Peace on Earth

Christmas carols and cards often have the words: Peace on Earth to men of good will. We also see this version: Peace on Earth and good will to men.

The second version makes more sense to me. Why wish Peace on men of good will when they are obviously doing just fine as it is. The assumption is, if you are of good will you must be Peaceful. Not necessarily so, but let’s assume that the majority are.

I’d rather wish Peace on Earth to those who are exhibiting bad will. These guys need it more don’t you think? I would rather heap Peace on the people who are killing their own countrymen and women and children. Heap Peace on the people who are fighting with their neighbors over national borders. Heap Peace on the people who are killing innocent children in schools, ambushing firefighters and police, blowing up public buildings, fighting unending wars. These are the people who need Peace wished upon them.

Let’s do it right now! Close your eyes and think of as many as you can who need to have Peace heaped upon them. All you have to do is open your local newspaper and read about all the negative stuff that’s going on and you have enough examples to keep you busy for a good chunk of time.

Once you have these individuals and groups in your mind’s eye, Bless them. Just say a little prayer asking that they stop whatever they are doing that goes against the highest good. If you are one to visualize people and situations in White Light, go ahead. That’s even more powerful. Throw a blanket of Pink Light (Divine Love) over the Middle East or your neighbor’s house. Maybe your own house. Wherever Peace is needed!

In Matthew 18:20 Jesus said, “Wherever two or more gather in my name…,” and that is true. The best part is you don’t need to know that you have been gathered! You might think you are on your own, but there may be people in your neighborhood, town or state who are concentrating on the same thing…it constitutes a gathering. Just think of all the good you can do!

Let go of fear…Learn to trust

Many years ago, when my four kids were growing up, I was a single parent. So many times situations would come up and I would say, “Don’t worry. Everything will be ok. Everything will turn out just fine.” Most of the time I had absolutely no idea how that would be accomplished, but I must have done a good job selling it, because my kids (as far as I know) always felt safe “knowing” that mom would take care of everything. And everything would turn out ok!

Today, I give you the same comforting message: “Don’t worry. Everything will be ok. Everything will turn out just fine.” Just like those early days, I have absolutely no idea how that is going to happen, but I know that it will. It always does.

There are a lot of people who seem to be on a mission to scare the hell out of us. We constantly hear how bad the economy is and that we are on the verge of losing everything. They harp on climate change and how global warming is deadly. Then, as if that isn’t enough, the world is going to end on December 21^st.

DO NOT ALLOW THAT KIND OF TALK TO SCARE YOU. “Don’t worry. Everything will be ok. Everything will turn out just fine.”

At a Wholistic Practitioners networking breakfast this morning, I brought up the melting polar ice caps and the dire predictions attendant to this. One of our group added that if we concentrate on all the negative crap that’s being forced on us…then all that negative crap gains strength.

So I say to you, “Don’t worry. Everything will be ok. Everything will turn out just fine.” Think positive. Visualize yourself personally, and the planet as a whole, as calm, serene, having everything necessary to live a happy productive life. Send positive energy to ALL LIFE.

It has been my personal experience that I have always had what I needed. I learned a long time ago not to worry because everything will be ok. Everything will turn out just fine.

Am I Responsible?

Last week as I was riding home on my bike I spotted a good size snapping turtle coming out of a swamp and would eventually cross the road. I took notice and rode on.

About a half mile down the road I saw a man out for his morning walk and I mentioned the turtle as a point of interest in nature. He smiled a very big smile and said something that sounded like he was very happy to hear that.

Today I rode past the same spot and I saw the smashed shell of a turtle in the grass where I had seen the live snapper. Just the shell, no flesh.

Did that man kill the turtle and take the flesh home for soup? There are people who do that. I felt so bad…to think that I might have been responsible because I mentioned it to that man.

He probably would have seen it anyway, but next time…if similar circumstances present themselves…I’ll keep my mouth shut.

Two Major Events

Even though I have not written in this journal for quite some time, it’s not that things have not been happening. Things are always happening! ☺ I just get so caught up in what is happening that I forget to share. And, I have to admit, because I post a lot on Facebook, I tend to neglect my two journals.

Event #1
“I always have what I need” and “I have what I need when I need it.” When it came to selling the house, I said right along that it would sell as soon as the place where I was supposed to go was on the market.

