Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women, one you do not remember, the other you call mother. Two different lives shaped to make yours one. One became your guiding star, the other became your sun. The first gave you life, and the second taught you to live in it. The first gave you a need for love and the second was there to give it. One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name. One gave you the seed of talent, the other gave you an aim. One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears. One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears. One gave you up-It was all that she could do. The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you. And now you ask me through your tears, the age-old questions through the years; heredity or environment-which are you the product of? Neither, my darling, neither, just two different kinds of love.

Mother Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

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The Bamboo Tree

Created by a guy named Eric Aronson.

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In the Far East, there is a tree called the Chinese bamboo tree. This remarkable tree is different from most trees in that it doesn't grow in the usual fashion. While most trees grow steadily over a period of years, the Chinese bamboo tree doesn't break through the ground for the first four years. Then, in the fifth year, an amazing thing happens - the tree begins to grow at an astonishing rate. In fact, in a period of just five weeks, a Chinese bamboo tree can grow to a height of 90 feet. It's almost as if you can actually see the tree growing before your very eyes.

Well, I'm convinced that life often works in a similar way. You can work for weeks, months and even years on your dream with no visible signs of progress and then, all of the sudden, things take off. Your business becomes profitable beyond your wildest dreams. Your marriage becomes more vibrant and passionate than you ever thought it could be. Your contribution to your church, social organization and community becomes more significant than you have ever imagined.

Yet, all of this requires one thing - faith. The growers of the Chinese bamboo tree have faith that if they keep watering and fertilizing the ground, the tree will break through. Well, you must have the same kind of faith in your bamboo tree, whether it is to run a successful business, win a Pulitzer Prize, raise well-adjusted children, or what have you. You must have faith that if you keep making the calls, honing your craft, reading to your children, reaching out to your spouse or asking for donations, that you too will see rapid growth in the future.

This is the hard part for most of us. We get so excited about the idea that's been planted inside of us that we simply can't wait for it to blossom. Therefore, within days or weeks of the initial planting, we become discouraged and begin to second guess ourselves.

Sometimes, in our doubt, we dig up our seed and plant it elsewhere, in hopes that it will quickly rise in more fertile ground. We see this very often in people who change jobs every year or so. We also see it in people who change churches, organizations and even spouses in the pursuit of greener pastures. More often than not, these people are greatly disappointed when their tree doesn't grow any faster in the new location.

Other times, people will water the ground for a time but then, quickly become discouraged. They start to wonder if it's worth all of the effort. This is particularly true when they see their neighbors having success with other trees. They start to think, "What am I doing trying to grow a bamboo tree? If I had planted a lemon tree, I'd have a few lemons by now." These are the people who return to their old jobs and their old ways. They walk away from their dream in exchange for a "sure thing."

Sadly, what they fail to realize is that pursuing your dream is a sure thing if you just don't give up. So long as you keep watering and fertilizing your dream, it will come to fruition. It may take weeks. It may take months. It may even take years, but eventually, the roots will take hold and your tree will grow. And when it does, it will grow in remarkable ways.

We've seen this happen so many times. Henry Ford had to water his bamboo tree through five business failures before he finally succeeded with the Ford Motor Company. Richard Hooker had to water his bamboo tree for seven years and through 21 rejections by publishers until his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H became a runaway bestseller, spawning a movie and one of the longest-running television series of all-time. Another great bamboo grower was the legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro. Arcaro lost his first 250 races as a jockey before going on to win 17 Triple Crown races and 554 stakes races for total purse earnings of more than $30 million.

Well, you have a bamboo tree inside of you just waiting to break through. So keep watering and believing and you too will be flying high before you know it.

A Mind-Centered, Buddhist Approach to Education

Check out this link! :) There are two schools in Thailand that teach according to Buddhist principals. Not only do they develop a child academically, but also spiritually. To them, it is important for children to learn about the external world, as well as the internal. :)

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,7117,0,0,1,0

"The Children of Huang Shi"

This movie is absolutely inspiring and touching. It is beautiful how heoric and compassionate individuals such as George Hogg are now portrayed in films to show others that beautiful and great acts of love and kindness are ever happening all around us, in the past, present and into the future. I am so thankful to have had the chance to come to know about a man who performed a profound act of faith, love and courage for 60 orphan boys. There are people like him all over the world today. People like him are our inspiration and keep us hopeful for a better world with more genuinely loving, giving and compassionate people. 

