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Mags

Into The Deep Life Of Grace...

Of Space Captains and Angels

OFTENTIMES, we pray for something and then miss the miracle when it actually happens. Many have said, “I wish I could have great love,” while blind to the fact that it was standing right in front of them. So often the issue is not learning how to attract love, but rather how to recognize love. Especially when we have waited so long, it often an insidious trick of the mind to make sure we don’t really see it even after it finally arrives.

Sometimes, love arrives as though it were a spaceship landing in the backyard. The Captain comes out of the ship and says to us, “Hi, I’m here to beam you up! Come on! We’re going!”

Yet so many times we reject him saying, “Uh, well, I can’t just leave here so fast. Actually, I can’t even believe you’re here. How long do I have to prepare my things?”

And he says, “You have no time at all. Your entire life has been spent preparing. Now we must go quickly. If you wait, your eyes will adjust and you will no longer see me. I’ve landed for a bit, to pick you up. You have an hour, Max. You can make further plans from the ship.”

The Captain sees that we are bewildered, but so is he. “Haven’t you been asking for this for years?” he asks.

“Well, yes,” we say. “I have. But I guess I didn’t think you were coming….I sort of made a life for me here, in the meantime.”

“Not that much of one, judging from your prayers at night,” he tells us. “Let’s go, if you coming. I can’t wait forever.”

And then we say, if we say it, what is ultimately the most tragic thing we will ever say, and that is, “No, thank you.”

No, I don’t choose the ride, even though I want it desperately. No, I don’t want to beam up now, even thought it’s a living hell down here. No, I do not choose the path of wild and radical and authentic love, even though I know I am dying without it. I think I’ll just settle for “good enough.”

And why do we do that? Why do we not receive with open arms the answers to our prayers? Because we ourselves are authoring what will one day look like natural selection. The human race is turning a corner, and those who choose not to make the turn will keep going straight until they fall of the cliff ahead.

Angels are onboard those spaceships, appearing everywhere now, often in the guise of loved ones holding the torch that would light our way through darkness. On the other side of that darkness is the light in which dreams come true. But there are demons in that darkness, to be sure, and we can feel them. They almost paralyze us with fear. All those unloved parts of ourselves are there, ugly and twisted and ready to destroy. They live in the darkness, on the other side of which is paradise itself. Even though the only way to paradise is through the darkness—and even though the fire of the angel’s torch will burn the demons up, not us- we do not trust that. We lack faith. We are staunched and calcified in our refusal to choose love, and so we say to the angel, “No, you go ahead, I’ll stay here.”

The angel looks in disbelief; the refusal of ecstasy is unknown in heaven. The space captain can scarcely believe his ears, but noninterference in and respect for choices of another human being is a must on the enlightened path. Not that you can force anyone onto a spaceship anyway. One only rides on the wings of an angel if one is seriously committed to the experience of heaven. The lure of hell is so real here.

Still, as the ship takes off, the captain looks at the angel on board and notices that there are tiny sparkling rivers of water, falling from her eyes.

Back at headquarters, the angel reports to higher-ups.

“He chose not to go.”

The superior is silent, witnessing the angel’s pain. The angel continues. “I can hardly believe it. He chose not to go.”

“Do you think he understands the consequences?” Asks the superior.

“I don’t know,” says the angel. “I think he thinks that staying there is the more responsible thing to do,

“Responsible…to whom? To what?”

“I don’t know. It’s strange. He’s not ecstatically happy there, but he thinks it’s his duty to stay. He feels it’s an adult situation, and he lives in fear that he is not one.”

“Yes, of course. Well, we’ve seen this before. They choose psychology over poetry. We keep trying to evacuate that realm before the storm hits, but people refuse to evacuation.”

“Yes.”

“You prayed for him, of course.”

“Oh yes, with all my heart.”

“Well. Job well done. Sorry if your heart was a little bruised on this mission. It’s one of those risks, you know. It can happen, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Still, they’re touching creatures. Contentious, but touching.”

“Yes.”

The angel was trained for love, she was disciplined in love, but her tears still flowed.

“You’re excused. You may go.”

As the angel turned around to weep, her superiors called her back. “I say, one thing…Do you remember---you’ll see him again someday.”

“Will I really Master? Will I really?”

“Of course you will. You must cling to your own faith at times like these. How can you convince them of theirs, if you don’t?”

Ref.:Enchanted Love

Today's Gospel

"Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey
but a walking stick—
no food, no sack, no money in their belts." Mark 6:7

A Message

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

The Heart of the Matter


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLgUuHl2xJo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmy.opera.com%2Fintothedeep%2Fblog%2F&feature=player_embedded

As I was giving some thought to this post, the word 'forgiveness' from Don Henley's song, "The Heart of the Matter," kept strumming through my head. Hmmm...Do I need forgiveness? You bet!!! I'm very human. Forgiving myself on a daily basis is becoming a normal practice. :wink: Do I need to forgive others? I'm never quite sure if I have. I know forgiveness is an act of the will, and the good feelings usually follow, but what about those hurts that cut to the heart. Why does it take so long to feel and think well again?

