tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41895239409400526142023-11-15T08:46:52.261-08:00Joyous LakeThis blog is meant to be a creative sharing of inspirations, thoughts, spirituality. Much of the written part will have a flavor of Unity, my spiritual home and where I hope to become a minister. However, my desire is to speak to you, to your heart, simply, in a language and pictures we can all understand. I encourage you to share this journey with me, and if you don’t understand something, or I have been unclear, feel free to comment or email me.Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-68416486373961737332012-07-07T18:43:00.000-07:002012-07-07T18:43:07.162-07:00Of Copperheads and Butterflies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
saw a copperhead on the trail yesterday. Not long, about eighteen inches, it
raised its small head and watched me, I assume carefully, and I watched it
back, then took a photo with my phone. If I can figure out how to send it to
myself, I’ll post it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Missouri
has been an orderly procession of flowering trees, shrubs, and woodland
vegetation, each seeming to take a week or two, where it dominates, and then
passes the baton onto the next bloomer. When I arrived in March, redbud was
blooming everywhere, even as trees were slow to leaf out, and the simplicity of
the bright pink branches against the grey made the woods look like Japanese
paintings. There were violets about an inch tall, and then shortly the phlox,
the bush honeysuckle, and then the sprays of white berry flowers, complemented
briefly by more white sprays of tiny wood roses, less than an inch across,
which bloomed briefly and were gone. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ciQegrmn4Ds/T_je6fknJQI/AAAAAAAAAJE/Zi3lBDLgSD8/s1600/Dogwoods1202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ciQegrmn4Ds/T_je6fknJQI/AAAAAAAAAJE/Zi3lBDLgSD8/s400/Dogwoods1202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The dogwoods and the apple trees took their turn as well. In June, the traditional honeysuckle scent
was everywhere, and wild strawberries decorated the edges of the trails. I
tasted one, and it was gritty and tasteless, so must be a different kind than
those everyone rhapsodizes about. The deer love them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9mp2UeLLx4U/T_jdshpgsLI/AAAAAAAAAI0/SPvfQfAatb0/s1600/Butterfly8821cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9mp2UeLLx4U/T_jdshpgsLI/AAAAAAAAAI0/SPvfQfAatb0/s320/Butterfly8821cr.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(I could really use a good butterfly book!)</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Insects,
too, seem to have a specific season, a short period in the sun. For a while,
there were butterflies everywhere on the paths, each kind being dominant for a
couple of weeks, and then disappearing as the next group arrived. When I left
for a brief sojourn at home, Eastern Commas and Fritillaries were everywhere. Those
have disappeared, and now the beautiful ebony dragonflies helicoptering among
the bushes near the creek signal the sticky hot summer, which has arrived (it was 105 today),
curtailing all but the earliest hiking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
love these passages of season, although I could do without the heat. I think
whether flowers or insects, each species has evolved into a specific niche as a
time when fewer competitors are about, maximizing their chances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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We humans don’t
seem to do that – we’re everywhere, and at all times. Look at our mate-seeking
rituals. What different opportunities abound for happiness when we have all
these choices and not just the boy in the next valley who happens to be the
only single man for miles, even if he is unsuitable as a mate! We don’t have to
settle, although our evolution hasn’t caught up with that fact. Instead of “one
for us,” maybe its ten or one hundred greatest choices, and yet we screw up, we
make mistakes, for our biology is still wired for the eras when so few choices
and chances existed. I’m glad I’m not stuck in those days. I’d rather have it this
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happiness and good relationships
still take work, and are still worth it. That hasn't changed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Composed during a retreat:</div>
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<br /></div>
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This, then, is
my altar:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a butterfly on the path,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Its wings
opening and closing gently,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Showering
brilliance as it absorbs the sun<o:p></o:p></div>
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And waits for
ladies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This,
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In
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Where
osprey wheel, searching for lunch,<o:p></o:p></div>
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And
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<br /></div>
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This, then, is my
altar, the Truth of who I am:<o:p></o:p></div>
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My Christ embraces
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God within, and
God in nature are the same,</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;">Whole, and One forever.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-syIbilMBNvA/T_jlY0kttZI/AAAAAAAAAJY/Lz1LFNDUEbo/s1600/July4th2009-9043stretch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-syIbilMBNvA/T_jlY0kttZI/AAAAAAAAAJY/Lz1LFNDUEbo/s320/July4th2009-9043stretch.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-84967863750694679852012-02-02T20:19:00.000-08:002012-02-02T20:19:17.521-08:00Of choices and wholeness<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>385</o:Words> <o:Characters>2196</o:Characters> <o:Company>Ethelbah Enterprises, LLC</o:Company> <o:Lines>18</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>2696</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.256</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJcpEsTvLp0/TytdvFi2XBI/AAAAAAAAAIU/HkUOFozfc2c/s1600/Sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJcpEsTvLp0/TytdvFi2XBI/AAAAAAAAAIU/HkUOFozfc2c/s1600/Sunrise.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three young ladies and their duennas prepare for the Sunrise ceremony that will usher them into adulthood.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; line-height: 24px;"> </span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I should know better than to read Robert Brumet’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Healing and Wholeness</i> before going to bed at night. Waking me at five this morning, the lessons from the book run eagerly through my head, lessons about free will, choices, and the gifts in both joy and sadness. I find I’m still piecing together my own image of the Universe, and reading that very thoughtful book has my mind clicking along, whether or not the time is convenient. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so I sit here in the pre-dawn darkness, lit intermittently by the cars inching their way along our icy little frontage road, parents dropping their kids off at the bus stop so they can get a better education than on the Reservation. Its not that the teaching is so bad on the Rez; it isn’t, there are gifts in both, but the environment in town is better. Part of education is what happens around and outside the classroom, and the experience of being in the world-oriented, competitive atmosphere of the local schools here prepares the Native American students better for life in the outside white man’s world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those that go to Reservation schools and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>remain on the Rez in adulthood live in a world where unemployment runs 85%, and all of the miserable things about poverty become a way of life. It’s a different set of lessons.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The young people of the Tribe are its treasure, and although those that do return are interested in improving things, they are kept out of tribal decision-making because they often don’t speak Apache – not taught in schools on or off the Reservation – and they don’t own land and/or cattle. But change is afoot, and there is great hope for a future where the government is more accessible and responsive to the needs of all of the people and not just a few. Involving the young people is critical to the future of the Tribe.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so the parents that are dropping off their children in the pre-dawn darkness hold the greatest treasure of all: the future. Even if the children don’t return to the Rez when they grow up, they will bring their own gifts from the Apache way of life to our world and challenge our thinking, too. They are beautiful. They are a blessing.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-74624148619992577642011-12-29T12:11:00.000-08:002011-12-29T12:11:14.933-08:00New Year, good ways<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>504</o:Words> <o:Characters>2878</o:Characters> <o:Company>Ethelbah Enterprises, LLC</o:Company> <o:Lines>23</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>5</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>3534</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XwRANAqsHtQ/TvzI_d6kfNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/fpXC3YZYKjk/s1600/SnowTrees8998.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XwRANAqsHtQ/TvzI_d6kfNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/fpXC3YZYKjk/s1600/SnowTrees8998.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Its so good to be home!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I write this, the moonlight on the snow is soft, mesmerizing in its simple beauty, each tree gently rendered against the pale blue-grey of night snow. I am happily domestic these days, cleaning and restoring the house to its pre-bachelor days, but dreams of painting and writing haunt me at night, so soon I must pull out my brushes and get back to my writing before school engulfs me again. This means reorganizing where things have been “resorted” in my absence, so I can get a good space with light for the painting, and peace and quiet for the writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am also catching up on sleep, and the pleasure of living without deadlines for a while. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The past few days I’ve found myself thinking about the coming New Year, and rolling around the various thoughts that make up my annual review of What I Want My Life to Be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year is a bit different from the past. Oh, losing twenty pounds is still on the list, and probably will be permanently, but it seems to be the only carryover from the past.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Instead of dwelling on all the things I should do, this year, I’ve surprised myself by looking at what I did accomplish – and there have been wonderful things, unexpected and challenging. Friends made, studies pursued (successfully), and a new, natural way of life that I am integrating into my being. Most of all, I’m happy, engaged in life, and better friends with myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its not that 2011 was uneventful, for it was scary in spots, but it was also rich and fruitful, both personally and for those I love and cherish.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What would happen if in general we chose to look what we DID do instead of what we didn’t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if we founded our desires for the New Year on the strengths within us instead of feeling like we have to correct weaknesses?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, yes, we will still strive, but won’t our striving be more successful if based on love of ourselves and others instead of self-hatred and loathing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay, I know that loving oneself is hard to do the first time one confronts the extra pounds in the bathroom mirror, but a diet based on guilt and self-hatred is going to be over quickly and without success. It works that way for the important things, too.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is nothing in this series of thoughts to suggest that we stop taking responsibility for our actions. We live with ourselves and with others. We need to act in a caring, loving manner, so that our love, our care, and our intent can frame a better world for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The concept I’m talking about is loving-kindness, kindness towards ourselves and others. Pema Chodron, the American Buddhist nun, talks about how the desire to “fix” oneself is essentially a form of aggression against our inner being. It involves the basic premise that we are wrong, which is truly a lousy starting place for real growth. If instead we look at who and what we really are, and what we want to accomplish, if we bless ourselves onto our chosen path, then we can move forward with our strengths carrying us, and not our weaknesses. Our intent is stronger that way. So is our level of success.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Besides, we’re worth all the love and care we can give to ourselves. We are the expression of God, bringing love to this earth. Our thoughts count, our hearts count, and our spirituality counts. Its going to be a splendid year!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spirituality is love, and love never wars with the minute, the day, <br />
