Prayer Field

(image: christchurchofmetroatlanta.blogspot.com)

"Prayer field". ~ I just fell in love with that term, the moment I read it. I could picture how a good prayer fans out allllll overrrrr!
I found it in the fiction book, The Secret of Shambhala, which is the third book in the Celestine Prophecy series.
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The phrase was used to describe what I myself would describe as the way our prayerful mind speaks out to God at all times, while at the same time, sending out either a state of receiving and giving God's love ~ or, um, not. I think we're always communicating towards God, whether we realize it or not.
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The book was saying that we can make the conscious decision to send out Love continually.
I think that's true~ I think opening up to God/Love and surrendering to the flow of God's constant Love is the purpose of our existence. That way, we end up making a habit of allowing Love to come to us from God, and immediately let it go out into the world~ we become Love.
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Great expectations
The book also mentioned that our expectations are the reflection of our true feelings when it comes to belief and faith.
Our faith translates into expectation~ good, bad, or somewhere in between.
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Coming home
I feel as if in this journey to know God better, I'm home.
Sometimes, I can just about feel Heaven on my fingertips....!
There are challenges, of course~ worries and whatnot.~

At first, it was reallyreally hard to have any faith at all, when things were challenging. My mind loomed over the Worst Case Scenario, as if it was a logical, practical step to do that~ being prepared for the Worst and all that.
But that doesn't work.

It wasn't so bad a thing to realize that bad things can happen~ the bad thing to think was in never, ever really believing the good things might be given to me from a loving God!
Even if we're basing this on logic, it's just as realistic for a good outcome to happen as for a bad outcome.
But I was one-sided. I did not have faith. I did not have the picture of a kind, good God/Love in my head. I did not know Real Love!
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This is the rhapsodic part
Real Love is so much more than I ever thought it was! The more I learn about God and unconditional Love as being the SAME THING, the more astounded and awed and humbled and grateful I am than I was, before! I mean, all kinds of good things come from that relaxing into God's Love. The trust and faith and exhaling....beautiful stuff. A lesson well worth learning.

It's easy to love God/Love the way I should, once I've set out on the path of knowing the Unconditional Love that is the real God. There is less fear in it, and less pride, as well~ who cares about pride when the eyes are full of the gold light of the Holy Love shining from the transforming, impactful God? Pride has no reason for being~ to see it rear up in me sometimes makes me aware of just how useless it is. It has no place or purpose in the color and glory of Heaven!
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...I can just relax and trust and melt into the incredible, clear blue skies of this Love....

Gold moment # 3411:
The last minutes of "Waitress"

I seem to spend my life collecting "gold moments"~ things that I can savor, things that seem to acknowledge and fulfill some little space in me that maybe I didn't even know existed.

I recently rented "Waitress", watched it, and was losing patience with its attitude~ till the end.

The basic plot is that of a cute waitress with a genius for creating pies, stuck in a dead-end marriage (worse than dead-end), and having an affair with her ob/gyn, after she finds out she's pregnant. She resents the pregnancy, but in trying to do the right thing by the innocent baby, she does her best at seeing that it's healthy.

Keri Rusell is fabulous in this role, believable in all aspects~ I can believe she works in a little diner, and I can also believe that she has it in her to do more with her life, if she can just take the leap when an opportunity finally presents itself.
(Which is what the affair seems to stand for~ a less than ideal opportunity, but one that is still an opportunity to experience a better life, the first thing near an opportunity she's had in years. As she said in the movie at one point, 'being poor means having no options'.
Keri's character takes what option has come her way in a situation where options are thin on the ground. She just wants to be reminded of what it's like to be happy, it's been so long since she felt it, she's forgotten what it's like.)

She and her friends are beaten down a lot by life, but they are a supportive "family" of females, with plenty of humor in there.

***Spoiler Alert***


The thing I liked about the movie was how it showed what a complete shift can happen when you open up and love something unconditionally, gratefully, with a love that comes from Divine Love. She holds her newborn baby girl, and something clicks in her. Maybe she remembers how it was with her own mama, the fun they had together baking pies. Maybe she just needed a real reason beyond herself, to get it together in life. Whatever it was, the shift happened, and she said to her baby, "We're going to have fun!" ~ a statement so out of character with what she has shown up to that point, it delights and surprises, all in the same breath.

And somehow, you believe her.

