Goddess Blessings

At a convention, my husband paused to converse with a new face. At the end of their discussion, the man smiled and parted saying, "May the Goddess Bless you."

My husband smiled broadly and replied, "May God Bless you too."

Too often people take affront to a beautiful Blessing offered when they realize that the sender does not follow the same religious beliefs. Instead of seeing what it truly is, they treat it like a curse and trample it under their feet.

Some people follow the Blessing with curses of their own. Some coldly turn and storm away. Several Christians follow this with a string of bible quotes used as spears.

This is not how any of us should treat our brothers and sisters.

Few realize that if one studies our Judaic roots, one finds several names of God, including the female "Shekhinah." There are pluralistic names as well. God is NOT just male, nor just female, but neither and both at the same time. God's very nature IS a paradox from our perspective.

My husband did the right thing in that situation. He saw what the man offered as it is - a heartfelt Blessing from the highest source the person knows. In turn, my husband offered the man the same.

May Blessings be yours each new day

May Divine Love always flow your way

~ESA

Burying Hatred

In past two days, my ears caught a news story that a fellow Nutmegger offered a family plot gratis to bury the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as the funeral home tending the body cannot find a place that would accept it for decent burial.

The one condition Paul Keane requested is that it be done in memory of his mother, who taught Sunday school. Among her teachings was Christ's message: Love your enemies.

There has been much outcry and protest about this particular burial. Tamerlan can no longer do us any harm; he has already met his Maker and faced the only true Judgement there is.

Why do people still attack the corpse like a pack of feral dogs? Have we become like the terrorists we abhor?

The funeral home has come under attack, and Keane has also since his noble offer. I wonder, have the acts of terror instilled such hatred and fear into our hearts? This Nation was founded on Christian values.

When Christ came into this world, there was no room for Him. He was born where they kept the animals.

When Christ died as a criminal, there was no tomb for him. But Joseph of Aramathea, whose heart was touched by Yeshua / Jesus, offered his own unused plot to bury the body.

Would these same protesters hurl insults at the innkeeper and Joseph, and insist that no one should do business with them again because of the Compassionate acts?

I am not saying Tamerlan is anything like Christ. But I am saying that Keane's offer and the funeral home's efforts are based on Love and Compassion that Christ inspires.

Both are following in the steps of Joseph of Aramethea, helping a distraught mother to see her son's body decently buried.

The King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."                      (Matthew 25:40)

"I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." (Matthew 25:45)

Which to follow

Love or hate?

This is choice

We all must make

~ ESA

A Response

There has been many tweets about a particular individual who gets nasty and venomous when he sees people have unfollowed him. While I have read the reports, I also did my homework and researched it myself to confirm this. There have been many requesting I unfollow this individual as well. I would like to share with these people, and all who may be interested, why - after prayerful consideration - I will not.

You are not the first to request I unfollow one person or another, due to a wide range of reasons, including that those I follow may be:

- homosexual
- pagan
- atheist
- jewish
- muslim
- republican
- democrat
- liberal
- conservative
- right-to-lifer
- pro-choice
- Obama supporter
- Obama hater
- OWS supporter
- OWS hater

... you get the idea.

As I state in my blog "About Me" - I'm an open, friendly person who gets along with any type of person and welcome anyone to converse with me on any subject. Everyone brings with them something I can learn no matter their ability, background, education, income, intellect, lifestyle, nationality, position, religious beliefs, or any other lines with which humanity tends to divide itself. The world is filled with wondrous variety and I strive to find the Light and Love that exists in each and every person.

While this particular case is about one person, I still see the trend, a pattern. The call to isolate and banish someone. I grew up the outcast one! I was the outsider! Even the kids that were picked on and beaten up by the class bullies did the same cruel things to me, just to prove to themselves they were not the very bottom of the social pecking order! I hated it. I still hate it! When I see a group rally to do that to someone I cringe. I cry.

I will not unfollow, nor will I promote what is wrong - on either side of this battle. I am here only to erase lines - not draw them. I am here to connect with all of humanity - we are all the same under the skin. I encourage people to shine the Light within and share the Love we all have inside. I will not encourage hate.

If I choose to unfollow, I only do so for two reasons: either they are not following me, and I need to free up some follows to follow others who are interested in interacting with me, or their profile page reads like an advertising column. I get enough sales pitches in my day job and on TV.

I will not condone your reasons for not following one you find offensive; that is your right and your choice. But I recall that Christ was found in the company of tax-collectors, prostitutes, lepers, Romans and those whom others found repulsive and avoided being seen in their company. I choose to follow where He leads, not where others tell me to go.

I choose not to cast a stone.

Thank you for reading this.
May Peace be found in your heart.
May you follow Love from the start.

- ESA

Prayer for the Protesters

As tensions grow, violence erupts. The scenes from Oakland are tragic and could spur open hatred.

On the other hand, watching Survivor last night, I saw prayer helped one team snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. So I had shared the prayer below with the Movement this morning.

As things continue to escalate, perhaps starting protest gatherings - or even each day - with a simple prayer can help those involved keep some important aspects in mind through the course of events.

