This is love: we lay down our lives for our friends

From my perspective,
Jesus said the highest practice of,
how we are IN and we Share 

Real Love:

We Lay Down our Lives for our Friends...
and for God, for ourselves, and for the well-being and coming-to-fruition of All our Relations...

We lay down our lives.

We lay down our ego, our habits, and our identifications.
We lay down all of God's promises and blessings.
We lay down all the ways we want to impress people, and be a success.

We lay down our lives.

We lay down everything we rationally believe. 
We lay down everything that makes us, us - in our own concept of ourselves.
We lay down our understanding of ourselves, of this world, of God, and of what we think God wants for us.

We lay down our lives.

We lay down our health and our illness, our wealth and our poverty, our wisdom and our folly, our worth and our worthlessness, our rightness and our humility.
We lay down our relationships - our loves and our hates.
We lay down how we wish the world was, how we think things should be, and the difference we want to make.

We lay down our lives.
Everything past, present and future - on and on I could list it all - we are called to lay it Down...

We lay down our lives.

And from here:

• we can more and more see what The Progenitor (Father) is Doing spiritually (in Heaven) - and we can begin to DO that on Earth.
• we can more and more hear what The Progenitor is Saying spiritually (in Heaven) - and we can begin to Say that here on Earth.

(All this, just as Jesus did... but, in our own unique way, with our own unique call)

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And from here,
sooner or later...

we run cross-ways to the powers and principalities of this World, 

This is always the way.The Progenitor does not bow-to to the petty beliefs and limits of the 'Authorities', the rule-makers and enforcers
- whether they be Religious, Political, Martial, Economic, Cultural, Familial, etc.

Matter of fact, Jesus seems to be doing an inordinate amount of healing On the Sabbath; 
neener-neener to religious sensibilities.

And like Jesus, eventually, as we do as God calls us to do, 
we also end up doing/ being the unpopular, unacceptable, unsuccessful, verboten...

And, like Jesus, we take the consequences - both the enjoyable ones, and those that are not.
.

And from here, we keep going, until we go round again...

When we follow Jesus, we pick up our cross.
We die daily - on a soul level.

And (praise God) we also rise (on a soul level) in the Glory of God,

to love and serve God and our neighbor
...There is no end to this practice.

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This is love:
we lay down our lives for our friends.

It took me a long time to realize:

• it doesn't mean to please my friends, be nice to my friends, do what my friends want me to do.
• it doesn't mean to be a happy-little-martyr, putting up with BS, letting people treat me like a doormat.
• it doesn't mean to try to save them from themselves, from their lessons, from the pain of their challenges or from the pain of their Glory.

Laying down our lives for our friends;
Means:
- Dying to flesh - to our physically-focused self; and
- Rising in spirit - to our spiritually-focused self; and
- Being constantly born again into:

• I AM Love - fed and led Directly by God, more and more, in who we Be and what we Do
• the Way, Truth, Light, Life, Love... which shines through us more and more clearly into the world
• beholding and reflecting as a mirror the Glory of God, more and more into this world, from Glory to Glory...

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Our friends may like this, or they may not.
Our friends may judge and resist this, or they may not.
Our friends may recognize and support us, or they may not.

It doesn't matter whether our friends experience this as Love!
- As we BE and DO Love - they are blessed.
- As we follow the Living God in each step, and become who we Really Are in God - they are blessed.
- As the world shifts, and more and more of us come to our maturity spiritually - they are blessed.

Our friends:
our intimates, our play-friends, our families, our co-workers, our church-friends, our neighbors...
may not recognize Love when they see it, or enjoy it when they experience it.
might think we are crazy, or mean, or (OMG! ;) inappropriate.

And you know what, we can become ok with that.
Fortunately, we are getting into the habit of dying-daily
- so we can get unstuck from needing-to, having-to please them, to live-into their expectations...

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And, of course we do not have to do any of this!
We have a choice.