Okay, I'm getting off-topic, sort of. I'm not doing a piece on forgiveness, but obviously, that is today's work for me! So, I will reflect on that throughout the day. :smile:

Today, I decided that I would resume writing a book I was working on. I stopped for two reasons; One, it was triggering some deep and complex stuff, things that frightened, angered, and bewildered me to the core! Second, I thought, who would even care about this story? Well you know what? I'm not aiming to be an inspiring writer, and I know this will be some of the toughest writing I'll ever do, but it's something I want to do for myself! When it is all said and done, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I wrote a book, and gave it all I had. :happy:

I came across these steps to writing which resonated with me. The little voice from within has been trying to tell me this all along:

Dare to be dreadful The only way to get to the good stuff is to put whatever comes into your head down on paper. No internal editors. :eyes:

Write from passion If you don't care about the things you're writing about, you will never discover your true voice. Your voice does not exist in the thin and cheap places of your heart or the shallow end of your soul. Voice lives in the deep waters and the dark places of your soul, and it will only venture out when you make sure you've given it space to move and room to breathe.

Take risks Choose to write about themes that your internal editor insists are too dangerous, too controversial, too embarrassing to be put on the paper. Imagine that your mom (or your other toughest critic) is looking over your shoulder with a raised eyebrow and a prudish expression on her face. Now shock her. :devil: This sounds like the fun part!!! :D

Remember that fear is your best friend If your heart is beating fast and your palms are sweating and your mouth is dry, you're writing from the part of yourself that has something to say that will be worth hearing. Persevere. If you're certain you will embarrass yourself and that you'd never be able to show your face in public again -- keep writing. :lol: :hat: Okay!! :up:

"At the heart of everything that you've ever read that moved you, touched you, changed your life, there was a writer's fear. And a writer's determination to say what he had to say in spite of that fear.

So be afraid. Be very afraid. And then thank your fear for telling you that what you're doing, you're doing right.

Voice is born from a lot of words and a lot of work -- but not just any words or any work will do. You have to bleed a little. You have to shiver a little. You have to love a lot -- love your writing, love your failures, love your courage in going on in spite of them, love every small triumph that points toward eventual success. You already have a voice. It's beautiful, it's unique!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wish me luck! I'm not going to post it, too personal, but when all is said and done, if I feel it could possibly help someone, I will.

And There Was A Great Calm...

Today turned out okay considering I was off to a bad start. I overslept, got dressed in a hurry, but made it to work on time. *sigh of relief* My company does not tolerate tardiness so running late is extremely stressful.

The work day went well considering I missed my morning coffee, actually, it was a good day compared to others, and the time passed quickly. Always a plus! However, when I got home, I quickly began to lose my peace. I walked into the kitchen to find a sink full of dishes, pots, and pans. The trash bucket was overflowing. Then I headed for the living room where I found more dishes and cups left around, along with a box of Cheeze-It and a bag of popcorn, some clothes, shoes, and a blanket! *wants to scream*

Yeah, I was pissed off and rightly so. Who wants to come home to that?? I did my little rant and made my kids pick up their mess. Then I explained once again that this was a family and we all needed to pitch in, everyone was expected to pick up after themselves, and that I disliked coming home from work to a mess such as this every night! Like tomorrow will be different, and they're on summer vacation! :cry:

Later, I headed out to Curves for a work out. I figured it was a constructive way to let off some steam. Then Jen, Steven, and I went to the Mall to pick up a few birthday presents for their friends. I was expecting a call so I kept checking my phone which is sometimes hard to hear with all the noise in the Mall. No calls.

When we returned home, I decided I’d call this person. Maybe something had come up? This person picked up and said they were just about to call me. Okay, they’ve done this before, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. As we talked, I found my her story just didn’t jive, actually I’m afraid I caught her in a lie. :frown: I decided not to make waves, but still, not knowing for sure makes me feel really bad. We all tell little white lies from time to time, but why do we do that? To avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or facing oneself? Yeah, it’s not always easy, but honesty IS the best policy.

After that, I checked my email and found a reply to a quiz that I had sent off to several friends earlier in the evening. It was from a very good friend whom I adore. She made me chuckle and I learned some interesting stuff about her. I haven’t talked to her in awhile so I filled her in on what's been happening in my life. Most likely, she’ll respond tomorrow and bring a smile to my face as she always does.

