Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Relentless Soul


Winter Stroll
The soul is a relentless companion. It never rests in seeking its freedom and voice. It will do what it has to do to release your physical body, your mind, and your emotions from the debris of untruths and self-deception that keep you chained and unable to see your purpose. People often wonder why their spiritual lives began with an illness or a life trauma; illnesses and life crises are often the ways the soul finally gets through to you to take charge of you life. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 77
When we can no longer depend upon ourselves or upon our significant other to get through the day due to illness or loss we have to find some other way. When there is no one who is able to support us from family or friends then we have to depend upon strangers or government agencies to care for us physically.
Milky Way over Jackson Lake
When we are physically dependent on others, we are released from constant concern and anxiety about our physical needs—we no longer have to worry about what to do next for it will be done (or not done) by someone else who has taken charge of us.
This leaves us free to take care of our spiritual needs; we may begin to pray to God, to listen to our soul, or to take a look at our lives as we have lived them, giving thanks for what we have been given and asking for forgiveness for sins from our past. We have time to examine our spiritual lives and time for oneness with God.
This is one of the ways in which our spiritual lives may get a chance to begin and this chance is given us through the efforts of our relentless soul.
© Judith Lawrence

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Toward Transformation

Womb of the Morning Celtic Knotwork J. Lawrence

Questioning your life purpose invites the divine to come closer, to pull you inward so that you can hear direction and revelation. It alters your relationship to yourself as well as to God, placing the journey of your soul at the forefront of your life path and making ego its servant.…[Y]our personal transformation will be dragged from inner chaos to a still point. Paradoxically, your soul thrives on chaos because it recognizes the hand of the divine at work in upheavals that push you toward transformation. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle P. 77
Am I still questioning my life purpose? Has my life purpose not already been revealed? Am I still to seek direction and revelation?
I should surely know by now that life purpose is not a once and for all decision of what to do with my life as it refers to vocation. Life purpose is the ongoing journey of my soul, opening me to continual transformation toward becoming who God wants me to be; transforming me to the spiritual being who is one with God; ever proceeding on that journey, which is my transformation into oneness with the divine.
The glorious chaos that brings all new life into being brings about the spiritual new life in us; continually transforming us into the spiritual beings who are united with the Sacred One.
As God created the earth out of a formless void, so the Creator slowly creates us from the foetus, which began its life in our mother’s womb, and brings us into spiritual beings full of light, life, and love.
© Judith Lawrence

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Silence as a Path to God


Seeking a Path to God
Contemplation nourishes the soul. It stimulates your relationship with the divine.…All religious traditions have a history of seeking silence as a path to God, the Light, and the Way.
Silence is an invitation to the divine to come forward, to reveal itself to you—as a presence more than an active guidance. You wait to experience the presence of God without an agenda, without a prayer list filled with requests that cover myriad fears and insecurities. This is a new experience for many people who seem to lack the patience to wait for God.…
Contemplation is the discipline of piercing through the ego’s self-centeredness and impatience. It may include the boredom of waiting for God to show up. Contemplation is like falling into your soul and away from the world. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 68/69
The mind talks so much that it is hard to keep a silent space. When I get into a mode of contemplation and actually manage to be run through with silence then I often find myself sinking into a sleep-filled place. I doze off.  The silence is so peaceful it is conducive to rest and sleep.
In the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Matthew 25: 1-13, we read, “When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.” Matt 25: 5 (New Living Translation). Christ, in the telling of this parable doesn’t have any condemnation of the fact that they fell asleep for, as soon as the shout went up that the bridegroom was coming, they were immediately awake and prepared their lamps ready to greet him.
Five out of the ten bridesmaids were described as wise and were ready for the bridegroom to come, they had extra oil for their lamps, and as soon as the bridegroom appeared, they trimmed their lamps and their inner selves shone with prepared light. They had waited through the dark times, the boring times, and the uncertain times; they did not give up in the dry times.
They were ready to accompany the bridegroom—the Sacred One—to the place where he would go and they rejoiced and celebrated with him. We must be like the five wise bridesmaids, ready to meet our God and accompany him whither he would have us go.
© Judith Lawrence

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Qualities of the Soul


Rain on the Pond
The soul is a vessel of power.…You uncover the different qualities of power that each soul contains, all of which the individual needs to explore and refine, including humility, dignity, integrity, honor, wisdom, justice, harmony, and endurance. These qualities enable a soul to discover his own divinity and consequently, to embody the qualities of light essential to an experience of God. A soul with these characteristics is strong enough to be in direct contact with God—it is a soul with stamina. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 57
Caterpillar
The soul is inherently powerful. When we are born on earth the soul is already equipped with qualities of spiritual power. But we, as human beings, have to discover these qualities which make up the essence of our soul’s being.
We need to supply the soul with a regular daily quiet time of solitude where it can reunite itself to the Sacred One so that its inner qualities can grow in divine strength and function in its role as spiritual guide as we navigate through our humanity and increase in our spiritual growth.
Butterfly
This is the way in which we evolve toward the next stage of human development, adapting and growing in our spirituality with help from our soul’s increasing spiritual strength. Our soul and our humanity must cooperate with one another in order to become this new spiritual person.
© Judith Lawrence