Dear Spiritual Companions,

Summer is my favorite season of the year.  I lived the first 50 years of my life up North where the upper 80′s were considered a heat wave.  It wasn’t until I moved to New Orleans that I learned what a heat wave really is.  Someone once described out heat here in these words, “You step outside your house in the middle of May and it feels like you are hit with a wet hot wash cloth.  This continues into October.”  It is true!  I have found a great place to live in because of the heat.  Many disagree with me because they don’t like the heat and can’t understand me.

It is funny how we can disagree or have problems with someone else because they may not think like us or like what we like.  Why?  What does it matter that someone else loves the heat when we don’t or vice versa?  Why is it so important that everyone think the way we do, especially with the parts of life that matter the most to us?  We are about celebrate Independence Day, but once someone is a free thinker and thereby independent we get upset.  We embrace diversity, but when it happens we are threatened by it.  We are interesting human creatures aren’t we? 

Religion is probably the biggest culprit.  Religions have creeds and doctrines – endless rules to follow.  When someone calls these beliefs into question we crucify them in the name of god!  We end up not speaking for God because we do not want to be confused with the facts.  We have our own facts wrapped in truths which are there not to keep God alive, but rather the institution.  If we lose God in the process so be it.  After all the freedom to believe what makes sense to our inner spirit only leads to chaos.  It is so interesting to me that in the first chapter, first verse of Genesis God saw the earth as formless and desolate.  Not a bad description of chaos!  God turned that into night and day, sky and earth, ocean and land.  God also created us and all animals out of nothing.  When we let God be God our chaos of free spiritual thinking suddenly creates new life.  Take a close look at the various World Religions and the story is the same, out of what was came a new thing.  What the people were hanging onto as truth became the catalyst for God to appear in a new way.

We are living in that kind of Time now.  Fundamentalists or liberals who say it must be there way are creating the tension out of which God is creating something new.  Our spirits are drawn to that which has life not death.  When the church, temple, mosque or any holy gathering place demand likeminded thinking or believing the same way they push the independent free thinkers away.  The leaders of these kinds of institutions can’t understand why their attendance is dropping or there doesn’t seem to be as much interest.  They desperately create new gimicky approaches to attract people, but to no avail.  The alive communities, on the other hand, are the ones encouraging one another to choose to believe, think and feel what is right for them.  This creativity then spills over into service into the world for those who are most in need or most unlike the ones offering service.  In such groups nothing matters but encouraging individuals to find themselves in God, even if no one else feels thinks or believes as they do. 

As we draw close to Independence Day we are no longer just a Christian Nation.  We are also a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and many other various other Religions Nation.  Some are frightened by this, but I say Amen!  So be it because now God is welcome in God’s various forms.  Our first settlers came here for religious freedom.  It seems like it is time to widen the invitation.  Something to celebrate – right?

Peace,

Gary

The Path less traveled

   Seems not to be the hardest one

   But rather the easiest one

      At least on most days

Confusing isn’t it

   Why would we choose the biggest boulders to jump over

   Who told us life was only worth living if it was lived with difficulty

Wouldn’t it be surprising if we don’t get any stars in our crown for choosing

   The path that brought the most pain

   Or the most tears

   Or the most problems

Wouldn’t it be startling if God intends the opposite

   For God knows life has enough challenges without us adding more

   Or life can be revealed clearly through a light heart too

   Or what we are afraid of is not failure but success

Can’t be can it

   Again who proclaims such messages

      Probably the one who struggles the most

      Who bend our ear telling us how many problems they have

         Or how could life possibly treat them so unfairly

            What is fairness anyway

The older I get the more the path less traveled is

   The one of love and joy I discovered inside of me

      In spite of what is happening outside of me

Dear Spiritual Companions,

Yesterday was Father’s Day and I became aware that I have been a Dad for 36 years.  It is truly one of the most wonderful things that has happened in my lifetime.  The greatest compliment I have received from both my daughters is that they both feel they are my favorite and they are right.  I had a strong desire to be blessed with girls and it happened for me.  This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have loved or cherished a son, but for me it seemed right to want girls.  When they were born my spirit soared and has continued to rise over their time in my world!