My condo showed up on the lists and I knew it was too good to last. It was in the area I wanted, it had the walk out basement I needed and the price was right. Even though I didn’t have an offer on my house (we were into month 6), I went with my agent to look at the condo. Boom! I got an offer on the house that stuck. The young couple who put the condo up for sale had not expected it to sell so quickly.

Once again my faith in God and how the Universe works was rewarded. It will work for anyone.

The difference between the sale and purchase was enough for me to finish the basement. Nay-sayers didn’t think it was possible. I proved them wrong. I had it done the way I wanted it to look (how I had envisioned it for so long) and I love my “cave.” Everyone who sees it loves it.

This is the first time I have ever occupied a space that was totally mine. No one shares it with me and there are no other opinions that count as to how it’s decorated (or not).

So the lesson here is to know you will always have what you need and you won’t get it until you absolutely need it. Knowing this is the trick.

Event #2
My mother always thought I was a little crazy because of my spiritual/metaphysical beliefs that were so different from her strict Catholic upbringing. I was raised Catholic, also, but even as a child I questioned (and kept that to myself) the teachings/dogma. As I grew older, married and had children, these doubts turned to seeking other philosophies. These other ways of looking at God and the natural world felt so right to me that I eventually moved away from my childhood upbringing. I never moved away from Jesus or God…I just understood them differently.

This past April my mother passed at age 98. Surrounding this event several interesting things happened.

a) a couple days before she died, a stuffed rabbit I had on the top of one of my bookcases fell to the floor. It had been wedged between the ceiling tile and the top shelf, so it was conceivable that it worked loose. I picked it up and put it on a lower shelf until such time as I would get the small step ladder and put it back.

b) when I received the call that she had passed the first thing I did was to pray for her safe, immediate passage back home to Spirit. What I saw was a beautiful gold butterfly encrusted with jewels. This piece was substantial…something you would see in a museum as an artifact from some ancient civilization. The butterfly was seen against the background of living black, which I know to be the “tunnel” we travel through on our way back home.

c) at her funeral a slight movement on top of the coffin caught my eye. It was a tiny Tinker Bell type creature sitting cross-legged and every once in a while she would rise up, wings a-blur , still cross-legged, having a wonderful time entertaining me. She never once faced the alter…I was her prime target. I truly believe this was my mother’s alter ego…a side of her I had never seen…the playful being. Her purpose seemed to be to ease my sadness.

d) two days after her funeral, I was sitting at my computer when I heard a fluttering noise and something hitting the floor in front of the bookcases. I found four books on the floor and, on the shelf where they had been, the stuffed toy owl, Hedwig, was moved. It was like Hedwig had stuck out her left wing and knocked the books off the shelf. No way! I got the step ladder and inspected the shelf for mouse turds, thinking it had to be a critter that pushed the books over the edge. Clean. Interestingly enough, these objects were directly under the place from where the rabbit fell.

OK. What did all that mean? Hedwig is Harry Potter’s messenger owl. But what was the message? The books themselves didn’t make sense…three politically correct humor books and one bird identification. It took me a while but I think I have figured it out. She was telling me that she ‘gets it.’ That she understands. I think she is now in the place where she will always ‘get it’…a place that she couldn’t access from the earth plane because it wasn’t for her to know this time around. AND, how clever of her to choose Harry’s messenger owl! The books were only to get my attention.

Being in this condo is part of my spiritual journey. Proof that visualization and faith really do work and it’s worth the wait, because, I will always have what I need and I will have it when I need it…not a moment before. And it is such a comfort to know my mother is Home.

The Highs and Lows of Life

A prospective buyer looked at the house twice! The second time being Wednesday, Feb. 3rd. On Saturday my agent called and said we had an offer…I told her to accept it. It was less than I had hoped to get, but I want to move on...soon.

Through the course of the evening we had a couple of conversations and I made it clear, because of the price I had agreed upon, I would not “give back” any amount of money…no half and half on things they felt needed to be done. We would sign the agreement on Monday the 8th and they wanted the closing on March 12th.

Sunday morning my agent called me to tell me they had backed out.

I’m still working on my anger and disappointment. I was with a small group last night and we worked on ridding ourselves of all negativity. The negativity that flowed from my hands (into a large bowl of water) was black, tar-like, bile-like gunk, and there was a lot of it. As hard as I tried, I could not get rid of the last remnant at the tips of my fingers. I still have some work to do.

