Perscription or Perspective

Years ago, I would hang on to my old prescription eyeglasses in case I would lose and damage my new pair. What I found over time is that either my eyes or the way that I looked at things had changed. Things that had once been very clear to me were now fuzzy and vice versa. The somewhat amusing thing is life can be the same way; as our experiences unfold before us, and time and chance happens to us all, we somehow learn to see things differently. Take time this week to look past the things we think we know and understand and view life through a different lens, point of view or perspective. Maybe, just maybe we will find the clarity and simplicity that we seek right in the middle of the fuzziness. As for those old glasses, I donate them now so that someone else has a chance to see life clearly.

Set Sail!

Living here in Florida, we experience our fair share of storms and the chaos they cause and the path of destruction that remain. This reminds me of the story where Jesus calmed the stormy seas and how even in the midst of the storms of our lives, there is still a very real opportunity for peace in the midst of it all. It may require us to undock our lives from the pier or push off from the shore that gives us safety and shelter and set sail for hope and peace. This week, I pray that there will be countless opportunities for all us to set sail and witness the miracles of living through a lens of faith that lets us find peace in the midst of storm. May these experiences flow into all areas of our lives and influence all that we touch and are becoming.
Shalom-Salaam-Peace

Will There Be ONE Today?

I used to think that one was the loneliest number… Then as I observed life, I understood that our very existences are comprised of a series of ones or onenesses. We live one moment, one day, one hope, one heartache, one paycheck, one failure, one triumph and one tear at a time. Think of it like this, if we were carpenters, we would create one nail, one board or a mason who creates one brick at a time or a painter who creates one brushstroke at a time.

Today, in this moment; maybe we are all of these things as we endeavor to share our lives which are comprised of many if not all of these things with the world. I like to believe that we share our lives in the land of plenty, upon a foundation of love, while raising walls of hope to hold rafters of grace and create an entrance of peace that we may each bring who we are and where we have been into this place and therein be fully at our best.

This place is not anywhere that we can strive to reach, plot on a map or locate through a Google search; it is right where we are sitting and standing in this very moment. You see in addition to all of the ones in our lives, we all have the blessing regardless of our circumstance of – Right Now. This is place my friends is within each of us. The place where we store all of the ones that have shaped and molded us into the one that we are is the place where we are our very best, even now.

My prayer today is that there will be ONE for each of us today; one beautiful memory, one warming touch, one enveloping smile and one chance for each one of us to reach and teach another one us the goodness and power of the one who created us, keeps and loves us.

May it all be so… ONE blessing at a time.

Completely Yes!

There is a single word that has the power to change so many things about the world around us. Our lives, faith, perspective, direction, and impact; that word is Yes! It is defined as; “it is so, used to express agreement or to permit.” Yes can change lives, restore hope, open doors, extend helping hands and create change. Often time, there are those who walk among us that have had more than their share of the word no in this life.

In contrast, the Divine and the sacred gives us one of the most powerful tools that often go under utilized and unnoticed – that tool is the power of the word yes spoken and enacted. As I looked at this word and allowed it to continually pass through my being, I wondered what it says in other languages:

Si – Spanish, Oui – French, Ja – German, Naam – Swahili, Sim - Portuguese

As I looked at each of them and listened to the harmony of each as I spoke them aloud,I saw something in the midst of them all – “I AM”. The very name of the Divine is right there in the midst of them all. What a blessing it is to be reminded of all of the many ways that creation says and is YES in our world. Even this week as we celebrate pride – a movement born out of all things NO on so many levels and yet yields much more YES for us today and is still making a way for so much more in the tomorrows that lie ahead of us. We are still People of Promise who engender the very yes that the Creator was, is and shall eternally be. So this week as we go about our lives, our celebrations and all of our coming and going; remember that the yes that is within you can change the world for so many. Allow it to be more than just an answer to a question. Maybe this week, opportunities to be yes in the life of someone in someway will present itself. I don’t think that we will have to look very far or wide to take a chance to be whatever it is that permits and allows life to be more for someone, anyone… May we pause and give the Divine thanks, for the chance to say and to see the living and breathing YES before our eyes in all people of faith. Amen and may it all be so!

Outlines

When I was child, I was encouraged to color inside of the lines. Later in life, I would watch murder mystery television shows and there was always a chalk outline left where the body fell. From that I realized that there is no life or positive existence within the lines, it all dwells outside of the lines.

