Gratitude Circle

I have found my home at the weekly Gratitude Circle at Unity of Sedona I just recently started attending. I’ve been trying to figure out what makes it feel like home because the only other venue I feel this is close to is a 12 Step meeting.

Here’s the bottom line: sharing honestly, from the heart, about Spirit working in our lives as we strive to wake up, in a sacred space of openness and respectfulness of each one’s path.

I’m quite often surrounded by intellectualism and not much expression of experiencing and feeling God’s Grace. Although the vast majority of people in my life are spiritual and on a conscious path, it seems to me we don’t often talk from the heart about our experience. Missing are the tales of synchronicity, miracles, "oh shits" turned into blessings. I could sit around 24/7 listening to people share about this stuff. This was what I was hungering for before I joined 12 Step program almost 20 years ago, and it is what I hunger for still. Connection. To people, to Spirit.

This kind of meaningful, heartfelt talk and sharing of the journey opens me up to God and to the connection between us spiritual beings having this human experience. There’s this heart bond. In 12 Step program our bond is that we share a common malady that is solved by coming to believe in a Power greater than ourselves and then we put our faith and gratitude into service, into action; we are graced even more.

Sitting in a sacred circle of gratitude hearing experience, strength, and hope makes me feel like one heart, like One.

On the Path

“Lord, light my way along Your path so that all I do leads me toward the destination You have in mind.” - Daily Guideposts Prayer, January 27, 2010

Lighting the way along my path, Spirit has provided me with wonderful teachers. They come in many forms, with some that unfold as a challenge and many others as love. All are blessings in my life to grow me spiritually, to wake me up.

Yesterday I started working with a new one in a very conscious, intentional way. I’m helping BK design and build her website, and she is helping me heal, open my heart, and get clear about what I came here to do. It is a wonderful, rich exchange of energy. And while I look forward to discovering what God’s destination is for me, I am so enjoying and grateful for this light along the journey in the form of BK.

Thank You, Spirit, for the wonderful blessings in my life of people, places, and things. Thank You for the light you shine along my way in my journey of growing closer to You - and me.

Offerings

“Hold my hand as we walk together in the silence of God's loving embrace, admiring the scenery, smelling the roses, and enjoying all that life has to offer, knowing that together we are in Heaven." – The Voice for Love, 08.29.09

Ahhh. The aforementioned quote makes me feel peaceful and fulfilled. I envision that it is Rog and me holding hands, walking together in the silence of God’s loving embrace.

But I think it goes beyond that. I am walking with angels and Holy Spirit and spirit guides, and all those other unseen entities helping me to be me in this crazy world.

I am being offered divine help and guidance to enjoy all of life’s blessings, but I must choose to take that offer, that hand, and walk the path. I am not alone.

I accept.

Thank You, God, for all Your helpers sent my way. Please enable me to feel their presence, hear their message, and rejoice in all of Life’s offerings.

4.5

Today is a particularly significant day in my life.

Thirteen years ago (1996) I moved out of the Big Apple, my home town for my entire life of 41 years. And, four-and-one-half years ago (2005), Rog and I were married – the man I’d been searching for most of my life. Both were very significant events, and perhaps marrying Rog would not have happened if I hadn’t left NYC... although I suspect Spirit would have come up with another way for these twin flames to cross paths in this lifetime.

After so many years of yearning for my soul mate, one might think that our promises to one another would have been lengthy. But when all was said and done in planning our intimate, joyful event, Rog and I chose to speak these brief promises to one another based on A Course in Miracles: I promise to do my best to always see the Light in you. I promise to do my best to be your perfect shelter, where you can be reborn in safety and in peace.

Ahhhh. These promises are suffused with Spirit in their meaning and energy. It’s always wonderful to reread them and think about how I’ve fared in fulfilling my promises to Rog. I think I’ve done quite well (with Holy Spirit helping my ego), even with some of the particularly wild adventures we’ve been in.

