Day 117: The Value of Grace

Letting go and letting God, I fall into the winds of Grace, and as my soul opens its sails, I let the compass of God’s spirit point the way.

CFR

God grant me the grace to be kindhearted when others try my patience. To be accepting of our differences, to let go of my pride, put my complaining ego behind the person you created me to be so that my true self can shine through, and give me your sweet grace that I may always bring about the better good in all I do.

And God assures me, as I pray, that what I ask for is already given to me. That His grace is sufficient, especially in times of weakness, and He encourages me to let the light of Grace shine through me.

Reflection: The only thing more valued than Grace is God’s love for us. Grace is an expression of that love, a gift that opens us up to let God’s power shine through.

Day 62: The Value of Openness

As I think about openness it brings me back to a time in my early childhood. I was about four years old and the house we lived in had a hallway in the middle of it. My dad would take my siblings and I inside it and shut all the doors so we could play blind man’s bluff. With all the doors closed it was pitch dark and quite scary for a little kid. I wanted out, and found myself standing on the other side of the door listening to them laughing and having fun. I wanted back in again, but I wanted to keep a door open. Of course that took away from the fun of darkness for everyone else and soon they didn’t want to play anymore.

The value of openness for me is the way it brings light into my life.

Openness gives us an opportunity to find a way to work things out. My dad tried to find a compromising way to bring us all together by leaving one door open, but my siblings were not open to the compromise.

Whether we are a child or an adult we can only understand what we are mentally mature enough to comprehind. The difference between a child and an adult though is that it’s easier for an adult to take hold of the door knob, turn it, and pull the door open to what life has to show them. Openness in turn becomes a powerful value that opens other doors for us to invite opportunites of compromise. As I often say it’s not my way or your way that is right. It’s about opening a door one at a time, and letting the light shine through until our eyes begin ajust to a clearer view of life.

Reflection: I write for you as much as I do for the lesson it has to teach me. This is one of those times when I am grateful that being open to Gods spirit, the message comes shining through.

“Focus”

“It is necessary that we release all thoughts—as well as things—that clutter up our lives.” -Ernest Holmes

I always feel excited at the beginning of a new year. It’s a great time to declutter my closets as well as my mind. I got a new journal, and planner. I’m in a place of personal growth and I’m mind mapping my way into this new year. That’s what I do. I take control, but you can’t plant a garden in the middle of winter. At least not where I live. I don’t like the feeling of being at a standstill, frozen in place. But even an ice capped river has life flowing beneath it. And I still have blood flowing through my veins. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. It works two ways, the soul sees through my human eyes, and that’s good, because it’s here after all, to have a human experience, but we also have the ability to see through the eyes of the soul. Hum! I wrote 50 goals down in my planner. That wasn’t easy for me. I couldn’t think of that many things off the top of my head, but I squeezed them out. They’re not all things to be done in one year. They’re basically the things we thing of from finishing my book to getting a good night’s sleep. The next step was to narrow it down to the 5 most important. My number one goal is mastering the connection between my mind, body and soul. Finding that balance that makes me feel whole. God always finds a way to confirm when I’m on the right track, this quote from the bible came out of nowhere, and there’s no denying the word of God.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Matt: 6:22-23.

What our eyes see, flows through our mind, and where our thoughts focus, we create light or darkness.

” Cracking Open”

“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”

Everything starts from a seed including us. I wonder if we live within that shell all our life with the seed being our soul and our lifetime here on earth being a gathering of all we need to slowly begin the painful process of cracking open. Many of us have felt the harder blows of life that leave an opening so wide that it goes straight to the heart of the soul. Whether our cracks are big or as small as a tiny papercut it is how the light gets in and once we experience the warmth it brings the more our soul craves it. Like our hands reaching upward we begin to sprout moving toward the unknown yet a knowing that it’s the natural process of who and what we were created to do. Yes, there is a comfort in staying within this place we’ve existed, and a fear of being exposed and vulnerable to the unknown. It’s never easy to step outside of our comfort zone to leave behind all that’s been a part of us, but the light continues to pull us toward it, and it is only in the letting go that we can fully begin to blossom in the fullness of the light.

Most importantly let us not forget in the process of breaking free…to ring the bells that still can ring, and forget out perfect offering. Look around there are cracks in everything. It’s how the light gets in.

“Be A Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud”

I’ll be the rainbow in your clouds. I love the colors that kind-fullness creates. It takes the bright shining light on a rainy day to create such a rainbow. I’d much rather be a bright shining light in your life then a dark cloud. So if you need a rainbow to cheer your day I’ll do my best to shine as bright as I can for you, because right now we need all the rainbows we can get.
Connie Rife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYXFletWH4&feature=shar