Apr 06, 2015

Ponderings

 

Step 12 Commit to continued exploration of these sacred dimensions in my life, I will endeavor to pass these practices and purposes in my life to others seeking joy and happiness, and to practice these principles in all of my life.

 

If I wish to live a life of abundance, find lasting joy and happiness in this life, I have to change my approach to life in general, and to search out the meaning of life each moment. I was living a fairly happy life, married a few years, we had three daughters and were expecting number four, which also was another daughter, when God spoke quite firmly to me and turned my life in a new direction.

I was not able to speak of that event for about 20 years, as I had no words to tell about those few hours when God wrapped me around and lifted me into this cloud of bliss and spelled out to me that I was to follow the events that would unfold before me in the future; that I would be guided when necessary in various forms, and I was to trust implicitly God who would provide for me the rest of my life.

 

This was December, 1967.

 

And indeed, God has done just as what was promised. I had two intensive guides right then for the next 4 years, one a wonderful priest who guided my prayer life, one a mystic who guided me into the mystical path of understanding. Then God led us to upstate New York from Long Island, where we have lived on a mountain top for the past 40+ years. I have continued the daily time of prayer ever since that time in 1967, never letting that time lapse, despite what was going on in my life. Yes I hit some rough spots, used the 12 step program to gain respite and insights, and worked daily on this way.

 

But even in the beginning, those moments of bliss did not happen out of the blue. I have had, in general, a good relationship with my God, from a young child on. Yes, like most teenagers, I went through a spell of questioning, the existence of God, but the example of my brother reaching through many difficulties during his quest for God, inspired me back into a belief that grew through the years. About three years before that ‘awakening’ event, both my wife and I made a Cursillo, which is a powerful, witness filled three day retreat, that brought my faith into full flower that has never relinquished. I joined the leadership group of the Cursillo and received much benefit from that relationship.

 

It was during the time immediately following the Event with God that I became aware of the glimmering concept that God had held me in the palm of God’s ‘hands’, sheltering me even when strong winds blew. When I lost my job along with 750 others in 1070, I was positive that I would find another job, and that God would guide me in my search for myself and my family, now having 5 children. Both my wife and myself left the future in God’s hands, and we just opened ourselves up for what came next. My mystic guide assured me that things would go well, and I devoted myself to my new job: finding the right job. The Sunday after being laid off there was a one-inch add in the New York Times job section that seemed written for me. It took a week to write a resume and my response with the help of my wife’s brother, a technical writer. I had a response in about three weeks, and in the first week in December I ventured up to Binghamton NY which lay close by the finger lake region for an interview.

 

My family and I had vacationed in that area the previous summer, and fallen in love with the green rolling hills and blue waters in the region. (Coincidence? I do not think so.) So when a job was offered we did not hesitate to accept. God was calling us to a new area and a new set of vocations. I started my job on the first working day of the new year, 1971; God found us a home on a mountain top with 8 acres and a half acre pond, and we are still here. God has surrounded us with beauty and grace, given us a lovely home, and reasonably good health.

 

And my prayer life has continued to this day.

 

And God has continued to bless us to this day.

 

Life problems? Yes, some severe, but with continued faith in God things are just fine thank you, and at age of almost 81 I am truly blessed in this life.

 

Commit to continued exploration of these sacred dimensions in my life

 

Today, after all this time, my day does not feel correct until I have at least some quiet time for prayer and meditation, and some additional time for spiritual reading. Both my wife and I pray and meditate together for about half an hour in the morning or when we can almost every day. Yes, sometimes things are hectic with early morning appointments (usually doctors at our age), but we find some time during the day for some prayer, either together or separate. We feel blessed that we have this time together.

 

We are always on the lookout for new ways to enhance our prayer time, new books from inspired authors to guide us, and other means to give us renewed and new insights into the mystery of the Divine. There is always more to understand and explore, and the vista into the future is grand indeed.

 

I will endeavor to pass these practices and purposes in my life to others seeking joy and happiness

 

Most of my spare time from family and work has been spent trying to pass the joy and happiness that I have found to others. Shortly after coming here in 1971, the very first day in fact, I talked with a pastor that was recommended to me and introduced myself, and asked about Cursillio, if there was any group in Binghamton. He said I should talk with ‘Dave’. I then went to evening Mass at 5, and at the sign of peace, the tall gentleman in front of me turned around and greeted me and introduced himself: “Dave”. Yep, the same. (Again, Coincidence? No way!) I started the movement in the diocese, and remained lay director for over 10 years, attempting to inspire those who joined us in a consistent life of prayer and walking with confidence with God.

 

In the mid-80s I joined a 12-step group, where I met my next guide, Tom Powers, who had Bill Wilson (the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) as his original sponsor and was a fountain of knowledge in both the 12-step guidance and the mystical path of wisdom. This group is a community about 75 miles from home. I stayed with that group and started several other groups, all for the purpose of guiding those who joined to a life of Joy and Happiness by walking a path with the Divine Wisdom, using the AA-12 step approach. This continued for about 20 years, until Tom had passed, and I became ill and had to take a few months off with MERSA, and found that the distance is too far to travel at my age on a weekly or more basis.