Enjoy the trailer at: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/thechildrenofhuangshi/

The following description of the film is taken from the following website:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/thechildrenofhuangshi/

Nanjing, China, 1937; A journalist looking for lives worth defending; 60 orphaned boys and an unknown journey ahead. War made them orphans, Love made them legends in The Children of Huang Shi.

From April 3, this heartwarming film set in 1930's war-torn China will be available for the Chinese audience.

The 40 million US dollar project was a joint production by studios in China, Australia and Germany. Helmed by Roger Spottiswoode, director of 007 series, Tomorrow Never Dies, this film took more than two years to complete.

"It was a great experience for somebody who is English to come here 70 years after George Hogg and to make a journey into China and try to make a film that we hope will reflect a little bit about your past and of somebody who came from my country."

Based on true events, The Children of Huang Shi tells how a young English journalist, George Hogg, led 60 orphaned boys on an extraordinary journey across almost 1,000 miles of mountains and deserts to safety on the Silk Road. In the process, he came to understand the true meaning of courage, love and responsibility. 

As with other anti-Japanese war movies, the director hopes to help the audience realize the historical truth about the Japanese invasion of China.

"We are historically accurate. Terrible things happened. We try to look honestly at history and I hope more people look at this piece of history. Perhaps Japanese will find themselves coming to terms with their past. Once they do, they will find it easier to move on."

The film also stars top international actors, such as Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Myers, taking the role of George Hogg; Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat, as a Chinese guerilla fighter; Malaysian- Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh as a survivor from the upper class and Australian actress Radha Mitchell as a brave Australian nurse who gives medical help to China's wounded.

The director said one of the major difficulties he confronted when shooting in China was finding child actors. But once he did, he was deeply impressed by the children's performances.

"To find 25 young actors between 5 and 15 who have never done it, and have them be good not as a crowd, but as individuals and real actors, was enormous challenge. We had no idea we would get such wonderful kids. They have no other experience; they are just gifted. Many of them are from poor families, underprivileged. But we found them. They are remarkable. They were with us every day for five months across the country. That was the challenge and reward."

Most of the children upon whom the story is based are still alive today. They are the eye witness of people's suffering during the war. Spottiswoode said with this film he also wants to help the western audience understand the period of history that is long ignored.

"At the moment, this is a piece of history that is hidden from the west, not by anyone in particular, but because it's so far away. And it will be better for everyone when they are more informed."

Unlike many other recent movies featuring the subject of Japanese holocaust in Nanjing, The Children of Huang Shi takes on a different perspective. Instead of demonstrating the cruel and dark side of the war, it casts its shot to the individuals behind the battlefield. And thus it becomes a monument for humanity and internationalism.

Statement of Faith

Florence Maitland’s Statement of Faith

1. My Philosophy of Christian Education

Christ centered and child oriented environment
       I believe that God and Christ are every part of who we are, as unique and beautiful individuals spiritually connected to all other people and the world as a whole. I believe that an education that acknowledges and appreciates cultural and individual diversity in the name of Jesus’ and God’s grace and teachings not only establishes a nurturing environment that strives to guide children in loving their spiritual and whole selves but also those of others and the entire world. 

Education that will nurture a child academically, spiritually, socially, aesthetically, emotionally and physically
       Love of Christ and God go hand in hand with love of the self. With love of the self, there is more self motivation and determination to extend oneself spiritually through learning and growing with others. Children will succeed more academically, make more friends, acknowledge beauty around them in all of God's blessings and be not only emotionally but also physically healthy through the positive energy that a strong faith radiates from within the self.

Active parental involvement
       I have always been a strong supporter of parental involvement within an educational setting. Not only do parents get to be a part of their child's academic and social growth, but they also get to see how their child is growing in God's love and learning how to extend their spirituality to love themselves and others unconditionally. Parents are significant sources of God’s love as children grow, providing their child with expressions of God’s love for them through guidance, support, and encouragement. 

Developing children’s unique potential
       Through God's love, strongly rooted in the unbiased and nonjudgmental support of a teacher, friends (classmates) and parents, children come to love and appreciate their true selves, thereby opening up their hearts to their unlimited potential and endless possibilities in their lives. Not only is it important to acknowledge and appreciate each child's unique talents, but it is also important to give them opportunities to try new things so that they know they can do and accomplish anything they set their minds to. Oftentimes we never realize our full potential until we extend ourselves into the unknown and risk leaving behind what is familiar. This requires a strong faith in God, which each child will come to learn as they try new things and have the knowledge that God, teachers, family and friends love them no matter what.

