How true healing works:

How to begin healing: true healing begins with forgiveness. We have to visit the Cross often for our own sins and the others who have sinned against us. We have to be little mini-priest, even within ourselves in order to move forward in life.

 That’s the basic practice: confession, into forgiveness, into thanks and perforce into praise. That is the pattern of healing and reconciliation. I’ve studied the healing process for years in therapy and counseling, it always starts with realizing your weak and wrong, and in need of a Higher help, and then forgiving others for their poor actions against you. We really can’t even grieve until we confess and forgive others. It’s a basic way towards wholeness.

 Reading an article today, again about the healing process…

One way to start healing is to start forgiving! This is true between family members and nations. Reading this today, made me think again today about the practicals of healing-forgiveness begins the process, for it makes room in us, for God to come in and dwell.

It’s a spiritual law about being human-if we want to heal, we have to forgive.

 Anyway, here’s the quote i liked from Leanne Payne again in a section of her book. “Restoring the Soul; completion in Christ through healing” (great book, insightful about what it means to be a human). This section was entitled, Failure to forgive Due to Being Out of Touch with One’s Heart.

“ In the day when people’s heads are so out of touch with their hearts. many have unforgiveness and do not realize it until, in prayer for healing the Holy Spirit reveals it.

 Often when praying with such persons, I find that a memory of abusive or abnormal behavior by another will come up. The person will not know he needs to forgive the offender. I will have to say, “You must confess this as a sin against you, and you must name it specifically for the sin that it is, and then, before God, extend forgiveness to the offender. The specific naming of the sin and of the offender is important. This is no abstract transaction, but a very real dealing before and with our God.” (Restoration of the Christian Soul, pg. 83) Good to recall the power of forgiveness in healing! It’s the starting point really.

 This is true between genders, generations, races, and nations! The basic principles of the Cross haven’t changed. Nice to be reminded today in study! We can’t avoid forgiveness in the healing journey.

We know that hourly confession of our own sins is a basic practice, as St John taught us. We start and end the day with confession, assuming we have sinned; then we move on in the way of His Cross to forgiving others. That’s the trajectory of our healing journey! For forgiveness is one of His Ways!

For the love of women!!!

 And, since I’m in the mood to share some of my raw thoughts today, also in my spare spiritual time, been praying for women.

  Wanted to share this prayer for all my female friends. Feels like the gender wars and confusion is one of the most basic dis-integrations happening in our time. It’s really in my eyes, an identity issue, but we need to see one another clearly. The scriptural categories to see women through are simple: bride, daughter, mother and grandmother. That’s about it. Let’s see one another purely, or as He does, so we can love one another into wholeness. So here’s for all my many women friends. Been praying for you! We are all poems of God worthy of dying for, if we saw one another correctly. So let’s lift one another up—especially between the genders and generations! We need it now. Here’s one, for the love of women:

  Blessings  for women everywhere-not worship, but blessings. I bless you specifically with safety to become who you are, being fully seen, protection and sanctity!

 Riding the wave of this wedding, and considering the gender contention around these elections, today I recalled standing there at the wedding last weekend, staring at all these beautiful daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers at one point, and feeling Father’s heart for all women. We are given those categories of sight in scripture to see women through–daughter, sister, bride, mother and grandmother. That’s it really. Good to remember.

  I try to do that in my heart and my imagination always. To be vigilant with our categories of perception is an essential tool now!

 Anything less is a broken image of how He sees us. I want to see people whole, especially women in our times, or closer to how He sees us. Seeing one another well is healing for us all, and is a discipline for both men and women. Let’s sanctify our imaginations to see  one another well, it helps–ie in alignment with Kingdom categories of vision. Then we will treat one another as kings and princes, queens and princesses–that is, as who we really are!

Sorry, every once and awhile, i just have a pure father moment….