We can follow The Progenitor
or not.

We can live as Jesus lived, in our own unique way,
or not.

We can engage our unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios,
or not. 

We can do any other thing, follow any other way, and miss the mark, or not.
We can follow the World, the Flesh, the Devil... or not.

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We have a choice:

• We can follow Spirit and Actually Love our Neighbor, truly, deeply, spiritually.

OR

• We can have a shadow of Love, a pretense of Love, a striving to Love; a purely human, limited kind of love.

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It may seem strange, but culturally we are not clear about what Love is, spiritually.
We don't always rationally or emotionally or relationally grok Love.
That's ok, spirit is not flesh, and the carnal cannot Know God.

But spiritually, as we lay down our lives, we start to expereince the wild ride of Love.
And no one and nothing will ever be the same, again.
Jesus did this, let us follow his lead.

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this post has a similar theme, if interested: When we Follow God: Everything Must Go!

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BTW this post is my response, to this useful post by Michael Green: 
How Orthodoxy Wages War Against Orthopraxy (And Causes Us All To Miss The Point) 

Personally,

I do not care at all about orthodoxy, or about 'right' rational beliefs

... Except how they affect things that matter spiritually,
i.e. our Practice and Experience of:

• the Presence and Love of God,
• the Reign-Kingdom of Heaven,
• our direct communication and relationship... healing, filling, maturing, dancing, co-creating with the Living God.

I'm not a fan of "attaching" to doing-thinking anything 'Right',

rather

• going in a direction that is useful to catch the scent of the direct, present-time leading of of the Living God, and
• walking in the way I am led, best I can.

>>>

With this in mind 

From my perspective

love, laying down our lives, dancing with the Divine in our soul and into the world - in real-time...

leaves right-belief in the dust.

My perspective is 

our calling to love may look different than we humanly think believe, feel, usually see modeled. 

our calling to lay down our lives for our friends, 

includes laying everything down,

including our ego, beliefs, religion...

and doing/saying as we perceive the Divine doing/saying 

- I would call this doing the will of God, bringing heaven to earth 

- the CORE of the Lord's Prayer, IMO. 

This is love, the way of Jesus, from my perspective 

way beyond being nice, following rules, or any traditional ideas of orthodoxy

thanks for playing! 

your feedback appreciated 

: ) Wendy

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When we Follow God: Everything Must Go!

Many Religious folks want us to believe,
that following God means being Good and staying out of Trouble
- but really it is the opposite!

story:
One class-series many years ago, I was blessed to teach a group of very powerful Jewish women how to use basic soul tools - not to work with Jesus, just to Open to Spiritual information and action.

They all enjoyed the class, and did well.  One particular woman, I will call her Ruth, was really lapping it up, she opened-up a whole new relationship with God.

SO class series over, Ruth says I don't know what I am going to do
- how can I practice this spiritual way,
AND do my religion?

- she was some kind of Jewish Orthodox, a combination of strictness and freedom that wasn’t completely comprehensible to me
- but this is her Life, it is her Family, it is her Culture, it is her Religion, it is her Identity…

I told Ruth, in this practice, you are following God, loving God, connecting to God.
You are letting in the blessings of God, and more overtly co-creating with God in your world...
this is all good, right?  yes

Ok, now in your religion, in your way of life, you do good, you love your family, you serve people.  You have rules, and it is normal for you to follow them;
there is no necessary contradiction, right?  yes

SO, I say to Ruth:
Ok, you are good for now:
Listen, Deepen, Heal, Love, Follow God, Do good works - all is well - FOR NOW.
For awhile everything will be fine…

But, eventually, sooner or later...
God will lead you Out.

I don't know how or what, but I can promise you,
that you will be led in a way that is not aligned with your religion, family, traditions, community...

I don’t know How, What, Where, When, Who...
But I do know God’s leading will cross the lines of the life you have.