Living a life of service, fellowship, stewardship, discipleship and obedience to God 
       We are all forever learning how to be true expressions of God and Christ's love. As we continue to be willing to learn and grow from our experiences, forgive and unconditionally love ourselves and others, we come to understand what it means to live in service, fellowship, discipleship and obedience to God. It is a letting go, a surrendering of our lives unto Him and an opening of the eyes of our hearts so that we may live His will for us, whatever that may be. Once we surrender our lives unto God, life becomes synchronous with God's grace. It is important that we teach our students and children that God and Christ are not only someone we follow and aspire to be like, but whom we can call our friend in times of need and in times of true joy. Indeed, children live a life of service and fellowship to their friends, so why not to God as well, thereby establishing an even stronger connection with Him. 


2. My personal story of how I came to Faith in Jesus Christ and what God is doing in my life today

        Coming to Faith in Jesus Christ has required and still necessitates a continuous extension of my spiritual self in genuinely compassionate, nurturing ways, not only to myself but to others and the world. Coming to know Jesus Christ has required a lot of prayer, devotion, reflection and faith. When I was younger, I was actively involved in Kitimat’s First United Church. I was not only a part of the youth group and choir, but I also occasionally taught Sunday school and was the youth representative on the church board for two years. Connections with others of similar faith continued as in many summers I attended Molice Lake Church Camp, where spiritual prayer, songs, crafts and friendships flourished. It was in 2004 that I took a leap of faith and went overseas for my first time with people from the United Church to develop our spiritual selves in Taize, France for one week (www.taize.fr). Our time there consisted of living simply, helping out with at least one community chore (i.e. serving food) and attending church 3 times a day to sing, pray and sit in silence for 10 mins. Each day we would listen to the spiritual knowledge of a brother and then reflect on the lesson with a small group of people from different countries. While in Taize, I came to learn of the importance of taking time out in the day to sit still and be at peace, despite how busy our lives can become. It is in this silence that I have found how to be more deeply connected to God. I also learned how to live and eat simply without desiring more but instead appreciating what I do have and not taking anything for granted. What I found to be the most profound about Taize was how people of many different religions and cultures from all over the world could come together in one small place in complete peace to learn how to be true expressions of God’s love to each other. Although religions may be different, we are all God’s children, ultimately believing in one truth. 
        In the present moment, God is opening up my heart to see and truly appreciate his miracles and blessings all around me, in everyone and everything. Each day I pray that I may be a true expression of His compassion and unconditional love to myself and others so that they too may feel blessed and cherished and in turn, share God’s love with others. With a strong faith in God’s grace, I am able to let go and surrender my life unto him so that I may live His will for me, whether I know what that is or not. I believe that the joys and struggles I experience in life are all a part of His plan for me; my trust in Him opens my heart to prayer and allows me to feel secure in uncertainty and have faith that everything is and will always be okay. I know that God is speaking to me as I grow spiritually through continuously reaching out to others (i.e. volunteering as an adult adoptee with AFABC), expressing compassion in my daily life through random acts of kindness and peaceful presence, reading spiritual books and sharing my spirituality with others through teaching Sunday School at St. Andrews United here in Prince George and educating children in the public school setting. 

I am living my life like a prayer. 

In Spirit, Light and Truth,
Sincerely,
Florence Maitland

 

Beauty

"Beauty before me I walk
Beauty behind me I walk
Beauty above me I walk
Beauty below me I walk
Beauty all around me
I walk in beauty
All is made whole
In beauty all is restored."
~Navajo Prayer

Prayerful Reflection

This is a prayer I wrote for myself in the summer of 2008 to help me through a lot of fears and worries, specifically of uncertainty and the future. I placed it right beside my bed, as well as on my bathroom mirror, repeating it and experiencing it with my heart, surrendering my life to God and letting Him inside my being so that I could believe what the words were guiding me to learn and in turn, grow from. Today I have more faith and trust in God and have let go of my worries, for I know that my future is glorious. I pray that each day I am living his will, whatever that may be, and that I can forever and always be a true expression of his love and grace, for myself and for others. I hope this prayer will enrich your spirit just as it did mine and make you feel an all-encompassing love, from my heart to yours, and ultimately, from God. 

