Some Things I Believe

1.     God loves me unconditionally…always has…always will.  “Nothing shall separate me from the love of God. . .”  (Romans 8:38-39).

2.     Grace is freely given, unmerited, unearned, eternally, always present.

3.     When I’m upset with another, it is an opportunity to look into the mirror at myself.  What upsets me most in another, is a part of my denied self, therefore the most annoying people are my teachers.

4.     To know myself, at the deepest level, is to know God.

5.     Forgiveness (non-judgment) is the answer.  Unforgiveness is poison to the body and the soul.  Ultimate goal is not to judge in the first place.

6.     My perception becomes my reality.  I can choose to see things differently.  A true miracle is not a change of circumstances, but rather a change in perception.

7.     Honor the NOW.  It’s all I have.  The past is gone, therefore guilt serves no purpose.  The future is yet to come, therefore worry serves no purpose.  Both the past and the future intrude upon the now….if I live in either of these places, I lose the golden NOW.

8.     Control is an allusion.  Quit striving to make it real.  The paradox is that when I give it up (let go), it is then that I gain the knowledge and assurance that God is in contol.

9.     Giving and Receiving are the same.  So what is sacrifice?  If another has needs, it’s my privlege to help him.

10.  Personal Integrity:  what I do when no one else is present…what I would do if I knew that no one else would find out, is the key.

11.  The Test:  When there is congruency, my outside and inside match.  My actions, the way I spend my time, my daily choices, match what I say I believe.

12.  When I can stay in a state of Gratitude, there isn’t much room left for griping, “out of sortness”, depression.  “In all things, give thanks.”  Look for the lessons, even in tragedy and loss.

13.  We are not physical beings, here to learn spiritual lessons, but rather we are spiritual beings, housed in a physical body.  The spiritual being is eternal.

14.  Opportunities to learn lessons repeat until we “get it.”  I keep seeing people come into my life with the same issues I’m dealing with.

15.  We learn mostly through relationships.  Though there is value in personal meditation (centering, allowing God to speak, allowing insights to come), we are challenged most in relationships.  When it’s people I find difficult to like, I need to ask, “What can I learn from you?”  “Why are you in my life and I in yours?”

16.  While I personally speak of “yielding control to God,” for others the words, “the Universe”, “the higher self”, etc. could be substituted to produce the same principle.  “Going with the flow”, “not bucking the tide”….all resonate with me.

17.  We are all one.  Our most basic needs and desires are the same…to be loved, accepted, valued, truly known, supported,  cared about.

18.  My need to “understand why” often gets in the way of getting on with the lessons. I need to learn.  And it can be an excuse not to get on with them.

19.  Life is eternal.  Though for me, this is a certainty, it is not essential for living a happy life here on earth.  It is “icing on the cake.”  Death is not the final answer, but a step to some different level or dimension.  My spirit is with God  Whatever form that takes, it’s good enough!

20.  To ME, Jesus is the face of God…showing me how to live.  I no longer struggle with how much of my childhood dogma I can still accept as literal.  There is TRUTH that far exceeds the stories, and sometimes gets bypassed by worrying whether or not the story literally happened.  What I “believe about” something is a mental exercise.  The translation of  “to believe in” (from Latin/Greek) actually means “to give one’s heart to”, which implies to me far more significance than a mental exercise.  Whether or not it can be proved that each story (passed down through many years after Jesus was on earth) occurred as written, what IS vital to me is my growing relationship with “the living Christ”, “the Spirit of God”.  Far more important is asking for guidance in my life each day, and trying to live as Jesus modeled for us…loving, forgiving, and showing compassion for all people.

My beliefs are not static, since I am continuing on a journey, not yet having reached my goal…and I plan to stay open to further guidance by the Holy Spirit.

This list, then , may never be “complete” and I may add to it from time to time.