Category Archives: Uncategorized

Pure oneness.

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In the midst of ongoing transformation and renewal, things can take on an entirely new mass and meaning.  Prior perspectives, familiar  moments, simple words can appear altogether awe inspiring.  An overwhelming sense of serenity, peace and comfort. A knowing. 

Grace is one such word that is utterly attuned to this state of being.  Something that has been lost in translation for reasons now that just escape me. When put as such, by Thomas Merton, it now resonates to and through one’s soul:

“Grace is not a strange, magic substance which is subtly filtered into our souls to act as a kind of spiritual penicillin. Grace is unity, oneness within ourselves, oneness with God.”

A state of being with a genuine openness to be who we are in the presence of God.  A true collaboration of a life together.  Not as some external additive, but an honest recognition of what has always been there internally. Only needing to be opened and honored through our will to accept that level of  presence and love. 

It is the truest and highest form of unity.  

Made possible by His grace.

Pure oneness.

It has no peer.

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Adversity may be defined mostly in terms of tangible situations or moments.  But its influence can be especially prevalent in far more subtle contexts.

Like peer pressure. 

To be identified as a potential member of a certain group and gain access to its inner sanctum might be viewed as an extremely important and noteworthy achievement for many people.  No matter one’s age. 

This venture might become so vital as a self-image and identity enhancement that making all the subsequent wrong choices are acceptable expenditures for the meager dividends expected to be earned. 

And the ensuing collateral damage?   Just part of the program. 

Rationalization can become an instinct stronger to one than that of survival. It has the power to transform the known black and white into gradients of reasonable gray. 

For once the quest for inclusion with those peers deemed “most worthy”  overrides doing what is right, judgement is the first thing to be cast aside. And as thoughts, words and finally deeds dissolve into this hue, one can justify, defend and vindicate just about anything. 

Undermining  your better nature. Ignoring what you know is right. 

Even surrendering  character. 

There isn’t  much contrast across the choices spectrum once you cross that threshold. Decisions tend to go only in one direction; from bad, to badder, to baddest. Rationalized as some of the necessary evils that come with  being “one of the boys or girls”.  

The curse that begets those bountiful “blessings of being in”.

Isn’t it strange how people who seemingly have the world by the tail can still feel the tug of the herd.  Despite the overwhelming value of their talents, an abundance of gifts and their inherent good nature, some “thing” seems to be missing.

Efforts at your addition with the approval from the herd, in reality can act as subtraction. A venture that can lead one to the pursuit of  shallow, short-sighted, and oftentimes risky behavior.  Creating a cavity within that only becomes deeper and grows ever wider the farther you get from your true self. 

A brand of adversity that can be a force all its own, speaking from experience. 

 For this form of pressure is one of a kind.

It has no peer.

Undefined Stock photos by Vecteezy

Just how far you can go.

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“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”  

– T.S. Eliot

You cannot possibly discover any of your limitations without first choosing to go directly to your limits.  And then some. All along that way, you will surely face fear. Disappointment. Doubt. Uncertainty. 

Defeat. 

Embracing this level of risk requires unshakable will and determination.  The resolve to fully commit.  An unbound level of courage.  Unshakable faith. And good old fashioned grit.  

Yet at the end of the day, this is truly a worthy venture. A path well chosen.The only one that can reveal just how far you can go. 

So press on toward what you think are your known limitations.  Fully embrace that current threshold, eyes fixed and head-on.  Then, fit into it.  Embody the struggle.  Fight your way through it, working your way all the way out  to the other side. 

Appreciate all that  you have just become in the process. Discover what you can be in all of those similar moments  yet to come.  

Only when you choose to go too far will all of this become apparent. 

That the risk was well worth the reward.  

And you will know with the utmost certainty.  

Just how far you can go.

That shining clarity as to what really matters.

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The seasons most definitely transitioned this past week. The lawn has transitioned into its slumber. An abundance of golden leaves appeared all over. The mornings and evenings have this crisp feel to it. And the skies are just simply a sight to behold. Bringing with them a shining clarity as to what really matters.

This moment.

To begin the day seeing this vision in our backyard is in itself affirming and empowering.

“I get to start the day like this!”

I have no idea what the rest of it holds. That will be known soon enough. But for now, this is what I have, this is what I will hold and the rest will take care of itself.

Or rather, the rest He will take care of.

That shining clarity as to what really matters.

I see.

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“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch; like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,  Was blind, but now I see.”

– John Newton 

This hymn swells my heart, fills my soul and wells up my eyes with true gratitude.  Speaks to the twin blessings of both a divine and self forgiveness.  How the sense of being saved rings true in a new found presence for life. 

Whatever the source of one’s  wretchedness,  state of sin, spiritual need, distress or desperate need for rescue and redemption, His presence, love  and loop of grace leads one to a saving source of repentance.  Bringing forth an entirely different sensory affirmation of life in the world about us.  An unmistakable melody of gratitude heightened by a new found vision. 

Being lost is an orientation far more than simply geographical.  It may not be readily apparent from an external perspective.  But internalized, it can assume  an excruciatingly  painful and perilously winding nature, replete with false starts, stops and changes in direction.  Dishonesty, self righteousness and a self absorbing sense of ego leads one to isolation and a perpetual nonexistence.  Being present, engaged and invested are exchanged for absence, disconnection and apathy.  

With renewed vision and a truer recognition of this existence  born of His grace, that blindness gives way to an awareness of life and all it is meant to be.  That loop born of His mercy for you  is such that when you witness and receive  it for yourself, you cannot help but to embrace the thoughts, words and deeds that can be freely given to those around you, so they might too  live it for themselves.  

Given the circumstances of the author of this replenishing hymn and that of the author of this post, we can all enslave others or enslave ourselves by and through sin.  No matter our origin, that we all share in common.  That is what gives us our original nature.

And as such, He encircles us with true redemption through grace in a heavenly embrace.  A gift that once received that is intended to be given back.  Not in terms of or in the form of a transaction. But just as freely as we ourselves were compensated as such. As a gift.

So that we all may know the sweetness of its sound.  And follow its path leading our way back into His light.  

Was truly blind.  

But now?

I see.