Salvation

After I don't get the paying job,  I'm often told, "we need your presence."
Thanks for the kind words, and I trust that in some way that will put food on the table.
The history is that it does.
Humbly and in Truth, it is not my presence you need.

Community, humanity, longs for the living presence of unconditional love in the flesh.
This is our one true birthright- no strings attached.
Just take that first breath and it's yours. No matter how many times you deny it, turn your back on it, curse it.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that can separate you from God's Love.
I pray daily that I make that Love visible just by being myself.

Salvation- keep reading.
Thinking of God as a person places her out there somewhere and we waste our energy trying to find her, seek her.
Over and over Jesus and others remind us the kingdom of heaven is within us.
We are one body, one spirit.
We are the body of Christ.

Every time I choose positive thought, right action, kindness, I am saved from the effects of negativity.
Saved from the only sin I know- separating myself from God, the One.
There is no final salvation, Thanks be.
Salvation is a daily, second by second, process of choosing life, happiness, peace, kindness, wellness.
This takes practice and Faith.
You must be awake and aware.
You must be attentive to the will of the Spirit and attentive to all voices.

The miracles we read of Jesus are the result of the practice of staying close to God
 and
living in a willingness to be eternally open and changing
 and
Willing to be living witness to universal unconditional Love.

If this confuses you, disturbs you, delights you- leave a comment.
Together we can claim our birthright be the presence the world needs.

Prayer requests always welcomed.

Members One of Another

The Women's Bible Study of the Church on the Street Where I live is studying the Beatitudes. This is a group of highly educated woman who also are willing to listen for the living word of the Spirit and to speak from their hearts. I always learn and leave these gatherings refreshed, excited and renewed in Spirit.

Last month they listened as I rambled on "Greatly Honored are the Pure at Heart", and this week we studied "Greatly Honored are the Peacemakers".
I read from James

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason,willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. 18 And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

Emphasis  -open to reason, willing to yield- mine.

The next morning at a community gathering a Circle member asked to speak with me and with a full and open heart asked me how am I able to be open to reason, how to yield when  your community and congregation seem to hold beliefs different than your own. 


How to be willing to yield when you know you are right.


I listened and prayed and we talked.


If I have to make a choice between kindness and being right, I choose kindness.
Right and wrong are judgement statements and it's not my job to judge. Thank God!
I can think of many times I have been judged by others and how it made me feel, especially when I felt I was wrongly judged.
So in community with others, friends and enemies, first I hold the commandment to love all beings as I love God, and when this seems impossibly hard, I can think I how would feel if I was told I was wrong.


I'd rather be in relationship than be right. Only in relationship can we continue to hear each other and be open to the everyday miracles of hearing anew, changing our minds.


There is no end to how big our hearts can grow when we can stay open to each other no matter what words we profess to believe.

I'm grateful for this community I find myself a part of, learning, listening, freedom to speak and worship openly,prayer and acceptance. Faith too.


Comments and prayer requests always welcomed.

Praying for Others/Prayer Requests

The best way for me to deal with my own prayer needs, especially when I find it hard to accept outward reality is to pray for others.
This week I received more than 10 prayer requests from friends and acquaintances.
I set aside an hour a day to practice praying for others.
The act of prayer blesses and is a gift for all beings.
Focusing on praying for others, I put my own concerns to the side and send loving kindness and compassion to friends,  situations and issues, known and unknown.
Centering on the Oness of all, and letting go of attachment to outcomes, I feel free and filled with Light.
I pray for the Highest Good for All.
Breath in pain and suffering.
Breath out Love and compassion.


Make my day. Leave a comment with your prayer requests.I need the practice.

The First Gift

Mothers should get the gifts on birthdays.
God, a noted theologian didn't just beam Jesus on to Earth.
Mary had to give up her body- Here am I.to give birth.
Mary fed, changed diapers, clothed and taught Jesus and her other children the laws and to love and be loved.
And then after all her giving to the child she has to give him up to the world and here him deny her.Who is my Mother? And watch him be denied, do miracles, make mistakes and suffer.
Meek and mild?

I'm enjoying my 12 days of Christmas gift exchange with Byhand artists . You can follow that over at Rainbow Weaves.
I made 12 gifts and sent them off and for 12 days I get to open a different gift- each one precious and special and hand made for me. I don't want it to end.
Starting today I am going to open each day as a gift, precious and made just for me.
And each day I will be a gift and give of myself to  others. Just because.
Because of the first gift. The gift of Life.
Quakers claim to believe all days are equally holy.
Lets do it.
Thanks for reading, comments and giving.

Avent and Miracles

Living simply in the midst of over abundant consumption and hording is an active dance.
Longing is a close friend. I think she is ok. Jealousy is a near enemy. I would like to ask him to take a long walk over a short bridge.
This season of Avent is full of longing. It's easy to live with longing when we know the outcome is joyous, even if it involves Faith, Death, Resurrection - if you have the Faith part- and a birth that brings us on the way of Truth and Light.

Sometimes when I lie awake I count my longings.

I long for the Church that welcomes me just as I am, that I can walk to and that worships in open silence without denominational limitations.

The Miracle- last Sunday, at the continuing Church- that I can walk to- Montreat PC USA, the Pastor explained we were going to do something different- A period of silence- I sat in silence and tears of Joy.

I long for a partner; someone to live with me and share my joys and sorrows, chores and play, words and silence. My spiritual director says living alone is a gift. I would like to return it.
Today, I am feeling there is someone longing for me and tho we are apart, it is enough, knowing that we a long for each other.

The Miracle- a friend of my daughters has come to stay a few days a week while she is in massage school in Asheville. She comes in and says, Hi, I'm home, we have a meal together and she gives me a massage!

This season of Advent, and all longing seasons are opportunities to prepare, opportunities to practice expectant waiting,  opportunities to work on our listening and observation skills.

Be Ready.
Be Willing to let go of your longing.
Be Still and open to know when you hearts desire is right in front of you.
Remember to say Thank You early and often.
Hold those presents to open on Christmas morning and enjoy your longing.

Thanks for reading and your comments.

Faith and Acceptance

I lot of thing I know, with my mind, intellectually.
A lot of things I don't.
A watermelon seed turns into a watermelon. I know when to plant it in May, and how to water it, pick off bugs and give it lots of compost. I know seeds divide and all that and still, it is beyond my understanding how I get the intense pleasure of sweet juicy watermelon in August.
I can choose to live my life by this same Faith.
Faith is the opposite of fear in my life.
When I don't know what to do, I have faith that if I do , do what I know, the path to my highest good will be before me.
Faith is comfort sometimes refuge, sometimes safe sometimes risky. So it goes.
The more I let go of control the more I am free to enjoy my watermelon on a warm summer day.
Acceptance implies willingness to listen and be open.
To be willing to hold to my Faith in the midst of unbelief- that outwardly may seem more "factual" than what I inwardly know to be Truth.
This includes acceptance of myself.
Treating myself with loving kindness for past mistakes and perceived shortcomings.
The more I let go the the need to be right, judgmental, the more I am free to be me and enjoy others just as they are.
Breathing and meditation help alot.

Thanks for reading, your comments and for Faith and Acceptance.

Call me when you get it

I have nothing to fear from the events of my life.
I will continue to experience times of joy, sorrow, rest and great change.
If I let go of struggle to change outer conditions, to make things different than they are, I will not struggle.
TRUTH-Everything that rises up passes away.
              No outer condition is forever.
Letting go of judgement and blame will lead me in a path of peace, harmony and freedom.

I'll call you when I get it.