David Lee

One of the things I haven’t quite gotten around to in the new year is the to purchase a large calendar to keep track of my daily schedule.  I keep one posted one the wall in my bedroom and it helps me to know at a glance what  appointments and commitments I have forthcoming.  I did finally get around to taking down the previous twelve months and deposited them in the trash.  But during this process, I looked back at all the events I had noted and marked for the year just completed.

You sometimes forget events in the recent past and this year was no different.  There were trips and birthdays, substitute teaching assignments, and doctors’ appointments.  All went together to make what is now referred to as “the past.”  With each calendar entry, there was a story to be told, a memory to recall.  The entries chronicle the ebb and flow of life and each one added to what has become my life as I know it.

So as I go out searching for a calendar for the upcoming year, I can only wonder what events and memories it will hold.  There are most certainly lots of blank spaces yet to be filled, events and appointments yet to be scheduled.  But such is life as we know it.  And I have found the best thing I can do is to take it one day at a time and hope for all the best, both for myself and for others.  Above it all is a faith that knows all things work together for good if I keep my eyes focused on the One that makes it all possible.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11-13

 

There is a Danish story about a spider that lived high in the rafter of an old barn.  One day, the spider decided to lower himself to a beam where he found the flies more prolific and more easily caught.  He therefore decided to live permanently on this lower level.

He spun for himself a comfortable web.  One day he noticed the line down which he had come and said to himself that he no longer needed it.  So he snapped it and destroyed the support for his whole web.

A tiny thread connects us with the infinite.  We have come from God and we are returning Home to Him.  Everyone wakes up someday.  Everything eventually returns to its source.  Coming into the world, we easily become fascinated with the world and we forget about the source.  We look at that thread which connects us with the infinite and think. ‘That thing is in the way.’  We snap the line, and we go mad.”

From: “Living a Course in Miracles” by Jon Mundy

The boxwood shrubs in front of my house are slow-growing plants, serving more as a home for spiders than providing any great beauty.  I trim them down about twice a year and have contemplated removing them altogether.  But I recently found something that the shrubs were hiding that otherwise might not have been noticed at all.

My German shepherd, Abby, loves to go for walks around the yard and for some reason, always wants to examine the area around the bushes in particular.  She sniffs around, as if she was hot on the trail of some other creature.  One day, she went farther back in the bushes than normal and when she did, I noticed something pink hidden behind them. Turns out it was a small cluster of pink flowers, whose name I did not know.

I found out later, with help from my sister, that they were known as volunteer begonias.  I did a bit more research and discovered that they grow from seed that has fallen naturally to the ground, not planted by a person.  So somehow this flowering plant had found its way into an area unseen by most all that would pass by.

This reminds me of a lesson that I have learned in my journey of life.  There are always characteristics of people, places, and things that are readily visible to the naked eye.  In this case, that is represented by the boxwood shrubs.  But also growing, away from plain view, are other even more beautiful parts that for the most part go unnoticed. These were the beautiful pink begonias that for many weeks had gone unseen.

We as humans many times see in others as what is readily noticeable to our eyes. But just as in the case outlined above, there are hidden treasures that may take a while to be discovered.  Our character traits may contain facets that are easily discerned, but if people are willing to take the time, other parts more beautiful may be brought into view.

I previously posted a blog detailing what synchronicities are and gave an example of several that had occurred just that day.  Today, I had yet another series of synchs that illustrated the concept rather well.  They say that synchs tend to run in “strings” and such would seem to be the case here.

I was going to a nearby discount store to pick up a few items and pulled into a parking place.  When I was getting ready to enter the store, a woman who had just gotten out of her car said “Thanks for the parking space!”  It seems that I had not seen a space that was right in front of the entrance.  Given the fact it was approaching ninety degrees, she was thankful to have gotten the closer spot.  Truth be told, I very rarely park in front of the entrance, but that’s a whole other story.

