PATIENCE

I've just had an experience of my need for patience. My computor would not work. Instead of letters I had numbers. The more I tried to correct the error, the more frustrated I became. Then I asked a friend. He had no answer for me, yet gave his time willingly while I shut down the computor and tried again.

Patiently he waited while I fumbled through the keys until, almost by accident, I realised number-lock had been pressed on.

Without his patience, I would not have had the patience to try, and try again to solve the problem. I was grateful and relieved, and enlightened.

By asking for help, I received a solution to my dilemma. Perhaps this is the case with many things that happen to us. Things so easily go wrong, and often our immediate reaction is one of impatience. We become frustrated and so enlightenment is not given to us.

Patience teaches us to relax and look for a solution, and especially ask for help / ask a friend / ask God's guidence. We will never be disappointed and always receive assistance.

ON A JOURNEY

My friends and I went on a journey - a break away from the norm. We set off on Sunday morning and winded up in a lovely holiday area, Ardmore Beach. This was a first for me and I was so impressed by the beauty of the place, a quaint village with all the amenities one could need when on holiday.

The Church, dedicated to St. Declan, invites visitors to come in and read about the history of the Church while spending a quiet moment of reflection.

The sea was most impressive as the waves crashed along the sandy beach. With or without sunshine, we just had to have a swim, screaming like children as the waves lifted us off our feet and carried us ashore. It was so beautiful when the sun came out, yet we had fun even when it hid behind the clouds.

In a way, we are on a journey, destined to lead us to fulfillment and peace; eternal peace. How we behave and what we do will have consequences that will mould or marr us, forever.

Enjoy the journey!

RESPOND TO LOVE

This evening at our Friday 'open-house' meditation session, I became aware of how important it is to love. I suppose all of us would like to believe that we can love, and most of us probably make good efforts towards being a loving person, yet are we capable of loving?

This is a huge question and the answer rocks my complacent security.

The truth is we cannot love. We can respond to love and to He who is LOVE. This is the best we can do, and it's okay. After all, we are an imperfect race. This we can blame on God. He created us in His image, yet has allowed us to be weak and flawed in many ways.

'How frail You had made the sons of men... '

God doesn't expect us to be perfect, loving people. He does expect us to respond to love. This way we afford God the opportunity to be as a Father to us . We supply the good-will.

God supplies the love!

LISTEN TO HOLY SPIRIT

Lately, I find myself very sleepy. At Mass I sleep through the priest's ceremony and try to disguise my embarrassment when I lose my balance and almost fall off the seat. I know it's to do with my 'inner-clock' change where I sometimes cannot return to a deep sleep.

It was a worry at first, then a friend encouraged me by saying that this could well be the Holy Spirit calling me to pray / to write / to read spiritual books. This I now do and am pleased to catch up on creative desires that have lingered in the background.

Life is a once-off affair. We can make the best of our time, or we can squander it by lamenting on all the things we never get around to doing. Then, we get caught up with 'doing' and have a list of 'must do'/ 'should do' items. This can be a waste of time too as we might never get around to listening to the Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful thought, to be guided by the Holy Spirit; to step out of the box and be unafraid of change.

FREEDOM

Through history we are faced with the challenges required of people in relation to freedom. We want so badly to be free, yet there is a price to pay.

Perhaps the first step to freedom is finding out the price we need to pay to be free. What can it be?

For some, perhaps most, the price is honest. We want something yet are so afraid to spell out our desires, and so they fester and cause us to deny the truth about ourselves and what we are passionate about.

Some good examples are found with mothers. They love their family, mad about their husband and children and want to do everything for them. Yet, is this the truth? Is there a passionate desire that at least needs to be addressed, if not implemented in their live?

Again, honesty is the key.

So, for myself, I know I need to listen to my heart and follow the dictates of love. If God has given me a passion for something, then my freedom and happiness will depend on my honesty in following my heart's desire.

Be brave and unafraid. LOVE / GOD guides us on the path of freedom.

CHEESE 'n CHALK

One of the blessings of being created by God is the reality that we are unique. Even identical twins have unique personalities.. Therefore it's not unlikely that personalities can be like 'cheese and chalk' .

This is sometimes the case for me with certain persons. I'm sure I drive them bongers, and in all fairness, they can have the same effect on me.

To look at this from a purely natural point of view would be such a loss because we are more than natural. We have a spiritual side which links us to God Himself. Therefore, it is this part of us that matters most. Our spiritual side prompts us to love, and forgive, and respect, and to suffer well.

The person who is our adversary will also be our spiritual benefactor. We need them, and in a sense, they need us. So, don't let feelings or differences stand in the way of making progress, especially as regards developing our spiritual life.

God provides all the opportunities we need to become a saint. Treasure these friends of the spirit!

GUIDED BY LOVE

Today was a good day for me as I got a chance make a trip to town. I had errants to do and also met with my cousin, Carmel. This has been a long awaited meeting for both of us. Whenever one was available, the other wasn't, so we left all in our Lady's hands and she made things right today.

We had gfts to share and much to talk about. This was good and yet I realised that my giving of myself was totally inadequate. A strange feeling to realise. We communicated and I knew I was with someone who loves me. The loss seemed to be on my side.

On reflection, I realise that the greatest gift one person can share with another is the gift of love. This means that a sensitivity to Love is required in order to be guided by love.

There is a tape that Kevin made about when we give ourselves, it is not enough. We need to give God to each other. I feel on my part that I shared myself, yet perhaps held back on the sharing of God within.

I reflect on this, without guilt, and yet with a certain awareness that the spiritual life is layed in accordance with the depth of love that is present.

Dear Heart, teach us to love with a genuine and loving heart, guided by Love itself.