Well this was my day, which is now my yesterday. It wasn’t a horrible day, but there were some moments I could have done without. Now, as I’m about to retire, I find myself thinking about what was good and bad, and how easily the bad wants to rule my thoughts. I wish to be content, though, just as Jesus was as the winds around him were brewing up a storm in yesterday’s Gospel, and so I will be. I really do have a choice!

Good night all and God bless!

My Morning Coffee With Jesus

This morning I woke up, made myself some coffee, and went through my normal routine of reading the news, checking email, and stopped in to see what I missed on Opera during the night. :smile:

Feeling like I was in serious need of direction, I decided to read today's liturgical readings, something I've gotten away from doing on a daily basis. I was surprised to find that both readings spoke very differently to me this morning. The first reading is quite lengthy so I'll skip that for now and share what I got from today's Gospel.

The story unfolds on the Sea of Galilee. Back in 1998, I was fortunate to make a trip to the Holy Land which turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. I now have great visuals, too, when I am reading the Scriptures. While I was there I got to cross the Sea of Galilee in a "Jesus" fishing boat, a replica of the kind they had back in biblical days, like the one you see below. (The one we went on was much larger tho to accommodate our large group)



If you know anything about the Sea of Galilee, it is quite calm and serene, but can quickly become transformed by a violent storm due to the winds that come off the hills to the east. If caught in the basin, the winds can become so treacherous, they are deadly to fishermen.

Okay, back to the Gospel reading:

"As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?"


Quite the terrifying scene don't you think? I can only imagine the disciples screaming and yelling, grabbing hold of each other as the boat is tossed and twirled like a leaf blowing in the wind. Meanwhile, Jesus appears oblivious and is fast asleep. He awakes at the sound of their cries and rebukes them, along with the winds and the sea, and there is a GREAT CALM. :eyes:

I have read this passage many times before, but today was different. This passage speaks about having faith, but also "obedience". Yeah, I don't particularly care for that word, and I can be pretty stubborn :irked: But it caught my attention as it was destined to.

What would have happened if the wind and sea did not obey? I suppose all of the men on the boat would have perished, or at the least, been seriously injured. It got me thinking about my own life, too. How many times has the Lord rebuked me as I'm on the brink of getting worked up? And how many times have I ignored his instructions, and in doing so, I hurt others?

Yeah, I understood this lesson, and the timing was perfect as well. Recently, I got into a tizzy without having all of the facts. I struggled with it for awhile, but I guess I was more concerned about getting hurt, and ended up thinking the worst. As a result, I said some things that would have been better left unspoken. :frown:

Obedience to God's word isn't so bad after all.




A Healthy Heart

"Our hearts can be tormented and troubled. They can be squashed and pressured, both from a psychological and emotional point of view. This can be to such a point where they actually begin to result in physical health problems, thus, a broken heart can be considered quite literal. Losing someone you love can cause major problems to our hearts.

Over the course of a life time, most people (at one time or another) will experience a long trial of sadness or loss.

Much research has proven that hearts living under this pain don't just suffer emotionally, they all suffer physically. Feelings of depression, loneliness, and sadness can actually lead to problems like heart disease.

Researchers have found that what we all feel and the way we think directly effects the health of our heart. A study showed that people living under this pain can literally even die from a 'broken heart'. It is important to try and overcome the pain so that it doesn't drag on longer than it has to.

Consider the lessons that you have learned, and how you are smarter as a result of the experience. Think about this often, as it will help lift you and let you see some positive signs.

Find a treatment that works for you - this can be talking with those who care about you, other groups of support, perhaps something like psychotherapy or meditation. There are lots of techniques available to help heal your heart.

Get busy doing what it takes to become well!"

Abba, Father


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReyopJalSDs

The Dynamics of a Father's Love

When I want to be free at all costs
I am already beginning to bind myself
When I pursue my own wishes
I throw myself in chains
I do what I don't want to do
I am at my own mercy

And when I finally consider myself free
Freedom becomes a burden
Because I must make decisions
Which I am unable to make
And my freedom turns into a new prison

I can only find freedom
In the ropes that bind me
To you

:heart:
Ulrich Schaffer

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day History

Father's Day, 3rd Sunday in June. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Roses are the Fathers Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.


Hero Sandwich

What do you call a sandwich stuffed with cold cuts and cheese? If you live in New England, it's a grinder; on the West Coast, a submarine. Order one in Philadelphia, and it's a hoagie; in New Orleans, a muffuletta. But serve one to Dad on Father's Day, and there's only one name for it: a hero sandwich.

Cut a loaf of French bread in half lengthwise. Layer on slices of ham, salami, and Provolone, Swiss or American cheese. Top with lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Add onions, pickles, olives and hot peppers, if desired. Spread on mayonnaise or mustard, or drizzle with Italian salad dressing. Serve with corn chips or pretzels and an ice-cold glass of lemonade...or a cold glass of beer :cheers:

Love Is All Around