The Light in the Woods

 

#16 – THE LIGHT IN THE WOODS – NOVEMBER 2006

 

© Aubri Dennison 2006

 

11/2/06 Inspirations          God does not fear, and neither will we if our wills are the sames as His. We can’t be Godlike, but we can be Christlike, and so in our own way we can share God’s divinity. When we share in that, can anything really hurt us? With God’s nature in our corner, can there be anything in this world that can harm us? We believe, and then we ask for help with our unbelief. In this way we are doing the very best we can, and all else is the work of Satan upon us. We do not need to fear, for our eventual place is prepared for us, and until then we have God’s help in victory over sin. This is what we learn from the life of Christ – His mission and His message point to the very thing that we can have for ourselves as well. As for the slings and arrows of this life, Jesus proves that we can get past them too, because like Him, we are children of God who are loved beyond measure.

 

11/2/06 Insights from Study          Purgatory isn’t a bad place in and of itself — it’s drawback is that it isn’t heaven, and that is devastating for us. There we who haven’t finished dying to sin are purified in order to be able to enter heaven, which must be perfect in order to be the ultimate. In a way, purgatory, like it’s counterpart, life on Earth, is a good place because we will know we are going to enter the eternal kingdom. Too bad we didn’t do more on earth to keep ourselves pure from sin. We even criticized those who did when they tried to get us to see the light. We didn’t know they worked to teach us because they wanted us to experience the joys of purification as they were enjoying them — not in order to be holier-than-thou, but to be living as God had asked us to, and enjoying the peace that comes from that. They were enjoying their close relationship to God’s will; just as we will in purgatory, but with the bonus of making life on earth a bit better while they waited. (I wrote this as a draft; not being sure of my convictions concerning purgatory and wanting to reflect more on it. But as I was writing this entry, an immature northern harrier, a hawk rarely seen in this area and never seen by anyone I’ve heard of, flew right to my window and then lazily turned on down the shore, letting me get a good look at it. I often see signs in nature like this. That’s heresy to some, but I’m comfortable with my assessment of a Nod from God when I experience it.)

 

11/7/06 Reflections             The purpose of intercession is for me to use the circumstances God has put me in to draw others to Him so that He can grant them the knowledge and grace He’s given me, and they in turn will draw in others. God does not change His plan because I ask Him to do something; He brings me into accord with what He wants because I ask Him, and extends the grace I get from that to the others who figure into my concern.

 

 

11/7/06 Insights from Prayer          I know where a good part of my joy of God comes from. It comes from being able to experience God’s works all around me, because as care for the things of the world recedes it’s replaced by recognition of God. And because I’m programmed to notice it, my joy is to anticipate that at any time or place something which looks common to others will be the catalyst for a great insight to me. Life can’t be dull when a Nod from God is just around the corner.

 

11/11/06 Inspirations           Wouldn’t it be neat to own nothing but a change of clothes and a big pectoral cross? How close that cross would become to you as it accompanies you through good and bad like your only faithful friend. How much more do we value Jesus when we put everything except Jesus out of our lives! And how much easier is this to do if we can relegate everything else to the label of “things to be left to God, not me, to think about”. There is this confusion we feel in the hard lesson Jesus taught when he said we must leave all and follow Him. It’s the concern we feel when we hear Jesus say He’s come to divide us, not to bring us together. It’s the indignation that we feel when we learn that we are expected to put even our families secondary to what we need to do for Christ. But with God’s help we learn how to do without the things we think we need, and in a way that we do not cause suffering to others in it’s wake. It takes great trust, and a realization that things aren’t the way we have been indoctrinated into thinking they are as a result of knowing God’s plan only imperfectly. We must do what we can do ourselves, and leave the rest to God in faith and trust.

 

11/12/06 Reflections           Just when you think God is getting it wrong, you can dig a little deeper for the truth and find He not only works in mysterious ways, He works in ingenious ways! That’s why it never helps to be pessimistic – since we can’t know God completely we might as well be optimistic that what He does will be the best for his children. So I’m hopeful that in it’s time of need God will do the best for America, and it would be nice if America would get back to the values that made it worth God’s protection in the first place. America is chock full of good, generous people. This negativity we’re currently wrapped up in is beneath us. It forces us to accept ideas we don’t believe in order to defeat ideas we’re against. Maybe it’s time for a third political party – the Values Party. Get rid of extremist positions on both liberal and conservative sides and choose the best each of these sides has to offer, so the decent people of the country can have a party they can vote for, instead of having to vote against the greater of two evils.

 

11/20/06 Inspirations           I think I finally start to understand the part of scripture that’s always bothered and confused me – where Jesus says He’s come to divide, not bring together, our families. It’s because if we want to follow Him it’s bound to bring strife to our families, but that strife is more necessary than our duty to keep families together. Following Jesus will be the most important thing we do, and our family life must suffer as it’s also a part of the world we must abandon.

