This past week was Holy week for those of us who practice Christianity as our foundation for agape LOVE. Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which we believe represents God’s ultimate demonstration of love for humanity. As I reflect upon this sacrifice; I wonder what is the motivation to put one’s self in harm’s way for a beloved?
The Heaven’s: View from the plane home from L.A.
As we read the story of the cross, we learn that Jesus accepted that he was human and divine at the same time. He understood fully what was required of his humanity and lamented the commitment. However, he allowed God’s will to be done because he trusted completely in the Love of God to fulfill his promise to humanity. He participated in the plan to ensure that humanity could always commune with God despite our shortcomings. This reconciliation is the ultimate gift of Love to humanity. We are able to access the divine; enjoying a deeply personal relationship if we are open to being present for it.
In relationships it is good to know that sacrifice is only one demonstration (not a requirement) of love to our beloved; a gift given when needed to help our beloved grow. Relationships can become toxic if our beloved is requiring a sacrifice from us in order for us to be loved. Using our head, heart, and spirit to sense relationships which nurture us is needed to stay connected to our soul.
I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice that has been made so that I can know the truth of who I am to God. Once again Jonathan Butler has the words to express what I feel about this sacrifice.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
William B. Travis High School Band – Carnegie Hall, New York – March 2016
The one word I selected as inspiration for 2016 was ‘Fun’ and I must tell you I’ve been having plenty of it! I’m just in from my Spring Break vacation traveling from the East coast and wrapping up a West coast visit this afternoon. On the East coast, I celebrated the musicianship of my son and his band at Carnegie Hall. Later in the week, hubby and I headed over to Los Angeles where we celebrated the wedding of a close relative. It was at the wedding that I got the inspiration for this week’s post. The wedding was a second for both bride and groom. It was so much fun and the love between the bride, their children, family, and friends was palpable. My heart was opened wide as we were all intimately thanked for our participation in this joyful event.
After the groom saluted his bride, the DJ played Shalamar’s “Second Time Around”. This song helped to remind me that life offers us daily, a second chance to embrace love. The real question is, “how do we open our hearts to love a second time?” It seems to me that examining the past and forgiving it is a good way to start. Once you are free of the sting of the past, you can look forward and envision a future which integrates the wisdom of the past and the excitement of the future.
Being ready for love again requires us to fully examine who we are and to develop the boundaries we need to make good decisions in love. Our heart and head must work together to create relationships that help us to continue to grow in love. Second chances at love are available in every love relationship type. You deserve great happiness so do the work to be ready for love again. It really can be better the second time around!
Last week, we explored the joy of celebrating what we are grateful for. When we plan the guest list for our fabulous celebrations, we often overlook the most important guest; our own self.
Celebrating in New York
We can get so caught up in making preparations for the event that we don’t show up fully present. We fail to plan in a way that ensures we will fully enjoy the experience. And yet, we allow ourselves to check the milestone off the ‘to do’ list. However, we realize that we have gaps in our memory of some of the events and can’t remember all of the guests that attended the celebration. Looking back over the past 20 years, we’ve held many wonderful celebrations in our home. However, I can count on one hand the number of celebrations that I can fully remember key events and guest interactions beyond ensuring their food and drink needs were taken care of.
I am learning that this journey is really about having our eyes, head, and hearts wide open so we fully experience the beautiful moments we’ve been given. I am personally in the 12 step recovery program on this front. As I write this post, I’m a zombie after having stayed up 28 hours before getting 3 hours of sleep on a plane. I’m traveling to New York to celebrate the musicianship of our son’s high school band. They’ve been invited to play Carnegie Hall. I’m one proud mama! In my excitement, to ensure that this event is memorable for him, I’ve run around the past week like a chicken with its head cut off. Once his needs were met, I turned my attention to the rest of the family procrastinating until the final few days before the event to wrap up preparations. In typical ‘run until you run out of gas’ fashion, I ran errands until the clock ran out. I have promised myself I will NEVER be here again. I’m sure all addicts make such declarations, but hey I can start over on day one again tomorrow.
As I exam success on the ‘fully present’ front, I realize that I must define what it means to me. Once I’ve identified its meaning, I need to implement actions to achieve success. Slight Detour on this thought process: A few weeks ago a friend suggested that I try a diet she was on; you know one of those high protein diets. Actually, the first phase of the diet is really ALL meat. She had lost a lot of weight so I thought it was worth trying. When ordering lunch the other day she informs me that I cannot have the fries on the menu item if I want to stay within the diet guidelines. Without thinking I tell her, “I want to be successful on this diet, but I don’t want to do what it takes to be successful.” This was truly a ‘when the student is ready, the teacher will appear moment’. Of course this is just so obvious, but until we can consciously embrace our own resistance to what we have declared we want, but fail to do the work for, we can’t move forward. What I decided is that success for me is a sensible diet and exercise; this I can commit to.
So, what can we do to be fully present at the celebration? We can decide what presence means to us and then set goals and boundaries to achieve presence. When you are ready for a celebration, start with the end in mind. Give yourself a structured action item list with realistic timelines. Protect your ability to fully show up and stay within the boundaries that keep you focused on enjoying the company of your guests. Whatever you do, don’t neglect inviting yourself to the party!
This past week, I celebrated a birthday (que Stevie…). I’m so excited about turning 48 and I’m grateful for this awesome life I am living! As I reflected on what I’m most grateful for, I realized that I could use more celebration in my life. As I examined what celebration means to me, it led me to gratitude. In fact, it’s hard for me to distinguish gratitude and celebration from each other; because the more I think about the things I’m grateful for, the more I want to celebrate.
I’m grateful that I was born to a wonderful and courageous mother; whose sacrifice to bring me life has brought me my greatest opportunity to express gratitude. This gift alone has grounded me with an understanding that love really is the greatest gift of all (que Whitney…). I’ve celebrated this gift by learning to enjoy and appreciate motherhood; which makes nurturing my children a very fulfilling experience.
I’m grateful for my husband; who has loved me through the good, bad, and ugly. His commitment to our family has stretched him wide open and yet he continues to provide a well of love so deep for us, we always feel his protection. This love, I celebrate daily and I look forward to the end of the day when I can snuggle up next to him and kiss his strong hands that provide a safe place for all of us to thrive.
Every day, I’m surrounded by family and close friends who demonstrate their love by investing their time and energy to our shared happiness. Not one day goes by that I am left to wonder who I am in their lives. I am grateful for these friendships and I celebrate them by offering prayers of protection, calling, writing, or sharing exchanges on social media.
I am enjoying this wonderful life I’ve been given and I know that God has provided ‘green pastures’ for me. My one wish for this next year is to celebrate the awesomeness in my life more often; which means to be so overcome with gratitude that I have to share the joy with another. I plan to do exactly that and in case you did not know, my one word for 2016 is ‘Fun’; because how can you celebrate without having fun?
Jonathan Butler has captured how I’m feeling about these 48 years …
