Letter: February 2010

What if in the very next moment we can be made totally new? What if we could face the world without guilt, without cynicism, and without regret of any kind? What if we could look up from where we are, and find ourselves as fresh and new as we were the day we were born? Seems unlikely, doesn’t it? It is possible because life flows fresh into us every moment. The life that fills us arrives unsoiled, unspotted and free from discord of any kind. However, our ability to choose to do what we will with this life giving spirit, imbued with tender loving kindness, is our gift from He who is unspeakable love. We may choose to express this living spirit in increasingly creative ways, or if we wish, we may to react to life by retreating to old familiar habits.  

We may think our need to deal with our past activities is a sign that we are not made new but this is not so. We may choose to experience the result of our past as totally new people. This is the promise found in infinite mercy, our past is past, it is not made new but we are. By the grace of our precious Lord, we may experience not simply new things but old things as new creatures. We may experience ourselves, from our best to our worst, in wholly new ways. We are in the earth to experience life, to experience our individuality, to experience ourselves. We do not accomplish this by wiping out our past but by transforming it through new responses.

With faith to energize us, courage to fortify us, patience to steady us, and persistence to sustain us, we may by trial and error live our lives in innocence. Yes, in innocence! In such a quest there is no error except for the failure to persist. It is easy to be discouraged, to become convinced newness is only a romantic concept; a beautiful illusion. However, the real misconceptions are that grace is imperfect, infinite mercy has limits, and our blessed Lord has not already allowed for our redemption. We are holly, divine in nature and intimately connected to our God. We are not apart from grace but rather its embodiment and we may indeed meet our past as the newly created children of the loving kindness that constantly fills us. The choice is ours, and one that must be made one moment at a time. We must choose every minute of each day, and when we fail to choose, we may simply choose again. Our goodness is not defined by our past, but by the presence of the spirit of grace that enters our lives continually. We are projections of unimaginable holiness, what more can we possibly need?

May God bless you with a glimpse of your indescribable holiness and your connectedness to all creation.