January 30 Message - Open Doorways
" The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind"
E. B. White
An open doorway is a metaphor for opportunity and a new beginning. In order to even consider going through a doorway, one must first see that it is there. How many doorways have you missed in your life? How many would you have gone through if you had seen them? How many did you see but assume were locked without even checking? How would your life have been different if you had walked through some of those doors?
A few gifted souls are very adept at discerning the open doorways provided to them. Many more, though, are blinded to what is readily available to them and see a brick wall instead of an open door.
They are either too indifferent or too confused or too wounded to be able to see the doorways, make the correct choices and walk into the light.
Today's message is about doorways... and choices
Opening Blessing
Essentially this lesson is about choices so let us begin by choosing to bless ourselves and each other with love.
Message
Once in another world in another time, there lived a little stranger who wandered lost in a strange land. She had once been a wild nomad who roamed freely on an island paradise. That carefree existence ended, however, when she was exiled to the cold, dark land of the giants. In this dismal new existance, she carried many heavy burdens on her back. The burdens slowed her down but she was not overcome by them because though she was small, she was very sturdy. Yes, she occasionally had to pause to shift the weight on her shoulders, but she would lift her head high, pull her dark curls out of her eyes, take a deep breath and trudge on.
Onward she plodded...ever onward. She refused to stop her journey because she carried a hope in her heart. She hoped to somehow return to the land of her childhood and find her paradise again. She thought that if she could find her way back, the burdens would evaporate. Then she would be free, full of joy and light-hearted again. Not too light, of course....not so light that she could fly. The little stranger had once believed she could fly. She knew better now. That had just been a little girl's dream. It had seemed very real at the time but, of course. it was not. Noone can fly. A strange thing happened, though, once she understood that she could not fly, she stopped dreaming about flying.
Still, even if she could not fly, she would be content just to walk the beaches of her island once more. She would not mind being bound to the earth if she could just be free of the burdens and warm and happy inside again. That was why she continued wandering aimlessly along the rocky terrain of this foreign land. She had no directions, no map but she had a hope. So she kept walking and kept looking. She was searching for something familiar....the smallest sign that she was getting closer to her goal. She looked in every direction but there was nothing. Everything in the land of the Giants was grey and cold and hard. There was no tropic sun...only clouds and mist. There were no gentle tradewinds...only icy, cold blasts that stung her face. But she continued on bravely and kept searching.
The more she wandered, the more lost she became. She met others along the way and asked them if they knew the way to her island. They were no help. They were just as lost as she was. Some were giants and some were strangers like herself. Everyone went their own way for there were no paths to follow. Sometimes a few lost souls would try to band together but these unions never succeeded. Even when traveling in groups, everyone was alone. Everyone carried burdens that were so large and cumbersome that they prevented any closeness.
One day while she was trudging onward, the little stranger began to wonder if there might be another way. She had following the same course of action for so long with no result in sight. But what else could she do? She knew her island was not behind her because she has already been that way.
Staying in one place would not help her get any further. Resting was not an option in the land of the giants. The little stranger knew the dangers of resting. The giants warned her that those who rest are lost forever. She had seen it with her own eyes. Strangers would be overcome and decide that they did not want to participate any more in this wearisome journey. The moment they stopped, they suddenly disappeared and were never seen again. It was as if they mysteriously evaporated into nothingness.
As the little stranger was pondering her options (or rather, her lack of options) tears came to her eyes. She was so used to tears by now that she did not even notice they were there until she tasted the salt in her mouth. She thought about the days long ago before she knew how to cry. She thought of one very special night when she flew into the heavens and met star children. She remembered how she had felt a part of them....the joy of belonging to a greater whole. It was the first and only time in her life that she KNEW she was a part of something bigger than herself. She found her place in the universe and was enveloped in its love.
Her soul ached to commune with the heavens again. Then she remembered that the night with the star children was only a dream. It had to be a dream because little girls cannot fly. She felt more alone and isolated than ever.
At that moment, she cried out without words. It was not her voice crying. Her soul was crying for her. "Father...Mother...Help me."
A small, still voice answered her cry softly....ever so softly. It sounded like the faint rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze. She thought she recognized the voice but she could not quite make out what it said. She listened harder.... Where is it coming from? She looked around. No one was there. She listened again to try to find the direction of the voice. It whispered lightly. The voice was soft, peaceful...so soft that even her own footsteps drowned it out. She was so mesmerized by the sound that she did something she would never normally do. She stopped walking and stood very still to hear the voice.
Once she stopped moving she could hear what it said. It whispered quietly, " There is a Way." The hope inside her grew stronger because now she could recognize the voice. It was the same voice that would call to her each morning when she lived in paradise. It was her Mother, the Wind. As soon as she recognized the voice she felt a familiar warm glow flow over her. For whenever Mother Wind calls, the presence Father Sun is near by.
"Mother, is that you? Where have You and Father been? Mother Wind replied we have been right here all along. The little stranger was perplexed. " Why have I not heard you before? Mother Wind reminded the little stranger that she had alway heard her Mother and Father best when she was resting quietly and it had been a long long time since the nomad had stood still. The nomad then remembered that she had stopped moving and yet she had not disappeared. Maybe the giants were wrong? Maybe standing still was actually the way to paradise?
The little stranger looked around expecting to be on her green island again but all was grey and cold. "Mother...Father....where are you? Where is the Way?" She looked all around herself searching for a path to reveal itself. The voice said, "No, you are looking in the wrong direction...what you see was created by lost souls. Our Way is different you can not see it with your eyes. You must see it with your heart. Close your eyes....look with your heart."
She closed her eyes and saw an open door filled with light. But her heart was wounded and it's vision was no longer pure. She could only see fuzzy outlines in the light. Mother Wind reminded the little nomad that the wounds were there only because she chose to retain them. "Let them go, little nomad. Do not accept them any more" The little nomad asked, "How can I ever let them go?". She had tried before but the wounds kept returning. Mother Wind sighed one word. "Forgive" The little nomad opened up her heart and let the word enter in. She forgave the giant who first wounded her heart. She forgave everyone and everything that had ever given her pain. The wounds melted away in a sea of forgiveness. No scar remained and her vision returned.
The light became golden sunshine and the fuzzy outlines were the palm trees and ocean of her lovely little green island. It was still there just the same as she remembered in her dreams. Were they dreams....or reality...or was reality the dream? She had to know. She asked Mother Wind, Please tell me...tell me...am I dreaming?
Mother Wind said, "The island and the land of the Giants are both reality and both illusions at the same time." For you are standing in the same place you were before. The only thing that has changed is your heart.
Then the little nomad walked through the doorway into the light. She never to returned to the land of the giants because now she knew the secret. Where we live is our choice.
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Psalm 46:10
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthian 2:14
3"Blessed are the humble in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Matthew 5:3
"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
Luke 17:20-21
Closing Prayer
Mother and Father call to us today. Show us the light within. Keep our vision pure and guide us through the door that you have already opened....the one that leads to the kingdom of heaven.
Amen
Comments
WOW !!! This is your calling, Sweet Girl !!! God Bless you !!!
Posted by: Shirley A. Smith-Rhodes | January 31, 2010 07:44 AM