When I was a child I was not brought up in a church environment, (although my parents said they took me a couple times) I was not told worship any particular God and I most certainly was not brought up to believe that any particular religion was right or wrong. My parents simply didn’t address the issue.
Through out my teen years it was brought to my attention that my Father had longed searched for a God that suited him. He tried on every religion there was and never seemed to settle comfortably into one belief- this qued my curiosity as well. When I was about 14 I started going to church with friends, looking into Buddhism and developing my own ideas on what it meant to have ‘God’ in my life.
I soon settled on the thought that all religion originated from one place and it was interpreted differently throughout the entire world. I focused on many of the Buddhist principles that encouraged peace, love and generosity. Heck, I even got a tattoo of Buddha that symbolizes Peace & Enlightenment.
Some of us, perhaps most of us, were raised in a society where it was taught that God is there to watch over us, but should we step out of line his forgiveness is not easy to come by. From time to time, some of us might even be doomed to Hell for not following his word, for being Gay, for not going to church, or for not accepting him as our personal savior. I don’t know about you, but the concept of a God turning his back on me when I needed him most turned me off. It made me not want to know God at all.
I started calling my higher power The Universe. The term, ‘The Universe’ was freeing for me. It did not carry any negative connotation, there was no guilt, no shame, just enlightenment, peace and inspiration. Through Mike Dooley’s speaking, I learned that the power to alter my life and way of being was in my thoughts. I have practiced ‘Thoughts Become Things’ for 3 years now and have created a world that I never imagined existing.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, that my world started to shift far beyond what I deemed possible. My perception of God and all that he is was altered and my world opened up. I received a gift in the mail from my good friend, Leslee Horner- a book, entitled ‘A Return to Love’ by Marianne Williamson. I doubt Leslee realized what a profound impact this gift would have on my life at the time she bought it for me. Every page I turned, every chapter I entered brought me to a new platform of my knowledge of God.
‘A Return to Love’ teaches that God is Love- nothing more, nothing less. God does not wish to punish us; he wants to heal us, to shift our perception of reality. Our soul purpose for existing is to be love.
Human relationships exist to produce love. When we pollute our relationships with unloving thoughts, or destroy or abort them with unloving attitudes, we are threatening our emotional survival.
In that moment it became clear to me. The solution to all my conflicts was love. Returning my thoughts to love at any moment of despair, anger, especially fear would be a miracle, a break through in how I have been living my life.
Perhaps the most important moment of realization was when I was on vacation this past week. I found myself standing in waves of the ocean on a dark beach with nothing but the stars above me. In that moment, I Surrendered. I Surrendered my life, my thoughts, my goals, my relationships, my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions, my future; I handed all over to God.
We are simply asked to shift focus and to take on a more gently perception. That’s all God needs. Just one sincere surrendered moment, when love matters more than anything, and we know that nothings else really matters at all. What He gives us in return for our openness to Him, is an outpouring of His power from deep within us. We are given His power to share with world, to heal wounds, to awaken hearts.
If my purpose here on earth is to be a vessel for God’s love- I’m down. Who needs some lovin’?!
What about you Pinkies, have you been hiding from the love of God, from the love of our Universe? I invite you to embrace your fears, hand them over to The Universe, open your heart to love and anything is truly possible.