one's self and others.</i><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">St. Thomas Acquinas</span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: right;"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-77975412478980983472011-11-19T19:07:00.000-08:002011-11-19T19:07:10.442-08:00Of memories and old friends<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1HECRQxGaQ/TshrSpa94fI/AAAAAAAAAHI/ZvfbFZHcY4w/s1600/Sunset8940cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1HECRQxGaQ/TshrSpa94fI/AAAAAAAAAHI/ZvfbFZHcY4w/s1600/Sunset8940cr.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The woods around Unity Village are so different now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wind has taken down almost all the leaves, and the brownish-greys and tans and purples deepen against the copper colors of the forest floor. I surprised a large white-tailed buck yesterday, or should I say we surprised each other; the wind was strong, and I took the rustle of his careful steps to be just another squirrel scavenging in the leaves. We both jumped when we saw each other. He was the same grey-brown of the tree barks, and melted in perfectly.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The big surprise to me, though, are the Daddy Long-legs, lots of them, picking their way along the gravel paths and among the leaves, their incredible two-inch front legs poking and feeling their way in front of them like a blind man’s cane. I wonder if they see at all, and what they are doing. They aren’t acting like they’re hunting; they just seem to be evaluating a trail amongst the litter, and a snail could outpace them. What happens when it snows? Do they hibernate, or are they simply using their last days to wander aimlessly amongst the woody debris, their internal clock slowly winding down?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N4gQyLFudl0/TshtsiXKKjI/AAAAAAAAAHc/_gGV8gCGoVI/s1600/IMG_8962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N4gQyLFudl0/TshtsiXKKjI/AAAAAAAAAHc/_gGV8gCGoVI/s400/IMG_8962.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> This has been an exciting time for me. The volume of writing required for these classes is incredible – nine papers this semester, a total of 92 pages on various subjects. I’m not quite halfway through.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And with this outpouring, welcome personal changes, too. For instance, I came to realize that I didn’t remember much about my childhood; a period of abuse in my young adulthood had sealed off my memories, particularly of my early years, which my abuser vilified. I had left him, even genuinely forgiven him, but had little idea of the extent of the damage that remained. So, thanks to this wonderful thing called the Internet, I was able to email my childhood friends and ask them what I was like back then. Their kind answers and support touched off a flood of memories, and more come each day. I feel more centered, more integrated than I have in the last forty years! There is real joy there. A lot is still a surprise, but I’m feeling very whole, very healthy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among others, I connected with the image of my Godfather, a kind but stern man who was more my father than my biological one. I wish I could tell him I loved him, but he is long gone. I know he loved me, although he never said anything either. But in addition to church, he taught me the slide rule (I still use it), did science fair projects with me, engineered a couple of evenings showing us the stars through a friend’s telescope, and even had his lab assistant escort me to the Senior Prom when my boyfriend suddenly became unavailable. I married one man who looked just like him, and may be marrying another who shares the same fine-boned build – and is a scientist as well. The memories are precious, and they have now found their rightful place in my heart.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik5omQqXWAo/TshrgjIcQ8I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/FBMKeDOMQJo/s1600/Lake%25232-8961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik5omQqXWAo/TshrgjIcQ8I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/FBMKeDOMQJo/s400/Lake%25232-8961.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This has been a wonderful few months. I have had the privacy I need to churn through both the changes and the work, and now I will return home to my beloved mountains to take the next quarter online, and be with Larry. Council has approved our sawmill site, but fortunately the snow will keep us from having to start immediately, since I’ll be glued to the computer and won't be able to do that much. The end of March will find me back in Missouri for Spring Term.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Life is good!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-65655317612911044492011-10-19T06:50:00.000-07:002011-10-19T06:50:54.610-07:00God's Hands and Feet<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rq3m3R0L4dk/Tp7Sd2j2_EI/AAAAAAAAAGw/wLTCq-1og4g/s1600/JasperNP8029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rq3m3R0L4dk/Tp7Sd2j2_EI/AAAAAAAAAGw/wLTCq-1og4g/s1600/JasperNP8029.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jasper National Park</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> Its amazing to me how the little events of life can reflect on the huge movement of Purpose through our lives. Last weekend was a case in point: </span>I’m not known for being early anywhere, but this particular morning I left in plenty of time for my 9 am eye appointment…however, my GPS had been stolen out of my car a few days prior, and I didn’t know the area as well as I thought, so I was halfway to Wichita before I realized I had missed my exit. On top of that, I realized as I leapt out of the car that I had left my purse at home.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">What was going on here? I’m usually not such a ditz. A bit late now and then, true, but not a ditz. This time, though, I realized I was never intended to make that 9am appointment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, there was no way of talking the nurse into letting me have the exam anyway. Frustrated, I turned to leave. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">A young boy and his mother came out of the exam room. One of his eyes was red and slightly swollen. “I’m so glad you had time to see us,” said the mother. “Don’t worry, “ said the doctor. “He’s going to be just fine.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The relief in her voice brought me up short. There seemed to have been been purpose in this chain of events. It may have messed up my day, but my being late had made a space for the doctor to see her son and bring comfort to them both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This isn’t the first time it appears God has used me as hands and feet. I will admit preferring to be asked first, preferably in full knowledge of the cost, and I would rather have a choice as to the answer, but it doesn't always work out that way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> W</span>e might think of how events seem to conspire to bring us what we need, but rarely do we notice when we are being an instrument of Spirit in someone else’s life. And is that what’s happening? How much is the random outworkings of the Universe and how much Divine Will? In this instance I choose Divine Plan, or Divine Intervention as the answer, but the question is still open.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The kind of incident I’m talking about is not like giving comfort to a sick friend, or helping someone in time of need. It is a random happening that brings joy or relief to someone under circumstances outside our direct control. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another occasion happened when I was shopping in Safeway. As I stood in front of the whelter of choices at the spice shelf, my eye fell on pumpkin spice. It’s not a seasoning mix I use, but this time I took special note of it, turned, and went on with my search. An older woman came up to me. “Do you know where the pumpkin spice is?” she asked in a querulous voice. “I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Was I responding to her brain waves projecting need, or being God’s hands and feet to bring her what she wanted? Or was it simply random?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a smile, I handed her the spice, happy I’d been able to help. Some days I’m not so sure, but that day I believed in the outworking of God’s Divine Intention. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These are not significant events, but they illustrate the purpose we can find in the apparent randomness of life. The same kind of outworking can happen, for instance, in a love affair that ends in sorrow, but allows one partner to rejoin life after the death of a spouse. Was this part of God’s Plan? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Whether or not we are part of God’s Plan, its appropriate for us to celebrate these occasions! We’re returning to the world some of the blessings we have received. Volunteering to be an angel for someone brings great joy to both the giver and the receiver, but sometimes the best<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“angel moments” happen when we’re unawares. Yes, I would prefer to be asked first, but relish these opportunities as well. They are part of the richness of life.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-57924149784369245032011-10-08T19:31:00.000-07:002011-10-08T19:31:36.759-07:00Coming home yet again...<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hu5K9WCW42Y/TpEGBCY03kI/AAAAAAAAAGo/0Jy74DOZwd8/s1600/GroupShotRovene079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hu5K9WCW42Y/TpEGBCY03kI/AAAAAAAAAGo/0Jy74DOZwd8/s1600/GroupShotRovene079.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> The fields were bright yellow with huge drifts of goldeneye daisies against the green as I drove out with the UHaul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were happy to remind me I can never really leave the mountain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are right, of course. And Larry called yesterday just to tell me that it was snowing, too, the first snowfall of the season. I can see in my mind’s eye the beautiful, soft flakes floating down the way snow does, outlining every branch and leaf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and the snow remind me, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can never truly leave.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I ache to be there, but this time I ache to be here, too. My fellow explorers on this path greeted me, not with “Welcome back,” but with “Welcome home,” and indeed it has become home as well. Fall is in full swing, with yellows and reds intertwined throughout the meadows. The trails are full of deer, and this evening I saw a huge toad, spotted like one of our Apache trout, scampering out of my way. Its very beautiful. I could do a full meditation just on the yellow tree outside the Inn where we take our meals. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWF290r5dNw/TpEEecJE2vI/AAAAAAAAAGc/y_EmblZCqfI/s1600/Squirrel8927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWF290r5dNw/TpEEecJE2vI/AAAAAAAAAGc/y_EmblZCqfI/s400/Squirrel8927.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Where did the summer go?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I arrived home in the mountains to a contract in full swing, with twenty young men falling trees in the Wallow burn area; and afterward not just the mop-up of all the back office stuff, but the decision to move forward on a small sawmill project as well, providing we can talk the Tribe into the land to do so. We found providing good employment for these guys a joy, and wanted to keep going.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">And that is what I did, right up to the time to throw stuff and cats into the car and leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll continue to work for Larry here, as there is so much to be done on the computer and internet, everything from payroll to business plans, and I have the skills to do it. Not always the time – I’m carrying a full load, have nine papers to write and a retreat to do before December 8. In addition, there are an incredible number of extra-curricular things we are supposed to participate in, but I’m finding I’m ducking as many of those as I can simply to get work and school done and get some sleep.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oc0HbZfoI3k/TpEEsSliQNI/AAAAAAAAAGg/SrF4YpHStUw/s1600/Murphy8884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oc0HbZfoI3k/TpEEsSliQNI/AAAAAAAAAGg/SrF4YpHStUw/s320/Murphy8884.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">It’s the beginning of a long journey, happy and sad, joyous and melancholy, scholastically demanding and peacefully prayerful. God accompanies me, both from within and at my elbow. Life is good.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-22567018077320880422011-07-17T16:09:00.000-07:002011-07-17T16:09:16.736-07:00Coming home<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uuzD0rnCxRY/TiNowahLMII/AAAAAAAAAGE/yTuFkL5HB7E/s1600/DragonflyPond8839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uuzD0rnCxRY/TiNowahLMII/AAAAAAAAAGE/yTuFkL5HB7E/s1600/DragonflyPond8839.