 

11/26/06 Presentations            Now there are actually physical signs that I need to focus on God because He wants to come through to me. It’s like being light in the head but it’s rather light in the heart – a warm, pinpointed, skin sensation and mild vertigo that gently demands immediate attention. I’m awed, I’m excited, but I’m also a bit frightened. Not of God, but because this vaguely reminds me of mediums and seances. I hate that kind of association because it’s part and parcel of the mistaken identity mystics often fall prey to.

 

11/26/06 Reflections           America was made a Christian country by the hand of God in order to be powerful and prosperous. For poverty and suffering to have hope, that hope must lie with a people in a position to alleviate the suffering. This will not be accomplished by stripping America of it’s Christianity, but by developing Christian values for the benefit of all the world and the victory over terrorism. For what does terrorism accomplish for God? In America as in other developed nations, the great engine of progress grinds on, presenting our best side so that we can grow and prosper – all of us in the world. Some of us tend to see prosperity as a bad thing. But if our knowledge and the best discovering money can buy brings a better life throughout the world, that is not a bad thing. It’s a matter of what we do with our money and what our money creates. So much good comes from us – why do some concentrate only on the bad, as if we are striving to repress others. Why do they not take into consideration the good that we do? While the rest of us are building up, the discontents of the world are tearing down. This does not help the poor and oppressed – it’s a sign that some covet the power America doesn’t seek but has. May those people get over it!

 

11/26/06 Reflections            All my divine impression has taken place in my spirit; it has an entirely different feeling than when I’m merely using my own mental reasoning to present something for reflection. Supernatural insight isn’t something I can mistake for something natural, despite the fact that I can’t explain well how I know that. I also experience the work of God’s grace in things that happen – things I would normally chalk up to co-incidence except there’s always a spiritual ecstasy that comes with it. I call this kind of light-spiritedness the “Nod from God” because it’s like a presence saying “I’m here and you’re doing OK.” It seems to have no purpose other than to let me know He’s here protecting, providing, guiding and generally thinking about me. Imagine knowing God is thinking of you and wants to tell you so! Well, God thinks of every single person constantly. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone could open their spirits to receive God as easily as they open their eyes to see the world. My hope is that through mystic receptivity, others can come to recognize their own “Nod from God” and the joy that comes from that.

 

11/27/06 Inspirations             Unbelievers treat God like the residents of Jerusalem treated Jesus when He entered the city and they thought He was going to triumphantly overthrow the Roman yoke for them. They were enthusiastically behind Him. But when He didn’t perform like a benevolent hero they turned away and turned on Him. I suspect that now and again, in the dark and quiet when they’re alone and unsure, non-believers try asking for God to come down in a blaze of glory and fix their worlds. And when this doesn’t happen it verifies for them that they were right to save themselves from faith and trust. But really, it’s the faith and trust that God is looking for in us, and once that is established He can work through us. This work may not look like a blaze of glory, but when we understand what true glory is, we will recognize it as ours.

 

11/27/06 Reflections           When I started these notes I had no Internet and never meant to publish them. Now that I’m starting to catch up by archiving them on the website, it feels kind of nice to know that I’m actually writing for someone else. Now I can be more conversant instead of just recording things like they were a college lecture. I hope the improvement shows, even though I may be the only one to realize it.

 

11/28/06 Insights from Study            Oswald Chambers says it so well in My Utmost for His Highest. “We have to realize that we cannot earn nor win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it.” This speaks to the destitution we have to feel if God is going to do His best in us, because in and of ourselves we aren’t sufficient. Chambers goes on to say “It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit . . .” Divine grace and knowledge is a gift which we did not earn. What we do to prepare ourselves for union with God is done through Him in the first place; if we are effectual in bringing in others and working for them, it’s because we are directed by God in every way. This is a “necessary something” to remember today especially, on the day I start my third year of spiritual awareness.

 

11/28/06 Insights from Study         Help win the war on terrorism. For every suicide bombing, do something nice for a stranger; with every vicious hate-filled Al-Qaeda audiotape or videotape, tell someone how much God loves him; when there are anti-Western riots, pray for the peaceful Muslims of the world. If God chooses to have our civilization destroyed, then that’s what will be. But as individuals we can be saved, and if we’ve followed Christ faithfully, we are comforted in that we have for ourselves the kingdom of God, which is really all that matters. I would rather be a martyr for a loving, forgiving God than for the blood-hungry murder-monger that Al-Qaeda worships.