And THEN you will have to choose.
Follow God or follow your traditions...
Until then, enjoy yourself ; )


How can I possibly say this??

Because
God doesn’t play by our rules, or any rules. 
So, following God’s leading sends us on a collision course with the tyrants of our inner and our outer world.

Therefore, as Jesus said:

If any one doth will to come after me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me - Luke 9 YLT

Because here is the thing:
I have been watching life,
I have been learning from lots of other people’s challenges - and my own.

I have noticed many kinds of spiritual literature,
as well as what is written about Jesus, and in the Bible,
and watching how Spirit leads me, and many others...

So, I can say for sure:

God doesn’t play by our rules.
God doesn’t care about the little fiefdoms we set-up.
God doesn’t care about our culture or the leader/follower game.

God doesn’t care about gender roles or what day of the week it is.
God does not care about our little games we set-up about how life is, and how everyone should do it.
God doesn’t take politics or economics or religion seriously.

God is not limited by our beliefs about Life, the Universe, and Everything.
God is not stopped by our beliefs about the Bible. 
God is not controlled by the traditions of our church.

All the Domination systems of this world, are meaningless to God.
All the games we think we have to play to survive, to fit-in, to get love, to be successful...
All the Lines we draw in the sand, and then think we or God can not cross.

God does not honor or pay heed to any of them.


Isn’t it interesting:

Jesus always seemed to be healing on the Sabbath - which was against the rules.
Jesus didn’t care if his disciples followed this rule or that - it drove the religious people batty.

Jesus Being himself,
saying what Abba was saying,
doing what Abba was doing:

Jesus Undermined the Religious Authorities
and the Political/Economic Authorities
and the Cultural/Family Authorities.

So of course, he Had to Go
- he had to be put-down. 

Jesus crossed all their lines
of right and wrong,
of good and bad,
of religious and profane,
of oppressor and oppressed
- willy nilly.

And so will we.

Fortunately, we don’t have it so bad.
The age of the martyrs is pretty much over - thank God - we have had enough of that!

So,
Usually it is merely spiritual, not physical death that we sign-up for when we follow Jesus.

Usually it is some mix of emotional, rational, religious, relational, social, familial, financial, vocational, wellness, ego-identity death that we sign-up for
- and that is WAY more than enough!

As we grow-up spiritually...
As we get-beyond the honeymoon phase in our relationship with God...

Spirit WILL likely lead us to cross the wrong people, authorities, structures, belief-systems outside us.
AS WELL AS inevitably lead us to stand-up to the limiting beliefs, limits, structures and energies… within us.

And THEN we will have to choose
- the old way OR the new way...
- the way of the body, ego, world... OR the way of the spiritual warrior/death…
- following OUR current thoughts, beliefs, feelings, habits, religion, culture About God, Life, Truth, Love, Light, Way...
*OR*
ACTUALLY Following our God, Life, Truth, Love, Light, Way...

When we follow God:
We are gonna Change,
our Life is Gonna Change,
eventually the World around us is gonna Change!

From this place, we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

Realizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

We are gonna die... daily.
Anything and Everything that we hold on to, except God, is on it's way out.
Until then, enjoy yourself ; )

: ) Wendy

My favorite Christian Teacher, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to say this often:

Our God is a consuming fire,
who burns up everything that is not God

This is in NO way a downer, BTW.
This is the greatest gift we can receive
- there is sooo much blessing on this road, this narrow way:

And having called near the multitude, with his disciples, he said to them, ‘Whoever doth will to come after me — let him disown himself, and take up his cross, and follow me;  for whoever may will to save his life shall lose it; and whoever may lose his life for my sake and for the good news’ sake, he shall save it;  for what shall it profit a man, if he may gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? - Mark 8 YLT

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this post has a similar theme, if interested: This is love: we lay down our lives for our friends

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We can't pin-down the Way, any more than we can pin-down Love, Truth, Life...

