Meditations

 

The only way that we could possibly have the inner [sometimes subdued, sometime strong and clear] desire for PEACE and FREEDOM, is that our Creator has placed it within us as a holy and ATTAINABLE reality. God is not so cruel that He would put this desire for eternal life, peace and freedom within us as something forever unattainable. That would be like holding a piece of candy before a child, and keeping her from having it. The desires of your heart are attainable; you just have to know where and how to look. Not every way of “looking” is “seeing”. Blindness is real.

The most important thing is not to create something or to attain anything….anything! The most important thing is to AWAKEN….to be REBORN into the awareness of the Spirit of Christ within you. Every helpful creation and worthy attainment flows from that Awakened Spirit of Divine Love. Everything not done in that Spirit is useless at best. And at its worst, the Holocaust and world wars are good examples.

On earth it may be in some way, as Darwin has suggested, “survival of the fittest”. In heaven, it is and will be survival of those who Love.

Cutting down trees and destroying forests for money is like selling pieces of our lungs. If we cut down all the timber in our forests to build houses in the desert, we will turn the forests into deserts.

If your body is tired and weary; if it is in pain, or even on its last leg; don’t forget that you are not that body. You are an eternal soul. Your body is the temporary home of that soul. Don’t let that which is temporary take precedence over that which is eternal. Your body stops when your heart stops. Your soul is set free at that time.

The Bible tells us to “Be still and know….God.” At some points in that stillness and openness, we touch more deeply the sorrow that resides in every heart. We’ve all been hurt, suffered loss and watched our loved ones suffer---oftentimes in ways that we, in our blindness, have brought upon ourselves. We grieve this. It is holy to grieve the suffering of the human family, as Jesus did [Lk 13:34]. But when we go deeper into the Stillness, we touch the profound and liberating Reality that founds and transcends, not only our suffering, but every conceivable and inconceivable aspect of the Universe. In this place all suffering becomes fuel for the Consuming Fire of Divine Power and Love. All our suffering becomes like the transforming and liberating suffering of Christ on the Cross. And we experience, in Faith, the Joy that that suffering is leading to.

The good that we do in the Kingdom is truly satisfying---but only briefly. The Master Gardener prunes away that satisfaction to make room for fresh outcrops of goodness. We feed our souls by doing good in the Spirit of Love. We do not feel this as an obligation; we feel it as the most wonderful opportunity.

The ocean, at its shore, joyfully licks the feet of children and the awakened ones whose hearts are filled with gratitude and Love.

BE STILL

 

How many times have you read or quoted this verse “Be still, and know that I am God [Psm 46:10].”? Can you be still? When is the last time you tried, consciously, for any length of time to “Be still”? If you have, you know how difficult it is. You know how relentless your “mind” is---how thoughts relentlessly assail the walls you construct for your fortress of “stillness.” You know how pervasive and sneaky these thoughts are. Those useless, vain, worrisome thoughts seem to creep through every defense. If being still is like sinking down into an ocean of freedom and peace; most people barely get below the first six feet of depth---which is where all the urgent churning keeps us occupied until we have a near-death experience or something else that rattles our cage hard enough to wake us up. It’s much better not to wait for that, but rather to discover, by “being still” the place that that catastrophe is designed to get you to: in-touchness with your eternal Soul which is now and ever will be connected to the Loving Source of this universe. All-encompassing Peace. A feeling of omnipotence within a universe created, sustained and infused with Absolute, Perfect Love. This is true because, if you read on in this verse, beyond “Be still”, we receive these words into our heart: “AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.” What does it mean---what does it FEEL like to “know God?” Not to wonder about God, doubt God [though we may have to go through some doubt to get to Him} or talk about God---but to “KNOW” God? Knowing God is experiencing the greatest freedom and peace available to the human soul. How could it possibly be otherwise? {“I am in you...” [Jesus]} Get to the depth. Be still.