She was picking up the same type items I was and so I told her about my “365 Days of 23’s” picture project. I had noticed that she was wearing a Lebron James #23 jersey and thought it was neat that she chose to thank me for the parking place.  She said that twenty-three was also her favorite number and related how she had found out that her house was located on Lot 23.  I asked if it would be OK to take a picture and when I returned from getting my camera phone out of my car, I told her a bit of my story.  I then took a picture of the back of the Lebron James #23  jersey and will use it tomorrow on my FB page.  I related to her how the number had become a “God thing” for me, showing me His presence in my life.

It just so happened that we met again at the cash register.  I told her another snippet of my story and the young lady at the cash register informed us that her birthday was a little over a week away, on July 23rd.  And she also offered that she would be celebrating her 23rd birthday.  I had just finished telling the other customer that my sister and daughter were born on the same date, exactly twenty-three years apart.  The three of us got a good laugh out of the whole story and the way it had unfolded right in front of us on that hot summer Sunday afternoon.

Over the past ten years I have become acquainted with synchronicity and its presence in my life.  Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.

One of the best examples I can use to illustrate began when I noted and took a picture of a license tag which read “I am 007”.  I posted the picture to my Facebook page, as I many times will do when I see an interesting tag. During the day, both my sister and daughter said they had also seen the same car with the same tag.  A bit later, another FB friend recognized the tag and said in 2007 he had purchased a car from the same man.

The synchronicity continued during the day when a friend from Michigan (I live in North Carolina) sent a picture with the inscription “Kala23”.  He sent the picture to me to assist me with a project entitled “365 days of 23’s,” in which I take a picture of something that contains the number 23. The friend’s last name is “Bond” and his first name is “David,” the same as mine.  Se I had seen a picture of a tag denoting James Bond and a friend with the same last name became the lastest contributor in my “23” project.  His first and last name held special significance in the synch.

I also had posted the story and the pics to three synchronicity groups I belong to on FB and one of the other members of the group informed me that the next Bond movie, which is scheduled to premier in two months will be the 23rd in the series of Bond pictures.  The synch involved a vanity plate, two family members who saw the same plate, a friend who had purchased a car from the man, and finally the 23rd movie in a series that featured the fictional James Bond.  Such connections I consider to be rare indeed.

Synchronicities are all around us each day,,, if only we are willing to look for them and make note of the connections being shown.  Order amidst what sometimes appears to be the chaos in our lives.

Somebody cares and always will,

The world forgets but God loves you still,

You cannot go beyond His love

No matter what you’re guilty of —

For God forgives until the end,

He is your faithful, loyal friend,

And though you try to hide your face

The is no shelter any place

That can escape His watchful eye,

For on the earth and in the sky

He’s ever present and always there

To take you in His tender care

And bind the wounds and mend the breaks

When all the world around forsakes…

Somebody cares and loves you still

And God is the someone who always will.

 

Helen Steiner Rice in the book “Just for You”

Breathing Under Water

I built my house by the sea.

Not on the sands, mind you;

not on the shifting sand.

And I built it of rock.

A strong house

by a strong sea.

And we got well acquainted, the sea and I.

Good neighbors.

Not that we spoke much.

We met in silences.

Respectful, keeping our distance,

but looking our thoughts across the fence of sand.

Always, the fence of sand our barrier,

always, the sand between.

And then one day,

–and I don’t know how it happened–

the sea came.

Without warning.

Without welcome, even

Not sudden and swift, but a shifting across the sand like wine,

less like the flow of water than the flow of blood.

Slow, but coming.

Slow, but flowing like an open wound.

And I thought of flight and I though of drowning and I thought of death.

And while I thought the sea crept higher, till it reached my door.

And I knew then, there was neither flight, nor death, nor drowning.

That when the sea comes calling you stop being neighbors

Well acquainted, friendly-at-a-distance, neighbors

And you give your house for the coral castle,

And you learn to breathe underwater.

by Carol Bieleck

God cannot help you unless you allow God to help you.  Many of us could be accused of trying to out-God God.  We think we know more than God.  We think we can do more than God.  We actually believe that what we want and how we want it is better than the way God can bring it to us.  In fact, we get so busy doing what we do the way we do it, there is no opportunity for God to get into our lives at all!

