The Atheist’s Soul

Malcolm is magnificent. Every time I ponder a topic for WTF: Where’s the faith, Malcolm comes up with an idea I can work from! As far as WTF goes, I believe that anyone who has gone through personal loss and crisis has done a least a wee bit of “soul searching.” More to follow…

Malcolm's Corner

My book club is like an extended family. We have been going long enough that we have already seen three of our number pass away, one from suicide, one from illness and one from not-so-old-age. I mention this only to convey that our members, a sprinkling of bright, secular-minded, financial types, techies and assorted professionals, are all old enough to have experienced at least some of the dark side of life, as well as much of the pain and suffering we invariably inflict on ourselves as a result of our all-too-human frailties. Yet, the other day, my suggestion to read a book about how popular culture portrays the soul and the afterlife, was met with blank stares. After all, to the modern secular mind the soul and the afterlife are just mystical, superstitious beliefs, unworthy of consideration outside of a religious studies course.

Unfortunately, this is to see science and religion…

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HOW TO BE A PRAYER WARRIOR, ONE LINE AT A TIME–FINALE!

Today completes our daily spiritual inspiration, meditating on the long version of the Serenity Prayer, which breaks down to 6 lines of thought for 6 easy, but effective days of prayer.

We are not moving in chronological order, so please join us as we continue.

Line 7, Day 7 is: *

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

During my adolescence, I discarded religion, leaped on the fast track of a sinner’s life and, finally, in my mid-twenties haphazardly tumbled into the spiritual Land of Oz. Right before the new dawn in my life, I became gravely ill, was rushed to the hospital and had a near-death experience. The slap of the nurse’s hand was a rude awakening back to residing in the bowels of the personal hell that I had built. You see, I had a positive experience clinically dying. I had entered a dimension where I had been freed and stripped of the confines of my physical and mental state; in other words, all pain, worry and necessity.

It’s been a long time since that slap back to the real world. Through the many decades of recovery, I now belong to a group of peers whose jam-packed history involves, among other things, the agony of playing hurt.

In fact, we have an ongoing joke, “Thank God we don’t have much longer.”

To an outsider, this statement may sound morbid. But to us, we’ve survived many trials, in addition to the world’s garden variety of evil; the stuff that double locking your front door forever is all about. Despite it all, we hobble forward, many times still tripping along the way. We are not victims, instead survivors. Advancing in age, we habitually pray to retire from the challenge of letting go and healing and, more so, for the ordinary life.

Whether we are a cursed bunch or a blessed flock is debatable, depending on the given day and circumstances. One thing certain, we are relieved to know that this world does not mark the finish line; meanwhile, dwelling here “reasonably happy” is the best blessing we can get. Innately we know, the spiritual Land of Oz is underrated compared to what awaits behind the gateway of our eternal home with Him.

Amen.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

* Off one day!

HOW TO BE A PRAYER WARRIOR, ONE LINE AT A TIME

What God is

Today, I hope you join our community, if you haven’t already, in some daily spiritual inspiration as we meditate on the long version of the Serenity Prayer, which breaks down to 6 lines of thought for 6 easy, but effective days of prayer.

We are not moving in chronological order, so please join us as we continue.

Line 5, Day 5 is:*

Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will.

Ahhhh! Sweet surrender. To me, this is the stress breaker prayer. It defines the question, “What is spirituality?”

The proof of God is in the calming of my hyperactive thoughts. White flag surrender like sin has gotten a bad rap these days.

If you trust your higher power—God, Jesus—Good Orderly Direction, and feel He loves you, then isn’t it a practical move to allow Him, not you, the center ring in the watchtower that stands over your world? I cannot get into God’s mind, but I have to reckon with the fact that he IS God and sees the divine. I, within my mortal confines, only see a sliver of truth. I do not know why babies die or why floods wash away entire villages, but I do know that I reap my strength, comfort, courage and ultimate peace from Him.

If I believe he is the sole proprietor of the reset button, after all, he created it, then why should worry riddle me? I truly am powerless. When I am sharing the bed with my control freak, the fix-it visualization is a tree branch stricken by a violent storm. If it bends in the direction of the wind, the branch will never break or crack. I visualize my spine, limber like Gumpy. Then I can hobble forward and attempt a proactive action.

When I surrender to His will, I release my position in the command center and the false sense of controlling the universe. I am aghast at how stupidly powerful I think I am. I feel best when I hand over the steering wheel to Him and my ego takes a respite in the backseat.

Through my adolescence into my early 20s, fighting, in a constant rage, I was like a cracked, splintered branch, totally useless in a hurt form.

“Surrender to win. Surrender to win.”