We prayed for the people who backed out of the offer. We prayed that they find the perfect house for them and that they enjoy many years of happiness there.

We also prayed that I will get a binding offer…for a better price, and that my house will be sold quickly.

Feel free to join us in those prayers.

Prayers do work. This same group prayed last week and two things that we prayed for happened.

Change is Never Easy

It seems that whenever there are major changes in my life, everything called my life starts feeling like it’s being squeezed…imagine a tube of toothpaste.

This time around the changes are planned, but that does not diminish the squeeze.

With my mother in a nursing home I cannot afford this big house we shared. Getting it ready for sale is a big job in itself with all the picky, picky cleaning I have been forced to do. You are probably saying to yourself that I should have been doing that regularly anyway. You are right, but that is not within the nature of my beingness. I will put off such things in favor of so many other more pleasurable activities.

Frustration comes in bunches
I find myself trying to go through the process of readying the house for sale with very little money. So in the spirit of being squeezed through a small opening, things start costing me money I don’t have.

A couple weeks ago the hot water hose on the washing machine blew at 10 p.m. To make a long story short, it cost me a night’s sleep and close to $350 for a plumber in the middle of the night (which turned out to be 7:45 the next morning!). ☹

(You can read the whole sad story at my main blog, “Look What I’m Up To Now”. See Plumbing Problem, Monday, August 10th.)

Then I get a notice from the bank that holds the mortgage on this house my mortgage payment is going UP almost $260 a month. What happened? We used to get senior citizen assistance on town taxes based on my mother’s income…since she had life use of the house. With her in the nursing home the assistance was based on my income, which was higher than hers. Ergo, my assistance amount was nowhere near as lucrative.

And coming up, will be the cost of having the carpets professionally cleaned.

Spirituality
So what’s so spiritual about all this frustration and chaos? I see it as another test of Faith. I know from experience that I have always had what I needed. Always! Why should this be any different? Being mortal, I have a hard time staying out of the category of “Oh ye of little faith.” I keep reminding myself that I have always had what I needed and I will get through this. Everything will turn out OK.

So what do I need?
I need to sell this house. I really don’t want to do fishes and loaves for too many months. BUT, I can if I have to as long as I continue to acknowledge “someone else” is directing this operation.

Renewing the Contract

It has been so long since I last posted. It’s not that I haven’t had anything spiritual going on in my life…it’s more like I have too much of everything going on.

Since I returned from my Erie Canal bike ride, my mother has been in and out of the hospital and nursing home. Since October 10th, 2008, she has been home three weeks and two days. She’s 96 years old and has had two major abdominal surgeries. She has an indomitable spirit.

She and I have had conversations about we humans having signed contracts with God. The idea being we stay here on earth to the end of the contract. I believe it can be renewed, I’m sure it is in some cases, but there comes a time when God says, “That’s it. Fini.” And in a pre-planned event we make our exit.

I don’t know how many renewals she has had, but in the last year and a half she has come up with more things that should have ended her life here on earth. First she started falling and it turns out she also had bladder infections. What we thought for years was over active bladder turned out to be a bladder that had forgotten how to empty itself completely.

Once we had that under control she started with small intestine blockages. The first four were treated without surgery, but the 5th was different. She had just turned 96 and underwent abdominal surgery. Came through it with flying colors. A miracle! She finally came home from this one in December. She was home for 3 weeks and had another blockage.

Another surgery on January 6th of 2009. We all thought she was going to die. She pulled through. However, when she was transferred back to the nursing home on January 26th she was unable to walk. We thought she would never walk again. After one week of physical therapy she started walking.

The end of March she came out of the nursing home and we all expected this time she would not be going back to the hospital or nursing home ever again. Two days home and she twisted her right knee. Back to the ER and back to the nursing home.

She was back there about a week when she was transported back to the hospital with a high fever and she was diagnosed with a staph infection AND clots in her legs even though she had been on Coumadin. Another week in the hospital treating the infection and the clots and she’s now back in the nursing home.

We will probably never know what’s going on between her and her God, but the meetings must be interesting!

I guess one of the lessons is Never doubt the strength of the human spirit. And another is Never question why God keeps renewing the contract.

In my prayers I have offered everything up to God. I have told Him I can’t do this any more and I acknowledge He is in complete control. What a relief…for both of us. ☺