If you want to run the show, God will let you.  If you want to pull all the strings, that’s up to you.  If you want to insist that what you are doing is the way it should be done, even when you are not getting anywhere, go right ahead.   God will let you run yourself ragged, if you choose to do so.

Unfortunately, you may not always be aware that you are in God’s way.  You think you are demonstrating your independence.  You think that it is all up to you and that you must do it or it won’t get done.  God knows better!  God knows that God cannot fail!  However, God has no need to prove to you what God can do.

How do you know when you are in God’s way?  How do you know when you are running your program rather than allowing God’s divine plan to unfold?  It’s very simple.  If you are struggling to make things happen and they are not happening, then it’s you, not God, running the show.

Until today, you may have been directing your own life and attempting to produce your own blessings.  Just for today, ask for directions.  Open yourself to guidance.  Give up your attachments to having things your way.  Open yourself to God’s way.

Today I am devoted to allowing God to work through me and for me!

From: “Until Today” by Iyanla Vanzant

God cannot help you unless you allow God to help you.  Many of us could be accused of trying to out-God God.  We think we know more than God.  We think we can do more than God.  We actually believe that what we want and how we want it is better than the way God can bring it to us.  In fact, we get so busy doing what we do the way we do it, there is no opportunity for God to get into our lives at all!

If you want to run the show, God will let you.  If you want to pull all the strings, that’s up to you.  If you want to insist that what you are doing is the way it should be done, even when you are not getting anywhere, go right ahead.   God will let you run yourself ragged, if you choose to do so.

Unfortunately, you may not always be aware that you are in God’s way.  You think you are demonstrating your independence.  You think that it is all up to you and that you must do it or it won’t get done.  God knows better!  God knows that God cannot fail!  However, God has no need to prove to you what God can do.

How do you know when you are in God’s way?  How do you know when you are running your program rather than allowing God’s divine plan to unfold?  It’s very simple.  If you are struggling to make things happen and they are not happening, then it’s you, not God, running the show.

Until today, you may have been directing your own life and attempting to produce your own blessings.  Just for today, ask for directions.  Open yourself to guidance.  Give up your attachments to having things your way.  Open yourself to God’s way.

Today I am devoted to allowing God to work through me and for me!

Just this morning I was in a meeting of like-minded individuals, discussing how much the our past lives should play a part in our present situations.  As I reflected, I became aware that each of the most-eventful times in my recent past history have helped raise my level of faith in a Higher Power, whom I choose to call God.

There are many times over the past nine-and-a-half years that I could call my sanity into question.  There were so many things going on around me that I didn’t understand and no matter how hard I tried, could not wrap my mind around.  It would seem that the world had cast upon me a cruel trial of faith that called into question my very being and purpose in life.  Yet through it all, I kept praying and mustering as much faith as I could in a God that was watching out over it all and keeping me in His care.  From those experiences, I have developed a stronger faith than at any other point in my life.

I can look back at the most recent past of my life and know that I didn’t really sit down and plan any of it out.  I never figured to be divorced, go through rehab for an addiction, sell my house, move from the school I’d taught at for twenty-two years, and so many other twists and turns.  But somehow, someway, there was a guiding force that took me to exactly where I needed to be to learn what I needed to learn.  This includes all the people I’ve come into contact with along the way, most of which have had a positive influence on my spiritual life.  That guiding force in my life is a God that knows more about me than I know about myself and always seems to know what’s best, with or without my conscious effort.

So when I face present-day-difficulties, I once again turn to God and ask Him for His guidance, wisdom, and strength.  And I am certain in the process that He will lead me to think, do, and say exactly what He would have me to in order to fulfill His will for my life and the lives of those I encounter.   Just my present take on my faith-life as I face each day, one day at a time, on life’s terms

David Lee