My dear friend George, who accurately interpreted my will of steel, persistently repeated to me whenever I saw him, which back then was on a daily basis. Some five years prior to my knowing him, he was involved in a near-fatal drunk driving accident, driving his automobile into a tree. After the EMT team resuscitated him, he survived in a coma for six months in the ICU at the hospital. Astounding the medical experts, he gained consciousness.  After years of living super glued to his personal agenda, this one-time marine commander woke up; healed from the soul out and the bounce of youth even lightened the limp in his left leg, a leftover war injury.

“Surrender to win. Surrender to win.”

With a buoyancy under his heels, he still proclaims, beaming, like a schoolboy, willing and ready, excited to take on the next challenge.

I had fought George for years on that one; I resisted and bulked. Finally, about ten years after knowing him while on my journey of personal spiritual change, I began to repair all the damage that I had done to the branches of my spirit, soul and body. Now, nearly whole, I am the first to surrender to the battle ahead. By doing so, I have instant access to the switch that opens up the parachute. I like floating around life held by Grace, soaring with dignity. Ahhhh! Sweet surrender. If I could bottle this stuff, I’d make millions; of course, I’ve already hit the jackpot along with a very selective few, winners like my friend George.

* Sorry, since my life is mostly in crisis mode, I had a few days of delays in our daily prayer.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

How to be a prayer warrior, one line at a time

prayer for strength and courage

I hope you are still with me on our spiritual journey as we meditate on the long version of the Serenity Prayer, which breaks down to 6 lines of thought for 6 easy, but effective days of prayer.

We are not moving in chronological order, so please join us as we continue.

Line 4, Day 4 is: *

“Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it”

Sin has gotten such a bad rap, it’s sad. When you examine sin, you examine consciousness. The only time sin imprisons us is when we disown our dark side or disengage from it. No matter what we do to look and feel wholesome, pretty, innocent, smart, handsome and savvy, we are sinners. We comprise the world. If we don’t accept this, we fight a lost battle.

The good news is the first step, acceptance, is the hardest, but it is the answer to everything. The most courageous thing we can do is see ourselves the way we really are, not the way we would want to be. We don’t do this alone. God works through people. God works through you. He is the ever-present anchor. He wants you to hold your head up, look squarely at yourself and reckon with the fear. Only at that point can you embrace change. And when you change yourself, the world shifts for the better.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

* Yesterday was a day off, so I skipped a day!

HOW TO BE A PRAYER WARRIOR, ONE LINE AT A TIME, Day 3

Learning to pray

I hope you continue to join me in a spiritual journey as we mediate on the long version of the Serenity Prayer, which breaks down to 6 lines of thought for 6 easy, but effective days of prayer.

We are not moving in chronological order, so please join us as we continue.

Line 3, Day 3 is:

“Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace”

• Why do I have to go through divorce or breakup?
• Why did my spouse/mother/father/sibling/child die?
• Why is my spouse/mother/father/sibling/child ill/struggling?
• Why can I not find a job?
• Why am I so depressed?

“Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace” eliminates the “Why” out of “bad things” that happen to “good people.” This idea has transformed my life.

About a year ago, as I reflected on my life, I saw “failure” stamped all over my past; betrayal from people I trusted, heartbreak from ones I loved, cruel bosses, unfulfilled hopes and dreams and missed opportunities.

As I played the deadly game of comparison, the words came to me.

“Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.”

When I mulled over this, split down the center of my chest, deep and solid, I realized this was the conduit for my life flow. It was the fingerprint of calm that ruled above all the footsteps that have brought me to where I am today. Were it not for striding through a storm-ridden landscape, the victory would not be mine.

In this sense, looking back on my life, I have led a life of triumph.

Here is another point in case, as a certified biographer, I interviewed a woman, who was in her 70s, whose life was probably the most painful and awful one I’ve ever heard about. She grew up dirt poor. Being physically beaten by her father and later by her husband made her no stranger to the ICU at the hospital.

Finalizing hours of interviews, an incredulously spiritual woman, this is what she said to me, “It is my hope for my children that they have half as wonderful a life as I have had.”

Whoa. Wait-a-minute! “Did she say that?” I wondered. How could that be? Then I realized.

She got it. It’s a supreme psychic thing that so few achieve in this life; the rarest form of success ever lived.

The woman had accepted every single awful hardship that came along and by doing this gained a supernatural state of being, the gift of peace.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

How to be a prayer warrior, one line at a time

The prayer of the day

Yesterday, I hope you joined me in a spiritual journey when we began meditating on one line of prayer a day.

We are using the second part of the long version of the Serenity Prayer, which breaks down to 6 lines * of thought for 6 easy, but effective, days of prayer.

We are not moving in chronological order, so please join us as we continue.

Line 2, Day 2 is:

 “Enjoying one moment at a time.”

During a time of loss, crisis or hardship, balance is key. His love can help ease the scale when it is tipped to one side from the heavy-laden burden, cumbered with hurtful emotion.

