  Spiritual
This week: To Everything There is a Season - or Not Edited by: Sophy  
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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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To Everything There is a Season - or Not
“You died on a Saturday morning and I had you placed here under our tree. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time.” ~ Forrest Gump
Like Forrest’s momma, my mother was a believer that life had intention and purpose, and that all that happens to us is according to some kind of plan or destiny. My father was more like Lieutenant Dan. As parents they balanced each other well, and we kids got a dose of both philosophies growing up. All these years later I’d say my sister is more like Mom now, while my brother is more like Dad. As the youngest I’m more like Forrest and walk with one foot in both camps. Some days it all seems like a crap shoot, while others I tremble with a sense of awe, connectedness and synchronicity. The latter happened recently.
A year ago this week I was in California at my mother’s hospital bedside with my siblings, nieces, and dear family friends, hoping my mother would pull out one more miracle and survive her latest health trauma. It was not meant to be, and she died a few days later – on Friday we will commemorate the one year anniversary of her death. Over the course of the past year as we have been dealing with our loss in our own ways, my siblings and I have also been trying to get her house cleaned out and on the market so we can settle and close her estate. My sister, upon whom most of the work fell, appreciates and embraces the spiritual significance of timing, and wanted to get the house on the market May 1 because she believed the house was meant to sell in May and bring things full circle with Mom’s death on May 31. Thanks to her hard work the house went on the market, not on May 1 as she hoped due to several unforeseen problems, but instead the sign went into the yard on Saturday, May 11 – on what would have been Mom’s 85th birthday. By Tuesday we had 10 offers to consider.
As we sorted through the paperwork on potential buyers with the help of our Realtor, who is also a friend, my sister was anxious and began to second guess herself – she wanted a sign that we were doing the right thing by selling the house and not finding a way to keep childhood home in the family. We all agreed previously when we did sell it, we wanted to try and find the right people – people who would put down roots there, as my parents had done 55 years earlier. As we considered our options, the three of us ending up choosing the same offer we liked best. It was not only higher than our asking price, which was nice, but it appeared that it was going to be bought by a young couple who would hopefully raise their children there – unlike half the offers coming from “investors” who wanted to rent the property. My sister asked our Realtor which was his standout, and he said the one we picked, and then he put the icing on the cake. Quoting from my sister’s email, “This nice couple wants the house because they are both employed by Disneyland. I immediately started to cry, and told him they had our vote. I am still crying as I write this. If these are the new owners, well, we know it was meant to be.”
The next day we got more information about the couple. They were the only ones among the 10 offers who actually went to the house and walked through it. They fell in love with the house, yard, and rose garden, and couldn’t wait to move in and make it their own. We found out that the young man is very handy, like my father, and was looking forward to fixing up the house. They are getting married in the fall, and he grew up a few blocks away from Mom’s house. They are excited to move Anaheim and shorten their commutes to the place they both work - Disneyland - where my dad was employed for 32 years. This was the sign sister wanted, and we are now in the midst of a 30 day escrow hoping the deal goes through and we sell the house to these people who seem meant to be. Was this meant to be, or was it random?
All of this transpired while I was on vacation in North Carolina, and thanks to modern technology I was able to keep up with the action, sign documents I needed to electronically, and be part of the process in a timely manner. We were staying in a cabin on a pond in the mountains, a different cabin in the same location we stayed last May, whereupon a day after we returned home, I got the call about Mom being in the hospital. This year when I discovered that the sheets on our bed were the same sheets my mom had on her bed in California – sheets covered in pink roses, I took a picture of them, and texted it to my sister. Her reply: “Of course.
So what do y’all think? Was Forrest’s Momma right, or was Lieutenant Dan? Do we each have a destiny, or are we all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze? Or both? Does it matter?
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Now for some comments about my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (May 1, 2013)" about the one thing you know for sure, which seems to have struck a chord:
From ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy 
Two rules I live by, my secrets to life:
"Life is too short to be unhappy" so live the moments finding joy and the good; and make decisions that create joy and happiness even when the decision seems to difficult.