What does it mean to parent someone?  Does that mean it has to be a biological child?  Does it even mean it has to be a child?  I believe the answer to those questions all depends on how you would define Parenting.  I find my answer in how God Parents me.  Unconditional Love is what comes to me immediately and is my definition.  God doesn’t love me because of my doing, but rather because of my being. I do not have to earn God’s respect.  I already have it and always have had it.  I do not have to please God in any way because my being in God already pleases God!  Every time I become aware of my breathing I remember who has placed that breathe within me.  Every time I breath I take in this knowledge of God’s Unconditional Loving Parenting and every time I exhale I release any thought to the contrary. 

Over my 61 plus years on this planet I have come to realize how much I need to unlearn about God to find out who God truly is.  Our childhood experience with our biological parents, or those who took on that role in our life, is quickly and unconsciously transferred to our image of god.  So, depending on who our parents were, they have given us the material which enables us to uncover who God ISN’T by working through the failures of our parents to love us.  We are not being critical of what they did because our parents are only transferring onto us what they have learned.  Everyone does the best they can and FORTUNATELY they are not God.  I say fortunately not because of our pain from their actions, but rather because now we can reach out to the one and only unconditional lover – God.  This Being will help us to heal and unlearn what our parent figures taught us and by doing that we discover God’s Nature.  We begin to see what was said in the previous paragraph as truth.

As  have told my daughters, they can thank me for my failures as a Dad because it has helped them to grow closer to God.  I can also be kinder to myself with my mistakes.  I now know I did the best I could with what I had.   This than allows me to learn from my failures and stop them.  I am no better able to love them in more ways that are like God’s Ways of Loving them.  Because I am not centered on what I did wrong I can rejoice in those wonderful moments over the years which brought us closer to each other.  Good times are remembered more so than the bad. We can build on those instead.  Isn’t it incredible the way God works?  The pressure on us lessens because we are letting go of strange notions of who God is and who we are in God.  Just Being beats just doing any time.  This is why God really doesn’t care what we do!  That is not a rational line, but rather a mystical one.  Leave your mind and thoughts behind to embrace your spirit and God’s Parental Love – one that reminds us how each one of us is God’s favorite!

Peace,

Gary

Life is like a seesaw

   Sometimes I am up

   Sometimes I am down

      My life is weighted one way or another

Funny how when I am up

   I am kicking and screaming

   Trying to level off

When I am down I am grounded

   It is touch down time

   Holding what is up in place

Is there some balance between these two

   Is there some message

      Is there some middle ground

Maybe like life it is just a game

   Meant to not be taken so seriously

   Meant to show us the highs and lows in life

      How they play off of one another

Teeter totter is another name for this game

   When we are balanced in the middle watching the game

   We can see what makes us teeter or totter

When we are in living in balance      

   We can see the game of life more clearly

   We can see who is in or out of balance

      High or low

      What is lifting us up or bringing us down 

Let the game play on

   As we see saw in life

Dear Friends,

I am glad the Christmas Season spills over into the New Year.  We end the whole experience of Christmas with the Wise Men bringing their gifts.  They brought what the little child needed.  Gold for His physical wants.  Frankincense for His Kingly desires.  Myrrh for His death so He could be anointed.  In their Wisdom they knew what God had instructed them to bring.  Another word for Wisdom, of course, is Spirit.

So what will be bring this New Year?  What will we be resolved to do with our life?  To lose a few pounds? – hardly.  Unless what we lose helps to make this holy temple called our body better able to serve God.  To be resolved to serve God leads to deeper aspects of life.  Yes we could lose a few ponds for cosmetic purposes, but the emptiness of such acts come crashing in when someone who looks better than us comes into the room.  All that hard work for nothing.  But a body cared for fills us with the energy to go the second mile for God.  Wisdom tells us this is the case.  A life lived in God’s Spirit affirms this truth.  As a wise person once said, “Would you rather live ten years in a room filled with ice cream or a hundred years in a room filled with rice cakes?”

