Discipline

Today I was reading some accounts of the spiritual journeys of other people and was struck by the fact that such journeys require effort and time. That has certainly been true in my case. My journey and the connection I have experienced cause me great peace and joy but it has required effort, focus and discipline. I encourage others to do the same but to date, few have exerted the necessary effort. "We want to be spiritually alive, but also to be comfortable; to be prayerful, but not to rise early in the morning to pray; to possess power to lead, but not to undergo the discipline that it takes to control the power." (Kilpack)

Divine Harmony

Today I have been made more aware of the importance of my ability to sense the divine harmony and love in everything within my environment. I find this discipline to be physically healing as well as emotionally and spiritually fulfilling. Sensing the love and harmony is relatively easy when I witness some interaction between a young mother with her child. It is harder to sense but just as present when I see a cockroach scurry across the living room floor. The cockroach is a wondrously perfect example of survival and thriving within situations where humans try to eliminate it. "When the will, in becoming aware of the satisfaction afforded by the object of sight, hearing or touch does not stop with this joy but immediately elevates itself to God, rejoicing in Him who motivates and gives strength to its joy, it is doing something very good. (St. John of the Cross)

Gifts

For the last couple of days I have been meditating about and processing a dream which tells me that I have unique and special abilities, gifts from God which carry responsibilities with them. The main responsibility right now is simply to look at the evidence of my life objectively and admit the gifts which are unique to me. One of the main gifts is my ability to transmit (beam?) God’s love through my hands, a gift which I have used in hands on healing and to help other people feel God’s Love. Another gift is my ability to work with spirits, a skill I am still developing. I find it hard to look at myself objectively and admit my own uniqueness.

Perspective

I strive to live by what I call the "Rainmaker Ideal"; to love, allow and cherish all aspects of myself and others. I do this in order to be of maximum service. It is a perspective that requires humility, ego deflation and constant introspection. I get this approach from the writings of Irene Claremont deCastillejo, who described it well; "In those rare moments when all the opposites meet within a man, good and also evil, light and also darkness, spirit and also body, brain and also heart, masculine focused consciousness and at the same time feminine diffuse awareness, wisdom of maturity and childlike wonder; when all are allowed and none displaces any other in the mind of a man, then that man, though he may utter no word is in an attitude of prayer. Whether he knows it or not his own receptive allowing will affect all those around him; rain will fall on the parched fields, and tears will turn bitter grief to flowering sorrow, while stricken children dry their eyes and laugh."