Saying 67
Jesus said: One who knows everything else but who does not know himself knows nothing.
Only sobriety has allowed me to have an experience with getting to know myself. I watch. I experience jealousy, anger, fears that I have no control over. I see myself sleepless, in tears, seeking approval, obsessing when I don't get it, fearful, viscously critical . On the other hand, I see myself pray, surrender to the good and thereby weep for friends and the world, dance in the light, play and laugh, embrace heartily, forgive, be effective and beyond grateful. I was always smart but... without the 12-Step design, almost died, and did spiritually die.
Jesus said: One who knows everything else but who does not know himself knows nothing.
Only sobriety has allowed me to have an experience with getting to know myself. I watch. I experience jealousy, anger, fears that I have no control over. I see myself sleepless, in tears, seeking approval, obsessing when I don't get it, fearful, viscously critical . On the other hand, I see myself pray, surrender to the good and thereby weep for friends and the world, dance in the light, play and laugh, embrace heartily, forgive, be effective and beyond grateful. I was always smart but... without the 12-Step design, almost died, and did spiritually die.
Saying 68
Jesus said: Blessed are you when they hate and persecute you. No place will be found where they persecuted you.
Approval is overrated, craved, begged for. But what happens when I take a stand? People disagree and do persecute in their own overt or sneaky ways. Sometimes it's a sarcastic comment, others it means the loss of a job, marginalization, gossip. Sometimes it can mean extreme physical suffering or the loss of your life. Just look at Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba, Robert Kennedy, or Rigoberta Menchu. To speak truth in love, at times to power, is to live into faith and to be stripped of false Gods because goodbye to everyone who can't stand hearing your message whether its an expression of gratitude to a God that someone else believes is bullshit, political action that threatens the status quo, educational efforts that expose false paradigms, interpersonal emotions that a partner does not want to hear, or confronting a child about spending too much time on a cell. The "place" is gone, can not be found. If I am true to myself, my God, my principles, I'm free and I will not carry that dagger in me. It's wound is healed; I am risen. I am free.
Jesus said: Blessed are you when they hate and persecute you. No place will be found where they persecuted you.
Approval is overrated, craved, begged for. But what happens when I take a stand? People disagree and do persecute in their own overt or sneaky ways. Sometimes it's a sarcastic comment, others it means the loss of a job, marginalization, gossip. Sometimes it can mean extreme physical suffering or the loss of your life. Just look at Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba, Robert Kennedy, or Rigoberta Menchu. To speak truth in love, at times to power, is to live into faith and to be stripped of false Gods because goodbye to everyone who can't stand hearing your message whether its an expression of gratitude to a God that someone else believes is bullshit, political action that threatens the status quo, educational efforts that expose false paradigms, interpersonal emotions that a partner does not want to hear, or confronting a child about spending too much time on a cell. The "place" is gone, can not be found. If I am true to myself, my God, my principles, I'm free and I will not carry that dagger in me. It's wound is healed; I am risen. I am free.
Saying 69
Jesus said: Blessed are those who have been persecuted within themselves. They have really come to know the Father.
This is so shocking and so affirming. Sometimes I wonder if people have surrendered to the same God I have surrendered to. It's not an easy ride within. I mock myself. I throw stones at myself. I see all my ugliness and struggle with it, wrestle. I'm constantly seeing new pockets of pus surfacing... And it is that very process that does continue to take me to the Father, to God, to a relationship with a Power that sees and loves me as I am, behind my masks. I don't take medication to relieve the inner persecution. I have come to see it, know and expect it, need it too because it takes me to new levels with consciousness, with forgiveness, and with my Creator. It is what it is.
Blessed are those who are hungry in order to fill the bellies of the needy.
I am relentless hungry for the process to bear fruit, take seed in another. I want to "feed the sheep," "the lambs" who need a solution to the persecution from without and from within. .
I am also hungry for a new experience each day... this is the day the "dis-ease" invariably shows up with its pettiness, meanness, insensitivity, blame, fear. Some times are much harder than others, of course. Some years are harder than others. Surrender to God seems to keep me hungry for more God. Not sure why it is that way for me, but that's my truth.
Jesus said: Blessed are those who have been persecuted within themselves. They have really come to know the Father.
This is so shocking and so affirming. Sometimes I wonder if people have surrendered to the same God I have surrendered to. It's not an easy ride within. I mock myself. I throw stones at myself. I see all my ugliness and struggle with it, wrestle. I'm constantly seeing new pockets of pus surfacing... And it is that very process that does continue to take me to the Father, to God, to a relationship with a Power that sees and loves me as I am, behind my masks. I don't take medication to relieve the inner persecution. I have come to see it, know and expect it, need it too because it takes me to new levels with consciousness, with forgiveness, and with my Creator. It is what it is.
Blessed are those who are hungry in order to fill the bellies of the needy.
I am relentless hungry for the process to bear fruit, take seed in another. I want to "feed the sheep," "the lambs" who need a solution to the persecution from without and from within. .
I am also hungry for a new experience each day... this is the day the "dis-ease" invariably shows up with its pettiness, meanness, insensitivity, blame, fear. Some times are much harder than others, of course. Some years are harder than others. Surrender to God seems to keep me hungry for more God. Not sure why it is that way for me, but that's my truth.