"Enjoy the age that you are because you can never be this age again" whether its being age six and starting school, age twelve before the responsibility of adolesence, age 22 graduating from college with the world of career and adulthood ahead; or as I am now, 75 with fewer years available ahead so I enjoy each day as if there's only one more left.
I love your newsletter; keep the messages for the human spirit going as you've done so far. ANN
Thanks so much for your wise, and kind words.
     
From Fi
The one thing I know for sure is… God loves me and I love Him.
From Zeke 
The secret of life, in my opinion, is to follow the instructions of Jesus completely.
How's that working out for you? 
From Deb
The one thing I know for sure is God is real! Your statement that there is one "God" but many paths is truely a secret of life as well! We can not discount the religion of others and spirituality that does not fall into our box. I lost my beautiful daughter 5 years ago and she told me two weeks before she died that she couldn't believe that all of the people who choose to follow different paths would not make it to heaven. God is real. He manifests Himself to each of us differently. Thanks for the thought provoking newsletter!
Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
From Quick-Quill 
In the answer to your question-I know where I will go when I die. It doesn't matter when or where, but the next step is set in my heart and mind. That is what is important to me. Everything I do is with that in mind.
So you live this life with your mind only on what happens after you die? What about living in this moment? Honest question, no disrespect intended. Just wonder how you can fully live this precious life we have now if your mind is only on the after life?
From Mark Allen Mc Lemore
The one thing I know for sure is the people who are "real" to me have never said they were "real" to me and those who talk about how "real" they are- are truly fake. What it means to be "real" is I can confide in a person personally and it never comes back to me through another person, or if there is something wrong I hear it from them directly and not someone else. Those who have told me they were real ended up judging me and then doing the same, if not worse, than what I was judged by them for. So, summing it up, keep it real, don't say it.
Alrighty then, thanks for sharing!
From Being Diane
I love this newsletter and all it offers to the reader because we are after the same goal just like the quote in the beginning we all go about it in different ways. I look at life as I have every phase of my being, when in elementary school when I finally had everything figured out it was time to change. The same thing went on through every aspect of life when I figured out to choose my battles wisely with my children they were ground. They are now my best friends. I let them seek their life the same way they did when they were younger. And they've turned out ok maybe not exactly where I would like them to be but doing the best with what they have been given....Diane
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Well said.
From 2serious
The one thing I know for sure is that God loves me. I'm living in a tiny, conservative community with a church on every corner and an over abundance of religious marquees, slogans, campaigns and groups. Around every corner I hear the words "the Lord's will"as if everyone has a handle on who God is and how He is at work. I'm old and clueless as to who He is, how He is working and what He wants from me. However, the one thing I know is: He is crazy, wild mad about all of us, including the folks who drive me bonkers with their religious platitudes. He loves us. He always has. He always will. Plain and simple.
Love that, thank you so much for sharing!
From Sweethonesty
The secret of life is "To live in the present"
Amen. Not always easy to do though!
From NYPen
The one thing I'm sure of is that I have a home in heaven when I die. I accepted Christ as my savior over 15 years ago and this is God's promise.
I take time to talk to my family members even if life puts obstacles in the way.
Your article has a lot of truth which I hope people can take to heart.
Thanks for sharing.
From richardhead
The one thing I know for sure is ..."the journey is the destination." Marlin Spike
Love that, so true!
From Christine Cassello
The one thing I know for sure is what I was taught as a young Jesus loves me. I did not always feel His love and had a serious struggle with doubt in my teens but the older I get, the more I understand and appreciate that love.
Good for you, nicely said.
From Linda 
Greetings,
The one thing I know for sure is that your past does not define your present nor does it dictate your future!
Linda H. Williams
Bravo, well said, thanks for sharing that!
From Sunflower
The one thing I know for sure... is that we will take at least one thing/person for granted.
Well that's certainly true. Anything you know for sure?
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! Sophy |
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Spiritual: May 29, 2013 Issue [#5693]
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