So what will we spend our lives on this New Year?  I believe each moment is so precious.  God has breathed into us an appreciation of life.  Life in abundance is everywhere.  It is found in something as powerful as a prayer answered or a leaf simply falling from a tree.  It is discovered in realizing how much the love of that other means to us or simply the ability to walk.  It is revealed in someone appreciating who we are or simply having enough food to eat.  Those are the kind of moments which make up life.  I can feel when someone is watching me, although I am never exactly sure who.  God decides which moments I am to be the gift of Wisdom.  How I handle a trying situation can be a moment of Wisdom or me having to be God.  Everyone wants to learn this so we watch trusted others and how they handle those situations. Someone may be watching you even now.

This sounds like a heavy responsibility to carry.  Yes and no.  The world says yes because the world exists for itself and not God.  Wisdom tells us no because we exist for God and God is the source of all our being and doing.  So we are offered another chance to come to a New Year with a light heart.  The Spirit of God is the light which shines into our heart as we offer the gift of who we are to God.  The Baby smiles because we have embraced the Wisdom or rather the Spirit of life.  I think it is time to offer our gifts of Wisdom – ourselves.

Happy New Year,

Gary

Dear Friends,

When I was a Pastor in a local church setting I realized I did a little of everything.  That isn’t very far from the dangerous idea that I do everything.  Lets talk a bit about doing and everything.  This is very helpful to do during the Season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas.  It is our time to prepare for the coming of God into our lives.  I think it is crucial to reflect, or to use the word I love – ponder, what God coming into our lives would mean.  What do we have to DO to experience that gift?  Does it mean God expects me to DO EVERYTHING to make Christmas a reality?

If we ponder, as Mary did, everything that happened we will come up with some significant conclusions.  Did the characters of the Christmas Story Do anything?  Well yes and no.  Yes they played their parts, but no they didn’t make it happen.  A subtle but crucial difference.  Mary had to say yes to the angel Gabriel’s request of being faithful to God, but no she didn’t make the birth happen by lying with Joseph.  Joseph had to say yes to the angels by going to Bethlehem, but no they did not bring everyone’s attention to God coming into the world.  I think you get the idea.  We listen to God’s calling and follow it, but the ultimate responsibility for anything happening is up to God.  So what we learn from the story is we do a little bit of everything.  We seek out the gift we are and let God inspire us into the form our gift will take.

It is so easy to also fall into the trap of feeling like we have to DO EVERYTHING, especially at Christmas time.  Others aren’t following through, so we need to do their part.  Even God, at times, doesn’t seem to understand the importance of something happening.  Or we have so many gifts and talents and can do so many things well it is easier for us to do it.  This is especially tempting with our children.  God knows, some things have to be done perfectly or even well if God is to be a part of them.  Children can’t do things as well as we can.  Being human is a messy business and sometimes God rejoices in our yes even if there are failures along the way.  My prayer life has taught me how to get out of the way, which gives me the opportunity in seasons like Christmas to join Mary in pondering what is happening.  The birth story is filled with the smell of a stable, animals providing warmth and the least of these, the shepherds being the less than elegant witnesses.  God comes into life where we live it.  We don’t have to clean up our inner homes for God to feel at home in us.

Maybe the Advent and Christmas Season God is asking us to DO less so EVERYTHING God has in mind can come our way.  Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel on Your terms.

Peace,

Gary

Dear Friends,

Awhile back I had some time to spend with God by the Gulf of Mexico.  I have always loved being around water.  It has become an important part of my spiritual development.  It feeds my soul with the wonder of God.  Nature has become one of my personal encounters with God’s Love.  I cannot explain the gift it is for me, but then I don’t want to.  By explaining things we take the mystery out them.  We stay in our heads.  We think too much.  This can be a hindrance to meeting God or simply a lesson on what is a hindrance to God.  As I read recently in my devotions, “We are called to get out of our heads so we can enter our hearts.”  Pentecost is the Season in the Church Year where we are called to enter our hearts so we can speak in other languages – God Languages.

