Moving Sideways

For several years I have had a website devoted to women's spirituality, Judith's Table: A Spiritual Feast for the Feminine Soul, www.JudithsTable.org. With my personal life is turmoil at the moment, I will be closing Judith's Table website May 20, 2008. Oh, it is with mixed feelings of regret and sadness that I let it go. But it is with happiness that I am able to continue part of Judith's Table here at this blog spot. This is a period of transition for both me and Judith's Table. Look here for future changes and after the 20th, the URL to this blog will transfer to www.JudithsTable.org.

Sitting and Waiting for Results

What is faith? I think I am learning that faith isn't simply praying or sending our wishes out to God or the Universe then sitting back and waiting for results. No matter how much you try to have faith that your prayers will be answered, something else must accompany faith. I was discussing this subject with my daughter recently and asked the question "What's missing"? She paused for a minute and said "I think it's the work."

Yes! Say your prayer or set your intention, but then get to work making it reality. Pay attention to random thoughts that enter your mind and act on them. Didn't someone once say "Faith without works is dead"? (James 2:14) Answers about what to do will come as you set about doing the work.

I don't believe in "prosperity theology" nor think this is godly thinking. However, when one keeps the realm of humankind in mind and balance and wishes coincide with goodness for all earthly beings, prayers and intentions are answered.... with the work to make them so.

It's All Attitude

Call it faith or positive attitude, but not wishful thinking. It may be belief in God or it may be quantum physics, but attitude makes all the difference. I've been "down" lately and affected by life's turmoil. As I let myself sink into it I find my attitude sinks into hopelessness.

I believe I am part co-creator of the future of the world. If so, then how can I not see that I am part creator of my own life. Everything that happens has a lesson it it. Everything. Faith isn't hoping or wallowing in despair until God fixes it. I have the power to think it into being.

Sometimes I'm afraid of my own soul. I mean, I am afraid of going there in quietness. I am afraid of what I might see. When I hear soul talking to me, I better listen. That's where I find my truth and my answers. There I can create whatever I want to create.

A Resting Place

We've all felt it ... too much to do, too little time. Every day seems to bring a new set of challenges to overcome, tasks to put into the accomplished pile, and details to manage. I'm tired. I'm tired and need a rest but life won't let me rest.

My life is currently in transition and getting from here to there is, frankly, hard to do day after day. I'm dancing as fast as I can but the pressures won't let up. Okay, okay, so I'm taking this time to whine about it. I don't have an uplifting message today about how we can be anything we want to be, do whatever we dream of doing. My dreams are still alive but I'm at the point where I wish I had a speed button to wisk me directly to them.

My house is up for sale and it's critical that I sell it quickly. The TV talks and talks of the mortgage crisis. I feel it. Somebody, please come buy my house so I can finally rest.

Salvation - Saved from What?

The idea that we are all "fallen" and need "saving" has been, once again, on my mind lately. Does this idea relate back to Eve and the apple? Maybe it's the church that needs control and the only way to get that is to convince the people they are all depraved and need to be "saved" from their inevitable sins, through the church, of course.

I wonder how much harm has been done throughout the centuries by instilling the feeling in people that they aren't good enough as they are as divine creations. Somehow they are "flawed." I think it's about time for individuals to see their own divine creation and honor it, value themselves, and set about doing the work of God in them.

Is salvation a matter of hierarchical control? Power over the people disguised as religion?

Background Noise

The washer is spinning the clothes to dampness, the clink of a metal button goes round in the dryer, and the television is talking to no one in the next room. The kitchen faucet just dripped in tune to the almost imperceptible hum of the refrigerator motor. There’s a ringing in my ears but I only hear it when I think about it.

This is background noise? Background to what? Could it be background to the nothing I hear when I’m trying to hear something? Am I trying to hear inspiration? Am I trying to hear a message just meant for me? Am I trying to hear my soul? Maybe I’m trying too hard. Maybe it’s right there shouting and I just can’t hear it.

We drive our cars with the music or talk radio playing. We go about our day filled with pleasant niceties and meaningless chatter that’s quickly forgotten. We practice yoga by talking video or walk on our treadmills watching TV. Wake up in the morning to an obnoxious buzz from the alarm clock or the daily traffic report.

I’m surrounded by the sounds of the mechanical, technological, inhuman, ungodly; all stealing my attention from what my soul is trying so hard say to me. I have a hard time listening to the sound of me, the whisper of my Spirit.

Cleaning out the old ...

... to make room for the new.

I just finished scrubbing my living room walls ceiling to floor. I have lived in this house for 25 years and as I cleaned, I thought about the 25 years of dirt I was removing. There is a "house for sale" sign in the front yard. Over the weekend, we had a garage sale and sold lots of "stuff" that's been hanging around all those 25 years. I think "stuff" and dirt multiplies in the middle of the night when you aren't looking! Letting go, really letting go, sure does lighten the load. As I've gotten rid of the "stuff" Janis Joplin sings in my mind "freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose/And nothin' it ain't nothin' if it ain't free."

New for me isn't new "stuff" but new life. I'm gonna lay my burden down, and walk away from it a free woman.