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Dragonfly Pond</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">A raccoon family marauded the pots on our porch at the Village last night, dumping them over and pulling the plants out. I rattled at them from my upper window, but they just looked up at me, little masked faces in the dim porch light, so this morning my roommate and I repotted and swept up debris. Little buggers are cute, but difficult.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Wildlife is so plentiful here! There’s the previously-mentioned family of woodchucks – curious critters – and a very numerous family of skunks. I enjoy watching them from a distance, as they flow up the steps, checking out every crack, every pebble, their tails held high. A herd of deer was feeding on the golf course a couple of evenings ago, with them a little fawn that still had its spots. Judy’s birdfeeder attracts flickers, sparrows, nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, and a titmouse. Now a squirrel has climbed up to our second-floor window, his claws skittering on the glass. I think he is trying to figure out how to reach the bird feeder. He’ll succeed, they always do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ydY0vbVYeNQ/TiNo96dIgoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/SSefcwbQFxU/s1600/Ebony+Jewelwing+Damsel8877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ydY0vbVYeNQ/TiNo96dIgoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/SSefcwbQFxU/s320/Ebony+Jewelwing+Damsel8877.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I’m in love with the dragonflies and ebony jeweled damselflies as well. The black damselflies flutter gently through the undergrowth near streams, one sex brilliantly jeweled green on black, the other a drabber black with white dots on his (her?) wings. The damselflies turn to face me if they notice I’m there, which doesn’t make for great photos, but I’ll keep trying. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IneuTz54phY/TiNpHXh5-5I/AAAAAAAAAGM/I7mojhQi5aA/s1600/12-spotskimmer8876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IneuTz54phY/TiNpHXh5-5I/AAAAAAAAAGM/I7mojhQi5aA/s320/12-spotskimmer8876.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Dragonflies are very shy, too. I think this one’s a 12-Spot, but I’ve seen many others, including a Widow, and my favorite, something called a White Tail, which looks like its sporting semaphore signals when it flies. We have them at home, too. Gonna take a longer lens than mine to catch good shots of those!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I leave today for the White Mountains, a blessed week in cooler temperatures and lower humidity - and my partner, Larry. I’m eager to be home, be held. I want to touch base again with an essential part of me there. God is everywhere, but speaks to me loudest from the pines and the meadows, yet I don’t live just in them, but here as well. I have made the transition, and don’t feel pulled apart any more, at least for now. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Thank you, God.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-4102493802754991632011-07-13T16:27:00.000-07:002011-07-13T16:27:53.395-07:00Arriving in Missouri<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DbUxrbjQolc/Th4nm9NQkpI/AAAAAAAAAF4/PsNW8gsd9JA/s1600/WildBlackberries8834wb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DbUxrbjQolc/Th4nm9NQkpI/AAAAAAAAAF4/PsNW8gsd9JA/s400/WildBlackberries8834wb.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blackberries from the trail</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Today I arrived in Missouri, two weeks after my body landed. The woods are busy with unknown life that calls them home, but this day I’m not a guest. Perhaps it was the storm last night, perhaps the lease I signed, perhaps the finding of new friends and solitude. I go back to the mountains soon, but not to stay, at least not yet. Missouri has me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">My writing class reflects this centering as well. I have seen real possibilities and learned that there is craft to consider as well. For a while I was confused about blending craft and inspiration, leaned on craft…and lost my voice. Now the voice is back, I think, but better trained, a balance that will bob and weave as I continue. Having weathered similar steps in painting, its not an unfamiliar path, and I’m eager for the journey.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">There are lots of challenges ahead:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time to write, many avenues to chase. My little short story is a chapter in a larger novel. I have a book laid out on personal changes that needs attention from this new perspective, and articles and assignments to write, concurrent with going to seminary, not an easy process in itself.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I’d love to write a book, with photos and sound, on the wildlife here in the woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps my western perspective helps; I find the rich variety new and strange, the sounds engaging. The bird calls here are unknown in the west, save for the robins and mockingbirds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, I’m still trying to identify a bird that sings “Ce-dar, ce-dar, ce-dar, quik, quik, quik, quik.” It’s a distinctly different sound from the energetic cardinal and mockingbird concerts. The bird is shy, hides in the treetops, and falls silent if I move. I’ve never seen it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Perhaps that is indicative of where I am as well. I am pursuing something I cannot quite see, but the music calls from deep within my being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Magic fills the air. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ft0TRs3fuNQ/Th4n2M54JJI/AAAAAAAAAF8/dVBEkfwwp6g/s1600/TemporaryQtrs8813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ft0TRs3fuNQ/Th4n2M54JJI/AAAAAAAAAF8/dVBEkfwwp6g/s400/TemporaryQtrs8813.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-70138021463978949042011-06-30T07:06:00.000-07:002011-06-30T07:06:39.243-07:00Village Evenings<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5QgbslaGL0c/TgyAuj-OxPI/AAAAAAAAAFM/tg-eGHDwQCU/s1600/UnityVillCottages7627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5QgbslaGL0c/TgyAuj-OxPI/AAAAAAAAAFM/tg-eGHDwQCU/s400/UnityVillCottages7627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have been sitting out in the long twilight here at Unity Village, watching the fireflies and a cat-sized rodent who I understand is the local woodchuck (looks like a cross between a prairie dog and a beaver, with more on the beaver side.) The weather has been muggy and warm, though not as warm as tomorrow will be. My room, gratefully borrowed from a dear friend for a couple of weeks, is cool with the air conditioner, but small enough that sanity requires a brief stroll now and then to clear the cobwebs. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Its been a good time, even this first week. I’ve settled in, paid my Unity bill, started my writing class with a teacher whose books are favorites of mine. What a joy! I’ve looked at various types of housing for the fall and sent off resumes’ for jobs. I even walked over three miles this morning, although I didn’t intend it to be that far, and my arthritic hip and knee aren’t happy about it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> It was a beautiful walk, along the upper meadow, through the woods, and along the lake – I saw many different trees and flowers strange to these western eyes. There are bluebirds, tons of robins, deer, and frogs as well. Those I know. I can hear many unknown bird calls, too, with only the robins and the chickadees as familiar notes. The cicada’s are beginning to come out, and in later weeks will be deafening in volume. Not yet, thankfully. There is even an exquisite black-winged damselfly that hangs out around the creek that runs through Unity Village: very lovely, very fragile-looking, black wings with white dots on the end. I wanted to photograph everything and write a book, “Wildlife at Unity.” So much of Unity is these woods, lakes, and meadows…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But as I sit here tonight in the apricot haze of a Missouri sunset, I can’t help thinking about how I have come to be here. From the time of my calling to ministry to this day, I haven’t changed course; instead, I have opened up wide to meet an unknown future. It has been a fact of my life, this coming; unavoidable, unmovable, and surprising...not easy, and I certainly wasn’t very patient with many parts of the process, but I’m here, and my inner being acknowledges this reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart and spirit may be in my White Mountain home, but a part of me claims the Village as its bedrock, even with my passion for the west.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through this process, I have changed, more than at any other point in my life. Opening up to others; indeed, opening up to life has been part of it, exposing the conflicting pushes and pulls of my inner being. Expansive yet still shy, warm and loving yet still solitary, gregarious on the one hand and a hermit on the other; intellectually curious, poking at ideas and submitting them to my own inner truth-sense, yet still wrapping them with intense feeling, allowing their ability to carry whatever they claim to resonate within me or fail in the process. There’s a lot going on in my interior, and I’m grateful for the solitude to let it work itself out.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I miss my home and my partner, yet I need the Village. I need this space, this place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it is.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-58160026987714752112011-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:002011-06-10T08:17:35.964-07:00Praying up a brave new world<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRTE3I8gwcM/TfIxbocGUmI/AAAAAAAAAFI/yi6_A3M35sc/s1600/GwenonTree8781.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRTE3I8gwcM/TfIxbocGUmI/AAAAAAAAAFI/yi6_A3M35sc/s400/GwenonTree8781.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">That's me on an 85 ft. pine that had come to the end of its 130 years...and my smile of pure relief.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; line-height: 24px;"> </span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the entire country is aware, we’ve had a massive fire at our doorstep for the past week. The Bear Wallow fire was one of Arizona’s largest, currently at 389,000 acres, but containment is on its way, and incredible efforts by amazing people are limiting the impacts on everyone. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At home here, we’ve been spared the smoke and ash, and much of the fire danger, since the prevailing winds are taking it away from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Everyone has</span><o:p> been putting in extra prayer time since the beginning of the Wallow fire. Larry and I are immensely grateful that we have had the time to rake, scrape, burn, and even fell a couple of dead trees. It has been an exhausting, accomplishful, holy time.</o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can remember praying from my earliest childhood. In the beginning, it was the Lord’s Prayer. When I became a teenager, it included specific images of what each phrase in the Lord's Prayer meant, and plenty of asking for that special boyfriend, success in school, or my zits to go away. I believed in that kind of prayer<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As an adult, though, I began to have problems with traditional prayer, especially those prayers that focused on trying to create things that never happened – or prayers whose success was predicated on my being good, and Jesus dying for my sins. Why didn’t God answer my prayers? Either God was deaf or I was doing something terribly, terribly wrong! After all that pleading for my heart’s desire, even I knew there had to be a better way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;">Where I found answers was in nature. Sitting on the edge of the lake, looking up at the night sky, and layer upon layers of stars reaching back to the beginning of time, I experienced a different kind of prayer, an outpouring of yearning and awe without words, a delicious and silent celebration of my being part of that immense magnificence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It changed me forever. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now I do less asking and more listening. “Your father knows what you need before you ask.” (Matthew 6:8). This powerful statement is repeated in many ways throughout the New Testament, yet we have been brought up to believe that God somehow doesn’t work that way. But think about it: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can a God who is ALL, who is everywhere, including within me as my essential nature, not know my intent, even if in the stress of the moment, my end of the conversation certainly indicates the Divine needs some clues?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So if we aren’t asking for something, especially when we feel we need it, how <u>do</u> we pray?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why, if God already knows our needs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One answer is that <i>we pray to discover within ourselves the answers God has already given us.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I find I do less asking and more listening these days. One method of listening that I use is through meditation. I love meditation. My favorite form of prayer is from within meditation. I find I need to shuck off the world so that I can plumb the quiet depths of my soul and reach that God-spirit within me. Meditation helps me reaffirm my connection with God and listen from within my deepest self for God’s answers. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Prayer within a meditation practice can be very powerful, and very different from the type of prayer we use to convince a reluctant God to do something for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meditation allows, listens. Prayer is our end of the conversation. The combination of the two is our opportunity to acknowledge the great gifts we have been given, in the knowledge that they are truly already there, present in this abundant universe, even if we don’t see them yet. Its our way of offering loving support to the other beings in this Universe as well.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These days I reach for something more than asking in prayer. My list is gone (well, mostly). Instead, I focus on listening for what God has to say. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However we pray, focusing on positive prayer directs the meanings behind our thoughts. If we are consumed with preventing disasters, curing illnesses, or correcting wrongs, especially in others, we are focused on those very pitfalls and problems! And, yes, the Universe will respond. But a positive approach, one that takes into account that God is already here, working on our behalf, allows the Universe – and us – to bring them to fruition. The intention to affirm what already exists, even when we can’t see the results yet, is a powerful tool for prayer.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the end, there is really no bad way of praying. There are more effective ways, and perhaps less effective ones. I’m firmly convinced that God gets our meaning in our hearts more than our words.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so I give thanks that the Wallow fire is contained, that there are many blessings, realized now and coming to those affected by the fire; that we have such splendid firefighters; and that many lives have been spared. I am grateful for the Divine Order of this Universe, and for the gifts of this experience.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i>“Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you have sent me.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 11:41-42.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-46723434639151318152011-05-16T21:54:00.000-07:002011-05-16T21:54:37.652-07:00Co-creating with God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-faMb5LWTF-4/TdH95J7Xt1I/AAAAAAAAAFA/Q0KCFHbK53Y/s1600/OutofManyOne6169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-faMb5LWTF-4/TdH95J7Xt1I/AAAAAAAAAFA/Q0KCFHbK53Y/s400/OutofManyOne6169.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Out of Many, One" - oil painting by Gwen Meyer Pentecost<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; line-height: 25px;"> </span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“<i>I have found that if you love life, life will love you back</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">.”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That quote by Arthur Rubenstein is a great start for our discussion about the third universal truth in Unity, “<i>We are co-creators with God, creating reality through thoughts held in mind.”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Arthur has something here. Haven’t you noticed that when you feel joy, your day goes better? And if you’re grumpy, sure enough, the world responds with more of the same? Your expectations seem to be self-fulfilling prophecies.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At first glance, you might wonder how we co-create with God. Isn’t that a tall order? Well, if “<i>There is only One Power and One Presence in my life and in the Universe: God, Goodness, Omnipotence</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">;” and “<i>We are created by and our essence is of God</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">,” as we discussed in the last column, then of course we can co-create with God! In fact, as Arthur Rubenstein pointed out above, we do it all the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This principle goes back to one of our co-founders, Charles Fillmore, who wrote at the turn of the last century, “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.” It’s a universal truth. Another way of saying this is expressed in the title of Mike Dooley’s book, “<i>Thoughts Become Things. Choose them Wisely!”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Thoughts <u>are</u> things; they occupy space in the mental field. This isn’t a new idea, and Mike did not invent it, although he has certainly championed the cause with his appearance on “The Secret,” his inspirational books, CD’s, and so forth. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thoughts are things because they employ our mind – and some say the Universe - to create the conditions wherein what we think is attracted to us…good or bad! Actually, we attract ourselves to what we think…and in that sense, we create our own Universe. So what we think and how we shape our thoughts becomes very important. This is especially true when we blame others for our circumstances, when we give away that responsibility for how we show up in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Negative thoughts and feelings are harmful to our consciousness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They destroy how we look at life and how we handle the issues, large and small, that come to us. They are derived from what Gary Simmons <i>(“The I of the Storm”)</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> calls the shadow side of our personalities, those self-perpetuating cycles of mistrust of ourselves and others…and wind up creating exactly what we fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, our feelings and perceptions define the world we experience. This spiritual principle, though, goes deeper than that. It tells us that we are responsible for our lives. We are responsible partly because we are of God and we have the power – As Jesus said, <i>“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do…</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">” <b>(John 14:12). </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> We have the power, if we but use it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are also co-creators because what happens to us isn’t a matter of the Great Puppeteer Up In The Sky working with strings or twisting dials to make us do what He wants us to. We have free will, and so we co-create with God the world we make. We are responsible for our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cannot change what other people do, say or think; we can only change our attitudes about them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xc3FtLc5rPA/TdH_CTe6TkI/AAAAAAAAAFE/r7IerXyjjpI/s1600/Dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xc3FtLc5rPA/TdH_CTe6TkI/AAAAAAAAAFE/r7IerXyjjpI/s400/Dawn.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dawn, Hawley Lake, by Gwen Meyer Pentecost</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Albert Einstein said, <i>“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agree: we can’t hope to hold the same outlook and solve the problems within it.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I’m lying on the couch in a blue funk, changing those thoughts and feelings is very hard to do without going back to the first and second universal truths:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is all powerful and all-present; and as I am of God, I have that same power and strength within me to deal with whatever issues face me. When I know without question that I have the Christ Spirit inside me, that I am a child of God, loved by God, those thoughts remind me of the strength at my core. They give me self-confidence born of my divine lineage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>OK, these changes aren’t always easy, but they’re worth taking on. After all, I co-create my own world, and I want it to be the best it can be. So I look to my thoughts and feelings as the moving force that helps shape my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like the previous two Unity principles, this third principle is not unique to Unity or to New Thought, but is a universal truth expressed in religion and philosophy around the world. Like them, it focuses on our relationship with God. The difference is that this truth outlines our responsibility in creating our own lives, for good or bad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b><i>You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. --Job 22:28<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: ArialMT;"><i><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-47344469502043904242011-05-10T21:35:00.000-07:002011-05-10T21:35:07.476-07:00Exploring our relationship with God<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><!--StartFragment--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"> As I write this, it is snowing! Granted, not much, and its nowhere near freezing, but the big fluffy flakes are the real deal nonetheless. (sigh) May 10. No wonder Spring comes late here. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9xrw-mrte7U/TcoPGBHnf_I/AAAAAAAAAEw/T3En-8iDUSo/s1600/ManseSpr8761cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9xrw-mrte7U/TcoPGBHnf_I/AAAAAAAAAEw/T3En-8iDUSo/s400/ManseSpr8761cr.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring at the Manse...that's Larry, working on a project.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"> I have been buried under a couple of projects, and to my delight, have been producing a couple of articles for our local newspaper, not to mention outdoor projects and (ahem) turkey season, so I'm a bit behind with everything. Below is my latest article for the paper, plus some recent photos of spring (such as it is) here and a trip to Sedona. I hope you like it!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">-------------</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> "I am, to some extent, like many seekers. I seek the happiest, healthiest life I can have, and the most spiritually satisfying one as well. But how do I find my personal path to spirituality, and the practices and guidelines that fit my own heart? Out of the 21 major religions and hundreds of variations on them, there are a dizzying array of choices. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">From the Christian heritage, we have the Bible, with its Ten Commandments, revered for 3,300 years, but even the guidelines in the Bible aren’t clear-cut. In addition to the Ten Commandments, Moses brought a number of other ordinances from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 21), and the 613 Mosaic laws, most of which we do not follow today. Did you know “an eye for an eye” is among those edicts from Mt. Sinai? Exodus 21:23-25. Some of those laws are horrifying to us in today’s world, like rules for slavery and selling one’s daughter, but they must have been a vast improvement over the absence of law in those ancient times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Humanity’s social consciousness wasn’t very well developed during the Bronze and Iron Ages when those laws were written. Even the Ten Commandments, current then, aren’t enough for living spiritually today. They are more focused on what we shouldn’t do, not how to deepen our spiritually. We honor and respect them, but we need more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need spiritual truths.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So lets take a different look at some universal, spiritual truths that might answer the needs of this world 3,300 years later. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Unity teaches five basic principles, or what are considered to be universal truths throughout the world about spirituality. We begin with the statement of faith: <i>There is only One Presence and One Power active in my life and in the Universe: God, Goodness, Omnipotence</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. There is only One Presence, acknowledged by many names around the world. In the view at Unity, the One Presence we call God has also created and is incorporated into every part of this world, every bush and tree, every animal, every rock, every human being. God isn’t just Up There, God is within everyone and everything as well. God <u>is</u> everything, right down to the smallest atomic particle and empty space full of energy. The energy itself speaks of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s pretty powerful stuff, and indeed it has been said that Unity’s choice of the other four spiritual principles exist only to further explain the ramifications of that one. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ExKkut7gr4M/TcoPeRKaoQI/AAAAAAAAAE0/VK84IyZDuyU/s1600/OakCreek8752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ExKkut7gr4M/TcoPeRKaoQI/AAAAAAAAAE0/VK84IyZDuyU/s400/OakCreek8752.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What are we in this relationship?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second basic truth is: <i>We are created by and our essence is of God, therefore we are inherently good. This God essence, called the Christ, was fully expressed in Jesus.