The incredible journey of "the next loving thing"

My life has been reduced, and I do mean reduced, for God's sake (there is such rich humor in that, by the way), to a moment-to-moment, step-by-step inquiry into and choice of the next loving action. No more big campaigns, dreams, projections, schedules of activities, work plans, etc. - no, simply what would my humanity being overruled by and then my spirit acting as Jesus produce or make possible in this very moment, this next trembling confrontation of my will and total surrender to His. There is not a lot to this, really, but a slowing down and settling into the present, to be in His Presence, trusting completely that the actions that ensue will be driven from, vs. reaching for, Him. This way of living has taken decades for Him to cultivate, and for me to allow, and now here we are!

When he said these words in John 15:10-12, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you.", he knew that it would be a 24x7 proposition, and the rest would be HisStory.

So it is written, ... so it shall be done, ... as all that matters.

Embracing obedience

"Obedience is a natural act of faith; disobedience the natural result of unbelief."

-- Edwin Louis Cole

"Obedience is the fragrant fruit of faith, self-justification the rotten fruit of pride."

-- Christina Rosetti

"I know the power obedience has of making things effortless which seemed impossible."

-- Mother Teresa

"Obedience is total detachment from the self. This is by far the most radical detachment of all."

-- Bede Griffiths

"I don't see control or rightness or success as the goal. Obedience is the goal. The result is up to Him."

-- Jerry B. Jenkins

"Obedience to God - objectionable as the term 'obedience' is to so many - is a consciously chosen slavery that totally liberates you."

-- Yours Truly

"Various and clever are the pleas and arguments which men of corrupt or stubborn minds frequently urge against yielding obedience to the just and holy commands of God."

-- George Whitefield

"When the young and ambitious man moves from a state of dependence to that of independence, he must fight others to be free; when the grown and maturing man moves from the state of independence to that of interdependence, he must fight himself to obey."

-- Yours Truly

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you."

-- Jesus, in John 15:10-12

"You haven't yet opened your heart fully to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior's way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability -- to the world, to life, to the Presence you just felt. It is about letting go of all perceived need for control and totally surrendering to Instruction. All along I've shown you by example that a warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or even victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior's sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death."

-- Dan Millman, in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Acting based on "how I feel" or "what I think" is a dead-end proposition. Given the amount of hurt I've experienced in life, and regardless of the amount of healing work I've done, the emotional "triggers" still exist and still produce motive for defensive, manipulative, protective maneuvers that only produce the same impulses and motives and usually actions in others. It doesn't work, gets in the way of realizing what I'm committed to in life, disconnects me from purpose and from love, etc.. When I've let go of needing to act on my own emotional impulses in order to control people and things, and I "honor" my emotions but don't "heed" them or need to "react" to them, remembering God's sovereignty and total control, trusting Him to be the greatest Source of both my healing and my protection, I am free to act on His impulses, which are less urgent and infinitely more trustworthy than my own. I must die to do so, detach from my self, laying myself at His feet, a tired and weary warrior, ready for rejuvenation, to be fully restored and enlivened, empowered only by His disarming grace, His overflowing love, and His infinite wisdom.


(a scene from the movie, "Peaceful Warrior," in which Socrates tells Dan to sit on an old rusting car until he has something really important and meaningful to share, and this is at the point where he has finally surrendered all his need to control things)

Faith, presence, ... timelessness!

The beautiful, diverse selections below elegantly summarize my current frame of mind and state of heart in 10 delicious paragraphs, expanding on that which I could say just as descriptively, but not as richly, in 10 words as: "faithful, loving, present, ready for anything, swept up in timelessness."

"Experientially, eternity is the state we experience when we are aware of the passage of time, but feel untouched by it. Timelessness, on the other hand, is the transcendence of time. There is no awareness of time at all, for there is no differentiation, no distant destination, and hence no change in awareness from moment to moment. Therefore, inexplicably, time is in the midst of now, but eternity is in the midst of time."

-- A. Hameed Ali

"Faith is not comparable to the usual ideas in your head, something that you think about and that either turns out to be right or wrong, like a gambler's bet: it's a bold act based on things unseen, an outrageously beautiful intention with little or no supporting physical evidence, an extraordinary project and way of life that is way bigger than anything predictable, rational, or reasonable, something that forces you to look at and then literally makes you what you were 'born to be,' and in leaping deep within yourself, past the fear and pain and into the vastness of the present moment, you shoot clean out of time and right into Eternity, which is not the 'end of time' or a 'whole lot of time' or 'unending time,' but 'timelessness,' the Eternal Now!"