 

11/28/06 Reflections              If I don’t give my own thoughts over to God it’s hard for me to be effective. I would have to work at two different levels of understanding at the same time – one to progress myself and one to encourage progression in others. But the concept of my assured salvation is such a given in my mind that I seldom consciously think about it, even though it’s the single greatest factor in my spiritual life. But like my breathing function, I know it’s there and infinitely important to my life; to foist my energy on thinking about my next breath is not only unnecessary but a hindrance to the process. It’s hard to relate to others in this, having to remember that to many people salvation is not a sure thing, and they cannot progress from that point until they get it. One fundamentalist objection to Mysticism is that not enough is said about Jesus, to whom for Christians all thanks goes that we are able to communicate directly to God. It isn’t because I belittle that doctrine – I don’t – but because the recognition that Jesus is God is so much a part of me, that it goes without saying that when I say God I mean the divine concept in all it’s manifestations. But here’s my problem – I’m being called not only to walk this path at the best pace I have, but also to stop to help others along their own paths. Not everyone has the intrinsic knowledge that I have been given, so it’s a good thing God’s running the show; left to my own devices I would skim past what seems obvious to me.

 

11/28/06 Inspirations            I cringe whenever Christians get militant about nobody but Christians getting to heaven – that just doesn’t sound right no matter how it’s said. In the first place, Jesus died for all mankind. In the second place, it neglects those who follow Christlike lives and have never heard of Christ, as well as the Christians who have heard yet don’t follow Christlike lives. Who then can be saved? With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. He writes His desires on our hearts and we feel what is written there. Mysticism is not exclusive – the supernatural presence on earth is the most plentiful bounty of all. What Mysticism does is get us to recognize that force for what it is. That can come to us passively; anyone anywhere can do that. If they’re doing the best they can, it doesn’t make sense that they still will not see the kingdom of God. God’s love is guaranteed, and Jesus guaranteed our forgiveness and salvation. Why do men try to go back on that?

 

11/29/06 Insights from Prayer           Nothing puts you back on the right track like sticking with God when it seems He’s deserted you. It is the reason why He makes it seem like He’s deserted you in the first place.

 

11/29/06 Insights from Prayer          Is it even possible, in human experience, to really do something totally self-less? I don’t think so. Try as we might, we cannot completely rid ourselves of self-thoughts. This must be the way God planned it, so it doesn’t make sense for us to try to fight it. Mystics from long ago tried to force it by extreme self-sacrifice. If there was a benefit from this I doubt that it was the expected benefit. But they may have learned this – that for every thing there is a season. We cannot abdicate from the world entirely, and as necessary as it is to put worldly things on the back-burner, we are meant to function within the world. This test asks us if we can set our sights on the kingdom of God and still do our worldly task.

 

11/29/06 Reflections             Many times things go so inerrantly wrong, usually in a string of incidents; with one thing after the other conspiring to keep me from accomplishing something I want to accomplish. It’s amazing how I can’t find things I need, when I know full well they are right there in front of me. Or I can’t get something to work properly, and I know without thinking about it that there’s no logical reason for it not to work. With my new spiritual awareness I can see that this is one way God’s will is done, so when it happens I like to check up on Him – see if what I was prevented from doing turns into something I can accomplish that’s better. But we aren’t always given the answer so clearly. The important thing is to remind ourselves how things fall into place so easily when we are meant to accomplish them.

 

11/29/06 Inspirations          If Jesus were to come to His own birthday party, they’d let Him in, but begrudgingly, because it would be vaguely wrong to exclude Him. The once raucous and titillating conversation would halt, as He would approach, inappropriately dressed, and make His way to the back of the room. All that could be heard would be the tinkling of ice in a glass, or maybe a self-conscious cough as the roomful as one hope He doesn’t choose them to speak to. Then, a collective sigh of relief as He heads into the kitchen. He would fold His form into a small chair at the kid’s table, smile and speak softly and kindly, while the children smile and tell this man their hopes and dreams, and maybe even let Him color in their coloring book. Meanwhile, in the living room grandly decorated with everything “Christmassy” as long as it isn’t anything that smacks of “religious”, many of the guests will have gone for their coats, planning on moving on to a more exciting party. Jesus would start back towards the way He came in, only now the remaining guests would have their back to Him; their attention focused in the corner which is stacked with thousands of dollars worth of “stuff” accumulated and piled up in honor of a baby who had nothing but love. Slowly, Jesus moves out into the cold and dark, while behind Him those unopposed to killing babies in the womb resume celebrating His birth. Jesus, you’re welcome at my house at Christmas and any other time of the year. And yes, I will talk to you and be interested in what You say. I will feel blessed to have You there and I won’t turn my back on You or slam the door in Your face when You knock. I will welcome You as innocent as the little children, and when You invite me to Your house, I will enter respectfully and thankfully. Happy Birthday, Jesus – I love you.