Dear God,

Thank you for the blessing of today. Thank you for the beauty of knowing that whatever happens, it will be a day with many things to be thankful for, regardless of what they are or what way, shape or form they take in my life.

I pray that I am living your will Lord, whether I know what that is or not. I trust that right now I am where I am meant to be. I trust that only you know what is best for me and that you will, in time, reveal that to me. I have faith that whatever happens, I will be so loved and everything will be okay because in this moment, everything already is okay and I am already so loved.

I pray for strength as I continue to grow. I pray for a purer, deeper and more genuine love to forever keep giving myself and others. I pray for peace in my heart as I try to live in the present moment. I pray for hope that you may open the eyes of my heart so wide that I may see your purpose revealed to me in your many beautiful ways as I grow. I pray for trust in you and your guidance because you know what is best for me. I pray for faith that everything is as it is meant to be and will forever be okay. 

I ask that you pour your blessings upon the heart, mind and soul that is within me. I ask that you pleace bless all things and people around me, especially my loved ones. I also ask for guidance in being my true self so that the love that goes out to others from my heart comes from you and only you.

Please help me to "be" free always, in all ways. You have a purpose for me. I cannot wait for that purpose to unfold today in all the ways it is meant to unfold. You and your love are certain. I have faith. I trust in you.

I love you Florence
I love you God
I love you life

In Jesus' name I pray,

with everything that I am,

with so much love,

Amen

You Can Heal Your Life

Louise Hay's film, "You Can Heal Your Life," is profoundly Miraculous in that it stirs the self to unite heart, spirit, body and mind into one unified whole, complete in unconditional love. 

As the movie touched my soul and moved my heart, I came to realize how truly beautiful it is that we hold so much power within ourselves to create our life as truly perfect, healthy, stable and true. It is easy to believe that the Universe creates our life or at least the situations and circumstances in which we find ourselves. We often come to believe that it is not us, but what is external to our spirits, that make us feel, think and act in certain ways. Deep down in our hearts, we are the ones who have power over our thoughts and feelings and that it is in letting go, surrendering our lives and taking responsibility for those thoughts and feelings that our lives become more joyful and full of appreciation, acceptance and genuine love.

The Universe is in love with us and whatever we feel or think, radiates into that Universe and that energy comes back at us a thousandfold. Just imagine when you say the words, "I am healthy. All is well in my world. I am centered in peace and truth. My life is full of abundance." What embraces your being is the Universe's all-encompassing grace, which in truth, is God. It is when we realize our potential and our specialness that we allow our beauty to truly shine forth and for God to become a part of everything we are and everything we do. 

Acknowledge what you already have and cherish the miraculous already within and around you. You can say, "I want a healthy relationship," but the wanting cannot bring you that desire. Look at the relationships you already have and then love yourself enough so that you attract that love to yourself. Life will fall into place however it is meant to. It is when you surrender your desire to have it a certain way that life becomes full of endless possibilities, potential and beauty. Imagine yourself in a healthy relationship. Don't just want it, but become it, within yourself and with others already around you. Genuine love is already within you and when you embrace it with the light of your soul, it shines throughout the whole world and people are drawn to it. 

In a previous post I shared some affirmation cards that Louise Hay has created. There is a box of them, rich with positive energy, sitting on the shelf in my room. I want to let their colours paint my spirit and my heart! I want to put them on our bathroom mirror with flowers that symbolize the willingness to change and grow and how much I am already blossoming and taking responsibility for my life.

I am free.

I am at peace.

I am willing to change. 

I am loved and lovable. 

All is well in my world.

God bless you!

Butterfly Garden at the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix Arizona

How beautiful these butterflies were! :)

Grace, Peace, Elegance, Love, Joy, Beauty, Freedom, Truth, Isness...

Let us belive in the butterfly and in our own amazing transformations into something Miraculous.

Positive Affirmations by Louise Hay

The Beauty of Thankfulness

What does it mean to be thankful? 

I am so thankful for genuine, true love. The picture to the left is of me and my soulmate Rob Slanina. I am so thankful for the love that we share, the joy that we embrace, and the faith that we have. The love that we share is God's love. Can you see the heart in the picture? :) 

Beauty flows through our beings and radiates from our hearts. It has graced the foreverness of our souls and embraced the reflections in our eyes. Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, so that we may see your blessings in their true light, for the perfection and beauty that they are. 

