Month: October 2012 (Page 4 of 4)

 Devotions from Judy’s heart

While at Kurt’s we had quite a laugh as our 4 year old grandson, Grant, all of a sudden walked down the sidelines at the soccer game all humped over and knees bent wide apart. When we asked him about it, he said he was pretending to walk like grandpa! Now he is 4 and grandpa is 71 and he looked so funny and ridiculous pretending to be grandpa. But do we see this in our every day life…people not being truly themselves but trying to be like someone else?  It may not appear so obvious and so humorous, but is sad that the real person is not being seen.  So often we settle for our false self that is mostly a creation of our own minds and attachments. But our true self is objectively who we are from the beginning in the mind and heart of God.  Thomas Merton said, “If you find God you will find yourself and if you find yourself you will know God.” Let us find our true selves and give up acting and playing a role that is not real.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Wouldn’t it be great if life was all forward and upward?  This past week we walked on mountain trails that wound around, went up and down, and were anything but straight. And isn’t that really what life is like? Certainly not a straight line!  Richard Rohr (Falling Upward) talks about how failure and humiliation help us to look where we never would otherwise.  We need to get out of the driver’s seat and learn how to give the controls to God. I’m sure all of us have had situations in our lives that we cannot control or understand. But those times of falling and undergoing suffering can open up new spaces within us in which we learn and love in new ways. . Often people with addictions thank God for their former patterns as it broke down their false self and opened them up to grace and love. As we grow spiritually may we come to the place where we see down as up, for it teaches us things we would not know otherwise. When we fall and when we recover from the fall, we experience His mercy!  Sadly, W.H. Auden said, “We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”  Let us leave our comfort zones in life and be willing to be open and to admit and learn from our failures.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Our grandson John Mark knows he is loved so much by his parents as he receives their care, attention, hugs, and words of love and affirmation. His parents also know he is not “perfect” but still love him for who he is. We all need people in our lives who see us as we are and mirror goodness in us. We are rich if we have even one true honest friend to ground us, and who responds to the real person we are.  Some people who have not dealt with their own issues will try to mirror their own confused life onto us. But how wonderful when we have a true friend who helps us see even our warts but loves us all the same. We know the Lord perfectly receives us exactly as we are and it is transforming to our lives. It is also a great gift when we are received by another…. for “being totally received as we truly are is what we wait and long for all our lives.”  ( Richard Rhor)