So what did I hear by the Gulf?  I heard the screech of the sea gulls.  They would fly by or sit on the beach talking about their space or their food. They would also screech as they flew close to one another.  I was amazed at how 25 sea gulls could fly and dive bomb around one another and never crash.  I watched as they got close and let out their cry.  A sudden shift of a wing caused a near miss.  I also listened to the waves hit the shore.  This was their announcement of “Here I am!”  I wondered where those drops of water had been and what they would say about hitting this beach at this moment.  Of all the beaches of the world they choose to hit this beach.  I then watched the silent flight of the pelican.  Soaring on air or dive bombing into the water to catch the close to the surface unsuspecting fish was their pattern.

What does this have to do with speaking in different languages, like the first disciples on Pentecost?  Not much if you are looking for logic or an easy answer.  But if you are willing to get out of your head for awhile – Listen.  You might  hear the language of sensitivity.  The sea gulls were aware of their surroundings and their sister and brother gulls.  There was no hitting or destroying another creature because someone had entered their space.  I heard the language of wonder.  Drops of water being who knows where for how long crashing into this shore for a brief second only to be swallowed up in a larger whole.  I heard the language of trust.  Believing that the wind currents would keep the pelican in flight.  Also the trust that food would be provided and how the sacrifice of one’s life would add to the life of another.

Do we speak these languages in our lives?  Are we willing to get out of our head to enter our heart?  Will we soar with the spirit to dive bomb into life with the Love of God?  I came back from the Gulf of Mexico renewed and filled with the Pentecost Spirit.  Please join me so we can speak the language of God found in Nature.

Peace,

Gary

Dear Spiritual Companions,

My wife and I enjoy watching Wheel of Fortune.  For anyone not aware of the Wheel, it is a fill in the blank word game where one tries to discover the hidden message or words on the screen.  Contestants get to spin a wheel and unless they land on Bankrupt or Lose a Turn they get to choose a letter.  If correct they can buy a vowel or spin again.  They do this until they solve the puzzle or guess a letter that isn’t in the puzzle.  The wheel they spin has a number of blanks that have dollar amounts or other prizes.  I read recently someone saying the Wheel represents the way life is.  On the outer part of the wheel of life are the various things that happen in our lives, some good and some bad.  Most of us are driven by the outer parts of the wheel of life.  We feel good or bad depending on that is happening out there.  But in the center of the wheel is something else.

What is in the middle of life?  What is at the center?  To me it is God or whatever Name you find helpful in defining your Higher Power.  As long as we are looking outside of our center we are driven by what is outside of us.  This is fine when things are going well, but what about when we are bankrupt or lose a turn?  I am a big Boston Red Sox baseball fan.  When they are winning everything is well.  I am at peace.  BUT when they lose all those peaceful feelings fly away.  That is just the beginning!  Some days I feel like I have gained weight and some days I have feel like I am holding my own.  In truth my weight has been steady for years!  Same thing with money.  Some days I know I have enough and other days I am afraid I will not have enough.  Again like my weight I have always had more than enough!  My hunch is you have parts of your life that  vacilate back and forth.

I have spent some time reflecting on how my life is going when I feel comfortable with my weight or money situation.  Like the Red Sox it is usually when I feel I am winning in my outer world.  When the wheel of life is spinning my way I feel fine, but when it isn’t that “fine” feeling quickly alludes me.   Again my guess would be the same is true for you.  Like Paul said to the Romans, “I do the things I don’t want to do and don’t do the things I want to do!”  Welcome to the human condition!  No sense in fighting it.  Give up!  BUT isn’t that letting God down?  Shouldn’t we try harder?  We can, but it doesn’t do any good. Give up and you find yourself in the center of the Wheel of Life.  The battle is over.  To try and change that which is unchangeable is Self Defeating!  Notice the capital S.  The small self lives and dies with everything that happens in this lifetime.  The large Self realizes this life is just a heartbeat on the Eternal Screen of an everlasting journey.

