REVIVAL

To revive oneself comes at a cost; a willingness to let go of 'old' stuff, and open our hearts and minds to what is new! 

There is a line in one of the Psalms of David... ' revive my drooping spirit...' a very apt discription for those of us, coming away from the frills and glitter of Christmas, with an appetite for being creative.

When it comes to Creative Writing, tread carefully, yet diligently.  So many thoughts and ideas can be floating around in our tired heads, yet we long to put pen to paper and write.

What has saved me, many times, is my journey into the world of Poetry. Lately, Woodsworth has come into the picture of my creativity and bowled me over with his poem 'Intimations of Imortality....' The poem takes a good 15minutes to read, and hours to comprehend.  I feel truly blessed if I come up with a few lines.

Another poet, nearer to home, is Patrick Kavanagh; earthy poems and simple too. Of course we have Seamus Heaney, top of the list. I just wish I had a better understanding of his poems. Then again, to be moved by a poem is better than to understand the poet's meaning.

Perhaps, we all have dreams of writing 'good stuff'.  Maybe even get published, and why not.  If we enjoy writing and have a certain knowledge of our market, then all we need to do is,  put pen to paper and write!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

Christmas blessings come in abundance, and it is so important to be able to count our blessings, to realise how much we are loved, by friends and family and God.

It can happen that we are faced with disappointments / mistakes and regrets, and all the many things that pertain to being human.

However, no matter what happens or doesn't happen, we are being blessed by a divine love that understands us, much more than we understand ourselves.

In a way, we are like children, centred on all the things we want, not realising that our heavenly Father knows what is best for us, and with loving compassion guides us to a true understanding of life.  

What may seem a failure could turn out to be a lesson that teaches us how to become a more happy and spiritual person.  We can only judge with our limited abilities. Divine Providence is without limits.

Let's take a moment to count our Christmas blessings!

   

COMPASSION

 To be compassionate is a divine gift, and not easily attained, and yet, each one of us has the ability to be a compassionate person.

Perhaps, what gets in the way of behaving in a compassionate way is the almighty ego!  Our opinion of ourselves can be strong, and very wrong.

We look at the world at large through our own point of view, and easily find fault with the behaviour of others. We judge, believing that what we know is the correct way to behave, etc.

When we take time to reflect, common sense will tell us that we are not perfect by any means, therefore how can we judge the actions of others?

Compassion comes about when we are able to leave ourselves out ot the picture, and open our hearts to the needs of others.  We learn to love.

BE BRAVE

We are free to choose which way we want to go.  Our free will will guide us, and so we must be free, free to choose.

At times we may be afraid, facing into a future we do not know, yet do not be afraid. Now is the time to be brave!

Being brave is a choice as is, being afraid.  Our free will empowers us to make choices, and if we listen to the quiet voice inside of us, we will choice wisely.  We will be brave!

We are connected to a Higher Power, the Creator of all that is good.  We choose to listen and so, we will be guided to choose a solution rather than a problem.  Fear is put aside and so, we are brave!

 

DREAM ON...

Dreams are magical, they take us out of ourselves and bring us to another place, another world. We enter the inner imagination where encouragement and inspirations are to be found.

Good to know, whatever we dream about is a part of us that is hidden, even to ourselves.  We have the 'outer' us, and the 'inner' us where we 'clock' in every so often, and we call it 'dreaming.'

To us, a dreamer is one who doesn't connect with what is going on, and maybe, it is true, yet only when we look beyond ourselves and dare to dream, can we learn to  open our hearts and souls to a wonderful awareness of God.

Prophets of old were often called 'dreamers', people who did not connect with the here and now.  They were connected to a Higher Power and so, they responded with courage to the imaginative 'dreams' that came their way. They were able to change our world, and so, able to change us.

Dream on!