Thankfulness is not just a conscious awareness of the beauty within and around us. It is being fully present in that beauty each moment and freely seeing it with open hearts. It is oneness, wholeness and pure joy. It is indescribable. It is when we surrender our hearts and our lives that we can be so fully immersed in this beauty. It then becomes everything that we are and everything that we are a part of. We become that beauty because that beauty is already who we are, enveloping our souls into forever. 

Thankfulness is not just "Thank you God, for my family and friends" but being fully present with those special people, loving them, caring for them, listening to them. It is living that thankfulness so that words are not needed. Thankfulness is a letting go of words, of a need to say thank you. Live your thankfulness. Live your prayers of thankfulness and you become the beauty that you see. You are already one with it and so open your heart so that you may see. 

God has blessed you with the beauty of who you are. Embrace that gift, cherish it, nurture it, and open your heart to unconditionally loving it. It is when you can do this, that you realize the beauty you see is a reflection of the beauty you are and have become. 

Thank you, God, for your many blessings. Help us to realize that we are those blessings, to ourselves, each other and to the world. Help us to see the beauty within ourselves so that we may appreciate the beauty that is around us. Amen.

God bless you always.

Genuine Love

I have summed up a little bit about love from M. Scott Peck's book, "The Road Less Traveled." It is a truly beautiful and inspirational book, highly recommended for your spiritual growth! I also recommend "Love, " by Leo Buscaglia.

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Genuine love is transformative. The act of love is an extension of the self. It is not a feeling. The misconception that love is a feeling exists because we confuse cathecting with loving. It is when we "fall out of love" that genuine love can begin and that true love can be tested. Genuine love involves a desire for the differentiation of the other. As in the case with true love, "sacrifices" on behalf of the growth of the other result in equal or greater growth of the self. Genuine love involves a true desire for the uniqueness and separateness of one's partner, and the cherishing of that specialness. 

"But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping,
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

-The Prophet, pp. 15-16

Happy People Dancing On Planet Earth

Like flowers that dance delicately and gracefully in the wind, we too can dance that beautifully, sharing our love and joy with others wherever we may go. Don't forget, it's contageous just like smiles!

What a beautiful video this is! One man's dream in life was to dance all over the world and spread love and joy with movement. 

"What are these humans doing? Dancing. Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Above, Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, started dancing, and filmed the result. The video is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without smiling."

No wonder I love dancing soooo much! :) What a beautiful gift from God it is! Enjoy the movie and may your face light up with a joyful smile, and your limbs start to jiggle and shake! :) You can find the amazing lyrics to the song below the link. 

God bless you! Hugs and love!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080722.html

"Praan"
Lyrics from Rabindranath Tagore's poem Stream of Life:

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day 
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. 
It is the same life that shoots in joy 
through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. 
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth 
and of death, in ebb and in flow. 
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. 
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

What is Knowledge?

To know with both the heart and mind is a beautiful path to be on.

I have always been curious as to what Knowledge truly is. While reading M. Scott Peck's book, "The Road Less Traveled," I came across a paragraph that, to me, perfectly expressed what Knowledge is in terms that we can perceive and understand. What I am to share is open to criticism and questions (this is encouraged of course). However, what Scott Peck has to say has been so helpful in guiding me to understand this complex phenomenon and I am so thankful for its wisdom. I am now inspired to research what Knowledge is, even further. However, I do acknowledge that the words serve merely to guide me towards the truth and only serve as small pieces of the puzzle. Here is what he has to say:

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Jung's theory of the "collective unconscious" states that we inherit the wisdom of the experience of our ancestors without ourselves having the personal experience. This kind of knowledge is recognized in our common everyday language. Take the word "recognize" itself. When we are reading a book and come across an idea or theory that appeals to us, that "rings a bell" with us, we "recognize" it to be true. Yet this idea or theory may be one of which we have never before consciously thoughts. The word says we "re-know" the concept, as if we knew it once upon a time, forgot it, but then recognized it as an old friend. It is as if all knowledge and all wisdom were contained in our minds, and when we learn "something new" we are actually only discovering something that existed in our self all along. This concept is similarly reflected in the word "education," which is derived from the Latin educare, literally translated as "to bring out of" or "to lead forth." Therefore when we educate people, if we use the word seriously, we do not stuff something new into their minds; rather, we lead this something out of them; we bring it forth from the unconscious into their awareness. They were the possessors of the knowledge all along. Indeed, the mind, which sometimes presumes to believe that there is no such thing as a miracle, is itself a miracle.