It’s okay even for a few seconds to feel something other than pain. God’s joy abounds; always evident in the simplest form in this complex, modern world. Whether it is hearing the peepers sing outside at night at the first sign of spring or meeting the kind eyes of a stranger who stops to say “hello” amidst the day’s bustle.

“Enjoying one moment at a time” brings a few things to mind in my own personal life:

• My friend who asks, “How are you?” And really means it. Someone who is willing to listen and provide a sounding board without judgment or advice.
• Another friend in my life to whom I can purge my secrets to without threat, the one I would have never known had it not been for a crisis. The one I have reinvented myself with. The one I have learned to live a “new normal” with.
• Colleagues who reach out to me after I lost my job because they actually like my authentic self, because a job role ended doesn’t annihilate the human roles we play.
• So many decades of feeling like the invisible phantom scribe and receiving a text in the morning from a dear friend telling me how instrumental my blog post was in her life
• People I know who pray for me, as I do for them even if it is in a simple one-line prayer.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

* Correction from the last blog post. The second half of the long version of the Serenity Prayer breaks down to 6 lines of thought, not 10.

 

I need a miracle

prayers for healing

Today is my brother’s earthly birthday in heaven. It is his 13th one in heaven.

I have a gift for you; actually, it is only for a selected few: for the group of people (you know who you are deep inside) who are suffering from alcoholism and addiction.

I offer you the following prayer,

Dear God,

I am a good person.

• Generous in spirit.
• Charitable in love.
• Genuinely selfless.

Willing to do your will, but drowning in misguided self-will. I am broken. I mistrust myself.

Please give me the willingness to unchain my ego. Courage to trust you will do all things right. Vision to see the freedom of surrender. Ability to look at my reflection in the mirror and see ONLY you and your boundless healing love and mercy.

Right now, I do not believe in me. But I believe in you.

Please give me the humility to move aside so you can pick up and rebuild my shattered self into another one of your masterpieces.

In His name, I pray.

Amen.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

Effective prayer made easy

Spiritual Transformation

Need short prayer help?

I invite you to take a spiritual journey with me and meditate on one line of prayer a day.

A good tool is the long version of the Serenity Prayer. The second part of the long version of the Serenity Prayer breaks down to 10 lines for 10 easy, but effective days of prayer.

Line 1, Day 1 begins:

“Living one day at a time.”

Is this an overwhelming thought? For those living with personal loss and crisis, getting out of bed can be a victory.  Break down a 24-hour day into minutes; minutes into seconds. Can you live a second at a time? Can you wrap your head around one second? In other words, living in the now? Being mindful?

Here’s an example of the one-second-at-a-time lifestyle.

Bing! Bing! (alarm rings!)

• Action: You switch the alarm off. Self-talk: I am now turning off the alarm.
• Action: Feet hit bedroom floor. Self-talk: I am now getting out of bed.
• Action: Head to bathroom. Self-talk: I am now on route to the bathroom.

 Easy, huh?

• Action: I am reading my computer screen.
• Self-talk: I am now reading a terrific blog called, WTF (Where’s the faith?). It is a post about prayer, and I think it might just help me change my life for the better.

Stay tuned!…until next time…walk by faith not by sight!

How to pray short-shorts

Healing prayer

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.

When we live through loss or crisis, sometimes the foxhole prayer, when you turn to God in times of extreme trials, for example, “God Help ME!” is one of the most valuable assets we have.

I gravitate towards succinct foxhole prayers. To me, when those dark days pin you down under what feels like a tomb’s weight, lightening the day’s agenda, including in the prayer department, can help give you a sense of relief and control. Rather than not praying, condensing your prayer is a good option. Don’t get stuck on thinking that prayer has to be long, formal and dogmatic.

Take the Serenity Prayer. You can break it down to four words:

• God
• Serenity
• Courage
• Wisdom

Here’s an example of how we can use short prayer daily. Each day, reciting even a handful of words makes repetition easy, thereby providing us a channel of meditative prayer.

• Day 1: “God, serenity.”
• Day 2: “God, courage.”
• Day 3: “God, wisdom.”
• Day 4: “Wisdom, God.”
• Day 5: “Serenity & courage, God.”
• Day 6: “Courage & wisdom, God.”
• Day 7: “God! God! God!”

These are just examples of “short-shorts,” but these few words can be a form of powerful prayers that work. What they lack in length they make up for by stamping out the negative thought process with a substitution of words of devotion. Ideally, these simple words can act as mind armor and help guard you as you navigate and tackle the complexities of the circumstances you face.

By incorporating a word or more into your day, you will likely be surprised to see how a powerhouse of prayer can be built on sturdy resolve, not rigid mindsets.

Stay tuned!…until next time…faith forward!