JOY IN DIRECTIONS AND VISIONS (Post 187)

August 14, 2016

A good man[woman] doubles the length of his[her] existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past life is to live twice.
- Martial

The best thing to save for your old age is yourself.
- Arthur W. A. Cowan

Well, reader friends, I truly have not lived twice yet but, yes, as per Martial, reminiscing and going back over past joy-filled moments does feel like living them all over again. So packed with awesome wonder, those extraordinary mind and soul-boggling snippets of time do come to life. Amazed, I experience that very specific realness once more! It must be, then, that I repeated one of those JOY- stories in the GRM BLOG. (OR is it old age?) My apologies! You’ll find a more emotion-filled version entitled “Memories of Care” in Post 117, May 2019. Hopefully, having saved face, let’s move on.

Years and years ago, I became to know and very much appreciate Catherine Marshall’s writings. In particular, The Helper guided me through heartbreaking grief following my mother’s sudden death. She chronicled her spiritual journey with the Holy Spirit’s help during young widowhood days. So real did she express her grief and the clear companionship of Divine comfort! I not only empathized with her intense sadness, I wanted, personally, to meet the Holy Spirit.

Of course, I had had Christian education from toddlerhood on, but the Holy Spirit teachings eluded me. I devoured the book and wanted to know more. Soon enough, I began to understand more clearly several past experiences as Divine encounters that would later make even more sense. Check out GRM BLOG POST 158, April 27, 2023.

Specifically, like Marshall (as related in The Helper), my relationship with the Holy Spirit grew personal and practical. Basic how-to and help-me-understand pleas have become common “conversations”. Then too, COMFORT is one of the Holy Spirit’s specialties!

Mentioning, again, the above-noted Post 117, May 2019 “Cross in the Sand” experience, there is one emphasis I do want to make before going any further. Truly it’s an amazing relation of God’s great timing. However, the first time I shared this story in the form of a sermon, I was mentoring under the guidance of an appointed senior pastor. This was all part of the official clergy-training process. No clergy appointment yet. Quite a new-bee! When I came to the last paragraph, before the final sentence, I posed the question, Have you ever found a cross in the sand, particularly when you were asking God about your recently passed loved one?

Oh, ouch! Sounds somewhat braggy … like only a privileged person would be privy to such a unique experience. My very kind senior pastor gently pointed this out to me. I took his comments home and thought – and thought more – about it. He was absolutely right. It’s a sentence I have since marked off and never included again. You see, JOY MOMENTS are unique to the individual person-to-God relationship. They may be mine to share OR not … depending on each situation. PLUS, it’s not a contest … not a comparison game. A JOY MOMENT is an invitation to appreciate the Divine … in other words, a one with One experience.

That being said, many folks have shared with me how holy scripture and sacred writings have spoken to them in myriad different times and ways. They may be in the midst of reading such material and, suddenly, a brand-new thought or meaningful message is realized. Moreover, I’ll hear others talk about how a certain scripture passage will enter their minds. They look it up and – lo and behold - its message is entirely meant for them in their particular circumstance. This has happened to me, as well. It may be a familiar passage or one never before contemplated!

Once during an especially pressing time, I sensed my being directed to look up a certain page of a book about a missionary to northern Africa. I looked it up and there was an incredibly, inspiring account that encouraged me beyond words.

Sometimes, individuals share that visions have been “seen” with a strong sense of Divine accompaniment. Often, they may evoke encouragement for many different reasons. As well, shared visions can be exciting! A very surprising one was the vision I had of an interior view of a one-room church that closed and then re-opened as a community thrift store. The vision was very precise and detailed with merchandise, neatly and completely, filling the entire single room. Then in the vision, I tripped entering through the front door. Not long after, the organizing ladies invited me to come and bring anything I had to add to the inventory. A day later, I went, entered through the front door, and tripped (inadvertently) - on a rug rolled up just on the inside of that entryway. Not only had that been in the “vision” but as I looked out over the single room, I was totally amazed – the area perfectly mirrored my vision, down to the organization and composition of the “new” store’s packed contents! I will never forget that experience, including the tripping!

It has been a while since I have included a Work Sheet in the Posts. Lately, Nudges to do so have continued. With the topic of JOY, a Work Sheet, seamed counterintuitive. Rather, I’ll try the title PONDERING JOY.

PONDERING JOY

Referencing GRM BLOG POST 112, December 2018, JOY! Create your own personal responses to the following expressions, terms, and/or quotes.

With the assurance that God knows each one of us completely and intimately, JOY comes from our holding on to God’s promise of His divine presence that will accompany us, no matter what. .____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

God knows us through and through: God knows our bodies, our minds, our emotions, and our spirits … and still, God loves us.

God WILL NOT leave us alone – though we may feel differently.

JOY then, comes to us – and becomes a living part of us – when we openly receive the peace God is offering (in order for us to accept and respond, in trust, to God’s wisdom and Divine plan for us)

JOY is found in what has been called our heart-memories … our recall of times when we know that we know that God spoke to us … when, by Divine mystery, God lifted the veil between heaven and earth - and we experienced a glory that could never be explained in human terms. JOY reassures that the Divine is real

If we regard JOY as a gifted presence of the Divine in our individual lives, then, is it not wondrous that the Triune God, Father/Son/Holy Spirit, also experiences JOY when we do?!! Think of this: when JOY comes to us through a recalling of a heart-memory OR a present happening, God is sharing this same JOY with us! In other words, we are at-one with God. We are experiencing the same JOY together

I’ll let James A. Garfield provide our final pondering moment.