On Ash Wednesday, we begin the 40 day Lenten journey to Holy Week and Easter.  It is a time of deep reflection and prayer, inviting us to enter deep into our hearts, into God's temple within each of us.

As your clergy person prepares the ash, she/he/they mix olive oil with ash; mixing the symbol of healing with the symbol of letting go/death.

As you approach your clergy person and they place ash on your forehead or hand, they speak to you, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

This statement is an invitation to remember that God created us from the earth, from dust.  That our bodies hold all the elements of God's creation.  That when we pass from this life, we return to the earth, fertilizing it for new growth, new life to come forth.

As the ash is spread across your forehead or hand, you are invited to take this spiritually into your heart.  

What needs to be released, let go, die in your life for new life, new beginnings, hope to arrive on Easter?
What is holding you back, obstructing your connection with the Sacred?  How can you allow that to pass from your life so you can reconnect with the One who created you?

The oil in the ash reminds you that you are on a healing journey; that as you release limiting beliefs, blocks, negative habits, whatever is holding you back, there is a healing Presence that soothes your soul, that companions you.  The olive oil reminds you that that healing presence is Christ Jesus.  He knows the path you are invited to walk as you let go.  He knows the fears and anxieties that arise as we work to transform our lives to be more in alignment with the Sacred, with our Soul.  He knows how to hold you in your grief, how to encourage you in your despair, your to embolden you in your fear.  He is ever present!

This ancient beautiful ritual offers us the opportunity to join millions of others and declare that we too are on a path of healing; that we too seek to be better humans, that we too desire God's Economy to be present in our world.

Join me today.  What is the Sacred inviting you to let go of this Lenten season?  What is keeping you from deepening your relationship with the Holy One?  What practice do would help you step more fully into the person you desire to be, the person the Sacred is calling you to be?

​Blessed Be.

Avengers

You will remember from the previous post that at this moment in the film, Avengers, Captain America has arrived to face and fight Loki.  He has landed with his shield, protecting a man who courageously stood before Loki, speaking truth to power.  Loki had aimed his scepter at the man moments before.  After shooting his scepter and being blocked by Captain America….

Captain America:  You know the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.

Loki: “the soldier… the man out of time”

The liminality of Time...

Captain America is, literally, a man out of time — the linear time line.  At the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, we watch as Steve Rogers forces Red Skull’s plane down into the ice cold waters.  Cap freezes.

Captain America is found decades later by SHIELD and thawed.  He is a man out of time.  Steve Rogers has no references for this current time, this current culture.  He holds values and moral center from WW2 era.  He looks 30 or so but is 100 years old.

Have you ever had that experience, where time goes away, where you feel like you are not connected to time — literally “out of time”?

What do I mean?

Stepping into Kairos time...

When I was beginning to create High Desert Essences in Taos, NM, I felt the invitation to create Chive essence.  I followed the way I was taught:  put a glass bowl of spring water in the Sun with one or two flower dropped in it.  Leave it for 3-4 hours on a full Sun day.  I did just that.

When I went to pick up the essence something did not feel quite right.  I tasted it.  It tasted like Chives.  So I decided that was not going to work for High Desert Essences.  This is the moment where I learned my method of co-creating flower essences — Chives taught me.

I did not want to waste the essence, that would not honor the gift of Chives.  Without thinking, I downed the entire bowl of pure potent Mother essence.  That was on a Monday.

Next thing I know, I’m getting a text from a one of the women I painted with regularly.  Because I was currently in NM, I video called in.  The text read, “Are you joining us today?”  We painted on Thursdays, so I replied, “Yes, on Thursday.”  An answer came back, “Well that is now!”

Somehow I had lost Tuesday and Wednesday.  I had no idea where they went.  It felt like only 3-4 hours had passed since I took that Mother Essence.  How could 3 days have passed?

It took me about a month to ground myself back into the human linear timeline that is seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years.  Somehow Chives had aligned me with a very different timeline — Kairos, Sacred, Universe.  This timeline is not linear.  Rather it felt more like the timeline of the Heptapods from the movie Arrival.

When I was able to reconnect with this linear timeline, I became aware that Chives had restructured my energetic and physical body to be in greater alignment with my Soul’s purpose and Soul-volution.

It was a powerful experience.  I am forever transformed by each experience where the Sacred pulls me out of linear human time into Kairos time.

