The Miracle of Resurrection - in the Garden
May 5, 2008 | 1 Comment
I love to garden and I love plants - how they smell, how
they look, how they grow. I love the miracle of a seed’s transformation into a seedling and finally into a mature plant. When traveling, I always notice gardens, the smell of new plants, the pollen, the leaves - you get the picture.
There are so many spiritual lessons found in the garden. One of them is the miracle of resurrection - of life returning after supposed death. And all deaths are supposed, if we believe that death is the soul’s transition into a new form of life. Resurrection is a symbol for the new life and new beginnings we experience in our lives.
I’ve witnessed multiple resurrections in my garden this spring. I conducted a mental funeral for two of my beloved black foot daisies last fall - but they staged a spring reprise and are blooming with innocent abandon. Such a miracle! I thought sure that the scabiosas in the front were gonners this winter, but they’ve come back with mounds of blossoms this spring. A miracle! Even the white swan echinacea that I just knew had kicked the bucket have returned and are about to bloom. Miracles are all around me!
But the most amazing miracle of all happened yesterday afternoon. I found it around by the back door where I have a secret garden - a garden that doesn’t get much sunlight except for the harshest rays of a late summer afternoon, where nothin’ much grows. I had planted Confederate Jasmine there three or four years ago in a futile attempt to reproduce the smells of a California garden in Texas. What was I smokin’? To think that I could grow even a well-adapted version of the jasmine that perfumes just about every garden in California - well, only a crazed, cowboy-boot-wearin’ Texas gardener would think she could transplant California to Texas. I swear that Confederate Jasmine plant hasn’t produced even one green leaf in at least two years, but I found it yesterday not only growing up the trellis and onto the roof, but bedecked with small, lightly fragrant white blooms like Christmas lights on a garland of greenery. I wanted to throw a party then and there!
The lesson to me is obvious. When we think that the worst has happened, when it seems that death has surely triumphed over life, when the light at the end of the tunnel appears to recede rather than come nearer, God’s abundance and the miracle of new life whack us on the side of the head, fairly screaming, "Wake up and smell the jasmine!" Notice the new life, the small resurrections, that miraculously appear in your life. Are they new opportunities where you thought none would ever appear? An unexpected solution to a vexing problem? A phone call from a friend you’d lost contact with? New business opportunities that just drop in your lap? Appreciate them. Welcome them. Give thanks for the miracle of resurrection.
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Sh’ma
April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’m in Charleston, SC this week for a conference. As I was walking the streets of this lovely and historic town this afternoon, I came to a Jewish synagogue, called Congregation Beth Elohim, that has a beautiful garden. The gate was open to the garden, so I walked in, thinking I would simply see another one of the beautiful secret gardens for which this city is well known. It was a nice garden, but what caught my attention was the inscription that was chiseled in the stone over the entrance to the stately sanctuary. It was a wonderful English translation of the heart prayer of Judaism, the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:4), that I had never heard before. Most of us who come from a Judeo-Christian background recognize the Sh’ma even though Christians may not know its common Hebrew name. We know it as, "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one." Listen with your heart to the different language that I discovered this afternoon:
"Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is the sole eternal being."
I’ve always had trouble with "The Lord our God is one", because I interpreted it as a way of turning the Israelites against the religions and deities of their neighbors, who had many gods and goddesses. To me, the Sh’ma represents the ancient Hebrew patriarch’s systematic obliteration of Goddess-worship - in ancient, earth-based religions, a Goddess was often accompanied by gods (usually Her son) or She went by many names. To say that "The Lord our God (notice the male implication) is one" declares not only that monotheism is the ticket but that the Hebrew God is the only way - the Lord God’s way or the highway, so to speak. I take a dim view of the ascendancy of any religion over another, so this assertion goes against the grain for me. And, as Kristin (me) the teenager would often assert, what about the Christian Trinity - isn’t that a polytheistic view of divinity? What’s so wrong with polytheism, I would ask my Sunday School teachers. They did their best to describe it in a way I could grasp, but I don’t remember being satisfied by the answers.