The next scenes are quick (too quick!) scenes showing how she got it all together~ with the kick-out exit of both her abusive husband and her 'happily-married' lover, and the gift of some much-needed money from a crabby old friend (played like a breath of fresh air by Andy Griffith~ Andy anchored the movie in an invisible hope and security, for me), given to her because she had known how to be a friend to him.

Free of her burdens, she can finally do the things she was meant to do~ and she does them with that unceasing enjoyment and gratitude.

***end Spoiler Alert***


If that whole movie had been more about the ending, it would be my absolute favorite movie! But I suppose they were going with the unwritten entertainment rule that trouble makes a better story than good times.

I disagree with that~ sometimes seeing idyllic situations played out in detail help you latch on to it, and adopt it for your own life, even if just a little. You at least know what a good life looks like and acts like, moment to moment~ plenty of people have trouble picturing that.
And I myself think it's very entertaining to see someone digging their way out of a bad time, and learning how to have a great time in their lives!

'How to act as if until you are'
We seem to have fallen out of appreciation with role models, I suppose because of the fantasy elements that often creep in with it~ Donna Reed's perfect hair, perfect house, perfect string of pearls, etc. But we need the ideal form played out before us now and then, I think~ just to let us aspire to it, be more adept at emulating it. It should inspire us, rather than bring us down! So what if we can't be perfect? We can be better! We can improve!

And sometimes, all that is necessary for us to improve is a good role model to lead the way and show us how~ in all the little mundane details, actions, reactions and particulars.

Finding the right balance
I really feel the movie should've dwelled more on her road to happiness. What about the courage and determination to live each day joyfully, with fun and a grateful heart? What about the selfless, unconditional love that lifted her life right out of the doldrums and weak behavior, giving her the incentive to fly?

The process of her metamorphosis was the really interesting thing to me, not all the awful details that came before. I think they need to explore the road to happiness more!

So, I watched the last 10 minutes or so of the movie, over and over! I loved the bright, fun colors and the "feel" of the ending~ it was beautifully done!

***Sort of a spoiler***

And one note I just loved was the very last scene, where the sun is setting and Summer is high, and you can hear the crickets and cicadas....very good ending, sort of a dream ending, where they stroll off together, completely happy....

To be in a blustery, wintery end-of-Wintertime, and get to hear the evocative sound of crickets...! It brought it to me so perfectly, it was like I was experiencing it for myself~ in the middle of a snowy March!

Gratitude and a little music

(image imdb.com photos)

If you've been following along, you know how big I am on gratitude. But it's not just that~ it's gotta be the Love, too, right? It's all about the love! That "Tenth Insight" book called it something like "a higher vibratory pattern", which I think sounds cool, because that's what it feels like, when you're right in the middle of feeling love (and gratitude and contentment).

If we're fields of energy that have been formed into the stuff that makes us who we are when we present ourselves to God and the world, all the floating dna and molecules and cells, etc., coming together (hopefully in harmony!) to make a living being called 'us', then I can picture love being the energy that really gets us pluggin along on all circuits!

Love is
I know many people struggle with the sneaking suspicion that God is a reluctant lover of us, a begrudging sort of God Who seems too perfect to be able to stand us. But for myself, I'm finding that the more chances I give God to speak for Godself, straight into my heart, letting it totally bypass my own ego's longing to hold onto guilt and self-recriminations long after I've been forgiven, the more I find a 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 God, a God of unconditional love (why do we believe that humans who have saintly unconditional love are so wonderful, yet we don't place those characteristics onto God?).
God dotes on us, will take any chance that comes up to draw us into that "energy field" (heh. I like that!) of Pure, Real, Boundless Love! (Sharing the wealth and spreading love around, that way!)

We stay humble and open to God/Love, open to forging a better bond, through our imperfections, for the need to occasionally bend our heads into God's hands, and say "sorry"~ but seeing that love clearly, we know God will forgive~ over and over again. We don't have to hesitate when we're feeling bad about something~ we can go right to God, and be genuine (with respect, of course) and have confidence in the solid, unchanging quality of God, the Love in everything. God will gladly forgive, Christ will gladly help heal.
And get right back to the Loving with you.

We also draw closer to God through our gratitude, our willingness to give God a chance to show how neat this Love is, our willingness to go to God in a confiding way, and sit still inside, and listen, pay attention, to see 'what's God up to, these days?'

Let God speak without a script you may have devised in your head~ that's my one plea to you. Try to set all that aside, and let God be genuine. I know it's been extremely rewarding to me, to do so (though it can be hard to do!). I think you might be surprised by the sweet air of the unfiltered God-sense that is left to rest in your soul, afterward.

