"Why" is not a valid question...

It has taken me all my life to understand it is not necessary to understand everything.
- Rene Coty

Dear Hearts,

How many times have we asked ourselves the "why" question? "Why" did this happen in my life, or "why" did this happen in the life of another or "why" did this event take place in the life of our country or the world? Yet, the truth is "why" is never a valid question because we will never be able to figure out "why" people act as they do or "why" certain events take place. The question "why" simply wastes our brain power and our vital energy.

So today, let's move from the invalid "why" question to the very valid and valuable "what" question. Perhaps we might say to ourselves, "I don't know why this happened but now that it has, what am I going to do about it? The "why" question always keeps us in the problem while the "what" question moves us into the solution.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara

The gift of today...

"O Gracious and loving God we lift to you this day."
Dr. Michael Wenning

Dear Hearts,

We have 945 minutes left of this once in a lifetime June 14, 2004. We get to make a conscious decision to take this day and lift it out of the realm of the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary. How do we do that? What if today we continually asked ourselves these questions; "What would love do in this situation? What would love say in this situation? What thoughts would love think regarding this situation or this person, including ourselves?"

We have a gracious and loving God that has gifted us with today. The Psalmists have said, "This is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." May we take this extraordinarily beautiful June day and make the best of it and the best is always anchored in love for love is simply another name for God.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara

Who we really are..

"Continue to blot out, one by one, all false beliefs."
Dr. Ernest Holmes

Dear Hearts,

If we were to examine our belief system about ourselves how many of our beliefs would be true of us today? So many times, we lug around a historical belief system that is not ours at all but made up of the beliefs of others that were imparted to us thirty or forty years ago. Yet we still carry around these beliefs as though they were true of us today.

Are our current beliefs about ourselves nurturing and affirming? Do those beliefs reinforce the fact that we are the Beloved of God and precious to this Universe? Does our belief system remind us that instead of being born in original "sin" we were born as "original blessings" and the very ground we stand on is holy?

When the Buddha's followers asked him "Are you a God? Are you an Angel? Are you a Saint?", he responded "no". They then asked, "Well, then, what are you?" The Buddha simply responded, "I'm awake".

Today, let's be awake to the thoughts that negate our value and dignity and thought by thought we have the opportunity to block out the old and affirm the new and the true.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara

And our category is...

"Brilliant people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people"
Eleanor Roosevelt

Dear Hearts,

If we were to listen to every one of our conversations during a day, where would we fit it with the above referenced quote? On a daily basis, have we fallen into a habitual pattern of talking about others? This could take the form of complaining about another, gossiping about another, finding fault with another? Or would we fall into a category of talking about things, perhaps the upcoming election, our homes, our jobs, the weather..etc.

For today, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all move into the category of "brilliant" and simply speak about ideas? Perhaps we could discuss ideas about ways to improve our relationships, or uplift our work place or discuss the idea that this Universe is a friendly place or that there is a Power for Good in this Universe that supports us in living our dreams. Perhaps we might explore the idea that God is truly Good all of the time and is always there even in the midst of what appears to be great tragedy. Maybe we could explore ideas of how we could create something new in our life or our business that might expand and uplift not only our life but the lives of others. Today, maybe could explore ideas about how we might behave in a more gracious and loving manner or talk about the idea that peace is possible and what our part might be in bringing peace about?

And then perhaps tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, we might choose to continue this "upstairs" conversation and remain in the category of the "brilliant" by simply discussing ideas.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara

And the buck stops here...

"Blame is to B-Lame"
Naomi Judd

Dear Hearts,

So often when we begin our spiritual journey we are filled with stories of woe about what has been done "to me"! As we grow, we learn to take more personal responsibility for our lives and we begin to realize that we no longer have to be victims, but have within us the power to co-create with God the life of our dreams. When we fall victim to what others have done "to me" we give away all of our power to those very people that we blame! Today, let's commit to stop blaming anyone or anything else and put the focus where it belongs -- on ourselves.

Let's take all the energy we have, up until now, used to play the blame game and use energy toward living our lives fully and powerfully. If our lives are not going the way we want them to go, instead of looking to blame others, let's look within and see what we can do to re-focus and re-direct our lives. Blaming is a "no win" situation - blaming only creates victims. We are here to reflect the glory of God through the lens of our life. We can't reflect that glory if we are busy living a life of victim hood.

Harry Truman said the "buck stops here". Today let's let that blaming buck stop now. Let's ask ourselves, what are we doing to create a loving, joy filled, prosperous, peace filled, harmonious life? It's never about "them" -- it's always all about "us" and stepping up to the plate called our life and living and creating that life to the very best of our ability.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara

For the love of God...

"The Practice of the Presence of God"
Brother Lawrence

Dear Hearts,

In the 17th century, Nicholas Herman wanted to enter the Carmelite order of monks. He was refused entry because of his lack of formal education. Later, due to his persistence, he was accepted as a cook for the monastery and became a "lay brother" taking the name Brother Lawrence. His devotion to God soon became evident and his secrets of devotion were recorded through sessions with the Abbott, the head of the monastery. Those notes were later turned into book, a classic bestseller of its kind, known as "The Practice of the Presence of God".

What was Brother Lawrence's secret of devotion? Whatever you do, do it for the love of God and give the task at hand your complete and undivided attention. Brother Lawrence said when he peeled a carrot, he did it for the love of God and then gave his complete attention to simply peeling the carrot.

Today, we can practice the presence of God by setting the intention that everything we do, we do for God or for good. Then give our full and complete attention to whatever task lies ahead, whether it's conducting business, or listening to another, paying our bills, dusting a table, feeding a baby, reading, driving our car, etc. Let's set our intention to be here for God and keep our attention fully on whatever lies before us to do. We then get to witness the satisfying and fulfilling ways our day and our lives unfold.

With love and blessings,

Rev. Barbara