So, back to the present and the inscription at Congregation Beth Elohim. God is the sole eternal being. I can really get that. The concept of a "being" is much less discrete than a "god", so my mental image of the Divine is more formless when we describe it as a being. Being can be a state of consciousness, which I also like as a description of the Divine. Solely eternal - yes, I can buy that - God is the alpha and omega, the ground of our being, the Source, the Infinite Intelligence, the eternal. I like it!
I’ll just add that I believe that we, too, are part of the eternal being. A Course in Miracles tells us that "God is incomplete without you." We share in the eternal being-ness of the Divine, and we are all one. One with each other and one with the Divine.
I am so glad I diverted my walk into that synagogue’s garden. Thank you, Congregation Beth Elohim, for a new perspective on this ancient wisdom.
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Come Back to Love; Turn Away from Despair
April 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
"Come, come, whoever you are,
wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
This is not a caravan of despair.
It doesn’t matter that you’ve broken
your vow a thousand times, still
come, and yet again, come.
Rumi, as translated by Coleman Barks in "The Soul of Rumi"
My friend, Nancy, brought this and two other Rumi poems to our prayer circle last night. This well-known poem struck me anew in its simplicity that belies a deep truth.
What struck me about this wisdom is the expansive, forgiving nature of the Divine, who tells us that it doesn’t matter that you’ve broken your vow a thousand times. Come back to me and start anew, it seems to say.
I have been living too much in fear lately - I have broken my vow to live in love and acceptance at least a thousand times, just in the last week! You see, I am eager to get my new business off the ground (you, as reader, are a part of my support group in this effort and I thank you for that). At the same time, I am grieving leaving the comfort, income and satisfaction that I used to derive from my old business. Not that I’m turning away completely from KR Consulting (www.krconsulting.com), but I am turning toward wherever Brio Leadership will take me.
I lived in fear, judgment and comparisons for most of last week. Fear of the new, fear of not bringing in income for awhile until this new endeavor takes off, judgment of myself and comparisons between me and other "more successful" people. Judgment of myself that a spiritual person shouldn’t be stuck in these dense, dark emotions. I not only joined a caravan of despair, I was the lead camel-driver and my camel’s saddlebags were heavy-laden with despair!
And then I read Rumi. Ahhhhh. Rumi reminds me that the Divine does not judge me, but beckons me to "come, and yet again, come" - come back to love, back to the Divine lap in which I sit, comforted and secure. Come back to love, in which all things are possible. Come back to myself - my true self - that loves me, cheers for my success and believes in me. Come, and yet again, come.
Don’t we all break our vow to live in love a thousand times? Rumi reminds us we are not part of a caravan of despair, and to come back to the Divine essence. We can start anew - once, twice, a thousand times - and it is OK. The Divine Creator allows us to come, and yet again, come back to love as many times as we need to.
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Passion Week - Easter Sunday thoughts
March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The week between Palm Sunday and Easter is one of the most important in the Christian tradition. The resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday represents perhaps the most important tenet of Christianity. I would like to share my thoughts on resurrection with you today.
To me, Jesus represents a master teacher, an ascended master, a highly evolved spirit who chose to incarnate into human form. Although I cannot call myself a true Christian, I revere Jesus’ teachings as callings to human beings to become the best we can be, to follow the way of love, to evolve our souls and attain the kingdom of heaven right here on earth.
I am a Universalist in the sense that I believe that all souls continue in the spirit world after death. Where and what that spirit world is I cannot say, but I cannot believe that a loving Creator would damn any children to a tortuous after-life. If you believe, as I do, in reincarnation, there is no need for hell, and there never has been. I cannot accept that souls who lived before Jesus or who do not accept Jesus as their personal savior are not welcome in heaven. Therefore, I must interpret the story of the resurrection of Jesus in a much broader context.
I believe that Jesus’ life and death points to the possibility that we can be saved from our inner turmoil, from the dark emotions that grip our souls almost to death, and that we can aspire to live in constant connection with Source energy or God’s will. We can be everyday mystics, walking our live’s path in constant connection with God. Only when we choose love over fear, life over death, do we live lives like Jesus the Christ did.