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> The concept of the Christ being the God essence within each of us is a cornerstone of Unity’s teachings; in fact, it is an essential part of New Thought beliefs. The <u>direct</u> connection with an indwelling God is a major theme throughout New Thought, quite different from those religions that use priests or other religious figures as the ways to connect with God. We “go direct to Headquarters,” to quote Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity. We teach that everyone can have a direct relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The other New Thought idea in this universal truth is the goodness of God’s creation, namely, us. We are not born in sin but born of a divine nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus didn’t say sin, Paul did. There is no essential evil in us, or original sin for that matter, for we are of God, created by God. Would God have created a flawed expression of Itself (Himself/Herself)? We are only flawed by how we exercise our free will, not by an inherent quality. We are inherently good! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It makes sense. When we reach for our best, when we strive to be the best we can be, we reach within us, not to the heavens. When we think or feel about God, again, that feeling is palpably within us. And as many students of meditation or “the silence” can attest, when we sink deepest within ourselves, again, we become more keenly aware of that Christ essence. Is it within us or is it us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the noise of living this life makes us forget that the Christ essence IS us. We can’t be separated from it. We are of God as the wave is of the ocean.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This Christ essence is in everybody, not just Jesus. It was expressed and called forth in Abraham and Sarah, Eli and Samuel, Moses and Aaron, long before Jesus was born. We see the hint in that wonderful passage from Jeremiah 31:33, 34: <i>“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> Jesus knew, and lived the Truth of that God essence in his everyday life – and his death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-13OJmz6SeKQ/TcoQK6nOK7I/AAAAAAAAAE4/Rn6600xeN2E/s1600/SedTreeClump8749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-13OJmz6SeKQ/TcoQK6nOK7I/AAAAAAAAAE4/Rn6600xeN2E/s640/SedTreeClump8749.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Yes, there are people who don’t seem to be “good,” according to our definition. Human history is peppered with people who we could regard as evil, even when they are acting out of what they feel is right, or owed them, or what is “normal” in their lives. God also gave us free will, and sometimes in the exercise of that, we do things that are not in the best interest of ourselves or others. We choose. That is free will.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Charles Fillmore wrote some hundred years ago, “There is a relationship with God into which we can enter where He seems “closer . . . than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.” When we enter into this relationship, we become acutely aware of God as a living presence and we are lifted up by His love.” Again, we choose to become aware of the Christ presence within us. I suspect God loves us anyway, even if we don’t, at least if God is this truly omnipotent, good, omnipresence we think he is. But why not enjoy the deepest feeling of connection you can? Not just in prayer or meditation, but in everyday living? If you want to pursue this thought, Joel Goldsmith wrote a wonderful book, <i>“Practicing the Presence.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> It’s illuminating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lets take another look at what this concept can mean to us: if indeed God is everywhere, within everyone, then we are one with God on the deepest level of our being. When we look at someone else, that person has God-spirit within him or her as well. That “Presence” within insists on respect, even when we disagree. It is safe to say that if we were all conscious of our Oneness with each other, we would find more peace in the world. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the words of Karen Drucker, New Thought composer and songstress,<o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">“<i>You are the face of God,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><i>I hold you in my heart,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><i>You are a part of me,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><i>You are the face of God.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The presence of God in me recognizes the presence of God in you, and therefore the Christ in me recognizes the Christ in you.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it is."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">--------</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The above is an article written for the Religions page of our local newspaper, the White Mountain Independent. It has been edited by Rev. Michael Brooks, minister at Unity of the White Mountains.</span><!--EndFragment--> </div><!--StartFragment--><!--EndFragment--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
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<!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-28309606187645780392011-04-15T20:34:00.000-07:002011-04-15T20:34:15.458-07:00Finding a home.<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TVWXfqyQOzI/TakMZ5XcgyI/AAAAAAAAAEs/bjaFky7F8UQ/s1600/UnityVill8253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="294" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TVWXfqyQOzI/TakMZ5XcgyI/AAAAAAAAAEs/bjaFky7F8UQ/s400/UnityVill8253.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silent Unity building, from a previous trip. I am hoping to get a photo of the new fountains tomorrow.</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have had a very interesting week here at Unity Village. I’m attending Lyceum, the 4<sup>th</sup> Annual convocation of religious scholars, where I’ve had the exquisite pleasure of hearing from speakers like the Venerable Bhante Y. Wimala; Dr. Paul Alan Laughlin, a member of the Jesus Project; Dr. Donald Rothberg; and a host of other exciting, brilliant presenters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its an exquisite pleasure, for instance, to hear a debate between Rev. E.J. Niles and Rev. Tom Shepherd, both towering intellects, on the nature of evolution. We were spellbound. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have lots of ideas to process, lots of different avenues of inquiry, and enough books that I should read to take up all available time for the next several years. What I also found was a home, why my thoughts are the way they are, or rather, what company I keep spiritually. This discovery happened in the middle of a discussion about the differences and similarities between Christianity, Unity, and Buddhism.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lets keep it simple for this post and simply talk about how we see God. And don’t worry, if I’m wrong about any of this, my professors will certainly let me know.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Western religions see God as transcendent:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being above the Universe; separate, superior, not a part of it. We see a God in whose image we are created, that is, we see God in OUR image, endowed with human characteristics, but we mere creatures certainly are not part of God as the wave is part of the ocean. We are inferior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God the Father is superior, untouchable.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eastern religions see God, where they talk of The One, as immanent, i.e., as within the world. Everything is an expression of Oneness. God isn’t separate from nature, God IS nature. God is intrinsically wound into the Universe, permeating, saturating, infusing the cosmos. God is the soul of the whole…and therefore profoundly within us. We don’t have to look “up” to see God…we look within, we experience God. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is much more, of course. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I find myself somewhere between the East and West. I believe that God is everywhere, immanent, within myself as well as everywhere else. I’ve felt this long before I came to Unity; this belief was fostered by what I learned in the woods, the ocean, and under the stars. You cannot look up at the night sky, particularly in the crisp desert air, without knowing God is everywhere, without feeling a part of the One. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so my thoughts about God are described under “Eastern.” There are other clues, too: I pray through meditation. I believe in pursuing love, joy, compassion, and equanimity, key Buddhist concepts. But my love for the Christ Spirit within is profound, and my respect for the man Jesus immense. I enjoy Bible history and scholasticism. I am of the Christian world, not the eastern one. I could no more become a Buddhist than become a leopard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my mind, Unity itself straddles this fence. It is both Christian in context and Eastern in values. We study the <u>lessons</u> of Jesus, and many of us don’t care whether the man really existed or not. We follow the teachings with our eyes wide open, enjoying the discoveries of scholars and scientific inquiry, while retaining the intrinsic value of the lessons themselves. Yet we also meditate, or go into “the silence” of prayer. We believe that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and good. And if God is everywhere, God is certainly within us, is us, again, as the wave is of the ocean. This expression is more Eastern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Part of why we got this way is the fascination of our early New Thought founders with Eastern philosophy, but some of us, including myself, came to the same position independently, long before we heard of the Fillmores or Emma Curtis Hopkins, or remember much from our high school days about Ralph Waldo Emerson.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For us there really isn’t a dichotomy between the two worlds; there is only the development of our own individual thought, which seems to be a part of both but may, in the end, really be neither.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><i>If you want to find out more about Unity, go to <a href="http://unity.org/">http://unity.org</a>. It will be interesting!<o:p></o:p></i></div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-91343797716621507382011-04-12T13:58:00.000-07:002011-04-12T13:58:31.315-07:00Somehow a Mountain...<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b1nH6QU80g0/TaS70BeAJzI/AAAAAAAAAEo/YR8n-QeGv8A/s1600/LookingintoTaku7757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b1nH6QU80g0/TaS70BeAJzI/AAAAAAAAAEo/YR8n-QeGv8A/s400/LookingintoTaku7757.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alaska: Looking over the icefields into the Taku Valley</td></tr>
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"> <i>Somehow a mountain has passed under my wings,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i> And I have come to myself to soar<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i>Over the valley, hidden in the blue haze<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i>Of summer heat.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i> It only seems a mystery. God has held within my heart<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i>For many years the knowing of my Spirit,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i>And my desire to serve,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><i> Waiting for me to stretch my wings and reach for life.</i><o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Original poem by Gwen Meyer</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: -31.5pt; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-51393116523347233322011-04-06T18:06:00.000-07:002011-04-06T18:06:05.578-07:00Loving-Kindness<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HHsuypeNOY/TZ0Nj2dRBQI/AAAAAAAAAEk/EyOOp6iXWM0/s1600/JuneauMendPkBst7704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HHsuypeNOY/TZ0Nj2dRBQI/AAAAAAAAAEk/EyOOp6iXWM0/s320/JuneauMendPkBst7704.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summer in Alaska</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am bringing you today two quotes by a wonderful, perceptive lady who also happens to be a Buddhist monk. Last I remember, she was writing from an abbey in Nova Scotia. She addresses the issue of self-improvement and loving kindness towards oneself in a way that is insightful and necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her basic premise in these quotes is that positive change cannot come out of self hate.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now you and I know that self-hate can be an impetus for change – if you’ve ever looked into the mirror and not liked what you’ve seen, you know what I mean. But being an impetus and being a <u>method</u> of change are two different things. Self-hate is a poison, causing us to focus on what is bad, instead of where we want to go. Besides, who are you to be knocking God’s magnificent creation like that? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Um, that’s <u>you</u> we’re talking about, by the way.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We all have times we’re unhappy with ourselves, yet there is a better way to improve ourselves than self-hate, not just in my opinion, but in the view of many, many others. As Pema Chodron says in “The Pocket Pema Chodron,”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>“The problem is that the desire to change is fundamentally a form of aggression toward yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other problem is that our hang-ups, unfortunately or fortunately, contain our wealth. Our neuroses and our wisdom are made out of the same material…the idea isn’t to get rid of the problem but to make friends with it, to see it clearly with precision and honesty, and also to see it with gentleness. That means not judging yourself as a bad person, but also not bolstering yourself up by saying, “Its good that I’m this way”...and learning how, once you’ve experienced it fully, to let go.