thought gently whispers...
Friday, August 13, 2021
"above all things..."
"if a picture paints a thousand words..."
Thursday, August 5, 2021
"in a dream..."
Saturday, July 31, 2021
"as i write this letter..."
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
"i love to tell the story..."
Friday, July 23, 2021
"hold them up..."
Saturday, July 17, 2021
"catching the unseen..."
Once there is this moment of connection -- the opening of her wings and stepping forward, uniting with the ever-present current of air (or thermal) she catches -- there is flight. There is a choreography that cannot exist without this unity. The thermal cannot be seen without the form of the eagle to give it visibility, and the eagle is motionless without the invisible current that lifts her.
I love this relational aspect of prayer. Yes, God is ever-present and always speaking, guiding, directing, protecting us -- and for this I am so forever grateful. But there is something so beautiful, and sweet, and powerful about the "dance" of opening my heart, and stepping into the "presence" -- of actively listening. This is not a petitioning, but a celebration of Soul. It is song, and dance, and poetry. It is the marriage of lyric with melody and movement. It is pure and refreshing. It is both comforting and inviting.
This kind of prayer isn't asking for anything. For why should we need to ask, when our all-powerful, Father-Mother God already knows all -- and loves us, so much. This prayer wants nothing but to be one -- to dance -- with the Divine. This is not the day-to-day "rushing about madly," while knowing that God is "in charge" kind of praying. It is something quite different.
I never doubt that the thermals of Spirit will be there when I step off the ever-crumbling ledge of human control or worry -- the undulating edge that my life often looks and feels like. Those moments when thunderheads blacken the horizon, and I think I can neither see a divine plan -- before or behind. When it looks as if lifitng my wings will put them right into the path of a lightning bolt. I do it anyway, and there is a rush of peace when I feel that invisible current under my heart -- lifting it above doubt and despair. It is not unlike the rush of love I feel when I look into my daughters' faces and remember that God trusted me with His precious child.
When it seems as if I'm falling out of grace. I pause for just a moment, and shift in this space of listening. And I can feel yet another current of God's love carrying me out of the descent.
This is what prayer feels like to me. I love riding these thermals of Love -- in joyful celebration of Her unseen ever-presence. It is how I remind myself that what is unseen is often more powerful than what is not. It is to be raised up, "on eagle's wings.".
Friday, June 11, 2021
"only Jesus..."
Sunday, May 23, 2021
"we're not that different at all..."
“Her discoveries have profoundly altered the world’s view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity in a way that is both humbling and exalting. Ultimately, her work exemplifies the kind of humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery that my grandfather, John Templeton, wrote and spoke about during his life.”
Humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery. Aren't these the defining attributes of every great thought-leader.
My own spiritual heroes, Jesus Christ and Mary Baker Eddy, brought these same qualities to their desire to understand the law of Love and the impartial and universal application of that law in the lives of all conscious beings.
I am so deeply grateful for the progress that humanity has made in recognizing that although, on the surface, we might seem so different, we're really not that different at all. Spirituality dissolves the differences we define as race, gender, species, genus with the consciousness of God's All-in-allness.
I have learned more about unconditional love from our non-speaking family members -- the ones who navigate this experience on four legs -- than I have from most humans.
So today, I am deeply grateful for the legacy of respect and compassion for all creatures, that Jane Goodall has left to us as a record of our ever-evolving history of what it means to be conscious beings sharing the same spiritual landscape.
offered with Love,
Cate
Friday, May 14, 2021
"it's all i need to know..."
God is Love,
if it's all I ever learn in life,
it's all I need to know..."
I was reaching for joy, but it seemed so beyond my grasp that night. I'd received a call earlier in the evening that shook me to my core. Sorrow and bewilderment circled like coyotes looking for a place in my heart. I was on full alert, but tired. I needed a companion in the watch. Mindy Jostyn's beautiful, "God is Love" was a friend in the dark.
I let her remind me through the night that if I took nothing away from this experience -- but an understanding of what it meant that God is Love -- it would be enough. The hope of healing was alive in me. But what that healing would look like seemed elusive. In some ways, I didn't even know what to hope for. Would I stop feeling sad? Would the pain disappear? Would my heart cease to ache? Would someone tell me that the call I'd received earlier had never really happened?
I'd been sitting in the dark for hours, when I suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to read from Mary Baker Eddy's primary text on spiritual healing, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. I had a long history with finding healing and comfort in her pages. It was exactly what I needed at that moment. I turned on the lamp and opened my dog-eared copy randomly.
My eyes fell on these words from a longer sentence:
"...the proof of healing,
a sweet and certain sense
that God is Love."
It washed over, and through, me like a dam breaking upstream. The proof of healing wasn't going to be seen in a changed physical picture. I wasn't going to hear different news, or wake up to a different report. But I would know this healing. I would have absolute proof of healing. I would feel it in a "a sweet and certain sense that God is Love" filling my heart -- filling my life.
I turned off the lamp and returned to the stillness of the night. I listened to Mindy's voice -- and I knew I was healed. I felt it. It started as a glowing ember at my core. I felt Spirit breathe upon its presence - all the hope, trust, and affection I held in my heart. Before long, I could feel that "sweet and certain sense that God is Love" radiating, warming, and filling every dark corner of the night. I was healed. I had proof.
Elsewhere in Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy assures us:
"The depth, breadth, height,
might, majesty, and glory
of infinite Love fill all space.
That is enough!"
And it really was. It was enough, just to know that, "God is Love." I could actually feel that it was the most important thing I would ever learn in life, and that it was all that I would ever really need to know.
On the surface of things, nothing had changed. But deep within my heart I actually felt it -- that sweet and certain sense that God is Love -- and it was all the proof of healing I needed. I have returned to this experience many times since that night.
In fact, just today my heart was heavy. The news was overwhelming. One alarming report after another. One disturbing account immediately on the heels of the last. The information was coming rapid fire. It felt like I had been praying -- without ceasing -- for days. I couldn't even imagine what healing might look like when there was so much to be healed, and so many issues to be prayerfully addressing.
As I stood at the stove waiting for the tea kettle to boil, the strains of Mindy's "God is Love," washed through my heart like the soundtrack from a favorite film. I recalled that night, over a decade earlier, when I had felt so engulfed in grief. And I remembered -- the only proof of healing I needed to feel was:
"a sweet and certain sense
that God is Love"
I closed my eyes, quieting the clamor of the human mind. And there it was -- the feeling. That sweet and certain sense that God is Love filling my heart. It was all the proof I needed. It was enough.
offered with Love,
Kate