Springtime reminds me of our ability to resurrect our souls. We are always given a chance to be re-born into living a better life, just as surely as spring comes every year with its orgasmic re-birth of new life. My heart thrills in springtime to see green grass, new buds on the trees and flower blossoms because it renews my soul and gives me hope for my ability to start again on my spiritual path.
May you enjoy the blessings of Easter!
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Passion Week - Good Friday
March 21, 2008 | 2 Comments
Jesus’ life provides many wonderful examples of how to be an everyday mystic. Jesus the Christ lived his earthly life in constant alignment with God’s spirit and will. The events of Passion Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter) provide some of the most wonderful, evocative examples of how to live in connection with Divine energy. I’d like to offer my thoughts on Jesus’ surrender to God’s will on Good Friday.
Among what is called the Seven Last Words of Christ (they are really phrases), there are three that speak to me this Easter season. In the first one that appeals to me, Jesus reveals the physical agony of his death ("I thirst"). The second reveals his questioning of God’s will ("My God, why have you forsaken me?"), and the third provides the example of his ultimate surrender to the Divine plan ("Into your hands, I commit my spirit"). I find comfort in these words because I have suffered with health issues, I have gone through long periods when I’ve felt abandoned by God, and I struggle with surrender to the Divine plan.
I don’t like the word surrender, perhaps because I resist it so well. I prefer to redefine surrender as the intention of putting Spirit first, then acting. I, to the contrary, have a tendency to act, to do, to wrestle with earthly projects/people/events and then try to find the Spirit in them. Hmmm, as Dr. Phil might ask, "Is that working for you?" The answer is, it has worked OK so far, but I find it a recipe for exhaustion and burnout. Not the way I want to live the rest of my life. My intention is to find an easier way.
I am just now learning to find my direction from the Divine realm through meditation, paying attention to my intuition and to the synchronicities that abound in my life, and prayer. Then and only then should I act. I am becoming more discerning about the messages I receive - whether they are from my ego (these are tinged with fear or anger) and those that come from my highest self or the Divine spark within me. Those messages are bathed in love and ease. That is my definition of surrender - seeking guidance from my deepest truth and love, committing my spirit into the hands of the Divine realm, and only then acting.
I know that the result will be greater ease, and the wonderment of what Spirit can do for me. After all, the Divine One can certainly do a better job with the details than I can.
I think Carolyn Myss tells the joke, "How do you make God laugh?" The answer : "Tell God your plans." I believe that the Divine plan is bigger, better and more amazing than anything I could dream up. I also recognize how difficult it is for me to accept that when I hit a rough patch in life’s road.
Prayer:
Thank you, Holy One, for the example of holy living that Jesus the Christ provides us. Help me to put your plan first in my life, to choose love over fear and surrender to the greater good that is your plan for me. Amen.
This is the Everyday Mystic’s second post of three on the Easter story. You can visit the first post about Palm Sunday at http://kristinrobertson.com/passion-week-thoughts-palm-sunday.htm
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Everything is Holy
February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Last weekend, I had heard Peter Mayer’s song called “Holy Now” (you can read the lyrics by searching on “holy now” at http://www.petermayer.net/music/). In the song, he relates that when he was a boy, he went to church to experience the holy or to hear about long-ago miracles. Today, his view of the holy includes everyday life – the lyrics tell us that “Everything is holy now” and “Everything’s a miracle.”
I was driving to Houston yesterday to speak to a technical services industry group there. It’s a long drive from where I live, so I had a good opportunity to be with myself. I got to thinking about Peter Mayer’s song. I contemplated how one could live in a way that allows one to see that everything is holy and everything is a miracle. It’s a mind-set of living in a state of constant grace, I decided. Hmm, there’s a weird concept - grace. Grace to me is feeling like you are being cuddled in the arms of the Divine – pure safety, pure love, feeling like the universe sends you the gift of pure acceptance of whoever you are. Living in a state of grace allows me to feel that everything is holy now.