Ethics, Ideals are not the Way.
No good thing is the Way.
Not friendship, honor, sacrifice…

Sometimes we are called to let-down, fall-short, betray;
and other times we are called to die for our friend.

Jesus let his friends down 

at the very moment he was laying down his life for them - penultimately.

Our unique leading in God is our ultimate Way
- not physically-driven, theory-laden, feeling-good: doing-right, loving, etc

But in this process, we must be willing to let-go of our attachment to or resistance to 'good' or 'bad', 

to doing ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in our own or in other’s cultural estimation.

This seems backward, crazy, and scary,
and it IS the Way.

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A whole lot started with Abraham, so let’s start with him.
Abraham is the Father of 3 great religions, the dominating religious paradigms of the West.
Abram was called out from his family, his home, his tradition, his life…

Did his family, his tradition appreciate this?
Did Abram appreciate this?
probably not…
And we see he followed his call slowly, jerkily 

- most of us do the same, if we follow at all.

Following God is about following the Living God, in Real-time.

It is not about following rules.
It is not about complying with physically-perceived 'good'.
Rather it is about following God. Period.

A more extreme example:
Abraham was called to sacrifice his son,
not just a person,
not just his child,
not just his long-awaited heir... 

Abraham was called to sacrifice all this
AND the representation-of, the container-for All Abraham’s (and Sarah's) dreams
and the perceived channel for ALL God’s promises to Abraham.

Abraham was called to sacrifice Everything,
Abraham was called to sacrifice far, far more than it would have been to sacrifice himself.
And he did it - well, he was willing and acting - it totally counts, from my perspective.

Abraham was Hard Core. 
Who among us would do such a thing? 
To follow God’s leading right against the tide of all that seems Good, 

and all God’s Blessings to us…
Letting Go of Everything.

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The bible stories tell us this same story over and over and over.
Then there is the obvious - Jesus.

Jesus tells his disciples, I am going to Jerusalem to suffer and die,
and Peter says - oh no you are not;
and Jesus says - get behind me Satan.

We can all relate to Peter here, even Jesus can relate to Peter. 
I believe this is why Jesus replies so strongly against this temptation dangled by Peter. 

Peter is not (in this moment) just physically-focused and therefore missing the mark, sinning;
he is trying to block God’s will in the world,
tempting Jesus from his unique calling.

But, Jesus is not swayed,
Jesus will follow his Father right into the jaws of ignominy, of torture, of death, of hell.

Jesus was Hard Core.
Who among us would do such a thing? 
To follow God’s leading right against the tide of all that seems Good, all God’s Blessings…
Letting Go of Everything.

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I was tempted to say Jesus was the end of the story, but no, he is just the end of an age, and the beginning of our age.
In our age we have so much permission to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of God, Christ Consciousness, spiritual reality…
We have:

• So much modeling about what it is to follow God, to build our lives on the Rock of Divine Revelation, spiritual senses…
• So much freedom to choose spiritual-focus or physical-focus, Grace or Law, Spirit or Flesh. 
• So much support and modeling in the bible and in so many ‘witnesses’, we have tradition and ritual, we have the leading of the Holy Spirit.

But, we also have a Lot of Resistance,
a lot of Push-back,
a lot of Powers and Principalities of this world adding friction to our path...

We have a lot of justifications and alternate accommodations to hide-behind,
excuses to not follow God’s leading of us
through the Light and the Darkness, through birth and death.

Because that is where we will inevitably go:
Jesus says: If you will be my disciple, pick up your cross and follow.

Being a disciple of Jesus is no walk in the park.
We are called to be Hard Core
- this is not just for the Giants of Faith, the Matriarchs and Patriarchs... every one of us is called to be Hard Core... becoming Spiritual Heroes in our own right, in our own life, right where we are, Today.

Who among us would do such a thing? 
To follow God’s leading right against the tide of all that seems Good, all God’s Blessings…
Letting Go of Everything.

