Sweet Jane

I walked into Jane's room at the hospice today after work and she was awake. I was happy she was awake because she was sleeping yesterday when I stopped by to see her. She is the tiniest little thing you ever did see! I didn't know a human could be so terribly thin and still breathe. Her hair is short and white and she has soft, hazy blue eyes. She is 97 years old and one of the sweetest souls I've ever been blessed with knowing.

Gratitude

It's been an interesting week for me. I had a huge breakthru concerning getting stuck in my Dark Night and I've started making changes that I've needed to make for awhile.

I had my second hospice visit today and my head is a wee bit scrambled. One of my patients is a 97 year old woman and even though I've only seen her twice, I love her dearly. This caught me by surprise. I knew I would care and I knew I would have compassion but I didn't plan on loving this sweet soul - not so tenderly.

My First Hospice Visit

I had my first Hospice visit today. And I walked away feeling like everything was perfect in my world. I have found my calling.

When I first decided to volunteer to work with hospice clients, I was surprised by how many people thought I was making a mistake. So many didn't understand why I wanted to work with dying people. They thought it would be too hard on me. And maybe it will be, but tell me, where does it say that life isn't hard sometimes? Why do we believe we have to stay away from "hard" or "painful"? Wasn't it the "hard" or the "painful" that taught us the most?

The Value of a Single Life

I noticed something interesting in the Bible that I'd like to share with you. In the beginning, one man, Adam, condemned the entire human race to death thru sin. And one man, Jesus Christ lifted all of mankind out of sin, if they choose to believe. One man, Noah, was saved from the flood. One man, Judas, brought about the crucifixion of our Savior. One man, John the Baptist, prepared the way for the Christ.

Superheroes are Fragile

There is a movie on Hulu called, "Aberdeen" and I watched it tonight because my Scottish ancestors came from Aberdeen and I thought it would be nice to see the land of my blood.I got more than I bargained for. Much more.

The Beauty of Simple Acceptance

Every morning, I check the news online. I like to see what's going on in the rest of the world. This morning, I was on Digg.com and came across an article titled, "The World's 60 Failed Countries". And I thought, "Failed countries? What does that mean?" So I clicked.

So you want to know God...

So you want to know God. Many spend their whole life looking for God. They spend hours reading books or meditating. They run to church, pray, and diligently tithe. They listen to preacher after preacher and follow all the rules. They jump from belief system to belief system. And in the end, sadly, they aren't any closer to knowing God than when they started. So how DO we know God?

Life is Sacred

Well, I had my hospice training today and it was emotionally difficult. We learned that when people get the diagnosis of terminal, they want to do what they need to do to die in peace. They want to take that special vacation or learn a new skill or mend broken relationships.

How to live..........

I believe that if we want to know how to live, we first have to decide how we want to die.

Judas's Betrayal

The Bible is a marvelous book and I believe, in more ways than we are even aware of. The Bible has been around for a very long time and it has been read and reread. It has been quoted and requoted. There are so many parts that we are familiar with. And in a way, there is a danger to that familiarity. We become comfortable in what we THINK we know. And once we think we KNOW something, we stop looking any further and this is how we miss so many of the deeper truths of the Bible. Our challenge then is to try and read the Bible with fresh eyes; as if we had never seen or heard anything about it before.


In my years of study, I have learned that there is not one idle word in the Bible. Not one. And it is this fact above all else that convinces me of its divine origin. A few posts ago, I wondered why Christ needed John the Baptist to come before Him. Now, I have another question. What was the point of Judas?

The Nature of Truth and Lies

Christ is called The Way, The Truth and The Light.  So I want to explore the nature of truth.
Truth is one of the most powerful things known to man. No one has the power to change the truth because the truth contains its own inherent power.

The Good, The Bad, The Unknowable

We as human beings experience many events and the results of those events on any given day. And we label these events: good or bad. But should we? What causes us to label an event as good or bad in the first place? And how do we arrive at that label?

Thy Kingdom Come

I had a rather startling thought tonight that I would like to share. We all know the Lord's prayer. I was thinking specifically about the line, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." So what exactly does that mean? Are we to just sit around and wait and expect God to come down and set up His kingdom here on earth? I think that's what many believe. But what if..................that's not what it means.

Change

Change can be a very frightening and painful experience. It can also be very joyous and exciting. It depends on our mindset when entering into change.

Ripples in the pond.......

There are many problems in our world that need some serious solutions. When I allow myself to consider ALL the problems it can be overwhelming. Sometimes, we feel so small and insignificant that we don't do anything. What is the point? What can one person possibly accomplish against all these huge and looming problems?
Plenty. More than we can envision. Many problems can be solved by one person taking one action. We are all but little pebbles and sitting on the shore, we accomplish nothing. But if we were to throw ourselves in the pond of life.....I wonder how far our ripples would travel..........
gently,laura

What is Christianity?

