Week 15

God, what guidance do you have for me today?

Be fearless.

Yes, today practice being

unafraid of anyone or anything.

Not in an arrogant way;

but through the remembrance

that nothing can separate you from me.

No matter what you are going through

or experiencing, open yourself to compassion.

This world is filled with disappointments,

frustrations and challenges…

but I am always present to offer a way to peace,

beyond the circumstances.

Today, do not fear anything;

not failure, poverty, losing it all, or

never reaching your potential.

Part of being human is experiencing the unknown;

not knowing what will happen or how things

will turn out.

But you can always know that I am for you,

loving you in every instant,

working for your greatest good,

protecting your soul with love.

Remember, you can never truly die.

So, be fearless today, and love your life!

Week 15

Evening Reflection

One of the most compassionate things about today’s guidance is its calling for practice. With all that this world offers in the form of danger, it is good to practice fearlessness every once in a while. One way that I approached today’s guidance is to connect to the word courage. A well-known thought is that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act despite it. Today, I didn’t have to face physical danger that might cause fear. I was home working in my office.

Still, I faced a mountain of daunting work. Things I wanted to get done. Things I wanted to accomplish. And because I had recently gained weight partly due to a wonderful vacation, I had the added goal of losing 20 lbs. Not that I needed to lose 20 but since I had decided to go for weight loss, I might as well go for a challenge that would bring great joy and satisfaction if achieved. Ah yes, I need to be fearless indeed!

As a middle-aged person, there are many things I hope to do. Books to write, music to create, classes to teach, parts of the world to see. My father use to tell me to keep on living and see what happens. And that is what I am doing; living. Not in the sense of the normality of everyday life. I am living with an effort to reach as much of my potential as I know I can reach. It’s that shoot for the stars mentality; and if I land on the roof… well, okay then.

So, today I am assessing my works in progress, and the progress of my works. I am looking at my age, what I have done up to now and what I would still like to accomplish. Good things that I hope will help others while allowing me to earn a living in what I am good at and love to do. I have had enough setbacks to make me question my efforts and myself. Courage has helped me keep going. And today, I practiced being fearless; unafraid to look at whatever might or could come. And what I found was… faith. A faith in life based on my own experiences, including my experience of God; a faith that helps me to keep going to see what happens. And today I was able to touch love for my own life – for the gift of it. And I experienced perfect love casting out fear. (1 John 4:18). And that perfect love wasn’t my love for me… it was God’s love for me. To experience that can indeed allow one to be fearless. It did for me today.