Becoming Jane
I bought the cd to "Becoming Jane" after we watched the dvd. You know me~ always got my ears open for lifting, lilting, lovely music, when I watch a movie! :D

This soundtrack is a superb addition to my collection! I'm so happy I found it! I especially enjoy "A Game of Cricket" and the 10th song on the cd, I can't remember it's name... Anyway, it's a song that brings in all kinds of evocative, enjoyable nuances, for me!

Wonderful~

March of Snow

(both blogs)

It's snowing.

It will be snowing.

And snowing.

And snowing!

And S.N.O.W.I.N.G!

So many books....
(both blogs)
I was counting up the books I have from the library the other day~ there were about 17, if you count the e-book I got from there, as well!
I've been deluging myself with books, lately; and so far, I've actually been successful in reading the books before their due dates come!

Transform
I spent the weekend trying to find out if there was a way I could get back to the sunnier, more hopeful perspective that I recall being in, once upon a time~ somehow, I've become 'pinched-off' in some areas of my life, unable to have hope or faith.
God couldn't give it to me because I wasn't open to receiving it! No faith= no way!
You gotta be up for taking it with thanks; you gotta have faith. Like many, there are areas I struggle with.


(image www.freedigitalphotos.net)

We all have 'em
I was in a bit of a slump this past weekend~ a low ebb. Days of low tide.
I found two things that helped me a whole lot! ~~~

One was remembering and getting back to the practice of seeking God's "Eyes" when I do contemplative prayer.

Contemplative Prayer 101
As you may know, in contemplative prayer, you don't have your 'I-want' list handy. You don't request anything, you don't say a word. Just shut up and sit still!
Sit in silence, focus on God the Source, center on that Divine Love~~ "be still, and know that I am God." Be still and know that God is totally God, and all is right with the world!
Very calming.
But there are different interior ways to go about it~ perhaps as many different ways as there are different minds!
Some people go for complete emptying of the mind, releasing all thoughts, etc. ~
Some go for "listening to God listen to me", as Mother Teresa did~ which sounded like a very appealing method.
But the way I did this, instinctively, before I heard any other way to do it, was by seeking God's face~ practicing the Presence of God, and picturing God's eyes looking straight at me ~ with the Love and Light that is God coming from them!
I would always come away feeling so peaceful, and like I knew what God was wanting me to do about my life's path.
I usually had answers to at least some of my questions about what to do next, where to go next. A sense of direction plus a fulfilled, contented, happy feeling!
Very cool~

Mellow memories
After doing that yesterday and today, I can see the world in a whole new light, again! I knew this change would come in increments, because the changes were hitting such basic areas in me. I feel that I've made some real and joyful progress in it, and I'm thrilled and grateful!
I feel that God inspired me to remember something that happened a long time ago, that has given me much food for thought... ~

I was going on a day trip with my parents to one of the shop towns in Indiana (I think it was Nashville, but it may have been Friendship or Madison). I woke up that morning with a determination to have a great day ~ to have fun, to enjoy every moment! I had made up my mind.
And do you know, it really happened just that way~ the day unfolded before me~ step by step, it unrolled at my feet like a pure gold carpet!
I remember that I bought a book in a shop that had a frog on the building (it had a name like "The Lily Pad" or something ~ can't remember the name off-hand, but I still have it stamped in the book).
The book was a paperback copy of "Daddy Long Legs", a very optimistic story, very entertaining and light-hearted. The cover was a beautiful, mellow Victorian painting, one I'd never seen before, and haven't seen anywhere else, since~ a girl looking straight at the camera with a book in her hands, the sunlight on the top of her head. Very beautiful; perfect for the day!
I still have the book, and from the time I brought it home have cherished it as a souvenir from a Perfect Day~ the day I woke up already decided that I was going to have a fun, great day!

Fast forward
That memory came to me at the best time possible~ I was primed and ready to start doing just that, on a daily basis!~ To start each day determined to have as much fun and enjoyment as possible in the day!
I realize that there will be bad days~ sometimes tragedies happen, or things are worrisome, problems have to be faced, serious thinking has to go on. But not all days are like that~ most probably shouldn't be, actually! With faith, most days are virtually free of worry!

But I feel like I've stumbled on a great gift!~ It was there all the time, but I just now have come to the point where I'm ready for it. Perfect timing from God/Love! :)