Feeling Grateful: Gore & the Red Sox

Life is so good.

Al Gore & colleagues won the Nobel Peace Prize. Way to go, Al! How proud I am to share his name.

My beloved Red Sox decisively won game 1 of the AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Indians. Way to go, Bo Sox! As in 2004, I'll be wearing my Sox team cap and red socks whenever possible. I plan to sleep in my 2004 Red Sox World Series Champions t-shirt.

I am very glad that these things can make me happy at a very uncertain time in my life. I recall four dark years not so long ago when I prayed each night to die in my sleep and then awoke in the morning feeling angry that I was still alive. Sure, the ups and downs of losing my job and going it alone in life can weigh me down. But if I can feel joy over these events then I'm doing pretty well.

The choir is singing in church tonight. Yes, life is good!

A Clear Mind

God wants me to open myself up to him by clearning away the debris of anxieties, cares, to-do's. If I can clear a path through those - the wider the better - He will honor that effort and make his way in.

Previously I had thought that the worries themselves were some sort of conduit that God was using to speak to me. Perhaps he does use those things to teach me sometimes. But He doesn't need them - He wants to speak to me directly and more often than not all the junk of life threatens to drown Him out. Spirit to spirit communication is what He wants, albeit a great spirit to a much lesser one.

When I commune with God through prayer and meditation, a clear mind is best. I can then rest in Him and open myself to truly listen to Him.