Feeling Free

 A good question to ask ourselves is “Do I FEEL free?” I don’t mean “Do you KNOW you are free, or sing songs about freedom or pledge allegiance to the flag that represents “liberty” for all. I mean do you FEEL free? And if not, why not? [This is also a very good question to ask our self.]  We live in the most freedom-providing nation that has perhaps ever existed on this earth. But we see that no political system can provide the FEELING of freedom because there are always problems that political systems can not solve. Jesus said “In this world you will have tribulation.” There! He nailed it down, once and for all: we will never, in this life on earth, get to the place where there is no tribulation---problems, challenges, difficulties, suffering, loss and grief. We’re not going to get there. So if our feeling of freedom can only come with a better political system or a world with no problems, then we will never, in this earthly life FEEL free. 

This is a good [potentially wonderful] affirmation to make : “My life is exactly where I want it to be.” You will probably have to repeat it a few times before you can begin to feel the Truth of it---to feel it deeply within yourself. It is a true statement because the only place you can ever be is here and now. Wherever you go, you will always be here and now. You can never escape here and now. So if here and now is not where you want your life to be, you will never be where you want your life to be. This creates an unnecessary inner conflict that is resolved when you settle deeply into “My life is exactly where I want it to be.” This does not mean that we are no longer having problems or that we would not prefer that people would Love each other better. We certainly do have problems---some of them feel gargantuan---and we do long for a peaceful world where people Love each other better. In fact we are living in ways that we believe INCREASE that Love in this world. But we have come to have faith in the God of this universe, Who is Love, and we have dedicated our lives to that Love, in the Spirit of Christ Who gave His life in Love. And by faith we know that we are here and now because the God of this universe has ordained it to be so.  Therefore it has to be perfect, in the eternal sense, for me to be here and now. No matter how it feels in the temporary sense.  All my sins are forgiven. My Lord doesn’t expect me to be at the top of my game all the time---or maybe ever.  He is working ALL things together for my [and our] good. I [we] are loved beyond our ability to comprehend---more than we love our children!  Knowing this Truth deeply can open up within us the FEELING of freedom. “The Truth will set you free” [Jesus].  The freedom-feeling, which is akin to peace, envelops--swallows up-- all the tribulation, problems, difficulties, unrighteousness, injustice, grief, sadness, sorrow and losses. It holds all the hurt in the arms of divine Love. It spreads throughout the universe---not just this planet. It comprises the core of your being. It is the essence of what you eternally are. It is the FEELING of Love.  God = Jesus = Truth = Love = Freedom.

Introspection

 

[Mat 7:3-5 NET] 3 “Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye,' while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” Jesus

When we meditate on this enlightened teaching of Christ, we realize both the importance of it and how frequently it is violated in our world. How easy for us to see the character defects of others. [And how annoying.] And how difficult for us to see our own. [And how gratifying to the ego, and detrimental to ourselves and others.] Love constrains us to be honestly introspective—something that may be impossible without an adequate understanding of Grace. Without Grace, honest introspection can lead to morbid guilt. This is true because all of us have a “beam” in our eye, which means character defects. These defects always hurt someone—that is why they are called defects, or from the Christian perspective [my perspective] sinful nature manifestations. And we ALL have a sinful nature. It is naively insensitive at best; and it is sociopathic at worst. The failure to acknowledge and take responsibility for it causes great unnecessary suffering in our world. This is why Love constrains us to see it and deal rightly with it—constrain it, confess it, and seek help from Above and from our fellow man with it. One who does not do this cannot honestly say that he is loving those who will be negatively affected by it: his family, friends and associates. The one who fails to apply this wonderful teaching becomes a drag on the forward movement---the psycho-spiritual evolution---of the human family. This is one of countless examples of how Jesus Christ [Who is so militantly avoided in a large segment of our world, and actually forbidden in tyrannical nations] can help us attain what all humans, in the core of their being, are trying to attain: peace and harmony in a world infused with sincere Love for all fellow beings. “Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.”

Mark Graham