  Listen women. I just want to bless you all from a place of wholeness (at least in this area) from a man of God (or one who is at least chasing after His Character), who is not in competition with you or wanting to abuse or use you, or who needs you for my own needs. And who tries not to form you in the image of my own needs-or objectify you, but to appreciate and encounter you as you are–a poem of God! Each so specially nuanced! And worthy of endless consideration, honoring and protection into becoming…

 Be blessed and seen women! I’m very thankful for you all. In the midst of so much confusion (in the midst of a crisis in distinctions-gender, authority and every other area!), just want you all to know how dearly you are loved, covered, and seen, adored cared and heart-warred for.

 Speaking from His father heart to you all. Be blessed lovely persons! Father love to you in the deeper spaces of your subtle, and unseen, and ever more beautifying  parts of your hearts. You are dearly loved cared for and seen. Sorry for all our sins against you, but we are here, and care about your journey, and will protect it. Much love, from father’s in Him, everywhere. D

From Jeremiah the prophet: two juxtaposed considerations! Sometimes my favorite quotes were already said: plus Jeremiah’s times were just like ours—fall and rise of empires, crisis in leadership, the need to hear God’s clear Voice of interpretation. Those willing to risk their lives to speak truth etc…Certain times in history are good lens through which to look at your own. We need Jeremiahs and Daniels these days!  Those who can manifest both the heart and mind of God. Anyway, these two verses spoke to me today.

“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it” (Jeremiah 18:7-8).

Something to consider, that i came across today.

God reminds us that the opposite is also true: “And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it” (verses 9-10).

I like spiritual pioneers! People who went further into the Life of The Spirit in their times than most. People like George MacDonald, CS Lewis, who went far in integrating the imagination into their relationship with God. Farther than much of the church has still come in this vital integration of creativity and spirituality. Allowing Christ to be Lord over more of the whole person. Those people always interest me. Some were artist or mystics, others farmers or fishermen. But they always catch my eye. Everyone has a unique style of pioneering.

 Mine is more a way, than a rule book. More a path, a pattern, a model, than a set of goals or destination. More a transformational journey judged by how deeply one was changed in the process.

  I like to think that I am a spiritual pioneer-if I had a card! Saw this emblem in Antwerp (photo to follow, soon as I find it! The image is of an astronaut on a skateboard with a white flag with the initial D on it, and it just says pioneer) last time over, and want to make a t-shirt of it to remind myself to keep exploring deeper into God and life (outer space and urban surfing are the two symbols in the image—i.e. Spirit and cities), and what is really Real; and how to align with it in every area of who i am.

  Plus, the style of skateboard and astronaut make sense to me! I want to be a pioneer to make a space for others to go further, more easily and swiftly. That’s one of my motivations for spiritual growth. I like people, and spiritual growth is essential for life even daily life to have meaning. If as D Willard says the three areas of: identity, purpose and power to live it well, are the three basic shared human needs; then life is about getting more clarity around each of these areas. It motivates me.  Spiritual discovery and becoming more mature in the things of The Spirit, has always been my motivation. Success for me, would be to become mature and Wise-more loving, more living in His Fruits—gentleness, patience kindness etc (Galatians 4). I want both to be and make a way. My name means “way or path, and guide”, so i’ve always try to wear my name better.

Jesus is Wisdom, so I’ll keep swimming in Him, and allowing His Life to form more fully in me as I forge on, or skate on! No reason to stop growing now! It’s just getting more interesting as we skate farther into Father. Pioneers of being…or metaphysical technicians, or spiritual plumbers, or skateboarding astronaut. I’ll keep working what to put on my card.