Rog is my beloved twin flame so it’s pretty easy to see the Light in him and to be the safe, peaceful, and healing shelter. But I’m just wondering how it would be if I could make and keep this promise to all beings I meet? And, what about every being making it to all other beings?

Wowww. Ahhhh.

Happy 4.5 Wedding Anniversary, my dear Rog. May I continue to do my best to always see the Light in you and to be your perfect shelter, where you can be reborn in safety and in peace.

And, I pray, with God’s help, to apply these promise concepts to all whom I meet on my path.

Following One's Heart

There are many ways that we can serve God. Some of us find that we do it best and are true to our heart (to God, to ourselves) by doing it on a solitary path. That is, we find that we simply cannot give our fullest to Spirit when involved in a committed relationship with a human being.

Others find immersing themselves in community the best way to go in order to serve God. They live with housemates, work with many colleagues, and, in general, are in the world and in many close relationships.

I recently learned that a man, who I have heard speak God’s Word numerous times and who has stirred my heart, has chosen to give up a committed human romantic love relationship. In fact, it was a marriage. It seems that he has been in multiple marriages, and all but one ended in divorce. This man finds that he can only serve God best when he is not also committed to a life partner. He’s tried it and it just doesn’t work. The human relationship divides him and distracts him from his true life’s work.

I get it. I admire this man for his courage, his integrity, his honesty, his commitment – to Spirit and his heart. His last marriage was short-lived once he confronted this nagging issue and made the decision to give his heart solely to the Great Mystery. He and his former wife love one another and are great friends. That’s just the way it is. This man helps many people as his ministry goes well beyond the walls of the physical church. He serves God best and his spirit heals and thrives as he gives of himself to the many instead of a special one.

Yesterday’s blog (What God Wants) spoke to the idea that maybe what God wants is for us to just be free of the things that come between us and God. For me, I needed to change my daily allocation of time. I made the commitment to spend more time with Spirit. How pale this seems in comparison to my aforementioned friend. Yet, what wonderful food for thought.

Spirit has given each of us something unique to share with this world. Besides knowing what it is, we need to discover the best way to go about sharing it, and then make the commitment to carry it out. I’m still working on all of this. But, kudos to those who have found their true calling, know how to administer it, and are committed to it, their heart, and God. Thanks for being such a great role model to the rest of us. God bless you all!

Success

I read this prayer from Daily Guideposts and it gave me food for thought: “Lord, the greatest success I can achieve is to know You and to love You, and help others know and love You too.”

This definition resonates with me and actually shapes my daily life, for each day as I meditate, interact with others, pray, etc., I endeavor to know God more and more.

And while I have no intention to stop following this path, in a way, something else is far more noteworthy to me.

For you see, I feel that the greatest accomplishment of this lifetime has already occurred: coming to believe after having been a devout atheist for nineteen years.

If I were to accomplish nothing further in my life, having awakened to God Consciousness takes the cake - the rest is icing.

Of course, having come to believe was just the beginning. The story and my path continue as I experience ever greater communion with God and my fellows, loving God and helping others love God too.

Clients Sent by God

It’s been a delightful day meeting with interesting clients, discovering who they are in order to accurately represent them when I build their website.

I enjoy learning what we have in common as a way to connect and lay a foundation for a fun, cooperative, productive working relationship.

But what I really get a kick out of is who God is sending our way to work with. Of the clients who have flowed into our life during the past 6 weeks or so, most are small business owners with a spiritual bent that they wear on their sleeve. They are healers and they are people looking to help others.

It is an honor and a pleasure to meet these folks. And, of course, it is no coincidence, but simply part of God’s plan.

Thank You, Spirit, for the wonderful people you place on my path. Thank You for the lessons they teach me and the love they share.

Thoughts

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” - Henry David Thoreau

Thank You, Spirit, for the positive, joyful thoughts I’ve held this day and the upliftment of others their expression provided.