Tag: Peace;

Vision Past, Present and Future

As the the year 2024 comes to an end and the beginning of 2025 is fast approaching I find myself wondering what has made the biggest impact on me this year. I am also contemplating what is in store for me next year. I am sure I am not alone in this. This is the time of year when many of us are taking time for reflection as we seek light in the darkness.

Seeing clearly is not always easy

So as I look back over this past year I can honestly say the biggest impact on me was having my eyes done. I had cataract surgery at the end of November 2023 and things did not go as well as expected. I spent the next eleven months visiting the surgeon’s office once a month and being treated for an inflamed iris in both eyes. It was not only inconvenient to make the long trek back and forth to his office it was down right annoying as I often had to wait for up to two hours for a 10 minute consultation. The waiting room was packed with people. At my final appointment I was told my eyes were completely healed.

Still my eye sight has changed and that has impacted me in more ways than I ever thought possible. My vision is often blurry now even with my corrective lenses. It is annoying and disorienting. When I am out walking I often feel off balance because my depth perception is poor. It takes practice to walk slowly while paying close attention to where I step. This is both a gift and a curse.

Reading is another issue that I have had trouble with this past year. Whether reading online or in paper format I can only focus for short periods of time before my eyes are strained and things get blurry. This has taken great patience on my part. I am learning to rest my eyes more often. Looking ahead to the new year I am hoping that my optometrist will be able to offer solutions to my vision issues. New glasses perhaps.

As I look into my heart I seek greater clarity for my life in general. I am noticing that my “Vision” for the new year is a bit out of focus. I am not sure where I am headed or what I am looking forward to experiencing. Still, I have set some very general intentions for myself. I seek to be at peace within and live one day at a time. I intend to make the most of each day I am given. That includes doing something kind for someone else every day. I want to play more and read as much as I can. It would be nice to be entertaining and spend time with those who I can laugh and be myself with.

Vision

My spirit eyes see something more in the future though. My Spirit wants to soar and rise above the many conflicts and the pain around the world. It wants to seek out where Love is in the midst of all the suffering and find places where Peace can land.

I am also being invited to take a deep dive into the areas of my own life that are needing more Love — whether it be caring for my soul, body or others who need to be nurtured. It is time for me to step out as a bright light in the world. To be fully present and be hopeful even when it is hard to do.

There have been times in my life when I have been accused of wearing rose coloured glasses or burying my head in the sand when it comes to conflict. That was not how it felt for me though. It is more about looking for where the cracks are in the walls of darkness and shining a light there so that others can see through the darkness. My life story is riddled with all different kinds of conflicts. I had to learn to navigate my way through each one. Those experiences gave me a deeper capacity for compassion. When I see a person on the street who is suffering my heart goes out to them. Often there is little I can to do help them so I simply acknowledge them and say hello tell them my name and ask them theirs. Even that small connection can help them feel less alone. After the encounter I always ask for them to be blessed and taken care of. 

Sometimes we are called to be a lighthouse in the storms of life.

My sense is that there are big changes coming for all of us as the future unfolds. This is a time when fear and terror will want to grab a hold of us and it is important that we resist it and maintain a strong barrier of Love all around us. Many will say that is easier said than done and they may be right. Still when we are in the presence of Holy Love or when Holy Love calls to us from the darkness we are being offered a gift. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is let go of the Fear and accept the gift of Love freely given.

My wish and prayer for you dear reader is that you be surrounded by Love every day and that you have the experience of Peace that passes all understanding today and for all days ahead. May you shine brightly.

Posted on by Beth 2

If Ever There Was…..

If ever there was a time in my life to feel unhinged now would be it.  I have been through so much and seen so much adversity in my life that it seems almost impossible to imagine feeling so unhinged at this time when things are so settled for me.  Still I am feeling it.  

There is so much evidence to show how hope is lacking in this world right now. I need to feel it and find it for myself.  We are plagued with messages of despair that are seen around the world.  Yet in and amongst all that rhetoric there is hidden the undeniable truth that love is greater than fear.

This Sunday I heard our minister preach on the story of Ruth and Naomi showing us how in the thrust of such an unfriendly and unfathomable prejudice against women and against foreigners there was a love so deep that nothing could separate them.  I believe that we are moving through a time of such huge divisiveness that we can hardly find that centre point.  I want to trust that the love we have for ourselves will translate into love of neighbour.  I want to trust that the love of God can carry us all through this time of great debate and ultimately learn through diversity.  Still my hope and trust is being challenged in ways I have no answers for.  Where is that middle point?  How do we rise above the terror and tension we are feeling these days to see the bigger picture and envision a brighter future.  

My own personal anxiety has been escalating over the past several days without warning or any particular thoughts going through my mind.   Still my heart is feeling it and I know it is the collective thrust of anger that is driving it.  Anger that is really a cover up for fear of what is coming next.  We are all, in this part of the world where I live, hanging on the edge of what is about to be a world altering event — the election in the United States.  Never in my lifetime do I remember being so fearful about what is happening so close to home.  I am also so sad that we can not have open and honest conversations about our own perspectives and being able to hear those who share a different perspective without feeling divided and separated from one another.  There is this us and them mentality that is permeating the air we breathe and even if we step away and isolate ourselves it is still there.  As a sensitive soul I feel it regardless and it is unearthing so much confusion and steadfast fear of the otherness that I am not able to embrace it with it love.  It is like a black cloud is hovering over me.  I am stuck on the fence trying to stay neutral. Yet I am falling off from time to time and losing my grip on reality.

If ever there was a time when prayer and quiet were needed now is it.  I need to feel that deep abiding love that transcends all else and can bring me back to my own love and light in this world.  I want to light candles and give the world a huge hug.  I want to remind myself and others that we are not alone in this and that no matter our spiritual expression there is hope that we can live on and trust in the greater good of all humankind.

My mind is so confused right now about the turmoil in the middle east and the fight for a greater good in the Ukraine.  There is so much fighting and waring happening in places I know not of and yet I feel it in my heart.  Please God take this pain and hurt that we are inflicting upon each other and ultimately upon ourselves and transform it with us and for us.  

If ever there was a time when we need to reach out to one another and give thanks for our relationship now is the time.  We need to hold each others hands and keep on moving forward.  We need to stand with each other and hold up the sky with kindness and compassion for ourselves and one another no matter our differences, no matter our fears, there is something much greater at work here and when we tap into that we can hold the space together.

Our children’s future is at stake here and we can not let them down.  Our grandchildren came into this world with their own bright lights and are here to remind us that life on earth is precious and not to be squandered away on divisiveness.  We can take different roads and have different ways of finding our way home.  We can do it together and alone.  Whatever road or way we choose let us be understanding and seek peace within our differences.  Let us be examples to the upcoming generation of how to live with one another in the Global Community we currently reside in.  Let us live the message of hope and continue to share with one another the gift of life giving peace that passes all understanding by loving each other.  May we find Joy again in the living of our hope and may we know within ourselves that which transcends the human world and takes us to the soul world where we are all one with each other.

May it be so!

Posted on by Beth 0