Hi All,
This cloudy damp morning on the dock, just as I was about to put pen to paper, a mother and baby dolphin swam by, about twenty feet away. The baby most interesting to me. Seemingly learning to catch food. Several times coming half way out of the water, body bending backward, underbelly exposed, with a small fish – one seemingly getting away – just ahead. Would this baby catch food sufficient for the morning? But, of course, the mother is there; the mother will provide food when skills are not yet honed to fully provide for self.
Words of the gospel echo in my mind…
“Do not worry about what you will eat…”
“Look at the birds in the sky… the way the wild flowers grow…”
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
From the perspective of existence, we naturally see and experience faith as a value, something we have value for and put value towards… from the perspective of existence, we see and experience faith as a value manifested as integrity. We expect integrity in the essential processes and systems that we depend upon for living our lives. When integrity is present in our systems, institutions, organizations, we can and do have faith in them, faith they will provide what they say they are providing: safe drinking water, safe food, protected assets we require to carry out our daily living, nurturing and nourishing environments for our children’s development, and on and on. We cannot see to all of this by ourselves, individually. As we entrust looking after such things to others, there is a matter of faith, faith in the integrity of the systems and processes providing that which is required for sustaining our existence. When integrity drops out, our faith diminishes… and as our faith diminishes we lose hope, hope for a better life now and into the future.
From the perspective of essence and spirit, we see and experience faith as a virtue out from which values are developed. From the perspective of essence, faith is reflected within ourselves, our community, our country in and through the active presence of intentionality… intent of the Source and intended ways of working of the life processes and systems of the ongoing creation. We look to/we see intent not from a “my will” perspective, but from a “Thy Will” perspective. Reflecting on intent, we have faith we will be given the gift of seeing, a seeing that makes possible our moving towards harmony with life and peace among all people on earth. This faith, this here and now living faith, is a faith in the intent of the Source, faith that we will be given – through openness, reflection and receptivity – all that we need for guiding the work before us… an echo of “do not worry about what you will eat…” For as we become seriously intentional, living from and with intentionality, we find ourselves moving towards harmony with the life processes of earth and towards true peace among all… we find we are being given all that we need for taking up our particular intended role and work – as members of life, as members of humanity – in bringing the world of our making into congruence with intent, with the world of intent.
And, as well, the seeing of intentionality provides guidance for/direction for the regeneration of integrity, an integrity that goes beyond the segmented part, an integrity that looks to the whole, to the life of the whole, that harmonizes with the whole of life and essential life processes on this earth in ways that are in keeping with the intent of the Source for the ongoing creative unfolding. We are experiencing a here and now living faith… a faith that leads to hope, the hope of advancing our humanness – taking the next step along the intended path of our becoming fully and truly human. We are finding ourselves moving away from human excusing – “we are only human” – and moving towards human becoming – becoming fully and truly human in the dignified image that is intended. We are experiencing real hope, the hope for peace among all people, and for living in harmony with the intended ongoing upward unfolding of life – all life – on this earth.
May your New Year be one of moving towards Harmony and Peace,
Sandra