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </i><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is she talking about when she says “our neuroses and our wisdom are made out of the same material?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think she is saying that there were reasons we were the way we were, that some form of self-protection kicked in that enabled us to survive, to deal with situations in the past, perhaps learned as very small children… and now, once we understand that, and we feel how it has shown up inside of us, we can let go if it no longer serves us. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That is a very brief description of something that can take some real effort to understand, particularly the mechanism of how our habit or neuroses protected us in the past…I found therapy helpful, particularly hypnotherapy. I also found deep meditation with the intent to see and feel the behavior also successful, though I had to be very perceptive about the images that arose, and not just dismiss them as random thoughts.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most of all, I have found that I am not my history, and I won’t be chained to it. My future lies with loving myself in the present enough to let go of behavior that no longer serves me. I love myself enough to understand, forgive, and let go, not just of my behaviors, “sins,” etc., but of those around me as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My future lies with a positive, self-actualizing image of myself.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve talked about this from my point of view, so lets change this around to yours and see how it fits:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>You are not your history, and you won’t be chained to it if you don’t want to be. Your future lies with loving yourself enough to understand, forgive, and let go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your future springs from your self-love.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The innocent mistake that keeps us caught in our own particular style of ignorance, unkindness, and shut-downness, is that we are never encouraged to see clearly what is, with gentleness. Instead, there’s a kind of basic misunderstanding that we should try to be better than we already are, that we should try to improve ourselves, that we should try to get away from painful things, and that if we could just learn how to get away from the painful things, then we would be happy. That is the innocent, naïve misunderstanding that we all share, which keeps us unhappy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;">Pema Chodron, “Awakening Loving-Kindness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-374231652926300092011-03-31T16:17:00.000-07:002011-03-31T16:17:30.649-07:00Letting Go<!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dex3pcDH9G8/TZUJ-NR49qI/AAAAAAAAAEY/XVYtwUEkKM0/s1600/LeavingHawleyII4590.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dex3pcDH9G8/TZUJ-NR49qI/AAAAAAAAAEY/XVYtwUEkKM0/s400/LeavingHawleyII4590.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Leaving Hawley II"*</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a wonderful article from unity.org that came to mind this last week as I went through some difficult situations and dealt with the detritus of moving my home as well. The name of the article is “We have to let you go” and is available by clicking <a href="http://unity.org/homepageArchive/features/weHaveToLetYouGo.html">here</a>. Allen Cohen, the author, uses the image of a stem of tomatoes, of different sizes. One is perfect, ready to be picked. The stem says to the tomato, “We have to let you go.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s a great image. Although the title of the original illustration is “Plant closings,” it refers to many, many intersections in our lives. When we are at a certain point in our growth, when we are in situations or dealing with issues that no longer serve us, we have to let go - or be let go - in order to fulfill our ultimate destiny. The tomato stem is not the right place for a ripe tomato, nor is the relationship, job, situation or habit that we find ourselves in from time to time. Sometimes its not voluntary; the loss of a partner, a job, a home, or some desired outcome, however devastating, can be a signal for us to look around and see what our options really are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This can be a tricky intersection. Particularly if the change is thrust upon us, rather than our choice, we may blame others, or outside situations for what has happened. We often resist the change that is obvious or thrust upon us. We wallow in pity, seeing ourselves as victims. And we mourn.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mourning can be appropriate, but there also comes a time where we have to get up off the couch and realize the truth that our life is our responsibility. We can’t change others, only ourselves. With that in mind, as Gary Simmons says in “Eye of the Storm,” there is nothing and no one really against us. Only ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agree this is not an easy understanding to reach, but eventually we have to, or wind up perpetual victims. I’m not ready to go there. Are you?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have some particular tools for dealing with reshaping my future, but without realizing the truths in that last paragraph, I find my efforts not up to the job. However, if I am conscious of having God as my essential self, even if I just screwed up, I know, down to the bottom of my gut, that I can change my life, not by dwelling in the past, but <i>by making the past irrelevant to my future course</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. It can be a challenge, but after all, if I’m of God, expressing God, why not?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we accept responsibility and move forward into new choices, strengthened by the knowledge of what we are inside, we have true freedom to shape our own lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, our path in life is more than just a reflection what happens to us. We have come here to be the very best we can be, but its up to us how we handle it. We are the architects, good or bad, of our destiny. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s simply the way it is.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">*From time to time I will post photos of my own paintings. Many are available from my <a href="http://joyouslakegallery.com/">Joyous Lake Gallery website</a>. Readers of this blog are eligible for discounts.</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-27133118993188218802011-03-17T10:24:00.000-07:002011-03-17T10:24:52.079-07:00Thoughts on Lent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tfZuixKN1Y8/TYI_vg3dxzI/AAAAAAAAAEU/YBntM6_hyR4/s1600/SaltRCa1036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tfZuixKN1Y8/TYI_vg3dxzI/AAAAAAAAAEU/YBntM6_hyR4/s1600/SaltRCa1036.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <!--StartFragment--> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it!” That line, from Psalm 118, signals the start of yet another splendid day in the White Mountains. Sunshine abounds, the first robins have arrived, and many of us are thinking of getting out and digging in the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the business of winter isn’t quite over yet here in the high country, and putting tender young things into the soil at this point is an exercise in futility. Its OK to dig, but not to plant.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So it is with the season of Lent, as we dig and weed and plow in the soil of our thoughts. Lent is traditionally our spiritual preparation for the glory of Easter. Often marked by giving up certain foods, it is the season of repentence, of giving up, in commemoration of the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness rejecting temptation before his final trip into Jerusalem and his ultimate fate. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> What if instead of giving up meat, chocolate (my favorite), or other physical things, we choose instead to let go of negative thoughts and lack of forgiveness towards ourselves and others so that we may walk in a path of renewal? Isn't that a great way to honor Jesus' Forty Days in the Wilderness and at the same time set our own stage for a new life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give to you the wonderful prayer offered by the Daily Word for Ash Wednesday: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Lord, help me walk a path of renewal. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I lift up my old life for purification, confident a new life rises from those ashes.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> I release every limitation I believe is true about my worth and power, my beauty and creativity.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -4.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I sweep away every debt I believe anyone owes me. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I cast off every condemnation I carry. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I pray with an open heart, releasing limits, pain and false beliefs with ease. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I accept new wisdom, understanding and peace with grace. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For the gifts of my journey of purification and renewal, I am grateful.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> Amen.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> What a powerful way to renew ourselves!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lift up my old life for purification, confident a new life rises from those ashes! This is such a perfect message that in our household we are reading it to each other every morning, a way to set our intention for sweeping away any spiritual and emotional debris we have carried from the past. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You will notice that nowhere in this wonderful set of denials and affirmations does it say “because I am a sinner to have thought/felt/acted that way in the first place.” No, we were doing the best we could, even in our imperfection. Forgiving isn’t condoning, but more a way of setting aside negative feelings so we can choose differently, so we can love. Our old ways served a purpose for us, and now it is time to let them go so we can move forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only by forgiving ourselves – and others - can we get to a place where we will be successful in reaching for a new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, the Lenten practice is solidly based on forgiveness - and love. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><i>“Your past has brought you where you are, and yet it does not dictate where you can now go. Make the choice to point all of your life in the direction of your dreams.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Ralph Marston<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><!--EndFragment--> </span>Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-82075107815711244522011-03-13T09:56:00.000-07:002011-03-13T09:56:48.128-07:00Looking for answers<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-URlCDw7fBpg/TXz2NmADY9I/AAAAAAAAAEE/dD2KcNznTLw/s1600/ChrisHospital_8743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-URlCDw7fBpg/TXz2NmADY9I/AAAAAAAAAEE/dD2KcNznTLw/s1600/ChrisHospital_8743.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> For the past few days, I have been occupied with hospitals, motels, and travel. I am thrilled to say my son has made a full recovery, and is now contemplating an exercise program perhaps a bit less than the 12 to 14 miles jogging three times a week he did before. The challenge, of course, is that we still don’t know why it happened and therefore are unsure how to prevent it from happening again, although he does now carry a state-of-the-art defibrillator within his chest.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the process of this very chaotic time, I have been traveling myself through places I grew up, with special memories. A visit to a dear friend sixty miles south took not one or two freeways, but five, four of which I had never been on before, probably because they weren’t built the last time I was in the area. Even sleepy Hwy 101 had morphed from the four-lane highway I remember into a strapping ten lanes, five each way, filling the employment needs of the Silicon Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m not sad about these massive freeways, even as I gasp at the speed people travel on them. The travelers on them go to real jobs, real means to fulfill their dreams. What they have done has changed our lives, to my mind mostly for the better. Each life style carries its own price tag, of course, and so we become subject to viruses, scams, and the horror of watching the tragedy in Japan as it occurred, news of which would have taken several days to reach us 100 years ago, and not in such graphic detail. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As much as this world has changed, as much as we know, there is still so very much to learn. We don’t know why my son’s heart virtually stopped in the middle of jogging. We don’t know how to predict earthquakes or tsunami’s enough in advance to save everybody. We don’t know why God’s laws, expressed in the laws of nature, would allow for the deaths of so many people, good people living their lives as best they knew how.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> One</span> explanation is that God is both principle and personal, i.e., the principle that if the sea floor slips, it will release a tidal wave capable of killing thousands of people; and personal in that we are all a part of God, like the wave is of the ocean. We feel God intimately within us. There are probably thousands of stories of grace, escape, and love, in Japan, not to mention those souls which did not survive this event and were brought back into their purely spiritual state that is Spirit, God itself. After Chris’ near-death and rescue, I have faith that grace exists, and hopefully it did for many of those in Japan as well.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What do we really know? Only that we don’t, and we keep trying to find out. There are as many different views of the Supreme Being as there are people who think. Christianity itself includes a staggering range of belief, and always has, right from the earliest days after Jesus’ crucifixion. The rest of the world contains more and different brands of belief, consistent only in thinking they are right. Even those who engineered 9/11 thought they were expressing God’s will, to our horror. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> I have come to believe that the brand of religion or belief system we choose to follow says something about ourselves and what resonates within us, rather than who is ultimately correct. Hopefully, we have gone beyond thinking that anyone who doesn’t think like us is evil, unwashed, wrong…not always, I know, but I think there are more who believe in the inherent goodness of man and life than those who don’t.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How do we get more people to join us in this faith? Through prayer, worldwide prayer and love. Through being the activity of God, doing not what we want, but that which we should for the benefit of those around us.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I “know” for myself, that we are all of God, God’s expression in this world, tempered by our free will. I feel it, I live with the glow of this knowledge within me. Am I right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knows? But I will pursue living, loving, and giving to the very best of my abilities because that is what resonates within me. That is how God manifests through me, and many others like me who believe in the innate goodness of God’s creation. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it is. Amen.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-10608851947635240952011-03-06T13:06:00.000-08:002011-03-06T13:06:44.951-08:00Life and living<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YYgT9wOxH6Y/TXP28419nyI/AAAAAAAAAD8/EknqRmTH_9k/s1600/ShiningTree8517cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YYgT9wOxH6Y/TXP28419nyI/AAAAAAAAAD8/EknqRmTH_9k/s1600/ShiningTree8517cr.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Its been an unusual time; surreal, scary, and illuminating. Last Tuesday, I got a call that my son was gravely ill. He had been jogging, when his heart stopped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fellow jogger caught him as he stumbled and fell, summoned help, two people pitched in on the CPR, someone stood by with the 911 call, directing the ambulance – which happened to be two minutes away, no more, and he was taken to the best heart hospital in the area, which they happened to be near. Messages of grace that made it possible for him to recover. Angels, doing God’s work as simple expressions of care.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I don’t think anything can prepare you to hear your child is on life support. Even if it is for a good reason, your mind stops functioning. Calm deserts you for a while, and if you can get it back, its not true calm, but the trying-not-to-be-anxious funneling of prayers, love, and support from yourself and everyone you know – and collaring every doctor to pummel him or her for answers…I tried to remember to stay centered in Spirit, but it was intermittent. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">We hear that we are spiritual beings having a physical existence. I feel lucky that there are those who address our physical existence with such dedication and intelligence! Modern science can be a wonderful blessing, God’s work in another guise. He had the benefit of vast improvements in care science to protect his brain and heart, and space-age diagnostic tools to chase down the cause. Some of those tools are so sophisticated and new that he will have to be transferred to Silicon Valley to take advantage of them. Maybe in the end we will know the physical reason a 42-year-old man in excellent health will experience sudden cardiac arrest. Judging from the news, we aren’t the only ones who are interested.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">The spiritual side – ah, he had wonderful support there. The word went out over several networks, and he had worldwide prayer, reiki, and loving support. By his side, I could feel the energy from those prayers thrumming through my fingers…I can’t thank you enough for them. God didn’t need them, but we all did. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I was also fortunate. My son had been adopted by another couple as a small child, and we had been in contact over the years. His adopted mother is a wise woman, had been open about letting me into his life, and had called me right away when this happened. Other than somewhat unusual explanations about my presence there, the nursing staff and doctors were fabulous, supporting the entire family on my son’s behalf.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">So we are wonderfully blessed. Blessed by his amazing rescue and recovery. Blessed by God’s grace in the fullness of Spiritual expression. Blessed by friends, loved ones, and the incredible kindness of strangers. We are deeply grateful.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">And so it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-40505478714125672862011-03-02T10:13:00.000-08:002011-03-02T10:13:57.606-08:00Lessons from Sports<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YT34J6BG8dk/TW6H5DMfn3I/AAAAAAAAAD4/BmrHi_JhLs8/s1600/PondShot6548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YT34J6BG8dk/TW6H5DMfn3I/AAAAAAAAAD4/BmrHi_JhLs8/s400/PondShot6548.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Larry and I were reading the local newspaper the other day – he had bought the paper this time, so he got first crack at the front section, and I got the sports, not usually my favorite, but this time the front stories were riveting.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">The first thing I noticed was the photos - now, mind you, high school sports in this remote section of Arizona is fiercely competitive, and, to give credit to the photographer, the photos of the players show how intensely they focus on the ball. They don’t ignore the other players, but their total objective was getting the ball to its appointed target. It reminded me of something mentioned by Doug Krug, in his Enlightened Leadership Program, where he spoke of Tiger Woods and his legendary power to focus. He observed that if Tiger made a mistake, he didn’t focus on correcting the mistake, he remained focused on <i>making the ball get to its target</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. These high school players seemed to understand that concept. Those photos are as exciting as those from any professional game. The players who have this type of focus are going to go far, with or without professional sports as their next goal.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">The second observation came from reading a couple of articles further down the page. The first had quotes from coaches that were not only complimentary, but specific in analyzing the young men or women’s strong points, and encouraging about their future in and out of the game. The other article was about a losing local team, where the coach observed that in the first half, the players didn’t really go out to play the game. The coach was trying to hold back, but it was obvious he was disappointed in his team. And he said it to a reporter, where it could be put into print.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Want to bet who had the best chance for future success? The ones that were praised, or the ones who had their faults pointed out in print? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">It is a matter of different teaching techniques, but I submit to you that if someone has the opportunity to build on their strengths, they have a better chance than the person who must concentrate on mistakes. When you concentrate on mistakes, even on correcting them, you tend to program the mind to repeat them. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">The same goes for focus. If you focus on what went wrong so you can correct it, you won’t get as far as the person who never takes his focus off of his ultimate goal. It doesn’t matter if you believe in Enlightened Leadership, Power of Positive Thinking, or the What If Up! Concept I’ve talked about before, if your lessons can come from the strength within you, that God-Spirit within you, rather than where you failed, you will shine.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">And you will. You will shine.</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-78822123665857885972011-02-21T10:25:00.000-08:002011-02-21T10:25:54.374-08:00Sunday afternoons<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jak29Vh7d3I/TWKtxThxAOI/AAAAAAAAAD0/1bu0JDM870o/s1600/SnowBckYdRez87resz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jak29Vh7d3I/TWKtxThxAOI/AAAAAAAAAD0/1bu0JDM870o/s400/SnowBckYdRez87resz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">We have just spent a lovely Sunday afternoon…loafing! Yes, that peaceful kind of loafing that includes naps, watching the light snow fall, an easy dinner eaten on the sofa around the Sunday newspaper, getting some minor stuff done of the kind that can be accomplished with a cat on your lap getting hair in the computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never seem to make it to turning on the TV, watching a game, or going to a movie. And although we love taking a drive into the back country, hiking in better weather, or cross-country skiing, I’m still not able to handle getting soaked and frozen, so today we are just watching the trees outside as the snow falls, and sharing our dreams in the slow-motion tempo of a Sunday afternoon.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">This really is the beauty of Sabbath…a day of rest, a day spent being happy in this wondrous world. The <a href="http://dailyword.com/">Daily Word</a> today talked about the magic of grace, that wonderful and unexpected gift from God that we are given freely, without requiring our sacrifice or penance. It is ours without asking, as subtle as the beauty of the snow as it outlines every twig and branch – or as obvious as the accident just avoided, the health challenge overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is ours to live with, to revel in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">What would our world be like without God’s grace? God didn’t have to make the sunsets gorgeous, love beautiful, or lemon pie delicious…but that’s the way it is. And although this particular Sabbath’s grace is more about resting and enjoying things as they are, there is always tomorrow, thanks to that same gift of grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This world may not be perfect in our eyes, but we can make it better by passing our love on to others. We have the capacity to care, to give, to be that unexpected blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">We are God’s love in action. We are God’s grace, too. Lets live up to it!</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-50187280592137586442011-02-16T20:49:00.000-08:002011-02-16T20:49:14.619-08:00Of travels and love, lots of love<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NA1TfwTtUno/TVylOG1-rwI/AAAAAAAAADw/JVox9OPpwWY/s1600/NarrowsatDawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NA1TfwTtUno/TVylOG1-rwI/AAAAAAAAADw/JVox9OPpwWY/s400/NarrowsatDawn.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Narrows at Dawn. This photo was taken along the edge of the Acoma Indian Reservation <br />