“So how do you live in a state of grace?” I asked myself. There are two spiritual skills that help me live in an “everything is holy now” mindset. The first is gratitude and the second is perspective.
Living in a State of Grace: Gratitude
Gratitude, in the form of appreciating the little things in life, is vital to living in the moment. Gratitude helps you love what you’ve got right now, not what you’d rather have. I found gratitude yesterday in my car to Houston – gratitude for the sun, gratitude for the opportunity to speak to a wonderful group of people, gratitude to be living this life of mine. Today, I walk around my home taking mental pictures of scenes I’m grateful for – oh, there’s the sweet dog lying on the stairs, the morning sun dances on the tile floor, the cup of aromatic tea makes me smile.
Appreciating those around you is another aspect of gratitude. In my family, we constantly tell each other “I love you”. My teenage daughter was sick last night, and I took advantage of the opportunity to appreciate her. If you know anything about teenagers, you know that the only time they are really glad to be “loved on” by their momma is when they are sick. I sat at her bedside, stroking her hair. I told her how much I loved her, how proud of her I was for the person she’s becoming and the choices she’s made. I told her I’d sit there until her body twitched, which is the sure sign that she’s asleep. Then I quietly crept away, knowing she was getting the rest she needed.
Perspective
The second skill is perspective, which I use for want of a better word. Perspective helps you step out of the emotional grit of the moment and attempt to see a broader view. Several ways to gain perspective are helpful to me. One is to search for the lesson in the situation, as in, “What opportunity for growth or better understanding does this provide me?” Many times, the lesson for me is to learn to apply a broader perspective more quickly! Another way to gain perspective is to look for the good, especially the future good, in the situation. My son was recently sick and the doctor prescribed a drug that could help him. My first reaction was, “Why does my son have to suffer?” My second reaction, the one that sought the good in the situation, was, “This is perfect. Now he has a drug he can use when he encounters this again. He is empowered to help himself.” I had to choose this perspective, but I’m really glad I did. Another way to gain perspective is to realize that you are not the only one who has ever experienced the situation. Applying this to my son’s situation sounds like this: “A lot of people take this drug and find it helps them lead productive, empowered lives.”
Gratitude and perspective help us live our lives as if “everything is holy now”. My goal is to live that way every day.
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Redemption
February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Redemption is such an exciting experience when it happens to me. Redemption excites me and incites in me an incredibly grateful heart. It makes me realize that I truly walk hand-in-hand with the Divine – just like you do, like each one of us do. I hope that by sharing my story, you might awaken to the Divine’s redemptive power in your life.
Through email yesterday, I received a sizable order for my book about the technical services industry, called Spectacular Support Centers (www.spectacularsupportcenters.com), from a company with whom I had a bad experience when I spoke at their conference several years ago. Out of the blue, this company’s bookstore representative requested copies of my book to sell at their upcoming conference – the same conference that I had the bad experience in a previous year! The enormous significance of this simple book order didn’t hit me until last night. While packing the books for shipment, I suddenly put all the pieces together.
This, I realized, is redemption in action! It took me several months to get over the hurt and humiliation of the experience at that conference (I won’t share details, but suffice it to say that I am both a perfectionist and an obsessor, so when I’m humiliated, whether it was my fault or not, I obsess about it). I was mad at myself and at the organization. In retrospect, both parties were equally at fault for whatever wrong was done. One of my regrets was that my angry response to the situation precluded any chance of working together again – neither party would have wanted that! Or, perhaps, that was just my interpretation of it.
But – my book opened a neutral avenue for us to work together again, in a non-threatening, indirect way. “This is a God-thing!” I almost shouted as I taped shut the box of books I was packing. This is redemption.
Redemption.
Redemption is possible in every situation. Seek it. Indulge it when it happens, but above all, be grateful for it when it graces your life. That’s how I felt last night.
Prayer:
Oh God of Many Names, I am full of gratitude for your grace and the redemption you sent me. Help me to know in my heart that redemption is always possible; indeed, it is a possibility that resides beneath the present illusion. Help all sentient beings recognize the joy of redemption in their lives. Amen.
