Blue Sky Living

Day 3 Spirit of Hope

Most decisions we make in life come from a place of hope or despair.

We hope for a good day. On our birthdays we hope for a good upcoming year. We hope that our life situations improve, that conflicts cease, that relationships are healed. We hope, we pray, we believe for the best.

Hope is the confident expectation that things will improve. Despair tells us things will not change so we resign ourselves to pessimism or inaction.

Our expectations of a desired, future outcome determine our actions and behavior between right now and the yet to come. Act today with the spirit of hope burning inside you. Allow that spirit to guide you, direct you, and inspire you.

Day 2 Choosing Peace

We all desire to live lives free of conflict. True peace, however, is not the absence of conflict. If peace were merely the absence of conflict, our lives would be constantly off kilter because conflict is often unavoidable.

We need a broader, deeper, higher revelation of peace.

Spiritual peace is the awareness that no matter what you are experiencing in life, you will be fine. It's a deep seated feeling of well-being. It is tied to the Jewish notion of shalom, indicating living in a space of security, completeness, prosperity and blessing. True peace is experiencing serenity in one's life.

There exists a peace that can guard both your heart and your mind. Center yourself on peace this day. Work for those things that make for lasting peace.

Day 1 Spiritual Living

Spirituality is how we live our lives. It encompasses our thoughts, feelings, presuppositions, and deeply held convictions about the universe, life, and relationships.

It is all-encompassing and holistic. It integrates life experiences--the good, bad, and ugly. It finds meaning for today in the conundrums of yesterday. It knows to stay in the moment and not live in the future.

Healthy spirituality lets go of the things we cannot make sense of. It accepts the fact that there are certain mysteries in life of which we may never be certain. It's okay with uncertainty.

The ancients never divorced the sacred and secular. They recognized the fact the breath within you is evidence of a spirit within you.

You are a spiritual person. Live today more aware of yourself and your surroundings, knowing that you are connected to something greater than yourself.

30 Days of Spirituality

Changes of season mark our journey and allow us to remember and reflect, change and grow, and anticipate and hope for our future.

September begins a change of season as summer comes to an end and autumn arrives, here in the Northern Hemisphere. Kids go back to school. Family routines change. In the USA, Labor Day marks the official end of the summer vacation season.

Here in tropical Florida we mark September as being past the peak of hurricane season (no fall foliage for us but significant nonetheless). We know that the days will grow shorter, the oceans cool, and storms will be hopefully less frequent once we get to October.

On spiritual and religious calendars we mark the end of Ramadan and the Jewish New Year followed by Yom Kippur.

In light of a season of change as well as a desire to live everyday fully alive, I'll be offering a daily mediation during September called 30 Days of Spirituality. Each reading will be short, to the point, and appropriate for people of all faith traditions and very little faith or tradition. They will be categorized under Blue Sky Meditations along with the weekly longer readings.

My hope is that the daily readings inspire and speak as we journey together through the next month and transition into the final quarter of 2010.

Today I Am Letting Go

Today I am letting go:

Of other’s expectations, judgments, and opinions
Of expectations, judgments, and opinions of myself
Of the menacing shadows of the past
Of fears about the future
Of fret, worry, and anxiety
Of people, places, and things
Of what I think people should do
Of what I think God should do
Of what I think I should do
Of the could’ve- should’ve-would’ves
Of toxic thought patterns, systems, and people
Of what I can’t control
Of whom I can’t control

I live today with open hands. I unclench my fists.
I embrace what comes my way, recognizing its impermanence. I enjoy those people, places, and things while they remain. I cherish them when they are gone.
I stay in the present moment. I believe for the best.
I embrace, receive, and give unconditional love.

Henri Nouwen penned the following prayer:
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me is love—
unconditional, everlasting love.
Amen

The Prayer of Abandonment

Recently I've noticed this prayer popping up in different places. I'm taking that as a sign to integrate it into my life and thought it worth sharing here. It's popularly titled The Prayer of Abandonment.

My Lord God

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think I am following

your will does not mean

that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire

in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this

you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost

and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear,

for you are ever with me,

and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton (1915-1968) "Thoughts in Solitude"