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GOD IS LOVE — ALWAYS

Posted in acceptance, Love, spirituality, tagged , on July 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

Would you agree that God is love? Would you agree that whoever does not love does not know God? Think about this as you reflect and consider those people in your life that you love. What does it mean if you do not always feel love for them?

Meister Eckhart once said, “The best chance of finding God is to look in the place where we left him.” It is odd to think of losing God, but we humans often seem to be out of touch with our Creator—especially when we are not feeling loving. Whenever God seems far away from us, we are the ones who have moved. God is always available to us if we wish Him/Her to be.

As much as I like to think I stay focused on spiritual things, there are many times in any given day when I get caught up in busyness and forget to seek God. In a definite crisis, I generally am sure to think about God, but in the usual, day-to-day activities of life (where God is often most needed), I forget. Perhaps we all forget to practice the presence of God.  If we happen to be feeling angry or resentful, we most likely have grown out of touch with God. We might then ask ourselves, “Where did I leave God?” And the answer is that we didn’t leave Him, we temporarily forgot that He is always with us. We have simply forgotten to be aware and that God is love.

Taken from “Talks with our Creator” for May 17th

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