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But, that is not the whole story, it is still not done.
The point of this post is - we cannot do any of these things willy nilly or by theory.

We can't pin-down the Way, any more than we can pin-down Love, Light, Truth. Life.
The best and highest good in our thoughts and actions - in our minds, in our culture, in our religion - are not enough...
Not. Nearly. Enough!

We cannot just die whenever we feel like it, just let go and Give Up;
because sometimes we are called to live, to fight for life - for our own and others:

• Sometimes we are called to lead; and other times to follow.
• Sometimes we are called to be empowered, to shine our Light and shift our world; and other times to have humility, to accept, submit and quietly wait in our prayer closet until…
• Sometimes we are called to be playful and open, receptive, trusting as children, gentle as doves; and other times wise as serpents, acting strategically.

Ecclesiastes pointed out there is a time for all things,

• but in Following God it is not a structured thing - like accommodating ourselves to the earthly seasons.  
• It is a spiritual thing - accommodating ourselves step by step to our Unique Divine Dance.

This is the narrow way - the narrowest of ways!
Far Far beyond any moralizing, ethics, ideals - beyond any external obedience, even of the strictest order.

We are not just called to die,
or to live what we think love is,
or to follow any rule we may devise.

Laws, rules, systems are Not the Way.
We Dance with a Living God - up and down, all the way, and all around.

There is no structured, outside-us, formalized, idealized way to do it.
As much as we wish this were so, act like this is so, are told by ministers and moralizers that it is so 

- but, this is just not so.

Therefore, we cannot just Give Up, die, submit, obey... outside authorities.
We cannot coast in any trajectory, inertia ruling us. (As much as I would wish this were so!!)

We cannot do something just because something is a Good Idea,
or it looks like service or like love,
or we think the bible says it,
or it suits our personal ethics,
or even because God led us that way yesterday…

Because each day anew;
TODAY, if you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts.

Rules are for children, and we are called to be adults
- and to Say and DO WITH the Progenitor, as Jesus did, every moment.

In this Way we will go where we never imagined.

We will experience highs and lows,
we will expand and contract,
we will let go and we will fight,
we will die and we will rise.

To paraphrase Paul:
we learn to be in Joy with both little and much,
with seeming success and seeming failure,
with social derision and general acclaim…

We die to All our own and other people’s ethics, trajectories, hopes, dreams, visions, beliefs, expectations, ideals.
And we do it daily.

Who among us would do such a thing? 
To follow God’s leading right against the tide of all that seems Good, all God’s Blessings…
Letting Go of Everything.

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We will.
We will rise to Life, Abundant.
We will choose to live in Alignment with our Source - our God, our Truth, our Light, our Love, our Life, our Way.

We will engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

REALizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

So, let’s do it Now.

Blessings in your Unique Journey,
Wendy

Joseph Campbell--The Mythic Symbology of Release

You want to be my disciple, pick up your cross and follow me.
- Jesus

I die daily.
- Paul

I believe Joseph Campbell illuminates these words, which are central to being a disciple of Jesus.

In my world, Joseph Campbell, gets even more wise, the farther I go in my own walk.
Here is a great 4 minutes from him: Joseph Campbell--The Mythic Symbology of Release
And I typed about half of it out, because it is awesome, and I didn't see it anywhere on the net:

You don't have to be quit of your bondage in order to expereince the release, the two go together.
In an individual's life, oh this is really a great mystical expereince.
That he no longer identifies himself with the history of his carnal body, but with the consciousness that informs that body.
And when you are identified with the consciousness rather than with the vehicle, the bondage of the vehicle has nothing to do with the bondage of the consciousness.
You see what I mean?
You are free in bondage.
Mythologically, the shackles fall without leaving your wrists.

...in the world, in the field of bondage, the eternal power plays.
And so you have this... joyful participation in the sorrows of the world.
You can't eliminate the sorrows of the world, time involves sorrow.
And if you are in the field of time, that is the expereince of your carnal body.
But that which is participating in this has another dimension, the eternal dimension, and it can joyfully affirm this.

