Teaching true spirituality to our kids.

Happy Mothers Day - to all the primary care takers of our children.  What is it that you hope to teach your kids?  I'm always hoping that I'm passing on God's love to my children. 3 things to consider: How am I living? What do I believe? What do I say?  The pattern of our life, the principles that govern us and the power of our words is what teaches our children about spirituality.  Teaching them how to be good little humans so they can make a kind, loving, accepting contribution to this world. Helping them navigate matters of the heart as they are here  living on earth, not hiding them from what we fear here on earth.  As we teach our kids to be "Godly" - think about who God is.  Number one and most importantly - God is LOVE!  If we teach our kids love we teach them the very heart of God.  We model love and acceptance by our actions.  If our words about others don't match our actions our children see that.  They will learn to live a dualistic life if we as parents don't learn to live in unity - mind, body and spirit.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  If you say you forgive - then drop it let it go, don't keep holding a grudge.  If you say you like something, don't talk about how much  you actually think it sucks.  If you are teaching to love without judgement, don't speak unkind words about those you don't agree with.  If you are teaching them to trust God and that He is a faithful provider - then don't stress out about money and worry that you don't have enough.  God is either generous or stingy.  What is it that you want your kids to believe about God?  What you do, what you say and what you believe is what you are passing on to your children.  How wonderful to be able to leave a monetary  inheritance BUT don't forget about the most important inheritance that you will pass onto your kids.  Money will only take you so far in life.  Money can't buy the most important inheritance we pass on to our children - LOVE!

Practice being human - spirituality without love is worthless.

Abraham Maslow says that one cannot meet higher needs at any level of depth if the lesser needs are not first tended to.  Jesus says when you are “worried about many things” (Luke 10:41), you cannot have faith. When you cannot enjoy the lilies of the field or the sparrows in the sky, don’t waste time thinking you can enjoy God.   Trying to be spiritual before we have learned how to be human is a major problem. Maybe this is why Jesus came to model humanity for us—much more than divinity.  Sometimes in pursuit of spirituality we become so "holier-then-thou"  we are no good to humanity.  Keep it real and remember you are only human.   Start with your God given birth right...to simply love and be loved. That is where it all begins.  Start with the basic things - love your pet, love your garden, love your job, love cooking, love studying, love your dinner, love the ocean, love your family, love your friends, love jogging, love taking a walk, love playing sports, love watching sports,  love your hobby - just start enjoying what it is that you love in your life. Enjoy the good things - take it all in. If we start at the most simple, basic human level God will take it all from there. Get the human thing down and you will have all the spirituality that you can handle.  (Adapted from Richard's daily meditations)

Got guilt? Get present.

One of the most effective ways to let go of guilt is to be present.  I just got back from Vegas with my mom and son for a basketball tournament.  My son made an interesting observation; "you know what I hate most about Vegas? The mornings.  You can just feel the heaviness and darkness of peoples guilt." He's right, guilt and regret is a heavy load to carry. Guilt sucks!  Guilt seeks punishment and punishment creates pain.  When we are hung up on yesterday we can't move into the NOW - we stay stuck and hurt.  Choosing to live with guilt is a painful existence. Life is to precious to carry the weight of the past with you! Make a choice to let go, make changes where needed and let your real life begin.  We aren't living our real life when we live with guilt and regret. Instead we are reliving our past life over and over again, insisting on punishing our self over and over again creating more and more pain. Our real life is one that can be full of healing, love, forgiveness, happiness, peace and joy. We can't just sit around waiting and hoping for our real life to begin we have to CHOOSE to walk INTO the present and walk OUT of the past. God's presence is in the present and His mercies and blessings are new every day. Today brings life, yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't promised...so let your real life begin today.