The End of Times or Just the Beginning?

I talk to people all over the country.  They seem to have a lot of questions and want answers — today!

3509350152 b37650f1df m The End of Times or Just the Beginning?They mostly seem troubled, stuck, overwhelmed and scared but one question they unanimously ask is: “What’s next for me?”

“I don’t know,” I respond.  “Why don’t you tell me about yourself first?”  And so we begin a conversation.  An exchange.  We immediately switch from them asking me to them asking themselves.  Before they know it, they are no longer looking outside of themselves for the answers but rather inside themselves.

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The Loving Mother Within

I attend a small church.  By small — I mean — 100 members give or take.  We may be a small community but rich in many ways.  Recently, two of  our members passed away within six months of each other.  Granted, they both lived long lives, but the wisdom vacuum they leave behind will definitely be hard to fill.5671957090 043ae6b540 m The Loving Mother Within

 

Then this past weekend, we lost a single mother in the prime of her life.  This summer, she shocked us all with a stage-four cancer diagnosis and before we knew it — she was gone — leaving behind a teen-age son.  All this loss seems to be taking a toll on this tiny little church, shaking well-established paradigms of faith and posing all sorts of questions.

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2012, It’s Up to Us Now!

 2012, Its Up to Us Now!

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So much speculation about 2012.  The ancient Mayan calendar predicts doomsday.  The fundamentalists talk about the rapture.  The New Agers call it a shift to a higher consciousness.  So what is it really?  I don’t think anyone really knows for sure but it’s hard not to notice that something is going on.

Whether it’s the global economy, the weather or political mayhem, most people would probably say that they are being affected by these changes on a personal level.  So why all the angst?  My guess is it’s because we don’t like change.  Who does?  It’s uncomfortable, it’s weird and it’s just plain annoying to not know the future.

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Create Your Own Beatitudes

300px Scroll Create Your Own Beatitudes

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Last Friday, I attended something called the Spiritual Spa at the Carondelet Center in St. Paul.  I was hoping to get some time to just relax, draw, journal, whatever.  I ended up getting some of that and so much more   Before lunch, we, the Spiritual Spa participants, were invited to collect ourselves in a room for a directed meditation by a nun from the Center.  She told us about her idea of dusting off the old Beatitudes in the Bibleand making them her own.

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