...Eternity participates voluntarily in the processes of time - which are sorrow and death.
So he (Jesus) comes to the cross  - which is the cross of life and time, voluntarily.
And, when you get that affirmative aspect, you've got a sense of the Christianity which is heroic.

... Christ triumphant, with his eyes open, voluntarily, on the cross.
And that is where we all are.
And, when you can identify yourself with that myth, you are released...
When the ego is capable of that participation in the crucifixion, then you are in ... the imitation of Christ.
And I would say, you have achieved the goal of the Christian message.

Conflict, Suffering, Change: The only way out is through... the Cross

My favorite Christian Minister, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to quote often:

The apparently unendurable conflict is proof of the rightness of your life.
A life without inner contradiction is either only half a life or else a life in the Beyond, which is destined only for angels.
- CG Jung in a Letter - here is the whole quote 

My experience has been:
When I keep coming before God with my questions, my unresolved yearnings, my pain...

Letting go of who I think I am in God, 

who I think God is, 

and where I think God has me to go and to do…

THEN I allow a Break-through to a new Reality,
in which I experience my wholeness, empowerment and peace in God, again.

I have found, when things become untenable, there is something
- within me, to break,
- within my inertial trajectory, to change.

When I am willing 

- to die, and

- allow God to resurrect me,
miracles happen.

Until then, I suffer, suffer, suffer.

The conflict, and even the suffering, 

is a Gift from Life, from God.

It grabs me by the neck, 

and Forces me to Pay Attention, 

to Shift;

When I Never, Never, Never 

would have shifted/ changed/ let-go, otherwise.

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I want to come to my unique wholeness / maturity in God. 

Engage my Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios.   

Realize who I am in God, in my body, life, world...

I ALSO enjoy being 

comfortable in myself, 

accepted in my world, and 

flowing with unconscious inertia in my life...

Painful conflict within myself, 

and in my outer expereince, 

is Life's, God's Dark Gift to me:

• to help me choose, again and again,
• to take the tough road, the unimaginable road,
• to choose the Way that leads me outside "the camp" ... and into the "heart of God".

Blessings on your unique journey in God
- wendy

Follow-up to this conversation here.

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Christ is Died. Christ is Risen. Christ is coming again, and again...

SUBTITLE: Death, Destruction, Demise: Hooray!


Unlike Calvinism, and the Puritan ethic that pervades much of modern Christian America;
I believe that bright, shiny, outward 'success' is not the only sign of an inward grace.

Don't get me wrong, it's great when we are on 'top'.
But when we find ourselves on 'the bottom',
it doesn't mean there is SOMETHING WRONG here.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens...

Jacob met Divinity face-to-face, in struggle,
and henceforth walked with a limp.
My thoughts below are primarily meant to encourage those of us who are in struggle, limping:

- If you feel crappy
- If you think you are a square peg in a round hole
- If the folks around you judge you, and you are tending to agree

- If you are wishing for some 'do-overs' and hoping for a miracle
- If you are tempted to believe you are on the WRONG track, a FAILURE,
- If you are experiencing Death, Destruction, Demise...

Perhaps your spiritual reality is just the opposite of your outward experience:
perhaps it is time to validate YOUR unique PATH,
keep your eyes on God (and not on 'the world, the flesh or the devil') and KEEP GOING!

as Paul said:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

...

I just listened to an hour interview with Matthew Fox.
From my perspective, I found this interview covered a lot of ground in Christian life:
sweeping through some of our ancient and modern experience. 

I came away excited about the changes that we and God are bringing about in structures as well as cultures, and of course, as always, members (individuals) in particular.
I was encouraged in my faith and in my personal journey, which is currently challenging (about par for the course ; )

I find that I am more inspired to send Easter greetings, than I have been for a very long time; so here we go...


