MAKING THE TIME

My newest poem https://www.inspiritual.biz/stirring-my-spiritual-waters/2020/8/2/making-the-time

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Are you allowing God to be present with you at all times

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Remember God is within you

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Do you have God in your heart

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Do you see yourself this way

SONG OF THE WEEK

I used to listen to this song all the time. It reminds me how transformative it is to have a relationship with your Higher Power, however, you call upon that source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kDljwusTzY

INVISIBLE

I have always been told
that I cannot see or understand
the way the Divine does.
My vision is not God’s and
God’s understandings are not mine.
So don’t try to think or see
like the Ultimate
because that is not you.

Before I try to think or see
like the Ultimate,
I need to learn to see and understand?
the parts of me which
are invisible to me.
I need to explore that
which I have not wanted to see
or understand
or explore.

I need to deal with the
invisibility within
before I attempt to deal
with the invisible of the Ultimate.
I need to work on removing
all that affects my own being
in this world and blurs,
distorts, or makes
invisible
my understanding of myself or others.

PARADISE

I remember a Rabbi once saying
Sit in Paradise when you read,
when you study Torah,
when you pray, and
anytime you seek to be
with God

Paradise has always been
hard for me to envision, to see,
to experience,
so it has felt as if there is a barrier
to being in the deepest state
with God

Paradise now
for me is not anything special, but
those everyday moments that
bring me to a place of peace,
joy, and
openness.

Paradise
is that feeling of being
wrapped in God’s loving arms
like a warm, cozy blanket.
It is the smell of freshly mowed grass.
It is the tastes,
touches,
sounds,
feelings, and
appearances,
which bring me to a space
of closeness and intimacy
with God

HOLD UP THE WORLD

What if we thought about prayer
as a building block,
as a foundation
which holds up the world?

What if the only reason
the world still exists is
because there are those who pray
and hold up the world with
their faith,
their belief,
and their prayers.

May we hold up the world
each day
by offering up our prayers
for ourselves,
for others,
for our communities
for our countries
and for the world

I DO NOT KNOW

It is okay, I tell my students
to say I do not know.
There is nothing wrong
with saying I do not know.
Saying I do not know
opens us up to learning,
growing,
and receiving knowledge
from the Divine.

There are always things
at work,
at home,
at school
and with our friends
that we do not know.
We all know something
but none of us know everything.
When we say
we do not know,
we allow others to share
what they know with us.

There are also things
we may never know,
because it is not our time
or our season
or our lifetime time to know.
Our ways are not God’s ways
and our understandings are not God’s
So saying
I do not know
simple recognizes
our humanity
and that we are not
the Divine.
Today may we become comfortable
owning we do not know

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

God is positive not negative

NAMASTE

Namaste
I salute the God in you.
I bow before you
with my hands folded
as if in prayer.
I recognize that meeting you
is meeting the God in you.
I recognize that you meeting me
is meeting the God in me.
So we bow in prayer
and give thanks
for the opportunity
to meet God
in each other.
Namaste.

Music

Music is about healing.
it is the medicine which
can bless me,
cleanse me,
heal me,
calm me,
soothe me,
energize me,
and minister to
my soul

Music comes and ministers
to my senses.
it is not always the whole piece.
Sometimes is it a single note.
a few notes
a word
a chorus
or the way it is played.

Music can create something
sacred within me.
It can be an offering
to the eternal.
It can be a reminder of
how the universe is greater
then any single moment in time.

Music is;
it it not always describable;
it just is.

GOD SMILES

This week has been filled with distractions.
People have died.
People have been placed in hospice
People have been forced to move
People have been going through
the most challenging of times
So many people in need of prayer.
In the midst of the storms,
I seek God’s smile.

in the midst of the distractions,
in the midst of Mr Mittens needing surgery,
in the midst of friends having to move in with us.
in the midst of the end of month stress
in the midst of the first week of school confusion
in the midst of the grief, the frustration, and the pain
I seek God’s smile.

