The New YEAR is NOW…

Brother Says:

New Year

New Hope

     renewed convictions

     recycled resolutions

Another year

Another chance

Another jump

Another flight

          … or fall

The year is new

The time is new

Now is new

The time is now

Now is the time

Now is another time

Now has to be the time

Now MUST BE!!!

For the soul to take hold

For the mind to yield

For the heart to find peace

For God’s plan to take shape

For His spirit to dwell

For His love to connect

Two distinct paths

Two strangers

From two distant worlds

Two hopeful souls

Two kindred spirits

Dancing

To the harmony of faith

and hope

to be

ONE

Let us glorify God in our lives!

Sister Replied:  

A new year… A new Life?  

No matter what we do or how perfect our input, the fact is, we are never in control of the outcome of any situation. We always plan our life, we always want the best of course. But how elusive this idea often is. Even when we know that we cannot count on a particular result, we tend to expect things to turn out as we’d planned. And when they don’t, we will look for someone to blame. Some of us are terrific at blaming ourselves and then feeling unnecessary guilt or shame.

That’s how hard it is to believe that outcomes are not controllable.It’s probably the human condition to assume that what happened in the past will repeat itself in a similar situation. Especially when a certain outcome did repeat itself myriad times, we tend to count on it doing so again, but there’s no certainty that this next experience will give us a repeat performance—and when it doesn’t, we feel cheated, confused, maybe stupid. Certainly we tend to feel overly responsible for “the failure.”But are we responsible for the fact that life is unpredictable, outcomes uncontrollable? Of course not.

We say to ourselves … year in and year out . The only thing required of us is effort. Don’t look past your nose. I believe this is the ball to start the year.By now we have  undoubtedly heard and read, perhaps many times already, that we need to live strictly in the moment if we want happiness. Even repeatedly reminded to do it we all know this takes practice! Lots of practise…Most of us are very good at being future dwellers. As children we planned for the day we would drive a car. As teenagers we planned for the day we’d go to college and/or marry. As soon as we joined the workforce, we planned on the first promotion and then the next one too.

Looking ahead can have its positive side, of course. We do need to plan where we want to go in our lives, occupationally and personally, in order to seek the right preparation. The problem comes when we live in the future plan rather than in our current experience; in doing so we miss entirely what our life is teaching us on a daily basis.  ANd this has been my habit… year in and year out!

At the same time that we can get so stuck in future plans, we also tend to be called by the past…. year in and year out!

They say that we habitually rely on the past to interpret what is happening right now and at  the instant we go to the past for edification about the present moment, we lose sight of the present moment… and its a habit… year in and year out!

So this year will be different! The NOW  won’t wait for us to notice it, to appreciate it, to learn from it, and to be grateful for it. It can’t. It’s gone in an instant, that very instant that we let our mind wander to another time and place.No matter how clichéd it may have become, it is no less true: Being anywhere but here, now, absolutely denies us the peace we each deserve.

They say too that when our minds slip backwards or move into anticipation of the future, we lose out on the chance for inner peace and find ourselves in regret or fear. Even if our recollections or anticipations are joyful, we miss out on the very special and divinely selected experience that has been given to us right now and only right now. What will come our way a moment from now is something else entirely.

 God is always waiting “to be noticed” in every single moment. Trust in the very moment of ourlives.  We have only so many moments to live, and we have no guarantee beyond this one. No crystal ball can foretell how much time we have left. But if we wrap ourselves in the present moment, like a soft comforter, we will be at peace. We will be living in the very manner God wishes for us. The special gift of choosing this way to live is that we will never doubt God’s will for our lives. Nor will we ever live in fear.

Now is synonymous with peace. Should you have any doubt, wrap the comforter around you and test this hypothesis. Stop worrying about the future.Worry is a state of being that is only possible when we are not living in the present. It is evidence that we are anticipating a future that we think will mimic our past and the painful experiences that we don’t want to repeat. We worry because we are uncertain of God’s availability.Was God  there in the past and we didn’t listen to the guidance? We can be certain that God was there. But we may not have been; we may have been projecting into the future, as we are doing now.

I go back remembering Jeremiah 29:11. And if our minds can only hold one thought at a time. Do we entertain worry or the presence of God?

God is available right now. God will also be available in the future when we get there. What we must remember, however, is that God’s presence can’t be experienced except moment by moment, and that means we have to show up in each moment. Getting ahead of this moment in regard to our relationships, our vocations, our dreams, and aspirations simply prevents us from knowing God.

When we commit to staying in each moment with God, we will have no fear; we will know, without question, that we have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Whenever we let the future, rather than the present, call to us , We miss the peace of the moment. At these times, let us try blow our mind free of the thoughts, once again, trusting that God will help us handle all that we have signed up to do, when the time to do it arrives. 

Let’s Keep It Simple. These three words can change a life. If we stay in this moment, where God never fails to be, all the answers we seek will present themselves, and no worry will be able to hold us hostage.
Find the joy right here, right now.

When we acknowledge God it brings joy, because if  our minds can hold but a single thought and If God is that thought, every experience has the capacity to instill joy in us.

Of course I am aware that tragedies do occur, and none of us is immune to them. But if we allow God to handle whatever is happening and to comfort us at the same time, we will become aware that all experiences are orchestrated; they are fragments of a bigger picture, and the part each person plays is necessary.
 

Joy is always available to us, moment by moment. But we must keep our minds open and pay attention. A closed mind or a mind filled with fear or judgment will never know joy. A red rose beginning to open, a willow tree swaying in the breeze, the rainbow after a shower, the dew glistening on each blade of grass in the early morning, a baby taking her first steps—all these moments hold the potential for joy. Every moment of every day we can see evidence of God everywhere. And we can feel overjoyed by this evidence if we want to.

It’s new year… and the time has started NOW…  the decision is ours

In our lives, we will Glorify God.