This post is the second part of a series of some lessons surrounding my recent near death experience. If you haven't read the first lesson, you may want to pause here and read the intro - I'm guessing it will help you set the context for what you are about to read. Here's the lessons, [...]
Most of us have heard stories of near-death experiences, also known as NDE. Maybe you’ve listened to someone on Oprah, read it in a book, or witnessed a close friend or relative walk through it. Hell, maybe you’ve had one of your own. My point is that when you read or listen to these stories, [...]
How often have you used the phrase, “it took my breath away?” The other day I pulled over to allow an ambulance safe passage. As I listened to the screaming vehicle fast approaching, the sound literally took my breath away. Finally I saw the ambulance come over the hill and the driver barely looked both [...]
Recently I was gravely ill… I heard my mom use that adjective with someone a few weeks ago when explaining what I had been through. Heavy, burdensome, hard to bear - these are all ways to define the root of the word, and all things I am experiencing. Mostly the “hard to bear” part lately. [...]
At the end of each December I think about intentions I may want to focus on for the next 365 days because I don’t do resolutions. However, I definitely do REVOLUTIONS. That’s what these questions, What if? and Why not? help create for us. I always have the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I am [...]
I just can’t take it anymore. I am soooo tired of this crap. And even those words fall short of the level of powerlessness alive in me. Millions of us who, like me, watch with horror, confusion, desperation and helplessness every time there is a mass shooting. This one in San Bernardino less than a [...]
So what exactly do I mean when I say you be peace and then you be peace? Well depending on who you ask, if you want peace in the world, you must “BE peace,” meaning you must first find peace in your heart through meditation, or other contemplative practices. You must look within and heal your [...]
Did you ever listen to the announcements at the airport about claiming your baggage? In case you didn’t know it, there is baggage claim etiquette: Make your bags easy to find, so buy a suitcase that is neon green or has purple polka dots. My favorite is the one with bright police-crime-scene tape wrapped around [...]
Rarely do I think about the spiritual journey as something fast. And yet, how often do I hear the phrase “a quickening of Spirit?” Just saying the word quickening, I can sense the energy ramping up inside me. Sometimes this energy feels frenetic, while at other times it feels lighthearted – like the easygoing innocence [...]
Disclaimer: This is a warning rant of the most irreverent Reverend Kelly. This is only a rant. The broadcasters of this blog in voluntary cooperation with absolutely no one have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of a real rant. If this had been an actual rant, the screaming you may [...]
Everywhere I look there are TV shows, articles, pictures, poems, reflections and pithy aphorisms about love, oneness and seeing or knowing God. If I didn’t know better I would think we were hungry, or even starving, to see Spirit! In our spiritual journey we seek to define God, to manifest Spirit, to know our faith and to live it. I sometimes find myself drifting in and out of knowing the Divine, and what it means to fully “see” God, or even to have faith in what I am doing.
One of the treasures in my life is the ability to lose myself in a song. Closing my eyes and allowing the words and music to play through me – to stop listening with my ears and listen with my heart. As the music washes over me, my mind relaxes, my breathing slows and I quietly drift into unexpected places of creation. This is the sacred discipline of deep listening, of being spiritually attentive through our hearing sense.
Take a strawberry into your hand. Notice the brilliant color, the sweet aroma, the texture of its seeds. Consider these as you sink your thumbnail into the skin of the strawberry… the membrane that so carefully holds the precious juice inside. Notice the burst of aroma and the spray of juice. Feel the sweet, sticky coolness [...]
When I hear the word “transition” the first thing that comes to mind are all the different ways to describe what it is. Here are just a few: change, passage from one state or place to another, transformation, segue, an evolutionary shift, conversion and so on. I think my favorite is “metamorphosis” because it typically [...]
Every year ministers, pastors, priests and the like spend time working on a talk for Easter Sunday, which seems like it wouldn’t be a big deal, right? I mean the story is already written, what’s to think about? Well for me, there is plenty to think about. Throughout my life Easter has evolved from the [...]