Kairos time

It takes adjustment when you return, like it took adjustment for Steve Rogers.  Depending upon what happens when I am out of time, the adjustment back varies.  Sometimes I can step back into time and move forward without delay.  Sometimes it feels like I have lost 70 years or more, like the world I have come back into is completely different than the one I was in.  When that happens, I am aware that I am so very different than I was before.

I would not recommend downing an entire bowl of pure Mother Essence to experience what it is like to step out of time.

Meditation, prayer, silent retreats, dosage level energy essences, and other healing and spiritual experiences open you to those moments, to those experiences.

It is vital that when you intentionally ask to step out of time for healing, transformation, restructuring, soul-volution, you do so with an inner knowing of what you are seeking. Conscious awareness, consciously co-creating the out of time moment will enhance and potentize the transformative work that you are seeking, doing, manifesting.

When you come back, allow yourself the linear time you need to integrate the healing, the evolution, the experience before stepping fully back into society, into the hum of linear life.

Enjoy the experience.
The veil is always thin….
always awaiting your request
to offer you 
a Kairos experience.

.Captain America: The First Avenger

Steve Rogers continues his quest to join the army, giving it another try.

This time, someone notices…

As he is preparing for his exam, the office asks him to wait.  Then a MP shows up to make sure he does not leave.  Then someone walks into the room, looks at Steve’s folder and says, “so you want to go over seas and kill some Nazis?”

Steve is confused.  He asks, “Excuse me?”

The person who entered the room introduces himself and explains that he works with the Strategic Scientific Reserve.  They have conversation.  the Dr is sizing Steve Rogers up, discerning whether or not he would be good for the experiment he is working on.

In the midst of the conversation the Dr says, “You didn’t answer my question.  Do you want to kill Nazis?”

Steve is silent for a few seconds and asks, “Is this a test?”

Dr replies: “Yes.”

Steve answers from his heart, “I don’t want to kill anyone.  I don’t like bullies.  I don’t care where they are from.”

Dr replies, “Well there are already so many big men fighting this war, maybe what we need now is the little guy….I can offer you a chance.”

This is before Steve Rogers becomes Captain America.  This is the moment the Dr begins to think Steve is the one.  It is his answer, “I don’t want to kill anyone.”

He stays true to this statement after he becomes Captain America.  Unless he has to, he does not kill.  He values life.

He recognizes that bullies don’t value life.  Bullies values themselves, their desires, their power, their wealth over anyone else.  Bullies don’t share.  They don’t feel compassion and mercy.  They work for their benefit, their greed, their corrupted view of their world.

Present Day Bully

We are currently living in a time where a bully is the President of our country.  He bullies everyone around him, all who work for him, the leaders of other countries, his opponents.  He upholds the values of dictators and white supremacists.  

This President says he values life, but he does not.  He gives orders to create refugee camps that have no dignity, that tear apart the lives of those seeking helps and safety.  Death after death in those refugee camps on our southern border have brought no sympathy from the President, no change in policy.

This President says he values life, but he does not.  He celebrates homophobia and sexism.  He encourages bad behavior at his rallies.  Then he abdicates responsibility when someone at his rally acts on the hatred he is spewing.

He does not value life.  He is a bully. 

Steve Rogers values life.  He is a small guy, always overlooked.  His life journey has taught him compassion for all around him.  He has an inner strength that has developed as he has worked to overcome the challenges and obstacles in his life.  

This scene asks us a question:  Who do we uphold as our heroes?

The Dr., without saying it, is suggesting that it is not the big guys that are our heroes.  No, it is the little ones, the ones that understand compassion and mercy, that value life.

Who do we uphold as a hero?

Who do I uphold as heroes?

Martin Luther King, Jr, a man who valued life, equality, justice.  A Pastor who gave his life in a movement that called us as a country to be better, to be compassionate, to create the Economy of God in our midst.

Saint Mother Theresa:  a Sister whose life work was to care for those untouched, those left to die, those ignored by society — to bring dignity, care and respect to a population that has never experienced dignity, respect and care.  A Sister who valued all life, who believed that no life was unworthy.

Saint Monsenor Oscar Romero: an Archbishop who spoke truth to power; who put his life on the line to minister to the disappeared and disappearing in El Salvador — who reminded those without political power that they have tremendous spiritual power, that they are the “hands and the feel of Jesus,” bringing hope in the place of despair.