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Perhaps, in a way, Knowlege is like genuine love. They are both ever present in our beings yet both require work, or rather a determined, devoted willingness to learn and to extend oneself. Knowledge and love go hand in hand as well, for without the extension of oneself, knowledge of oneself and of the world would be limited. In extending oneself, one opens the unconsious and reconnects with all that is spiritual and indeed, with God Himself. To know is to love. To love is to know. To love and to know is to surrender the self to a letting go, to a letting of oneself be as one is. If in fact true love and knowledge is already inherent in us, what a miracle it is! :)

Living the Miraculous

See the miraculous with all of your heart and spirit. Know that whatever you see is a reflection of all that you are. 

Love has been defined by M. Scott Peck as "the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth." He goes on to state that "Among humanity, love is the miraculous force that defies the natural law of entropy." 

Love requires of us not only faith and trust in God but a strong will to grow so that we move beyond the force of entropy that tires our spirits and are pulled forward to continuous evolution, change, and spiritual enlightenment. In extending ourselves with trust in God, whether that is letting go and/or having the courage to grow within and support our loved ones in their growth, we open our hearts to the miraculous that is ever present in our daily lives. Grace, serendipity and synchronicity embrace our spirits and guide us in being reborn into what has always been present within us: genuine love. 

Serendipity can be defined as "the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for." Grace is ever present and all-encompassing, just like truth. Occasionally we are not fully aware of its presence or we fail to appreciate the value of the gift when it is given to us. It is only when we begin to let go of seeking and expecting that we find truth and can see grace with eyes that are not burdened with consuming egoic desires and perceptions. If the miraculous seems to be lacking in your life, let go of expections of what is truly magnificent and the associations paired with the word "Magnificence." Perhaps even let go of the word itself, accepting everything and everyone as the perfection and beautiful isness as they are. It is only then that the true magnificence of what it is you see can arise. You then give each thing and person a chance to be a true expression of God's own presence and the purpose He has for them, allowing their truth to touch you in all the ways it can, unburdened by egoic expectations. 

You are serendipitous. You are a gift of value that is not sought for but loved unconditionally for who you are, allowed to be the perfect expression of who you truly are, in all your isness and beauty, by God's never-ending grace. You are a true expression of His love, and in so being, you move with synchronicity. 

What things have happened today to you that you cannot explain but have beautifully moved and touched your soul, causing your world to shift and therefore your perception of your own existence, as well as that of others and the world? Who has entered your life at the perfect time, or been a true expression of God's love when you most needed it, thereby embracing your spiritual growth a thousandfold?

I want to leave you with Michael Stark and Michael Washburn's definition of the miraculous, found in their book, "Beyond the Norm: A Speculative Model of Self-Realization." May the words guide you to an all-encompassing understanding of the perfection, beauty and isness of the miraculous found within your own being, as well as in everything and everyone you are connected to.

"Self realization is born and matures in a distinctive kind of awareness, an awareness that has been described in many different ways by many different people. The mystics, for example, have spoken of it as the perception of the divinity and perfection of the world. Richard Bucke referred to it as cosmic conscousness; Bubar described it in terms of the I-Thou relationship; and Maslow gave it th elabel, 'Being Cognition.' We shall use Ouspensky's term and call it the perception of the miraculous. 'Miraculous" here refers not only to extraordinary phenomena but also to the commonplace, for absolutely anything can evoke this special awareness provided that close enough attention is paid to it. Once perception is disengaged from the domination of preconception and personal interest, it is free to experience the world as it is in itself and to behold its inherent magnificence... Perception of the miraculous requires no faith or assumptions. It is simply a matter of paying full and close attention to the givens of life, i.e., to what is so ever-present that it is usually taken for granted. The true wonder of the world is available everywhere, in the minutest parts of our bodies, in the vast expanses of the cosmos, and in the intimate interconnectedness of these and all things... We are part of a finel balanced ecosystem in which interdependency goes hand-in-hand with individuation. We are all individuals, but we are also parts of a greater whole, united in something vast and beautiful beyond description. Perception of the miraculous is the subjective essence of self realization, the root from which man's highest features and experiences grow."