Seeing is believing

   Or is it

I see what I know is true

   But someone says are you sure

I see what I know is true

   But I say to myself how can you be sure

I see what I know is true

   But no one else sees it the same way as me

I see what I know is true

   But it doesn’t make any rational sense

Is my problem within me

   Or is it outside of me

Is my problem found in needing truth

   Or is it in depending on truth rather than my heart

Who is the author of my life

   Is it me or God or someone else

I think the discovery of the answer to that question

   Will go a long way in trusting my inner drum beat

I will dance to no need for definitive truth

I will dance to a lightness free from outside pressures

I will dance with the inner spirit

   The one who doesn’t care what others think

   The one who isn’t afraid of failing

   The one who dares to listen to a still small voice

Dear Spiritual Companions,

Did God ever invite you to get off your religious high horse?  I had that experience recently.  God is never critical, but rather invitational, so when I heard from Her she asked me who I served.  Interesting question in this Lenten time isn’t it?  As we face the temptations of our lives, at the bottom of them is found who we are serving.  Henri Nouwen often talked about the temptation of being relevant.  Behind this is the Lord of making a name for yourself so God can appreciate all of our doings.  Obviously this is a religious message carried down to us through the ages.  If our ego and god is going to live on long after we are gone we have to be relevant!  But possibly God doesn’t care about whether others appreciate our actions for we are already appreciated as we are by God.  Another word for this is Grace.  When we accept this gift then God’s Spiritual Horse comes along to pick us up and we are ready for the ride of a life time!

I am a year into my retirement and God has been revealing ways that I can still be of service.  It has been wonderful to discover a whole new life rising up before me.  The only problem has been that temptation of relevance.  Am I doing enough, will people notice my writing and appreciate all the wisdom I have to share?  As I raise those questions and face the fallout from them I become anxious.  The minute I am aware of the uneasiness within me I know something is not quite right.  When I am in sinc with God things flow and harmony abounds.  When I am on the wrong path I doubt and life is a little off for me.  This is when my quiet time comes into play.  I begin to ask what is wrong?   At the right time in the right way for me God speaks through my reading, walking, praying or simply being.   So recently God said, “Who do you serve?”  I said, “You of course.”  God said, “Oh really.  Is what I place in front of you every day not enough?  Do you not trust that life as it is isn’t sufficient?”  The great thing about God is She is asks open ended questions.  The query’s placed before me were ones to ponder.  Could I be serving my ego instead of God?  Could I be looking for something other than life as it is?  Could I be missing the impact I am making in the Name of God?  I decided to get on God’s Spiritual Horse and ride for a bit pondering my life as I knew it.  What a great feeling it is to have the spirit’s breeze of peace pass over me.

The major difference between riding the religious horse and the spiritual horse is found in the destination.  With the religious horse we will hopefully find relevancy, perfection, right answers, a sense of control and a God created in our image.    With the Spiritual Horse we will discover irrelevancy, imperfection, right questions, a lack of control and a God creating us in a Graceful Image of who we can become.  It seems a little crazy to ride God’s Horse, but then it was silly for the spiritual folk who preceded us to do what they did.  All I know is I felt more peaceful after I got off of my religious high horse to once again ride on God’s spiritual Horse.

Peace

Gary

Change

   Why do we run and hide from the inevitable

      It always finds us

Change

   How did it get such a negative image

      It simply is what it is

Change

   Where did the thought it doesn’t have to be come from

      How can you affect what already is

Change

   What is the big deal

      Beginnings without endings can’t be

Change

   When will it be looked upon as a gift

      When we embrace life in its fullness

Time to hug

   Death

   The now

   Letting go

   Life as it is

Think you can’t do it

   Just remember

      Change happens whether we hug it or not

Humor

   Perspective changer

   Problem distractor

   Life enlightener

   Belly enhancer

   Face wrinklier

   Spirit revealer

Nothing like a good joke to call our attention

   To what is important

   To what is not important

   To the folly of our actions

   To the humor found in the folly

   To the silliness of seriousness

The wonder of a pun playfully calls us to

   Engaging all of our mind

   Seeing the wonder of words

   Turning the usual into the unusual

   Embracing the mystery of the human adventure

Did you hear the one about

   A God who created a human   

      Talk about humor

The joke is so funny

   We can laugh all the way to heaven

Dear Spiritual Companions,

Yesterday was a big day in the life of New Orleans – our football team, The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl.  You would think the big deal would be related to winning the game, but NO it is related to what winning the game means to the city and its team.  Often what happens to us externally has no ultimate effect until we look at what is happening internally.  For the longest time New Orleans has been looked upon as a sports city made up of losers and many of us living here have accepted this external notion.  Of course this is not true.  In God’s Realm there are no losers, there are only events in life where we might lose a game of football.  What happens in our outer world simply does not change our inner identity.  In 43 years of existence as a football team we never won a Super Bowl let alone even made it to one.  As a city we allowed this to be one among many events that labeled us as losers.  The biggest and most devastating example of this was Hurricane Katrina which arrived on August 29, 2005!  We have been trying so hard to put our city back together since then.  The courage individuals have shown in doing this as well as putting their homes back together reveals the heart and soul of an inner city of champions.

Many of the members and coaches of the New Orleans Saints arrived in 2006, right after the Hurricane.  They saw the devastation of our city and the lack of response from governments on many levels.  Their hearts were affected in ways they never dreamed could be possible.  When something touches us deep inside it affects the way we see our outer reality.  A significant love affair between a football team and a city on it’s knees began to grow.  Now I know some people may say I am getting caught up in the excitement of the victory in Super Bowl 44, but I don’t think so.  I have lived in many cities during my life and followed many different teams.  I have experienced the bond made between those cities and teams, but I have never seen the intimacy present here.  It is like a healthy relationship where what happens to me affects you and vice versa.  This is what I believe makes this time and place unique.