From an article i’m working on around true fatherhood and masculinity…

 Again reading this great book, “Crisis in masculinity” (Leanne Payne—great thinker and christian counselor)—very helpful, especially in an un-daded or poorly fathered generation. One take away: when there is a crisis in masculinity, there is a cultural crisis as well! We see this globally. She bases her healing and theology in The Father’s relationship to His Son, and our invitation to enter into it through the Life of Christ. (Basic Christianity)

Insecure masculinity is deadly, as we see daily in the news. When boys try to prove their strength out of insecurity it’s always violent or impotently passive. Remember, Jesus knew who He was even on the cross. He had been seen and named and validated by His Father. So He could actually lay down His Life. He was not a victim. He chose death, so we might live. He was secure in His identity, not in competition with His disciples. His masculinity was intact, so He did not need to be abusive to others.

 Dad approval and presence still matters…when a father sees his child not just in terms of his own needs, but in terms of their “way” it authenticates their lives. Raise up a child in their way—i.e. the path prepared by God beforehand for them. This can happen very early in life.

 My own dad validated and authenticated my personhood as a kid. That has been one of my own greatest gifts in life. Having a father who took an interest in me, and was very present with me, even though I was odd or as my grandmother said, “peculiar”. Many of my friends didn’t get that blessing. A dad who sees you and blesses you as you are, not in terms of their needs, but tuning into you, taking an interest in what interest you. So I carry that for others. It’s intact in me. That was gift from my earthly father.

 I’ve been validated as a person, and don’t have to compete to feel I exist, or prove my voice. As a result other fathers feel safe with me—like I’m not in competition with them to be cool or find the biggest buffalo. When your personhood feels seen and validated you no longer project your self worth out into your activities in life. You are no longer competing to exist or be. Often unvalidated men, will feel they must yell to be seen—like a teenager driving a sports car, so many men and women live out their whole lives trying to prove to the universe they are worthy and can carve. That they exist. Some men carve in their sleep never really at rest with their own beings or God’s.

Because I was blessed by my dad, i never doubted my Father’s voice. I never struggled to feel close, seen loved by The Heavenly Father. My relationship with my earthly dad transferred over to my Heavenly dad. Many did not receive that type of validation—most of my friends had distant absent or abusive fathers. That is a different journey to God with its own struggles. A journey to correct our image of The Heavenly Father. To re-align our imaginations with a true image of who Father God actually is.

 Jesus came to reveal the Father-that was His highest mission.

 This father image in us, has to be readjusted (sometimes cleansed from “religious” symbols as well) to what is True about Father God. That He is loving, kind, slow to anger, gentle, a good listener, One who protects our growth, and searches and knows us, even more than we know ourselves etc.

 If you weren’t seen by your earthly dad, I’m sorry for you, and stand in that gap of fatherhood for you. You are validated. No longer needing to prove you exist, or be in competition to prove your worth. Now, forgive your earthly fathers for not being God, and switch over the The Real God Father! He is waiting to approve name and bless you.

I’ve been thinking lots about the need for dad validation especially from The Heavenly dad. Dad affirms both your masculinity and femininity. Your carver and receiver. So you can be out in the world carving and receive the Voice and Presence of God. We need both working in tandem with us, and both aspects must be father blessed or validated in us, preferably as children, but certainly as we get older; so we stop being in competition to exist with everyone, and can rest in our own beings in Him. And so we can just be with God, and get to know Him outside our own selves—God for God’s sake, not just what He gives us. But first we must feel safe to be. That we are welcomed and seen on the earth. Our jobs or success cannot validate us or prove we are. That has to ultimately come from Father God.

Blessing to be.

The Father sees and validates the life of The Son. We once entering the life of His Son—become sons and daughters, and enter that space of Father validation.

Our validation is through The Father’s blessing over His Son—we, as Henri Nouwen put it, are caught into the Father’s declaration that His Son is beloved! So regardless of what we received from our earthly fathers, when we come to the Son we come under His Father’s blessings over Him. The Father saw and validated His Son always, and we enter that endless validation from The Father into The Life of Christ, which is whose name we have entered as Christians.

 So, we are highly seen a validated, not by our jobs or outward activities, but into our hearts of beings. We enter into this active ongoing blessing. This is My Son in whom I am well pleased. Let’s enter more deeply into that space of loving knowing, of approval and adoration. It’s part of who we are “in Christ”.