 

That led, eventually to the writing of this series of notes, where I continue to work to share my knowledge of the path to Joy and Happiness.

 

Yes, it does mean letting others know of the possibility of finding lasting Joy and Happiness. It saddens me when I see others searching for joy, using distraction after distraction, and not finding lasting joy and happiness. I have used groups and movements in this process, besides talking when an opportunity arises with others, about finding Joy and Happiness, despite what life hands one as a story.

 

It is said that when one attempts to teach others a topic, one always learns more than one teaches. This axiom is true for all things we teach. And it is true when walking the path of God also, as every time we tell another it firms up this Truth more deeply in our heart. It is true that these truths seem to now bubble up within me, ready to burst out at a moments notice. I am one of the fortunate ones, sensing that warmth of the Love of the Divine Wisdom at the edge of my awareness at all times.

 

God is one Who Shares. God shares Life especially, filling all life with a beauty beyond comparison. To walk a path with the Divine Wisdom means that, being made in the Image of God, we must share our bounty, both physical and spiritual, with all around us. That is the purpose that we are where we are, and all who are brought into our lives are brought there for a purpose, just as our presence in their lives has a purpose beyond just an accident.

 

There are no accidents under God. The Divine Wisdom and Order creates all for a purpose, so that we may live out experientially the Life of Divinity on a day-to-day level, experiencing this particular journey through physicality as to know Who We Are. When we do not share, either our physical bounty or our spiritual bounty, we do not grow, and we stunt our Truth at that moment, becoming less than Who We Are.

 

Thus we either share and grow, or hold back and shrink. That is how Life is. Life can never be static, but must always change either for the better or for the worse.

 

Now I was fortunate, in that God opened up opportunities for me to use the gifts given me in more formal ways. If anyone is open, the opportunities will abound But the best approach is to just Be. If one is living on the path of the Divine Wisdom, one is always filled with a level of Joy that shows on the outside and draws other to you. It is in the act of Being that we grow in Who We Are, and by Being we share just by our presence that God is in our lives. People wonder why I almost always have a smile on my face, and it is because the feeling of Joy is always present and asking to shine through me. Opportunities are always present to let others in on our “secret”, and the opportunities of volunteering an answer at an opportune moment or when asked will always occur. God will bring those open to hear the message into our lives at the appropriate moment in our and their lives.

 

And to practice these principles in all of my life.

 

When we walk the walk of a Life of Abundance in the pathway of the Divine Wisdom, we are to walk the talk, and to live out the path in everything we do. It becomes second nature as time goes on, and we would find it difficult to know otherwise.

 

The Key?

 

The daily quiet time.

 

Every Day.

 

Without fail.

 

I can attest, that if we live the life of a daily quiet time, trusting in the Wisdom of God, even if we find ourselves in situations that seem far from God, the Divine Wisdom will prevail and clear the paths in our lives. I found myself expressing myself in ways that were detrimental to my family, marriage, and my career, let alone the feeling of the presence the Divine wisdom in my life. God led me to seek out a community practicing the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous in combatting many other practices in life, including depression and anxiety. I eventually found out that I have a low level of clinical depression, which by changing some behavior patterns and keeping myself away from depressing events in books, television, and other situations, I was relieved of this sadness that often overrode my Joy, which was confusing to me to say the least. But this prolonged exposure to the 12 steps led me to firming up the process that I have been writing about in this variation of the 12 steps for finding Joy and Happiness. Having such a program in my life now clearly spelled out gives clarity to my points when I speak of the process, and has been a joyful pathway over the many years. The 12 steps spelled out, point by point, the path that I ha followed without realizing it, and because I had not the knowledge of the path when I was in trouble, I floundered for awhile, until the Divine Wisdom showed me the defined path that I have followed now for 30 years.

 

And the key, even when my behavior was way less than I desired, was that I never gave up on the quiet time in my life.

 

Coincidence? I do not believe so. These events have been a gift from the Divine Wisdom, leading me to be able see a path that I had been following without realizing the nature of the path, and to now be able to share this path with others.

 

I can now see clearly, that God has never, ever, let me down, and has always, in good times and bad, been there to guide me, sometimes hitting me firmly over the head to catch my attention, all of my life.

 

Step 12 Commit to continued exploration of these sacred dimensions in my life, I will endeavor to pass these practices and purposes in my life to others seeking joy and happiness, and to practice these principles in all of my life.

 

Meditation

 

Oh Divine Wisdom, I marvel, looking back on my life as I write these words, how Your guidance has always been present in my life, gently or firmly, depending on the situation, speaking through my guides of mentors, my wife, and the hundreds of books you have led me through in my lifetime, leading me through fair weather and stormy weather. I bow gratefully, and place my being in Your Presence, giving me respite even when the waves were seemingly overpowering. Your Shadow over me and in me has led me to a place of Peace, and I understand the path that You have led me through, and am grateful for this opportunity to share Your presence with all who come this way. May we all find the Peace and Joy that you promise us, and is ours for the asking in this life.