What exactly is CHRISTIANITY? For some, it is a belief system, limited to the time they spend in church but lacking any real relevance in daily life. For some, it is a label they wear because their parents slapped it on them as children and they just haven't bothered to remove it. But for others, it is far more than just a belief system and in their lives and it is the ONLY thing relevant in daily life because for them, it is a way of being. And THIS is what Christianity is supposed to be.

God in the Material

Why isn't God in the material world? Where we could see Him? The first answers I have for you; are more questions.

Would you want Him to be here? Wouldn't He be rather small then? And what if He didn't look the way you think He should look? Would you be drawn to Him? If God was in the material realm, He could only be in one place at a time. So as people lay dying for whatever reason, how would He choose who to be with as they drew their last breath? Would He want to deny any of His children the comfort of believing that He was with them as they pass from this world? If God was in the material realm, wouldn't that give us the impression that He is finite when in fact, He is not? And need I remind you that the last time God was in the material realm, we crucified Him because we didn't like what He had to say?

Wake up call for Christians

There was a time in history when the word "Christian" represented an honorable and just and loving belief system that was so powerful, people actually LIVED it. Now it is just a label, that most often invites scorn. Why?
The obvious answer is that most Christians are hypocrites. Many run to church on Sunday and act just as evil as the rest of the world the remainder of the week. We could let the responsibility end there and throw our hands up in despair but I want to take it further and ask, "Why are these "Christians" hypocrites? Is it deliberate? Or is it ignorance? Or is it just "human nature"? I believe the answer is yes to all three.

Energy

While I declare myself to be a Christian, I was fortunate enough not to be "raised" in any ONE tradition. I've been to Catholic churches, Methodist Churches, Lutheran Churches, Nazarene Churches and even the Kingdom Hall. Eventually, I got so frustrated at hearing so many different interpretations of what the Bible had to say that I pulled back from all organized religion and began studying by myself; with no preconceived ideas. Every night, I would spend an hour studying but before I even opened my Bible I would pray, "God, I seek only the truth and since You wrote this book, please show me what you meant." Every spiritual post on my blog is a result of my lessons with the Lord.
But I am an oddity among Christians because I also KNOW that SOME of what the New Age movement talks about in regards to energy is absolutely correct. How do I know? Because I am one of those individuals whose nervous system is sensitive to energy and I can feel my aura and my chakras and the vibrations that crystals emit. Because I can feel my body's energy system, I know it's real and so I set out to study the science of it.

Tying God's Hands

If you look at the world around us, its pretty obvious that God doesn't seem to be very active. And I think it's because in some ways, we have tied His hands. How many of us go to bed each night and pray only to wonder why it seems our prayers are never answered?
God is spirit. He does not exist in the material so the only way He can manifest in the material without interfering with our freewill is THROUGH us and IN us.

God's Disappointment?

Have you ever wondered if God gets disappointed? I think He must. Look at what He has done for us. He created our reality. He gave us life. He provides for us. He even saved us from ourselves by sacrificing His own son.
And what does He ask from us? To love and believe on His son. And how are we to love His son....by being obedient. Oh, oh, there's that word. Obedient. I can almost feel you cringe at the thought. And yet, how many rules does God have for us? 10; which can be summed up in 2. Love God first, love your fellow humans second.
And how many rules does the country you live in have? Hundreds. So why is it we have no problem following the hundreds of rules that serve the establishment and not necessarily the public but when it comes to God's rules, we consistently fail?

Cruelty and the Materialistic

I just finished scanning the news like I do every morning and I read an article about a dairy farm in Ohio where the cows and calves were horribly abused. And that upset me so I thought about that.
I grew up in a cruel home but always believed there was kindness to be found somewhere. But this Pollyanna has grown up. It is a cruel world. And kindness is not to be found. No wonder I have never felt like I belong here.
In the news we read how a four year old boy had his face bashed in with a hammer to prevent law enforcement from making an identification. We read how new born cow calves are forced to the ground and have their heads stomped. And we all see blatant cruelty for what it is - cruelty.
But there are different degrees of cruelty. And there are stories of cruelty that do not make the news because we, as a society have grown so cold-hearted we have come to accept cruelty as normal.

The Goodness of God

I was driving home from work today trying to decide what I wanted to write about tonight and for the life of me, I couldn't make up my mind! Imagine that! A blonde totally unable to make up her mind. LOL So I asked God, "God, what do You want me to write about?" And God said, "Tell them about my Goodness." Okay then.
About 8 weeks ago, I had a vision of God's Kingdom.