When I seek God’s smile
I lose track of the distractions,
I lose track of the pain,
the suffering,
the stressors
and find myself in a
momentary state of peace.

Then it fades
and the distractions suck me back.
It becomes like a game of
hide and seek while I try to
hide from the distractions and
seek God’s smile and
work to stay in the presence of
God’s smile.

LIVING ROOM

I was sitting in my living room,
staring out the window,
feeling the warmth of the sun
and realizing when I open the door
I can feel the coolness
of the breeze.
I can smell the candles,
see the beauty,
feel the elements,
hear the sounds
all bringing me messages
from the UIltimate.

Then it hits me that my heart
is the living room for the Infinite.

The Ultimate lives in my heart,
my heart is the living room for the Divine.
No matter how I think about it,
my living room takes on new meaning
new symbolism, and
new life because the living room
is now the living room.

it is the room I must go through to go
anywhere in my house or in my life.
it made me realize that
my living room,
my heart,
should be what I go through
for everything in my life.

My heart needs to be the
living room of the Ultimate,
it’s holy abode,
and I need to redecorate and
transform my heart
to be the sacred living space for the Divine.

Amen.

MY PLAYMATE

One of the things I love most
about you is that you are always
there to come play with me.
You are the one who reminds me of
Melanie singing I have
a brand new pair of roller skates,
you have a brand new key.
You are my playmate.

You are the one who when I
am pausing,
is my best friend and
says lets play.
You watch cooking shows with me,
listen to music with me,
makes me laugh,
brings me joy, and
says let’s play again.

You bring out my inner child.
and remind me you like to have fun too.
You love when we say
let’s play,
let’s laugh,
let’s be silly,
and have a good time.
I am so glad you are
my playmate.

You remind me to pause,
say I have the key
do you have the roller skates.
we have swung on swings,
read books,
splashed in water,
made blueberry banana bars
and hidden under the covers
we call tents.
Thank you for being
my playmate.

Knowing God

If you want to know God,
then serve God.
I think that is what I read.
So how do you serve God?

What if we started by
seeing and serving the God
in others.
What if we begin by seeing
everyone we meet as God?

If I see the Divine in you,
then I see qualities in you
I could not see before.
I get to know you and in doing so
I see the Divine in you and get to know
new things about God

When we open our table
to the excluded,
we come to see how God shows up
and shows out
in the widest diversity of
humanity.

Do you want to know God?
Take the time to know others,
build relationships,
and see how God works in them and
through them.
By knowing others,
you will come to a deeper understanding of God

JUDGE NOT

Judge not,
lest ye be judged.
Yet we judge all the time.
We judge
people,
places,
things, and
everything else

We fail to see that
everyone and everything
has a purpose
and a place.
What if we sought
the goodness and value
in every person,
place,
and thing?

May we seek
to see the presence
and blessings of the
Ultimate in all.
May we remember
to not judge others
and may we pray that others
not judge us.

A LEAGUE OF MY OWN

I have been thinking about prayer
and what I pray about.
Then it dawned on me
that when I pray,
I am entering a
space with the Divine.
I am entering
a league of my own.

It doesn’t matter
who I am around
or with
or where.
When I open myself and
pray I am in
a league of my own
being coached by the Ultimate
and being taken
to a higher place of understanding.

I am in a league
selected just for me.
A league of my own,
hand picked and selected
by the Ultimate.
A league just for me.
A league of my own.

HELD IN YOUR ARMS

There are days
when I just need
to be held.
When I want to be
a little gurl held
in my mother’s arms

Then I close my eyes,
wrap my arms around myself
and rock myself
until I feel myself being
held in your arms.

It brings me back in time
to those moments when
I was wrapped in the
arms of love and knew
all was going to be okay.

Now when I need to be held
I wrap my arms around myself
and rock myself like my mother did
until I am held by you
and rocked in your Divine love.