Part 5- We Are Spirits In A Material World

I promised the next part today and here it is! I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it. Please let me know what you think. :)

We are Divine by our very nature. By the very act of being born into this world, do we cease to be what we are? We are God expressing Itself in the physical; spiritual beings having a physical experience. I remember telling this to my husband many times as we would talk and have philosophical conversations in college. He would say, You know most Christians don’t believe that. It’s not a very traditional idea.... maybe it is, maybe it isn't. It is what I have come to realize at this point in my life, whatever that makes me.  I’m ok with that.

I never gave much thought to that original sin concept. I just accepted it.  But I began to see it as a flaw in my own thinking about who I was at my core. If I was bad inherently, then when I reverted to my old behavior, I was just being what I truly am- bad.  I see this mode of thought as a major contributing factor to the problems with humanity as a whole.  It is the whole pygmalion syndrome. You can clean us up and dress us up, but if we believes deep down we are no-good, that is the behavior we will revert to when push comes to shove. We will become selfish, judgmental, impatient, and downright unkind when our fruit is squeezed.   If we believe goodness is ‘out there’ in someone else or something else, then we are never truly transformed by it. Transformation has to come from within. But, if we believes that we truly are good at our core and acceptable simply because we are, then we begins to see the beauty we truly do possess within each of us and we can see that is who we are, a vessel for  the Almighty and simply our job is be filled and let the Light shine through.

As I became a mother for the first time,  I looked into the eyes of my beautiful baby girl and I wondered how was she sinful by the very act of being born??  As I looked into her eyes, I could actually see the Light of God and feel the Love that God has for each of us as we stumble around in this world.  In many Eastern traditions, children are actually revered because they have just come from the spirit world where they were part of the Divine.  Babies are the closest to God when they are born and as the world and as they become immersed in our world, they become more and more worldly and less and less in touch with their divinity.

The world muddies the water and keeps you distracted instead of focused on the many blessings that are surely in your life. We all have many things we can be thankful for even  in the midst of hardship. We must decide where our focus will be.

I believe if we maintain a focus on the Divine and truly “pray without ceasing” by being in a constant state of gratitude for all we have, the good and the not so good. It is like a love song playing in your head to God instead of those negative thoughts about yourself, your unhappiness, how you wish things were different, how you’d be so happy only if... Our emotions rule us and we focus on our ‘humanity’ and we forget the ‘divinity’ that is at our core.  Our humanity should be embraced, but put in its rightful place; to be used by us, not allow it use us at our own expense. An attitude of gratitude is the key to keeping the focus.

Once I saw myself as the hands and feet of God that I truly was, that we ALL are, I began to expect so much more of myself. I saw that I was capable of doing what was necessary to have the life I wanted. I had all that power within me through my constant connection accessible whenever I needed it. We all do. It is the intention of God, of Spirit, of the Divine that we all live in that connection. When we do, we are inspired... “in Spirit...” and we can see the way in which we should go.

These ideas felt so right to me and resonated with me on a very deep level beyond explanation. I began to see differences in my behavior. I became less self absorbed, more patient, more giving. My fruit became sweeter. Something was different now in a way it never was before.   And it was more than just the power of positive thinking. It was realizing what the ‘fruit of the spirit’ really was and seeing it grow in my life. I began to judge most things and people by the fruit they yield.


And for the FIRST time in my life, in my mind’s eye, I saw myself as a thinner person. I was never able to do that before. I would try... I would cut off my head and glue it on a model’s body and tape it to the fridge to deter my snacking. Ha! It never worked.  I talked myself out of believing that could actually be me.  But now, I could see it for the first time.  I told my husband with tears in my eyes, “I can see myself... wow... I really see that it is possible. I can do it.”   I was thinking differently and I could see the results of that new thinking in my life.

To Be Cont.  I promise not to make you wait too long. I’ll get to work on part 6 asap.