Dear Spiritual Companions,

I love the New Year.  It seems the old is gone and now I can be filled with new possibilities.  This is especially true this year.  I am settling into a God like retirement.  To me this means retirement is not about my ego, but rather it is about God.  I have found life much easier when I listen to my spirit and than actually trust that still small voice within.  To be still is to STOP!  We are constantly listening to a world that knows very little about stillness.  It is very familiar with drama, busyness and supporting the importance of calling attention to itself.  Much like our ego the world’s ego simply does not exist without those three things.  To be still though is to let go.  To not be wrapped up in our ego or the drama of life.  There is only one God and It isn’t found in our short lifetime.  God partially reveals God’s Self in our human lives, but God is so much more than our physical reality.  We are not  our body, but rather are spirit.

So what have I discovered in this spirit of mine?  First and foremost I will always be.  This is totally contrary to the human experience.  In the spiritual reality there are no beginnings and there are no endings.  The past, future and present are one.  If we dare to believe this all those little and big fears found in our human experience lose their power.  We no longer have to fear death if we will always be.  Every World Religion has an End of the World Story.  It always ends the same – God by whatever Name you call this Higher Being, is in charge and lives on.  The point of these mystical and mythic tales are to assure us our spirit will always be.  Death is the last Enemy to be defeated because it is the enemy of our human existence.  Once we overcome this than we can rest comfortably in God’s Everlasting Arms of Love.  They are Everlasting because they go on forever.  The question, as we enter this new year, now becomes “Does this change anything for us?”

So much of what happens to us is not dependent upon what is going on outside of us, but rather inside.  This is the second thing I have learned from my spirit.  How I see my world depends on how much I am in touch with God.  When I let the outer world, rather than God, dictate what it thinks reality is I become confused.  Let me share an example.  I like to read the business section in the daily paper.  I chuckle sometimes when I read how the economy is falling apart in one article while another article says things are becoming better.  Depending who you read or talk to or watch on the news can control our inner well being.  We give the power away for our lives when we let someone else’s opinion or some outer action determine our inner state.  Our thoughts and feelings begin and end with our outlook.  I read an article recently about the problems facing us with today’s environment and global warming.  The author was stating we need to change our lifestyle if we are to save our planet.  To accomplish this goal the question becomes, “Which works better in encouraging people to act – Fear or Optimism?”  Do we need a catastrophe or the fear of one to change, or will encouragement and believing in people doing the right thing carry the day?  On my pessimistic days I know we need the environment to fall apart before anything will happen.  When I am optimistic I see more and more people getting on board with treating our planet as something to treasure and appreciate.  This I hope will create the necessary actions to save Mother Earth.

How this life appears and how what happens after we die begins and ends with me.  God believes in us so God gives us the power to choose our response to our life and death.  This does not mean everything will run smoothly – God forbid!  We are tempted to try and control or think we can control our world.  This is the worst thing that could happen because we are than trapped in this short lifetime.  As stated earlier there is so much more spiritually.  I hope to write a book this year entitled “Disaster as Gift.”  It is based upon the Katrina event for New Orleans in 2005.  Enough time has gone by for me to process my spiritual reflections on the gift of that hurricane.  We have a long way to go in putting our city back together.  Problems continue to exist, but concentration simply on fixing those issues takes us away from God’s many gifts.  The same is true for the hurricanes in your life.  God is present in ways not seen – the spiritual reality.  When we are free to live in that place we can trust in a God who would never let anything ultimately defeat us.  If we live in the outer world it just seems like it is utterly defeating us.

This is my question for this New Year – “Which makes more spiritual sense – What seems like reality to us in our outer world or what is reality in our inner being?”

Peace