Of all my discoveries about God's love and what it means to me, does for me, makes me feel, one stands supreme.
It removes fear. Or, more accurately, it fills the emptiness that is fear. And that means everything from mild uncertainty to complete dread.
God's love = the #1 stress reliever.
There can be pleasure in being alone. There's usually not so much pleasure in feeling lonely.
Being alone gives me time to think, to reflect, to meditate, to contemplate. And, surely, to do mundane things like read and write and cook and "veg."
Being lonely comes from not wanting to be alone. And the vicious circle makes me feel all the more alone...
Recognizing what alone and lonely share and how they are different helps.
But nothing helps more than realizing neither is Truth.
I enjoy you, God.
You are my instant, constant and abundant
supplier of love, joy and peace.
God doesn't supply those blessings from afar. They are delivered "in person" and mean I'm never alone.
Or lonely.
Love and blessings,
I love solitary time, in proper amounts.
I do not enjoy feeling alone. Ceilings get lower and minutes get longer.
Real-izing that I'm never alone has taken me years and years. And when it happened it seemed so obvious, I felt it was a "duh-scovery."
My mind has known for a long, long time that I am God's creation. My heart has been a slow study.
And it's the heart that must feel it for it to be true. That's true for me, anyway.
I feel you, God
Everyday you live
within me.
The solitary time, now, is refreshing, refueling. I am not alone.
Neither are you.
I've recently had the wonderfully freeing "duh-scovery" that praying for prosperity is not about asking for monetary riches.
Books like Discover the Power Within (Butterworth) and The Quest (Jafolla and Jafolla) have helped with that. They clearly state the abundance God (Universe, Spirit, Source...) provides isn't necessarily money.
God provides abundant ideas and creative energy and opportunities for me to manage. I can then work with them to be(come) the prosperity I want/need.
But reading it once (or twice) isn't always enough. I've given myself this reminding affirmation:
The Tents of Hope program is designed to offer support and hope to the people of Darfur, Sudan. My church has recently purchased a tent and invited church members to paint it (as part of our participation in the 11 Days of Global Unity effort).
Our tent is almost done and promises to be a beauty. It will be among hundreds of other tents pitched on the National Mall in Washington, DC, November 7-9, 2008. That's before they will be shipped to Sudan.
I have not lifted a paint brush--and probably won't--but I have taken a full share of joy from this Tents f Hope project. With different individuals I've enjoyed four instances of pitching the tent or taking it down. Four times I've experienced a blend of new enjoyments. What a treat to work at different times with
And what a treat to enjoy:
Night before last I completed Paul Ferrini's Real Happiness program, facilitated locally by BJ Garcia.
What an experience! 12 Monday nights in a row. 7:30-9:30. An informal gathering and we learned to identify factors that cause us to be not absolutely true to ourselves. And so they also cause us to be not absolutely happy with ourselves, our lives.
I went to the course with Marieanne thinking, "This'll be interesting. Sort of icing on the cake since I'm blessed with being happy all the time. And happier than most of the people I know. Yeah, this'll be interesting."
I was right: it was interesting. I was not, however, right to be so smug.
You know how sometimes someone tells you something you already knew, but in a slightly different way. And what you hear, what you realize, is brighter, sharper, clearer than what you (thought you) knew?
That's pretty much Ferrini's Real Happiness in a nutshell. I'm thinking most all of us know that somewhere, long ago and deep inside something happened that makes us (still) behave in ways we don't want...or not behave in ways we do want. And that miss-behaving keeps us from being really ourselves and from being completely happy.
Learning how to get to and then get past those somethings is more than a 12-week process. Much more. But gathering the tools--that's what the 12-weeks gave me--makes the continuous work that follows possible. Even attractive.
It's not about "real happiness" like being really happy. Rather, as Ferrini says,
