More goodness! Thanks, Sus...

Hope springs eternal!

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

...Advent speaks of a stunning surprise. Suddenly a rod of green life shoots forth from the old, dried stump. And a branch begins to blossom. What was thought to be dead is suddenly alive again.

Advent comes with its surprising good news. Suddenly from a long line of folly there is wisdom, from generations of languidness there is empowerment, and from within the ranks of the sufferers a Savior is born.

Advent promises no tree will be cursed forever. No family will be in bondage forever. From the dry, desiccated stump of Jesse suddenly a shoot shall come forth. And the curse will be broken -- "far as the curse is found".

And the word we have for believing in this promise is Hope.

~Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts

"Take it all in..."

"Glo-ri-a!"

 Nativity 1981

Come on in...

ALL THE LIFE INSIDE OF YOU When you were young,  you learned to abandon yourself for the world. You learned to put the feelings and needs of others before your own. You learned to hold yourself back, silence yourself, crush your perceptions and feelings and desires, disconnect from your truth in order to protect others from feeling uncomfortable or disappointed or angry or jealous. You learned to deny yourself, distrust yourself, and you called it being kind, nice, good, unselfish, caring, even 'spiritual'. You were applauded for your brilliant facade. But you always knew: you had torn yourself in two. For love. For approval. You did violence on yourself, seeking safety, trying to manipulate others into loving you. You were not wrong. It was intelligent to want to protect yourself back then. But the love you sought never came. The image only crushed your spirit, made you feel less alive. So now is the time to let the lie crumble. To return to a living truth. To stop the violence, the self-abandonment, the running away. To stop leaving yourself to please others, to protect them from discomfort, to uphold a false image.  Now is the time to drench yourself in radical self-love.   You may have to start feeling your guilt now instead of acting on it  or running from it. You may have to commit to feeling  shaky, vulnerable, afraid, uncomfortable, even unworthy. But now you are no longer a victim of these energies. You are willing to hold them. You are their mother, their protector, their Home. They no longer hold or control you. You can walk with them. Invite them to walk alongside you. You are powerful in your love. Strong in your sensitivity. Friend, never apologise for all the life inside of you! ~Jeff Foster

Take HeART!

Don't focus on what's 'wrong' with the world.

When you fight against a broken world, you become violent inside

and you contribute to the conditions
that created the violence you now witness.

See the world as it is, the way an artist would see a face,

with all its flaws, imperfections, ridges, bumps, crevices and creases.

See the light and the dark, the love and the flight from love,

the kindness and its forgetting.

Love the world now for how it appears.

Understand the world.

Forgive the world.

Hold the world in your loving arms.

She is young, and making mistakes, and learning.

And from this place of love, re-enter the world.

Stand strong like a rock,

illuminating the world with your powerful presence.

Speak up for those without a voice.

Amplify messages of compassion.

Spread the truth.

Fight for what you know,

not against what you hate.

Your attention is your greatest blessing,

so bless the world you are birthing now;

do not energise a dying world with your intolerance.

Gather together with your brothers and sisters.

Discover your true family, beyond colour, race, religion, belief.

Unite in the name of love.

Now you are not attacking the world but fighting alongside her,

and all her angels fight with you.

~Jeff Foster

Christ

Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), a saint and mystic revered to this day by Eastern Christians, wrote some words that point beautifully to this “force field” that we call the Body of Christ. It is a living organism created by those who live in love, much more than any mere religious organization.

We awaken in Christ’s body,
As Christ awakens our bodies.

There I look down and my poor hand is Christ,

He enters my foot and is infinitely me.

I move my hand and wonderfully
My hand becomes Christ,
Becomes all of Him.

I move my foot and at once
He appears in a flash of lightning.

Do my words seem blasphemous to you?

—Then open your heart to him.
And let yourself receive the one
Who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body
Where all our body all over,
Every most hidden part of it,
Is realized in joy as Him,

And He makes us utterly real.

And everything that is hurt, everything
That seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
Maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged
Is in Him transformed.

And in Him, recognized as whole, as lovely,
And radiant in His light,
We awaken as the beloved
In every last part of our body.

"BREAKING NEWS"

God loves the Eternal Christ, the Anointed One, the “Christ Child” in you, and God cannot not love you. That part of you which has always loved God—and lets God love you—is your soul or True Self. Once the problem is solved deeply inside of you, and you can recognize and honor the divine image in yourself, then you can honor the inherent dignity of everyone else, too, knowing it is a free gift given to all; none of us can earn it.

In reality, humanity is on a level playing field. This was supposed to change our politics, our societies, and our history. But the implications of the Gospel are yet to be fully realized.  ~R. Rohr