Here's last night's message to start the new month courageously:
COURAGE: There is none among us who can say that all of what life has brought to our embrace is exactly what we expected, preferred, or even asked for. Yet the ability to make that embrace, to accept what is and transform it with our bold presence and love into the very best that we can imagine, often becomes the mark of our greatest skill, the essence of our courage and beauty as human beings to not only survive but thrive in this world and beyond. How is it that the challenge to face what we have not envisioned, when visioning is our deep will and strength, can be such a source of growth input for us?
It turns out that how we live whatever we live is where our power and uniqueness as a child of the infinite spirit begins. As the old saying goes, it’s not what you have in life, it’s what you do with it. The initiating Goddess principle dwells in that magic which can truly accept and care for whatever life brings, not from any weakness of will to assert the self, but rather from the primordial authority to call forth that which needs love. God then becomes the companion energy which gives us only as much as we will be able to handle, so *trust*, and so learn to love and become divine in the presence of. It is not that God wishes us struggle, as we struggle in life’s complications. It is rather that our mastery of living and loving will be ensured when we trust ourselves enough, holding that confidence of focus, to find the gift of our growth from every situation and relationship, regardless of how difficult and ill-planned they may become. We will learn what to say no to and what to say yes, when we are first willing to say maybe and try. Being human becomes practically defined then by our capacity to live with mistakes, not because the mistakes were so great, but because of the incredible souls we become when we transform those mistakes into jewels in the crown of our humanity. There’s no mistaking the energy of redemption, as we weep with humility and inspiration to hear the stories of those who bore terrible hardships, things we would wish on no one, only to find the transcendent grace within themselves to forgive, to love, to persevere, to overcome all limitations, to succeed beyond wildest expectations, to bestow upon us all the new possibilities for lives full of miracles, and to forever reveal what it means to be a great human soul.
I remember in my twenties when the pure hope and ideals of my youth began to crumble and fade for the last time into the long road ahead, so rocky with apparent misfortunes, competitive dreams and blind luck. There’s a weight that threatens to crush the soul, as it gathers in the parental voices from which we ran just a few years before, only now to be forced to adopt as our own to get by. The voices that call themselves realistic and looking out for our best interests say such things as “What did you expect? This is life, get used to it! Get to work and take what you get, that’s all anyone ever does. If you had more money or love or whatever you want, you’d just be wanting something else still, so don’t let me hear you cry or complain.” But I did sometimes still cry and complain, and I managed to keep my inner child’s magic alive on breadcrumbs of faith and hope, as the roller coaster of life looked upward at times, and for a while might appear to have arrived at the level of happily-ever-after. But then the ride would go down again, all too often with breathtaking speed. And so I recall one day in particular when the choice became clear. I felt on one hand all the prescriptions for the ideal that I could concoct in my best wishful mind - if I just did this and this and this, then surely it would all turn out great, and I would win in this game of life. On the other hand I saw that I could never do all that stuff, and daily life was wearing me down just to keep up the basics. Blind optimism wrestled ardent pessimism, until rather than try yet again or accept defeat, I chose a new middle way. I heard myself say with a new sense of guidance, the ideal is real and it’s in my soul to want both, so if this life is ever going to work then it has to be from the way it is here and now. I’ve got to be me, warts and beauty and all, and in that experience I will never give up on my dreams, nor will I submit to fantasy. The most fantastic course of all has to be having and loving it all, I would not be born to want this if it were not possible. Heaven has got to be merged with the Earth.
Since then, life has never ceased to be both hard and full of miracles. I have learned to embrace life for the lessons in hope that it holds, starting from deep within the many rich cycles of emotional fulfillments and disappointments that come with daily change. I keep on embracing, even when embrace hurts, and the things I have seen and understood are unbelievably good. I have known God in the ways that transform the heart, and yearned to stay in places that I could not but to which I will always return. The future is so bright that I can say rest assured, the way of spirit in matter works.
- Carl J. Schroeder, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013
http://www.facebook.com/HowToMakeHeavenOnEarth
When life presents a challenge, say
"On my way not in my way!"
(photo "Contemplate" by Evgeni Dinev courtesy freedigitalphotos.net, slogan my own that comforts me to go into whatever life brings)
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