Rev David Lawrence: my youth pastor who lost his life helping an abused woman leave her abuser.

The women of Standing Rock Tribe:  these powerful women stood in the face of injustice, prayed for the rights of their people, their Land, their health.  Even as the governments ignored their plight, they stood their ground, praying for life: Water is Life.

These are just a few.  Each of my heroes value life!  They offer respect, dignity, compassion, mercy; seek to create justice; and truly desire to be “the hands and the feet of Jesus” in this world.

Who are your heroes?
How are you being a hero in this world?​

One of the resources that we rarely talk about as a resource is our potential.  How is potential even a resource?  Well, for me, it is a powerful resource.  It is an energy, an experience, that feed our hope, igniting our passions, stirring us to become more than we currently are.




​
Thor: Ragnarok
Setting the scene:

Near the end of the film, Thor is in need of a spaceship to get him to Asgard.  Loki, his mischievous adopted brother, has stolen the passwords to the person who basically owns the planet they are stranded on.  Loki suggests that he will help Thor get what he needs in return for passage off the planet.

However, in good Loki form, he betrays Thor.  However, this time Thor is ready for the betrayal.  Thor has finally learned that Loki is not trustworthy and will most likely do something for Loki’s selfish benefit.

Reminder of Potential
When Loki goes to betray Thor, Thor has already attached an obedient disk to his back.  He pressed the button activating it, causing Loki to be overwhelmed with electrical energy and pain.  As Loki is writhing on the ground, Thor says to Loki:

Thor:  Oh dear, brother, we are becoming predictable.  I trust you.  You betray me.  Round and round in circles we go.

Loki, life is about growth.  It’s about change.  But you seem to just want to stay the same.  I guess what I am trying to say is that you will always be the god of mischief, but you could be more.

Stepping into his Potential
Loki has potential to be more than just the god of mischief.  He has tremendous skills, intelligence, and power.  He could make a positive impact on Asgard if he so chooses to step up and accept responsibility of being a member of the ‘royal’ family of Asgard.

As Thor and Heimdal are fighting the evil Hela (goddess of death and Thor’s exiled sister) to save Asgard, Loki appears in a space ship large enough to save all Asgardians.  With the doors open he calls out: “You savior is here!”

Then he tells everyone to get on the ship and goes to join the fight.  He seems to be stepping into his potential.

Avengers: Infinity War
We see the fullness of Loki’s potential at the beginning of Infinity War (spoiler alert!).  Loki has consistently dodged calling himself the son of Odin.  Instead he has wreaked havoc on Asgard and Thor in his attempts to ‘right a wrong’ he experienced from Odin.

However, in Infinity War, as the movie begins, Thanos (a powerful Titan in search of infinity stones) has taken the ship and has Thor in his massive hands, threatening to kill him.  Loki steps up.  Introducing himself as “son of Odin” he takes on Thanos, stepping into the fullness of who is was born to be.

Potential Is a Resource:
Something shifted as Thor gave Loki the speech about potential.  It ignited in Loki’s being.  Something that had stirred again and again throughout the Thor movies, but had not yet come to fulfillment.  With this speech about potential it comes fully to life!

Potential offers us a similar journey.  Something ignites within us, stirs deep in our soul and spirits.  We begin to feed that stirring, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes consciously.  As we feed it, hope arises in our beings, in our hearts and minds. 

That hope feeds us, ignites our potential.  It says to us, “You know, you can do that!”  “You do have the abilities to do that.”

Potential continues to remind you of your strengths, your skills, your abilities.  It begins to say to you, “I know you think you are not good at that, but you actually are.  You can do this!”  “You have it in you!”

That potential spark once ignited does not burn out.  It drives us to step more fully into who we are, what we can do — into the fullness of our Power, of our Call.

Potential is a powerful resource!  Let us not ignore it.

Let us ride the wave of its support and enthusiasm into the fullness of our Selves.

Reflections:
Reflect upon a situation where potential came into play.  How did tapping into your potential ignite and support you as you struggled to accomplish/manifest it?
We always tell our kids:  “You have the potential to do whatever you want.”  How do you support yourself and others in making this statement true?
Where do you think you do not have potential when you actually do?