The following is a simple prayer designed as an inter-faith request:

We gather here today, with peaceful intentions in our heart.
We ask that we receive wisdom and guidance from the start.
We ask on this day, we set aside greed and hate,
For it is a better world that we try to create.
We ask for inner guidance; let nothing be hurled,
For we are a peaceful group seeking a better world.
(~Anonymous)

Please share; a prayer may make a huge difference.

- ESA

Understanding the Difference

I want to share something I've learned with my readers, an understanding I came to realize. There are times, when I fail to reach a goal, falter in my steps or otherwise not perform as I should. Once I realize my error, one of two things can happen:

+ + +

I am repulsed by the act or failure to act on my part. I sincerely regret what I have done, see where I have gone wrong, and try to learn HOW to do it correctly. Then I am motivated to be stronger and do it right the next time. This way, I am enabled to learn from the mistake and grow.

Then there is a much darker path my head and heart can go....

I look at my failures and truly hate myself, my life, my being, my spirit, and my soul. I am filled with self-loathing, self-revulsion, and self-hatred; I am repulsed by what I see and can actually embrace the ideas that I am not worthy of another chance and that even God could not love me. I stick my head in the proverbial sand and hide - from myself, from what I have done, from God.

This is what will poison us from within. This kind of self-revulsion - not for the wrong we have done but to hate our very selves to the point where we cut God from our lives. We do not give ourselves the chance to seek forgiveness. We do not yearn for the opportunity to try again, to do better. We are just stuck in a rut, hating ourselves.

This hate can lead to other forms of self-infliction ~ cutting, self-mutilation, alcohol and drug abuse, as they are seen as an escape from this pain. Even worse, when we cannot love ourselves, we choke off our ability to love one another; those around us suffer too.

+ + +

My understanding came when I had the rare opportunity to feel both of these side-by-side. First I felt the darker emotions, and started to hide from God. Then I somehow realized what I was doing and felt penitent for letting myself get caught by such dark emotions and turning away from God, and I deeply desired to correct that.

Side-by-side, it become so clear. One helps you to be sincerely sorry, learn from it, and lifts you up to try again. The other tries to mire you down with self-loathing and helps you to hide from God's Loving heart.

Now I know the difference and strive to not only learn, but pass on what I know.

- ESA

Erasing Lines

The world as we have come to know it is a large, vast place full of wondrous variety and diversity. But sometimes the nature in human beings to classify, to list -- to pigeonhole comes out in us all. With this we draw lines - circles, boxes, squares. We separate ourselves and create a we/them dichotomy that creates alienation, segregation, separation, war, feelings of loftiness and even hatred.

There is a poem, I often quote:
They drew a circle to shut us out.
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout!

But Love and us had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took them in.
- Original by Edward Markham

In the late 1960's, humanity saw something that it never saw before, pictures of our world as seen from a vast distance: one blue-green world with white lacing; no borders marking countries, no name tags on cities. This is an image that stuck in the minds of many who had the fortune of being around in those days -- we're one world.

Then we went back to our borders, our religions, our races, our cultures, our political beliefs, our myriad ways of separating ourselves from our fellow human beings. "We are not like them," we told ourselves. "They are so different and strange." And wars continued; prejudices still thrived. And we kept telling ourselves that our little circle was the ONE TRUE circle and all others are wrong.

The "if you're not with us, you are against us" mentality still exists today as it has for thousands of years. We never really changed, even when we saw with our own eyes that we are of ONE WORLD.

Now over four decades later, people are seeing the world through different eyes once again. The internet has allowed us to step outside of our little circles and explore what exists in others. In doing so, many have come to see "Hey, we're not so different." In fact, many have reached out and befriended others around the world, regardless of country, religion or politics. They find they share common interests and some common beliefs even if they are expressed differently within the circles they were brought up in.

Language barriers that often were an overwhelming hurdle are now simply overcome as more and more online translators make communicating with others easier. People are able to hold conversations with people anywhere in this world - in real time (if they are awake at the same time) or within mere hours - with someone who doesn't speak the same language.

We still find the old adage is true: a smile is still a smile; a laugh is still a laugh; and a tear is still a tear, regardless of where we are and what language we speak.

My hope is that this is the time when many will come forth with not pencils and mark "This is ours; that is yours," but will turn that instrument of destruction around and erase those lines!

We are all human beings. We are of one world surrounded by the vastness of space. When we continue to squabble like spoiled siblings in a household, we will fail to reach our true potential. It's only when we reach out and take each others hands, erasing the lines between us, can we discover how much common ground we really have. And it's on this common ground, we can build the foundation to a better world.

Can one person do this? No. But one person can make a start, reaching out to anyone to whom (s)he contacts. In turn, those people can do the same. Little steps lead to bigger ones.

I was born in the year man first set foot on the moon and looked back upon the Earth. Before my time is done on this world, I'd like to see it reach the point when one person looks at another, all they see is a fellow human being. One who shares the common ground of living in the same world, and may have many other things in common as well.

All one needs to do is reach out and discover them.

Stop drawing lines.
Start erasing.

- ESA