The Artistry of Life

When we are born, we are like blank canvases; we have no ideas about anything. Our parents with their love, or lack of it, are the first people to put colors on our canvas. By their actions, they paint a picture of us. If our parents used brushes of love and devotion on our canvas, then we see we are lovable. If our parents used brushes of cruelty or indifference, then we see ourselves as unlovable.
Most people believe that how we see ourselves is solely due to our parents and that is just not true. Everyone who comes into our life uses their brush on our canvas and we use our brush on everyone's canvas whose life we enter. So when we are cruel and cold, we have left a mark that never goes away. We have scarred what could have been a very beautiful picture.
When someone comes into my life and I see the marks that have scarred their beautiful picture, I use my pink love to cover them. And this is why Christ says, that love, covers a multitude of sins.
So the next time, a wounded soul walks into your life, be careful which brush you use on their canvas, and I hope you chose the pink brush of love.
gently,laura

Our DAILY Bread...

Have you ever wondered why God only gave the Israelites enough manna to last for one day? Or why, when Christ taught us to pray He said, "Give us this day our daily bread". And isn't it interesting that when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness they neither reaped nor sowed and yet were fed every day. Hmmm, sounds similar to the words of Christ when He advised us to look at the birds of the air that neither reaped nor sowed....

I think this was to teach us to look to God for our daily needs, every day; not just on Sunday. So here's a suggestion to remind us to seek God for our daily needs.........the next time you are deciding what to fix for dinner, ask God what He would like.......and then thank Him for providing.

gently,laura

Can we be cruel to God?

Can we be cruel to God? Yes. And we are. We are? you ask. Yes. Every time we give in to fear and every time we refuse to use faith to overcome fear.

When we give into fear, we are saying to God, "I don't trust you Father." and "I'm smarter than you Father." and "I don't need you Father, my fear tells me what to do." Is this not cruel?
We want God to lead us in our lives, but that requires that we trust Him when He says, "Go here.". The most powerful question that was ever put to me was, "Are you going to let fear keep you where you're at?" No, I'm not because I want God's will in my life.

Hearing God

I have a theory about how to hear God.

The only thing worth wanting in this world, is God's will for our life and wouldn't hearing God make it easier to determine exactly what His will is?

Right now, there are information waves all around us and if we turn on our TV and SET THE TUNER, our TV will pick up those waves and turn them into audio and video.

By the same token, God is love. That is His frequency and the only way you can hear Him is if you set YOUR HEART to the frequency of love. I believe that when we love and open our hearts to Him, we can hear Him and when we close our hearts to love, its like turning your TV off and instead of having a personal relationship with Him, we just end up with a very nice idea of Him......for Him who has EARS (like the old TV antennaes called "rabbit ears").....listen.
gently,laura

Christ as the Binding Agent.

God, by His nature is Holy. We are not. If it was just God and "us" it would be like oil and water. There would be no cohesion.
Christ was fully God and Christ was fully human. The God nature in Christ binds with God's Holy nature and the human nature in Christ binds with our human nature.
This is why Christ is between us and God. He is our "binding agent" because it is through Him that entities with two opposing natures can be united into a cohesive whole.
gently,laura

What is evil?

This last month, I've had cause to contemplate the nature of evil. What exactly IS evil? Does anybody know anymore? I don't think so.
I actually started my thought process on the flip side of the coin by considering the importance of love. I read how Christ healed a man who was lame on the Sabbath. I wondered why He didn't just wait a day and heal the man then. If He had done that, wouldn't He have satisfied both the letter AND the spirit of the law? And what if the man had been dying, instead of just lame. The point of this story is to ALWAYS put the spirit of the law above the letter of the law. If the man had been dying, the point would have been ONLY consider the spirit of the law if you have no choice.
Okay. Then what is the "spirit" of the law? It is love. So then, I thought further and wondered, "Well, what is love?" Simply put; love is giving. John 3:16 paraphrased and condensed would read, "For God so loved, HE GAVE." Simple.
So what is sin? I believe that sin is anything we say or do, that we do not say or do coming from a place of love. Why is it a sin to steal? Because you are taking. Why is it a sin to covet? Because you want to take. Love is giving. period.
So back to what is evil? Sin is evil. Therefore when we are not coming from a place of love, we are evil. God is love and He is not evil and the flip of that is if WE do not love, we ARE evil.
Now, lets be practical. In this world, and in my experience, when one is truly loving and truly giving, you end up with a lot of knives in your back. And it was a particular knife in my back that started me thinking along these lines.
It is one thing to understand spiritual principles, but quite another to apply them to this world. Perhaps this is our struggle? I don't know, but some days, I wonder, "Whats the point?"