How Do I Live in Faith
Months go by before I make the time to write here. Actually I seem to be unwilling to write much of anything, lately. Life is full, growth is happening and it leaves little time for this, or even thoughts of any real import for something published.
Still, I will make an effort today. There is much to relate having to do with what is happening for us, here on this beautiful planet. The ‘what is happening’ according to news, or science, or popular culture is not the nature of my work here. Rather, my work is steeped in a much broader perspective, one that I find to be far more comforting than what I consider to be the human perspective. In fact, most of the time I’m left with a sense of utter confusion about how we humans do things.
Several weeks back, in the midst of working a lot on our property, the news of yet another shooting was felt. I say “felt” because I often feel things before I know anything. It’s for this reason that I often just keep going with life, rather than stopping to inquire about what it is that I’m doing praying for unknown people. Clearly, the news that does bubble through at times is staggering, but I know that all that is happening was already communicated in a way without the particulars.
The Change of Times is definitely upon us and frankly, we’ve lived and thrived through many times where it appears that we have come to a significant and exquisite place of change. A place where we must not ignore the signs and still we do. We ignore everything we are shown. Repeatedly.
The news hits us. Some become activated, but most remain the same. We worry about things like whether the phone will work, what celebrity is cheating on their wife or husband, what we have in our bank account, if we drive a cool enough car, the state of the stock market … These issues remain primary subjects in the news. Our personal news and news that means nothing in the long run. Even issues with who will be the next president trumps all this obvious strife.
On a personal note and even though I spend most of my life working on easing the pain in others’ lives, there can be things that, no matter how much I work on cultivating peace around me as well as in my heart, I am unsuccessful at healing. Some of the people involved are related by blood or marriage, but I remain unable to heal those wounds in any significant or obvious way. You would think that it would be easy, but it’s not. It requires mutual consent and desire to be thorough with resolutions to resolve differences. What is clear to me is that I am only able to shift my own perspective. WE are all powerless to change any one other than ourselves.
We can pray for it, want it desperately and become a model of peace in the world, but all that effort will only shift the person willing to see themselves honestly and adjust, amend and forgive everyone and everything that has injured or hurt us.
My life is usually anchored in the remote high desert of Arizona, but today I’m basking in the beauty of Maui with a few of my children and their families. For many years, this was a haven of peace for all of us, but more recently it’s changed a bit. The changes are relative to outside influences, but influences that are very close to my children’s lives. I’ve learned that it matters not a bit what may have been done to soothe relations with others. If anyone chooses to live in the past & relate to the current ‘now’ from years ago hurts, nothing will shift much. Sure, there will always be fun times, but essentially if there isn’t a significant amount of accountability by all people in a family, what will emerge are “camps”. The elusive “right and wrong” will constantly be thrown around and nothing much changes.
If a family of people – all kind and willing to be loving – find they can’t resolve things, how do we expect to do that on a broader plane? It’s ridiculous to harbor anger towards others. We all know that, but still it’s a common and insidious response humans have.
If you believe that our government can change laws to make things right, you are misguided. If you believe that conducting another bloody war on something, someone or another country will affect positive change, you are further misguided. It is only being 100% committed to finding and living in the truth of your being that you can find peace in the world. And it means that many more of us will have to refocus on that for anything obvious to change in our world. Injustice is common. Cruelty prolific. Peace is terribly elusive, but it’s around.
We do become complacent because we all just keep on going. Life keeps being lived and we wander from one activity to another, essentially dulling the pain we feel about the state of the world, but we are even complacent our own pain. “Someday I’ll deal with that” may be your mantra, but right now is the best time to address it.
If you are living in a relationship where you behave with anger and hurtful methods, how do you think your life is going to be? If you feel comfortable judging others for their lifestyle or choices, how will you be an example to anyone else? If you are consistently ignoring the urging of your body to take better care of yourself, how will you live a vital life? If you become offended easily by others, how can you possibly tell yourself that you are a true activist and agent for peace?
You aren’t. You are part of the problem.
If I am not being 100% aware of who I am on the broader scale, all my “so called” spiritual awareness will do nothing to change the world because I will be limited by my mind. It’s in my commitment to be all that I can possibly be that gives me the ability to make a difference that lasts. What we are doing as a world culture will do very little and take a good deal of time. There are changes that happen over many years, but right now we are all being called out for rapid and total awareness, or I feel that we will miss something – again – that the world needs us to understand.
The earth will simply get rid of us if we don’t figure this out. She’s pretty resilient, where we are fragile little human doings. We could remember that we are beings and live more inside of the awareness that our being loving and consistent is the answer… and this is the nature of today’s post.
Wake up. At least make an effort. It will support the children we all seem to care so much about (in our best moments). To me it’s a lot of lip service unless we try to be more aware… Start inside and it’s easier to move out from there and actually make a difference in the broader world we share.
To me, living in faith means to pray for and focus on those who have hurt me, abandoned me or been cruel to me, as well as focus on what is good in my world right now. In healing myself in those specific relationships – literally using them to grow – I can really thrive. Being true to that, I have more options to heal the world and access to the spiritual muscles I’ll need to actually achieve it.
Feels like a good way to focus today… being true to my soul.
Here’s to you doing something similar…