Meditations on God

The Gift Of Love

It is not our place to know why we experience what we do other than to know that, beyond all other reasons, God loves us.

This may seem overly simplistic.

It may not even feel true at all times.

Perhaps we do not believe this at all.

None of these things make it any less true, however.

In spite of appearance or perception, regardless of our feelings or our beliefs, the most fundamental, indisputable, and irreversible fact of our existence is God’s infinite and overflowing love for us.

It is not for us to understand why.

It is only for us to accept it as the gift that it is.

June 29, 2021

god, life, love, understanding

Self-Centered Pain

We often underestimate just how painful self-centeredness can be.

It seems like it will serve us.

It feels like it will make us happy.

Getting what we think we want all of the time should make us happy, after all.

Quite often, however, this strategy backfires on us.

In order for us to get what we want all of the time, it usually means that we must do so in spite of others.

As a result, we behave poorly.

We rub others the wrong way.

We create circumstances in our lives that put us at odds with the people around us.

The more we insist on having our way, the more we find ourselves frustrated by the fact that life does not play along with our plans.

There are simply too many moving pieces and too many other needs, desires, and wills in the mix for things to go the way we want all of the time.

We grow exhausted and discouraged.

If the resistance we meet does not cause us to change our course, our discouragement turns into fear and anger.

Eventually, we find ourselves more alone, more afraid of not getting our way, and more angry when we inevitably don’t.

A life lived like this can hardly bring us satisfaction or contentment no matter how much of what we want we actually get.

What we come to find, if we are willing to see it, is that getting our way all of the time, or even attempting to, does not actually give us what we truly want.

The best things in life, we discover, are shared.

June 28, 2021

anger, fear, life, self centeredness, selfishness, sharing

Listening To Trauma And Love

There is a battle going on inside us at all times.

There are two voices that each want our attention.

One is the voice of our past trauma.

The other is the voice of love.

Our trauma voice is loud.

It tells us to be afraid, to protect ourselves, and it warns us of all of the ways we will fail, be hurt, and re-experience our trauma.

Our trauma voice only cares about itself.

It only cares about reminding us of the pain we have experienced so that we do not experience that pain again.

If we listen to this voice, we may be safer for doing so, but we will also live in fear and isolation.

We will run away from anything and anyone that scares us and we will miss out on life itself.

The paradox of our trauma voice is that, in an attempt to protect us from future trauma, it forces us to relive our past trauma over and over again, constantly reminding us of the consequences of vulnerability.

The voice of love, on the other hand, is quiet.

It does not impose itself on us.

It simply reminds us that it is there and waits for us to pay attention.

This voice wants us to be free, to have courage, and to enjoy life to our fullest potential.

If we listen to this voice, we will be vulnerable.

We will have no protection from pain, grief, or loss.

We will feel everything.

But, with if we listen this voice, if we embrace what it tells us and follow where it leads us, our pain, grief, and loss does not have to become trauma.

Our trauma voice wants to protect us from everything while also stealing everything, but the voice of love wants to protect us from nothing while giving us the opportunity to experience everything.

Everything good in life, after all, comes from or leads us to love.

This love is already inside of us, even if we all too often forget.

Our trauma is not who we are.

Nor is our trauma voice our true voice.

It is simply the voice created by traumatic experiences as a sort of early warning system so that we may avoid danger and pain at all costs.

The voice of love, however, existed before we ever felt pain.

It existed through our trauma even if we did not hear it.

And it will exist long after we are gone.

The voice of of love wants what is best for us and those around us and, so long as we listen to its call, it will never lead us astray.

June 27, 2021

experience, love, trauma, vulnerability

Internal Non-Violence

Quite often in life, the things we want to do and the things we must do will be in conflict with one another.

If we are upset about this conflict, if we resist it and fight back against it, it will not change the things that we must do.

We still must do them.

It will only make us less happy in the process.

Our unhappiness will, in turn, make the people around us less happy as well.

This will inevitably cause us to be in conflict with people who we otherwise may not have been.

If, on the other hand, we accept that the conflict between our desires and our responsibilities is actually inside of us, that it is a conflict between our us and reality not between us and the people around us, we give ourselves the opportunity to adjust our perceptions, our expectations, and attitudes to meet reality as it is instead of how we wish it to be.

This does not mean that we should not have desires, that we should stop hoping or wishing for things to be other than they are.

Rather, it means that change begins by first accepting and addressing what is.

Inner conflict only slows us down.

It creates friction inside us and around us that makes our lives and everyone else’s more difficult.

We are much more likely to create the change we desire in the world by starting from a place of inner peace instead of inner conflict.

No one else can create this place for us.

We must seek diligently and unrelentingly seek it within ourselves until we have ceased fighting anyone or anything, especially ourselves.

From this place of internal non-violence, we can then face ourselves and the world with compassion, graciousness, and gratitude for all of the opportunities for growth we are given from moment to moment and day to day.

June 26, 2021

conflict, inner conflict, inner peace, non-violence

Unnecessary Difficulty

Life is stressful enough without piling unnecessary and undue stress upon ourselves.

Making our lives more difficult for no apparent reason is beyond silly.

It borders on self-destructive.

When life offers us a break, we should take the break.

We should make the most of it.

We should not squander, waste, or reject it.

Rest and relaxation are essential for our longterm success.

Without them, we burn out before ever reaching our full potential.

When given the opportunity to rest and relax, we owe it, not only to ourselves, but to everyone else around us, to take full advantage of it.

If not, we will surely fail more quickly under the burdens that life piles upon us and that we pile upon ourselves.

June 25, 2021

The Gift Of Love

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Self-Centered Pain

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Listening To Trauma And Love

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Internal Non-Violence

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Unnecessary Difficulty

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