on the last leg of my journey home. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">It has been way too many days since my last post. In the interim, I have learned that I was, indeed, accepted onto the ministerial path at Unity, been awash in the formal admissions forms for Unity Institute, catching up with things, and recovering from pneumonia. So I am late. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I love the drive home from Unity Village...I often drive in complete silence, not even the radio or the CDs playing. It gives me lots of time to process what I've learned. In addition, the road this time held a number of challenges post-blizzard. I was never unsafe, but I saw lots of evidence of people that had a harder time than I did. And it took me three days to get home.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">In the process of the journey and the slow days recovering, I have had some interesting insights. I have been contacting all those wonderful people who have encouraged me and loved me, held my hand, and generally thought I was indeed capable of this strange and wonderful calling. As I go through my mailing lists, I am astonished, honored, and humbled by the number of them. In my case, it took more than a village to raise this Child of God! I have been blessed with their love and confidence in me, often long before I felt equal to it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I’m not alone. Everyone who has tread this path successfully does so with an army behind them. Its too intense a path to travel by oneself. Even if we must take the individual steps ourselves, and we must, we still need love and support. As the Dalai Lama said, “Compassion and love are not mere luxuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the source both of inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species.” <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">So I remain honored and humbled. You, dear friends, mentors, congregation, and teachers, have shown me love. You’ve shown me compassion as you’ve watched me awkwardly stumble and find my feet along the path. You've forgiven my errors. You’ve stood behind me, tutored me in some cases, and believed in me. Yes, I’ve made the steps myself. But I knew you were there, and I used that knowledge shamelessly in the inevitable dark nights.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Now I celebrate you in the bright days as well. Thank you, all of you, for being there for me, as you have been for countless others as well. I send you blessings, love, and compassion, learning from you those beautiful and necessary lessons you have so freely given. I am honored by your trust. I hold you in light and love. I see the Christ in you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I will do you proud.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-3800912382759589492011-02-02T20:08:00.000-08:002011-02-02T20:08:53.284-08:00Interviews for Unity Institute<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUooKDSuIyI/AAAAAAAAADs/HgqfTlzXEFs/s1600/Jasper8016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUooKDSuIyI/AAAAAAAAADs/HgqfTlzXEFs/s400/Jasper8016.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I am writing this from a hotel in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, waiting for both the roads and an acute sinus infection to clear. The interviews for Unity Institute were yesterday at the height of the blizzard, three of them, two teams of ministers and a psychologist, who pretty much went through our internal landscapes with a steam shovel and a pickaxe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterwards, the current group of ministerial students, who have been giving us marvelous support and prayer, went through the last part:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what happens if we are redirected, i.e., we cannot go to Unity Institute at this time.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Now, none of the three of us know the results. We were confident immediately after the interviews, but as the day wore on, much less so. The team has made their decisions, we’ve already heard that they wouldn’t need an extra day, but they won’t tell us the results until we are safely home (and not in their faces) on Monday. Because of the blizzard, we and the review team wound up taking dinner together last night at Unity Inn, but it was uncomfortable. The team wouldn’t meet our eyes, and so we know at least one of us has been redirected.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Oh, God, let it not be me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">What the ministerial students were so wise as to say is that a LOT of people get redirected to work on internal “stuff,” and that many of the current crop of students and quite a few working ministers have been redirected at first, some several times, and eventually made it through. The other piece about what they had to say was that in every case they heard about, the redirection was right; that there were issues that had to be worked on, or there were things that had nothing to do with them; those people had seen parents or immediate family members pass away that – had they not been redirected – they would not have been able to be with them in their final days. The upshot – and, as sick as I am, lets go for the upshot – is that Spirit always knows, even if we don’t at the time, and that our path is as its going to be, and be the best for both us and the people and congregation we are to serve. We are ALL bound to serve; it just remains to see in what capacity.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">We were, I believe, authentic and transparent. And if our transparency results in a redirection and we can’t go to seminary right away, that is life in Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess the point is that sometimes God redirects our life; but it is never a mistake to Spirit, even when we don’t particularly want to go where God/Spirit leads us. We will find our way, our version of how to serve in the greatest capacity we have to deliver. When you think of how each person – you, me, that person at the bustop over there – truly is God inside, even if we are not manifesting it particularly well at the moment, you can see there is a Grand Pattern. We retain the ability to have free will within it, yes, but somewhere we fit in. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">The three of us remain dreamers, guiders, lovers of this blessed humanity and the people we serve. Yes, we serve you, wherever, whenever, and however God leads us to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-71633095364519910992011-01-27T22:29:00.000-08:002011-01-27T22:29:14.980-08:00What did he say?<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUJC9AdH0MI/AAAAAAAAADg/TIIqjb6vAQg/s1600/ParadiseRoadAspens0146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUJC9AdH0MI/AAAAAAAAADg/TIIqjb6vAQg/s400/ParadiseRoadAspens0146.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I say with some laughter that this is the last of the major loose ends in this series of articles…and it comes from my curiosity about the interesting use in the Bible of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Son of Man” vs. “Son of God.” “Son of Man” is used frequently throughout the Bible, 178 times in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament…even Jesus seems to describe himself as "Son of Man." Its a wonderfully rich description, representing our entire race. “Son of God,” on the other hand, is used only 41 times, all in the New Testament, and more often spoken by others than by Jesus. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Easy, you say…Jesus is the Son of God, so of course he is mentioned only in the New Testament. He describes himself as both the Son of Man and the Son of God. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Actually, we have a problem trying to find out how Jesus really thought about himself – or what he really said. You see, the earliest of the canonical gospels, Mark, wasn’t written until about forty years after Jesus’ crucifixion. Matthew and Luke were written after that, and John was written some seventy years after his death. John is the most reflective of the growing traditions about Jesus rather than about what Jesus said and did.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4189523940940052614#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[1]</span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems no one was taking notes when he spoke, or if they were, they are lost in the dust of time.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">So where does that leave us? Can't we believe anything the Bible says about Jesus?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I offer this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether or not a man named Jesus came to say and do these things, its not the man, but the teachings we follow. Those teachings, profound and wonderful, lead to the tradition that says this incredible man came to embody all of those God-like characteristics that we call the Christ Spirit. And, if his teachings are even vaguely reported correctly, he said we are ALL children of a loving God, and therefore we are <u>all</u> sons and daughters of God, carrying that God-substance within us, the Christ Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know I have the Christ Spirit within me, and so do you. I know it, and I can feel it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">I'll back this up with my favorite Hebrew Bible passage, Jeremiah 31:33, <i>“…This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">There is continuity there, Sons and Daughters of Man. We are also the Sons and Daughters of God. We have the Christ Spirit within us. It is written on our hearts.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4189523940940052614#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> A good place to begin learning about modern Biblical research is the source I just used, Marcus Borg’s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">“Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.”</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Fascinating book. He manages to marry a thinking person’s approach and a deep-seated faith without slighting either.</span></div></div></div><!--EndFragment-->Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4189523940940052614.post-55142171144921210372011-01-26T13:35:00.000-08:002011-01-26T13:35:12.635-08:00This beautiful world...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <!--StartFragment--> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUCShsJVnjI/AAAAAAAAADc/KxYe1XKcZAU/s1600/Rivertree9251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_frUtCTVAlwU/TUCShsJVnjI/AAAAAAAAADc/KxYe1XKcZAU/s400/Rivertree9251.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The time has slipped by. I am reviewing some of my classwork before heading off to Missouri, I am in the middle of what seems to be a head cold, and I am still unpacking. You’d think, under the circumstances, that I’d be unable to write…when in truth, I have so much to write about, that I’m too distracted to complete any one theme.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">So lets begin with a couple of loose ends from previous writings. The one I wish to address today stems from the first post of the year, where I was talking about how if we were perfect in our realization of the God-spirit carried within, we wouldn’t have things to grow beyond, to struggle for, and so we might be missing some fundamental joy in this life. If everything were perfect, as it is supposed to be in God-mind, would we be bored? Are angels be bored? Is that how we got here?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Popular thinking has God creating this world as kind of a trial run, a test, a learning spot for spirits trying to obtain perfection. However, in order to accept that concept, one has to see God as having human feelings and emotions. One has to see spirits as needing perfection, and living a life that can be separate - distinct entities that can “choose” to reenter this world and live again. Huh? This is not God as Oneness, Divine Mind, or even God as a Supreme Being. That’s not the all-powerful, omnipresent Oneness I know.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">And yet, if there is only Oneness, the only reality is that of Spirit, God, and this earthly experience is unreal, like so many faiths believe, then why have this relative world at all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hear constantly that we are living a dream, we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience…if so, why? Why have this earth, this existence at all? Is there an answer without resorting to the God-as-reflection-of-ourselves with some human-like motive?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Charles Fillmore, founder of Unity, defined God/Divine Mind as Absolute Truth, the Divine idea which encompasses all Divine Ideas. Relative Truth is what we experience in the physical realm, this worldly experience. We learn that the relative realm doesn’t exist without the Absolute Realm or Absolute Truth. As I wrote in homework for one of the classes, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">"T</span><span style="font-family: Berkeley-BookItalic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">o</span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Berkeley-BookItalic;"> our outside senses, the relative world is real, yet it does not exist separately from the absolute. Yet to say it does not exist separately from the absolute infers that it is a reality after all.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">Is it a reality?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can understand that I am not my feelings, I am not my thoughts. Something greater is inside me, is my bedrock. But that’s a far cry from calling this gorgeous world “not real.” After all, we have a life outside those feelings and thoughts.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">So, OK, what <u>is</u> the truth?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">We might never know the answer. We can only guess, and dream up some of the wonderful theories I’ve heard. For myself, I want to keep the question open, and just say that it is what it is. I’m not ready to declare our beautiful world and people in it as being “unreal.” God is everywhere, everything, including me, you, and even that rock over there. Yes, I want to keep the question open.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment--> </span>Gwen Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04393100769720363059noreply@blogger.com0