When something life changing occurs, especially like a hurricane, there is an opportunity for individuals and life defining moments to meet spirit to spirit.  So many times we ask why did this terrible hurricane affect so many people?  It is truly the wrong question.  My wife, youngest daughter and I were here when Katrina hit.  We did a “Vertical Evacuation.”  We were in the Airport Hilton Hotel, on the third floor, when Katrina hit. The winds were blowing close to 100 mph when the electricity went out in the middle of the night.  It was one of the scariest moments in our lives which we will never forget.  That is not however what I focus on.  What I remember were the brave individuals who came from around the country to help us rebuild and continue to come to help us.  I remember acts of kindness by individuals who had little or nothing and were willing to share what little they had.  I remember people who did not lose hope in spite of boarding buses to destinations to places unknown.  Many of those persons have not returned or have found new and safer residences in other cities.  When out outer world falls apart God invites us within our hearts where Love is stronger than chaos and death.  The right question to me becomes, “How does God do this?”  The only answer I have discovered is “It is a Mystery.”

This Mystery also describes the bond between the City of New Orleans and its football team The Saints.  This team was awarded it’s franchise on All Saints Day.  New Orleans is  a Catholic Community and naturally that particular day means a lot.  I don’t think it was by accident we were awarded a franchise on that day, in fact, I see it as one of those Holy Coincidences.  This year was described as a year of destiny for the Saints.  Most people refer to the meaning of that statement because they won it all.  I know a God who truly isn’t into who wins and loses at sporting events.   Rather a God who uses certain events to offer an opportunity to affect our destiny.  If we can believe that we can overcome a lot of obstacles.  Who can say how much helping to put this city back together affected the way the team played on the field?  But what I do know is it has affected the responsibility they feel to helping a city and it’s inhabitants find new life.  God, I believe is using and has been using a hurricane named Katrina to transform a city, a football team and many other individuals who have come to help.  Disaster can bring new life if seen from within. 

From my spiritual perspective I see what happens within us intermingling with what is happening outside us.  We can use the gift God has given us, what is within us to transform what is outside of us, or we can hold onto a self defeating question of why does God allow destruction?  The choice is up to us.  The City of New Orleans and its football team, The New Orleans Saints, has chosen to build on their intimate relationship based on internal gifts.

Peace

Did you ever get off track

   Stopped listening to the inner voice

It is so easy to do

   Not worth getting upset over however

The track of life includes the time of getting off

   For it is a teaching moment

What have we listened to instead of our own voice

   Every time we discover what it is

      The next time becomes easier to see it

      There is less time of spinning our wheels

Now we are free to get back on track

   For it is so much more peaceful to hear our calling

   We are not disturbed by the outer world

   We are not caught up in someone else’s values

   We can be the only person traveling the track less traveled   

Life is not based on productivity

   No it is found in being

      Who we are where we are

To get off track is to travel forward or backward

   Into the future or past

To get back on track is to be present to the now

   Where each breath leads to the inner voice

      Inviting us to reunite with our life

      Not someone elses

Dear Spiritual Companions,

I was talking with a friend yesterday and we were talking about what is real.  One can get very philosophical about this or even religious, but that is the trap of the ego and I don’t want to get caught up in that today.  Instead, I want to ponder What is Real?  To ponder, of course is to sit with or live with an idea or thought or life event.  It doesn’t entail seeking an answer, although one may come.  It doesn’t mean we have to fix anything or anyone.  It doesn’t even mean we have to have someone agree with us.  To me reality lives in what simply is.  It is our opportunity to get off the  merry go round of being busy or productive.  We don’t have to please anyone or prove our worth, even to our-self.  We have a God given right to be here and enjoy the ride called life.  We are actors on the stage of existence and we can take in the drama, tragedy, comedy or even folly unfolding in our life.

My major understanding of reality is that what I think is real often is just the door to meaning.  I can always tell when I am caught up in too much reality.  I am upset.  I don’t like what is happening.  What someone has said or not said or what someone has done or not done has far too much power in how I feel.  This has even more impact on me when I am the one who has said something I wish I hadn’t or had, done something I wish I hadn’t or had.  I am stuck on what I think is real rather than the meaning of a life event.  e. e. cummings wrote something that has stuck with me for a long time – “Nothing matters but the circus!”  On the surface that statement makes no sense.  No it doesn’t unless you ponder it.  Like a Zen koan there really is no answer found in trying to understand what it means.  It is simply living with cummings line that reveals a deeper meaning.  Like the circus of life nothing matters but the meaning it offers.  In that gift we will find what is real – Love.

Many people have tried to define Love, but it is like trying to define God.  Once you do you have lost God.  Love is the doorway to the Mystery of God found in not trying to wrap everything neatly in a box.  How things happen, how we were born, who we meet, the events of every day, what we see or read that fits so perfectly with out inner life is simly Amazing.  I have discovered how letting life be Amazing is so much better than figuring out how it became amazing.  The time I spend trying to understand life causes me to miss the moment of amazement.  The most fantastic part of this might be found in coming to experience how our various attempts at figuring out life is the doorway to letting life be what it is.  We come to see how all the effort to find out what is real is not helpful and thereby helpful because we don’t have to do it any more – Amazing! 

This is a lot to ponder so rather than continuing to write I invite you to discover, through these words or pondering them, your reality.

Peace