-- Joanna Russ

"Einstein advanced a bold theory (in his theory of relativity) that time is not fixed, it is relative. It is the reason as we get older that time appears to accelerate. Christmas seems to come faster and faster each year. When we were young, time stood still, especially so when we wanted it to move faster. When we were 15, turning 18 and graduating from high school felt as it would never come. Yet, once we had children, they magically grew from 2 to 15 to 30 seemingly overnight. Some days feel as if they last forever, others vanish quickly.

If we can experience timelessness, or its inverse, accelerated time, we can choose to live outside of time. After all, time is not real. If it were, would it behave in such a relative manner? In order to live outside the constraints of time, we have to understand the common threads that induce the appearance of timelessness. There are three components that nourish this possibility, what we call Love, Grace, and Community.

Love expresses itself perfectly as genuine curiosity and openness, an insatiable willingness to learn, being fully present, bowed in humility. It is the hub of wholeness and ‘love in action.’ It is the door into full access to divine capacity and absolute human potentiality.

Grace flows from the foundation of Love into that place of discovery, where we use everything as catalyst, and enter into the mystery playfully, holding the space to honor all paths and fellow travelers, excited to be smack dab in the middle of this incredible experiment. Grace is the door into unlimited possibility. It is here that flow and timelessness are naturally available.

Community becomes the fullest expression of Love and Grace - Love and Grace extended beyond the ‘me’ into the ‘we’ of Community, beyond ourselves into service and opening the door into amplified probability. This is the space of absolute productivity, unreserved commitment, unconditional inclusivity, revolutionary evolution. Here we passionately belong, our values integrated into everything we are and do. Sustainability, both individually and collectively, is an innate outcome, effortlessly a foregone conclusion."

-- Gayle Gregory, in "Timelessness: Myth or Magical Connection to God?"

"As the Zen Masters often express, 'Do not plunder the Great Mystery with concepts or ideas about it.' Ultimate Reality cannot be seen with any dual (either/or) operation of the mind, where we attempt to eliminate the mysterious, the confusing, the irrational - anything scary, unfamiliar, or outside our comfort zone. Dualistic thinking is not naked presence to the Singular Presence, but highly controlled and severely limited seeing. With such simplistic software, we cannot access things like infinity, grace, mercy, or love, let alone God - these most necessary and important things! Wouldn't you join me in saying, 'I would not fear, obey, or even respect any God that I could figure out"? St. Augustine said the same in the fifth century: 'If you understand it, then it is not God' (Si comprehenderis, non est Deus)."

-- Richard Rohr, in The Naked Now

"For the longest time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt still to be paid. And maybe then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

-- Alfred D'Souza

"For when your faith is severely tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."

-- James 1:3-4 (NIV)


The face of faith, presence, ... timelessness!

Love and grace personified

OK, I'm back, albeit bowed and broken by the events and experiences of the last few days, and I am basking in the gentle civility (a characteristic Yamini exhibited so perfectly) that comes from such brokenness. My heart is both sore (madly in love with a soul I will never see in the flesh again) and serene, (clear of God's victory and her eternal presence in my life). And now, on with the revolution, opening up and sharing myself completely, even when with a broken heart.

"Love expresses itself perfectly as genuine curiosity and openness, an insatiable willingness to learn, being fully present, bowed in humility. It is the hub of wholeness and ‘love in action.’ It is the door into full access to divine capacity and absolute human potentiality.

Grace flows from the foundation of Love into that place of discovery, where we use everything as catalyst, and enter into the mystery playfully, holding the space to honor all paths and fellow travelers, excited to be smack dab in the middle of this incredible experiment. Grace is the doorway into unlimited possibility. It is here that 'flow' and 'timelessness' are naturally available."

-- Gayle Gregory, in "Timelessness: Myth or Magical Connection to God?"

There's not a whole lot I can say about my weekend with Bipin and Shashi in honor of their daughter, Yamini, who personified the above so perfectly, that isn't best said by her, in her physical expressiveness and her words (see attached). So here, with a great, combined sense of celebration for a life well-lived, honor for a kindred soul, and deep joy and sorrow combined (that she is with God in such perfect reunion, yet no longer with us who also love her the best we know how), is a lasting image and message to the world, from her recent trip to her Mother's village in India:



"It's more important to discover why and how and how much a person truly lived than it is to discover why and how and how soon they died."


My words to Bipin and Shashi as they carry Yamini's presence deeper and further into the world are these, from Eleanor Roosevelt, with great love and support, as they move forward in their life's journey together:

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear and despair in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can surely take the next thing that comes along.' And now, with great courage and God's infinite capacity, you must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that."

-- Mother Teresa

Ah yes, the beauty of having nothing ...The%20beauty%20of%20having%20nothing%20-%20Yamini%20Last%20essay-2003%20format.doc