I guess if I had to choose which I preferred, I would have to go with life outside of the lines. The lines in our lives contain us, define us and prohibit us from really living fully into our purpose. Today, my outlines are the things that I have left behind, the things that no longer breathe life and the places that I have transitioned from. For me, there is enough color and energy in the events of my life, that there is no longer the capability to see the lines. So each moment can be anything that I choose it to be. Could it be that the outlines of our lives are merely the silhouette of our existence, the essence of our spirit that remains?

So, my friends; come outside of the things that contain you. Break out of the circumstances that define you in ways that just aren't meant to be so. Move beyond the outlines of your existence and live out loud, play out side and be outspoken so much so that the only outlines you encounter are the words and sentences that speak life - YOUR LIFE! What's that I hear? Sounds like LIFE calling…

I offer to the world a blessing that all of the lines in our universe will begin to fade and our true purpose can begin to shine through for our good. May it all be so...

What Is It That Moves You?

I returned to Cambridge today and it was like entering the familiar presence of a long lost friend. I had forgotten how easy it is to have my breath swept away by the subtle beauty of all around me and how intoxicating the sounds of conversations and laughter could be for the soul. The trees gently were swaying in the breeze and reached out to me as I returned and the sky was painted the most beautiful blue I had seen in a while and all this just for me. On my journey from Logan Airport into Cambridge, I could see the Charles River in the distance as I got closer. I found myself eager, longing, surprised and relived by the elegant movement of her currents. The last time I saw the river was in mid-January, she was frozen, still and quiet. As I passed by in the warmth of my taxi, she whispered “I bid you good journey until we meet again.” Today my friend the river was alive, vibrant and graceful! There she was only a stone's throw away, waiting for me to return.

I took time to watch a few of the of the scullers gently gliding along and I thought to myself how cool is that? Just to be able to float along the river and be moved by the rhythm of creation in synch with the wisdom of the wind. Then I began wonder; as the scullers are moved by their own power and strokes of the oars along the river’s edges, what is it that moves us through life and the living thereof? What carries us when we are weary, comforts us when we’re lost, holds us close when we’re lonely? What is it that keeps us going, laughing, breathing, hopeful and grateful? What is it that moves us along our river’s edge?

Got Faith?

Recently I had an online conversation with friend about faith. In my life, I have had thousands of these, but this day it was different. I was asked “Why do I think we need faith?” Well, if you have known me for more than a year, you probably know that I have an opinion about most anything including this. As I took a deep breath and prepared to answer, I felt the air in room shift slightly and I chose to experience that pause of my thoughts and keystrokes for just a moment to hear, see and feel what was coming into being within me... In those moments of pause, I posed that question to myself and my own living instead of the prepackaged mumbojumbo.

I asked my spirit - Why do I need faith? I realized that faith is chisel that shapes so much of my perspective and being. It is the brush that allows me to paint with broad and sure strokes. For those of us who live with vision corrected by glasses, contacts or surgery; you will understand this illustration deeply. I compare the acts of faith in our lives to the change that comes about when we experience the difference in our eyesight or what /how we can see when wear our glasses or contacts. Things go from fuzzy to clear, from distorted to absolute and from far away to internal.

Thus, I typed "In my own lifetime, I have watched what faith can do to and through the world around us. Faith changes things… Faith changes us and how we are with one another…Without faith prayer could easily be deemed as a person talking themselves. Without faith, the value of our connections as community; living into the things that give us hope could be down played by the voice of independence or everyone for themselves. Without faith, the fabric of our redemption would be nothig more than remnants of yet another debt unpaid and lives incomplete. Without faith the cross would be nothing more than two sticks tied together and the resurrection could be summed up in an eternal saga CSI or Without a Trace."

I think that we need faith to steady our steps, to guide our journeys, to amplify our heart songs, to codify our connectedness and balance our beliefs with our existence. Faith is for me the coming into being of what I remember about the acts of God in my life; into the same moment as my hope for more of the same blessings upon and around me. I believe that faith is essential to our survival of the imposition of the faithless, the hopeless and loveless. It is faith that serves as the still small voice that beckons us into the hope of possibility, beyond the edge of what see and into the presence of what deem sacred. Faith is my refuge...

As I hit enter, I realized that in that moment, I was faithful and faith filled. What a feeling! Our conversation went from debate to discourse. That day, faith changed both of us as it clarified each of us for the other.

Got Faith?