Many have argued that there is nothing after this life.  If you are seeing this through the small self’s eyes they are right.  On the other hand many have simply said this life is a learning ground for our continuing spiritual development in God.  Usually large Self folks are the ones stating this truth.  They are at the Center of things so they see this life for what it is – this life!  Our failings and mistakes don’t go with us, but rather are seen as the teaching tools we needed to see God’s Love.  Same is true with our successes and accomplishments.  When we realize this in our hearts, the center of God, we have solved the puzzle of the thing called Life.  We win what has already been won.  We see all the truths that have been hidden revealed by us living them.  When we finish the game of life we drop this body, as the Buddhists say, because it has served its purpose.  The little self dies with the body and the large Self returns to the Center.

I like this Wheel of Eternal Fortune!

Peace

 Gary

Let it be

Let it be

Let it be

Let it be

   There will be an answer

Let it be

   Lyrics from a Beatles Song

Why did they say it so many times

   Could it be that letting it be is spiritual work

   Could it be that letting it be is emotional work

   Could it be that letting it be is our life’s work

I wonder as I wander

   Through this thing called life 

      Why we have to change what we don’t like

      Or understand

      Or find agreeable

To let be is to stay out of

   What is evolving perfectly

      Even if we don’t like it

      Or understand it

      Or agree with it

Maybe what is happening in out outer world

   Is not as important as what is happening in our inner world

Could that be true

   Only if we embrace the one thing that matters

      To Trust

Dear Friends,

As you may know I grew up in the North.  The climate is a bit different then in New Orleans.  We had a line we would say with great hope, “April showers bring May flowers.”  Others added the line with the question, “What do May flowers bring? – Pilgrims!”  I enjoy the early spring we have here in New Orleans.  Obviously we have flowers in March and our trees are in full bloom by early April.  I hope I will never stop being amazed at the beauty of nature here in the South.  Where is all this leading? – change, the ongoing element of life.

When things are good we don’t want them to change or end.  Obviously this was the case with the Disciples when they were confronted by Jesus with words of His death and ensuing resurrection.  After Easter comes the Season of Resurrection where nothing is the same.  This reveals a great deal about God.  Just about the time we think or believe we have God pinned down, God changes or as I would like to say God grows.  We can either stay where we are or move forth with God into places we simply don’t have control.  Change is the experience of continually letting go.  It is death crashing into the reality of our daily living.  As Jesus said, “We have to die to ourselves to be born anew.”

I want to speak about one of the hardest things to allow to change – our thinking.  To be in control we have to have the answers for the way life is.  This means when there are sticky issues we want to remove the stickiness by saying, “This is the way it is always and forever!”  We use the Bible or other Holy Books to testify to our truth, but this is extremely hard to do with those Books.  The Bible, for instance, contradicts itself.  One place it gives us permission to take an eye for an eye and in another place it says we are to love our enemy.  In still another place it says stone the sinner while in another place it says he who is without sin can cast the first stone.  There are numerous other examples of this, but you get the idea.  If you want something to never change or for it to always be the same don’t go to the Bible.

Wait a minute!  I thought the Bible is the guide for our life?  It is, but it was never meant to be stagnant.  Like resurrection it is an ever changing Book.  It changes because we change.  We have grown in our understanding of God.  Does that mean we throw out that which we don’t agree with?  Absolutely not!  It means we live with it spiritually.  We check out the words in our heart.  We life them up to trusted others.  We listen in Church to the interpretation given there.  Truth is not found in one thing being a certain way forever – Jesus always being physically alive for example.  No Truth is found in daring to question death so we might live in a Season of Resurrection – constant evolution of God and us too.  This is the way I believe we can faithfully change and thereby grow with a Resurrected Christ.

Peace,

Gary