It’s Movember!
GIFT for Monday October 31st
G - od : The Universe, The Great Void, The Force, The Supreme Self, The Whole, The Goddess, The Creator, The Light, The Higher Power, The Shadow of the Turning…I have nothing against any of these terms. I feel they are all equal because they are equally adequate and inadequate descriptions of the indescribable. But we each do need a functional name for this indescribability, and God is the name that feels the most warm to me, so that’s what I use. I should also confess that I generally refer to God as “Him”, which doesn’t bother me because, to my mind, it’s just a convenient personalizing pronoun, not a precise anatomical description or a cause for revolution.
Culturally, though not theologically, I’m a Christian. I was born a Protestant of the White Anglo Saxon persuasion. And while I do love that great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, I can’t swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the ONLY path to God. Strictly speaking then, I cannot call myself a Christian.
Traditionally, I have responded to the transcendent mystics of all religions. I have always responded with breathless excitement to anyone who has ever said that God does not live in a dogmatic scripture or in a distant throne in the sky, but instead abides very close to us indeed…much closer than we can imagine, breathing right through our own hearts.
In the end, what I have come to believe about God is simple. It’s like this…I used to have this really great dog. She came from the pound. She was a mixture of about ten different breeds, but seemed to have inherited the finest features of them all. She was brown. When people asked me “What kind of a dog is that?” I would always give the same answer: “She’s a brown dog.” Similarly, when the question is raised, “What kind of God do you believe in?” my answer is easy: “I believe in a magnificent God.”
I - nspiration
F- ocus
The great Sufi philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for un-happiness. Better to live a life of single-pointed-focus, he taught.
1. To be close with my family and loved ones
2. To be creative every day and offer my creativity to the world
3. To adventure and travel and explore
T - hanks (or finding my Joy)
Today I find joy in focusing on bettering myself, my health, my home, my life!