 Many did not receive this blessing from earthly fathers. I’m sorry for that. But we can receive it now in Christ. We are blessed, adored, seen validated adored to the bone of our beings. Be blessed with a father’s blessings today!

 I was blessed to be seen an authenticated by my earthly father when very young. So it was easier for me to trust The Heavenly Father’s blessing and hear His words of Love. I never remember feeling unwelcome in the universe. That is a father’s blessing and its potency towards being. I’ve tried to give that to others in life. Not in competition with them, but in mutual blessing and being seen for who others are-not just in terms of my needs and projections onto them. Just to see and bless others is hugely healing. And we need more spiritual fathers to bless people into their authentic selves. Let’s be safe blessers of many. Authenticators and validators and protectors of one another’s lives. Once named, we become namers. It is a pleasure to name in His Tone of Love.

 His Voice is always what is in the tone of Love. That’s a key to hearing God. His Voice is also always saying His Son and by extension, we too are beloved! Be beloved this day.

  It would be a good study to look in scriptures who was and was not validated by their earthly fathers, and how that effected their spiritual growth. I think I’ll do that study. David was, Moses wasn’t, Jesus was, by both earthly and heavenly father…hum….If you weren’t validated, then you have a unique opportunity to know The Father, and become a spiritual parent. If you were, your path is also unique to enter into that Rest between Father and Son, where all the world is transformed by their mutual Love for one another.

 If basic Christianity is to be caught up in the Father’s relationship with His Son. Then understanding—knowing and loving and seeing- The True Heavenly Father and allowing His Presence to touch and form us, still matters! That space between them is our home. And The Father wants to authenticate and validate us through The Life of His Son. Enjoying meditating of His Fatherhood this season.

The new saints are coming!

It’s not easy being a saint! Or even wanting to become one, especially through Texas Summers, as this one has been!

 Sometimes it’s time to replace your saints, there is a changing of the guards. This St Francis (the old irish catholic family who lived here, left him to hold the fort), has been with us since we bought this house many years ago. He served well, welcoming the animals, and representing healing for the earth.

 He always reminds me of my Noah calling to love and protect creation; and also the squirrels like him. The same saint shows up in our place in San Fran!

 But it’s not easy being a saint, and the wear and tear of being on earth, eventually causes your shoulders to fall off, and your wires to show.

 I found his younger brother for him this week, and brought in some re-inforcement.  A replacement saint! A second string saint. I relate to that.

 These are the days we are in. Time for new saints to step up to the plate, or mold, as they say. Time for a new style of leadership. A leaner meaner, in kindness of course, more direct authentic, transparent, story telling saint.

 I think the older one felt relieved! He did well, and is still standing, though gaunt at best—yet, he ran the race, or held a space of Peace, really well. Well done, old saint.

 Now to new seasons, new generations of understanding how to interpret, steward and bless creation and one another! We need lean saints now, ready to run with wisdom, and like Jeremiah, interpret the times from the heart and mind. Hopefully this new guy is up to the task. That’s my prayer for him; I’m praying I am also!

Choose your saints wisely, just like your enemies, because they do define you, in the end. Anyway, it was time for a new garden in the city saint. A garden in the city saint, i’m interested in that profession.

We have owls on our land. The only time you can hear them is when they flap their wings, just before alighting or hunting downwards. Otherwise, you have to just sense their presence. Sometimes I’ll sense one above me. When you do, you have to not look at them too quickly, but turn slowly, from your being, and behold one another (it becomes an I-owl, I

-thou moment between the two of you, if you do it right). I’ve gotten to see several this way, and we saw one another presence to presence. Happened again this evening. Owls reflect and participate in a special part of God. I love encountering them!

Live it first, or become it; express it until it’s clear to yourself, then teach it, or pass it on, into good soil, which can receive and reproduce it, way past you.