Dear Lord, be with the country of the Philippines,
please allow them to recover from the hurricane.
Be with the country of Japan,
allow Japan to recover from their nuclear contamination.
You are so omnipotent;
we are so insignificant.
Yet regardless of our arrogance, pride and greed,
You still listen to and answer our prayers.
Thank You for answering our prayers,
through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Posted by: John | May 26, 2014
My Prayer
Posted in Prayer/Meditation, Spiritual Life
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | May 21, 2014
Awakening
“As for me, in my justice I shall see your face
and be filled, when I awake,
with the sight of your glory.”
(Psalm 17:15)
From a yogic perspective, “in my justice” means: “when I have been established in the yamas (restraints) and the niyamas (observances) as well as all the other practices of the spiritual journey.” It’s easy to forget about the restraints and the observances. It’s easy to fool ourselves, to tell ourselves, “Oh yeah, yeah, I know all about that.” We know, perhaps, but do we really care, do we really make a sincere effort to practice?:
yamas:
— non-violence
— truthfulness
— non-stealing
— moderation in all things, especially sexuality
— non-grasping
niyamas:
— cleanliness
— contentment
— physical discipline
— self-inquiry
— surrender to God
These are prerequisites to awakening from the dream we normally see as our daily reality. Of course, we will never be perfect in these restraints and observances, but they are nevertheless part of our practice, part of our journey.
When we practice sincerely, we create a foundation for “awakening” to occur. When we awaken, we enter the kingdom of heaven in this very moment, we see the glory of God in each moment.
Psalm 17:15 gives us hope that we can indeed awaken.
Posted in Spiritual Life, Yoga | Tags: awakening, eight limbs of yoga, enlightenment, Psalm 17, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | May 19, 2014
Weeds are Part of Life
The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”
“An enemy did this,” he replied.
The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”
“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”
(Matthew 13:24-30)
Recently, I’ve been working on my spiritual autobiography. There are a lot of interesting twists and turns to my story. I felt pretty good setting all of this stuff on paper but when I went back and read the whole thing, I felt depressed. I thought, “Gee, I sound like some kind of nut case. I’ve made so many stupid mistakes.” I put the autobiography away for several days, then went back and read it again. I had the same reaction.
When I shared what I’d written with a friend and told her how it made me feel, she quoted the parable of the wheat and the weeds to me.
Now, usually in sermons, this parable is interpreted as referring to good and evil people co-existing in this world until the end of time when the Lord will come again and separate the good (the wheat) from the evil (the weeds) and send each of them to their respective reward or punishment. My friend helped me see that the good and the evil exist side by side within each one of us – and God is okay with that! He clearly sees what’s going on and He allows it because in the end, everything will turn out the way He intends. The enemy tries to ruin us, but God knows what the enemy is up to.
I now picture God sitting back smirking at the works of the evil one playing games with me (and everyone else). God thinks of the enemy and his works: “Oh yeah? You imagine yourself pretty crafty, huh? Sure, you’re pretty sneaky playing around in the dark, setting traps for my loved ones, but I know all about it. Have your fun while you can. You might win a few small battles, but the ultimate victory is mine.”
The good and the evil exist together in each one of us. In truth, we can’t uproot the evil without damaging the good. God knows. Everything is fine.
Posted in Spiritual Life | Tags: existence of evil, final judgement, good and evil, Matthew 13, parable of the wheat and the weeds
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | May 13, 2014
Old and New
Evening neighborhood walk passing
houses old mixed with houses new:
The one dirty, in disrepair;
the other big, bold, colorful,
protected by security systems.
In fifty years’ time, the new
will become just like the old:
Owners in ill-health and lacking
funds for repairs forced to sit
and stare and wonder, watching
new houses go up next door.
Posted in Poetry
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | May 2, 2014
Bitching
Three crows on a pole,
bitch and bitch and bitch.
One starts,
the others chime in.
Just like us.
Posted in Poetry
Posted by: John | April 30, 2014
Mortality
We mortals can never
comprehend all of God.
We think when we find
God on a walk in the woods,
that is all.
Then we find God in some lines
we read. We think we’re seeking.
We’re only peeking
at omnipotence.
We’re always on the outside
looking in.
All we know is where we’ve been.