My favorite Christian Teacher, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to say this often:

Our God is a consuming fire,
who burns up everything that is not God

It isn't always comfortable, or easy...
WAIT A MINUTE: what am I saying?!

Let's be honest:
This process is almost Never comfortable or easy.
Because we Will Not let it be so!

My resistance, and judgment, and invalidation, and habits, and emotions, and stories...
make changing Very Painful and Hard!
But, the changes come.

Regardless of our complaining and foot-dragging,
we can trust God in the Long Run to bring us into conformity with Christ.
In this relationship, experiencing this BE-ingness, lies comfort and ease: the meeting of all our need.

Us as souls, and us together as the body of Christ:
we die and we are born again:
again and again...

Into more alignment with our true selves:
God with us, God in us, God through us, God as us:
this is the Good News. Hallelujah!

Meanwhile, DEATH comes before Resurrection.
I appreciate how Leonard Cohen put it:

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah...

In this transformative journey we often look bad, and feel worse. 
AND then WE 'add insult to injury' by making up discouraging stories about ourselves and our choices...
But really, so what?

• Is looking bad, really SO bad? Who do we really Have to impress?
• Is falling down really the end of the world? Can't we just get up, now!
• If we go play in the mud, a shower works just fine to send us off, to play, again...

It is in this time of increasing pressure and cold, dark endings, that the gift of FAITH and HOPE carries us through:

• In some way, we have seen, heard or known with our spiritual senses the Still, Small Voice that guides on our unique journey...... God is HERE still, even as we cry: 'My God, my God, why didst Thou forsake me?'
• We have seen, heard and known with our physical senses: Morning follows Evening, since the first day...... The Sun will rise tomorrow, as well: count on it!
• We have received the gift of example and forerunner: our friend Jesus seemed to come to a messy, inglorious end; then transformed into a beautiful, glorious shining of the Way, the Truth, and the Light...... We have the honor to follow in his footsteps.

We have the honor to follow in Jesus' footsteps, therefore:

• Let us walk, and keep walking.  
• Let us trust God through all our ups and downs; and ask God to open us to Faith, Hope and Love: to keep going through whatever Death, Destruction, Demise we may find ourselves experiencing. 
• Let us Always remember: the end of the story is already written (Spoiler Alert: we all go to the seashore ; )

this is one of the many ways Paul said this:

The Spirit himself doth testify with our spirit, that we are children of God; and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ -- if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory about to be revealed in us...

May God assist each of us us to:
allow God to bless us and keep us,
enjoy God's countenance shining upon us,
and bring us the experience of peace, as well as all the TLC we can stand.

Comfort and Joy to you in whatever phase of Life, Death and/or Metamorphosis you may be experiencing.
You are in very good company.

Blessed Eastertide, Wendy

So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new

(rinse and repeat ; )

.

If you want to avoid experiencing reversal...

If you want to avoid experiencing reversal,
just cut off dualism;
then measurements cannot govern you.
You are neither Buddha nor sentient being;
you are not near or far,
not high or low,
not equal or even,
not going or coming.
- Pai-chang

********
This is one that really hits me where I live,
where it seems I experience the most pain (clearly from attachment).

I suffer over what I have lost,
over what I will lose
- relationships and people in bodies that I love, fitness and wellness, the joy of being in this body
- everything that is not spirit: emotions, thoughts, things... The more I have the more I fear to lose...

I suffer.
 But, it turns out the solution is so very easy:
just let go of dualism...
(I think I will fit that in this afternoon between eating bon-bons and washing my hair ; )

Really this quote validates and encourages me,
but what a journey this is - aye!

the human condition (ahhhhhh)
such a challenging blessing!

Consciously working with God
and allowing spiritual change helps so much with this,
AND my body grieves.

We are all in the same boat.
God bless us all, everyone!

Inside this new love, die

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with a thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

~ Rumi