Posted in Poetry
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | April 15, 2014
Outward/Inward Being is One
“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
The word “yoga” means union. It means bringing things together. How we choose to interpret this depends on where we are on our journey at this point. For me, originally it meant: Union of body and mind. Later, it meant, “union of body and breath.” Then: Union of body, mind and spirit. Now, for me it means: Union with God. I believe that is the ultimate purpose of Yoga practice – a practice that has existed for thousands of years. Some people choose to move in that direction, while other people choose to focus on getting a physical workout. There’s no right or wrong answer. Well, perhaps the only possible “wrong” answer is staying stuck in our practices and our beliefs – refusing to grow and change into maturity.
Jesus said: “I and my Father are one.” That’s Union. That’s what Yoga means by Union. Therefore, Jesus was a Yogi (see Paramahansa Yogananda’s The Yoga of Jesus). Christians believe that the only way to God the Father is through Jesus Christ. However, Christians also believe in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who is One. So – it seems to me that we can get to union with God through any part of the Trinity, since the Trinity really cannot be divided. Some folks may choose to go through Jesus Christ, while others relate more to the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Plus, who says we can’t just go directly to God the Father? That’s what Hindu Yogis do. That’s what Jews do as well.
I have a meditative phrase that I’ve been using off and on in my yoga classes for years: “May our outward and inward being become One.” Today I saw the connection of that prayer to Jesus’ statement, “I and my Father are One.” Jesus realized his union with God, his inward Being. Aspiring yogis are moving in that direction, reaching out for God Who is first reaching for us. We love God because God loves us first. Eventually, we’ll no longer be so aware of self and God; we’ll simply be aware of Love, of Union. All that seems separate will appear as they truly are, as One.
Posted in Spiritual Life, Yoga | Tags: meditative phrase, Paramahansa Yogananda, The Yoga of Jesus, union with God, yoga
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | April 9, 2014
See the Serpents
“Then the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a saraph [serpent] and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.'”
(Numbers 21:7-8)
Regarding this Scripture passage, the Lent 2014 issue of The Word Among Us says: “When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent, the people who gazed on it saw two things. First, they got a graphic look at their own sins. Grumbling, blaming, complaining are as deadly as serpents. They slither their way between people and interfere with God’s ability to take care of them. Second, they got a look at God’s mercy; whoever looked at the bronze serpent was instantaneously healed.”
This made me realize that in order to be healed of our various sins, faults and weaknesses (whatever they may be), we need to be willing to look directly at them, to REALLY see them. Our tendency is to look the other way, to pretend we don’t see anything wrong with us, or to see only what we want to see. Sometimes, we think we see our faults, when in reality we’re only seeing part of the true problem. For example, we may see our angry words in response to someone who criticizes us – but we fail to see that beneath the anger lies our pride, our belief that we are above criticism of any kind. The anger will remain unhealed as long as the pride is unhealed. The only way to be healed is to look directly and honestly at the true fault, acknowledge it, and turn it over to God who has the power to remove it.
Let us ask the Lord to give us the courage to look directly at our weaknesses and accept His healing in our lives.
Posted in Spiritual Life | Tags: anger, prayer of Moses, pride, the bronze serpent, the sin of grumbling
Posted by: Jivani Lisa | March 24, 2014
Is Fitness Your Religion?
Back in the 90s, I read (and loved!) a book called Fitness is Religion by Ray Kybartas. At that time, I guess I classified myself as agnostic on the way to becoming atheist. The idea of fitness as religion made total sense to me. Physical fitness can be so demanding and all-consuming: how much cardio to do; how often to lift weights; what and how much food to eat, etc. It requires true dedication, even devotion – especially if one is pursuing some type of competition, whether it be marathons, power lifting or general fitness competitions. The book included all sorts of lists and charts with recommendations for specific workouts and diet plans.
There’s something within us that’s drawn to religious feeling/practice, to “worship” of some kind. If we’re not worshiping the One true God, the Lord of the universe, then we will be worshiping something else. Our culture typically worships money and power. Yet it’s also very easy to worship our bodies – idolizing physical fitness, beauty or youthfulness. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being fit, young or beautiful, but we would be wise to remember that all those things are impermanent. We should care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19) so we have the strength and vitality needed to do God’s work in this world. But health/fitness is only one part of living a balanced life.
Let us ask ourselves who or what we are worshiping in our daily lives.
St. Paul reminds us: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).
Posted in Religion, Spiritual Life | Tags: physical fitness, running the spiritual race, worship
John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog - Soaring with God 