HANGING OUT WITH GOD - H.O.W.G.

Carolyn's H.O.W.G. - Star Date - July 21, '06

I once read that spiritual teacher, Ram Dass, was so depressed that he sat in a bathtub for three weeks.  (I assume he emerged for other functions on occasion.)

The lure of the Spirit, the soul-hunger we sometimes feel, makes us yearn for hermitage; for solitude.

It's difficult in our society to retreat to a cave in the Himalayan Mountains (as do some seekers).  I have my own "cave" - sitting on the side of my bed (facing north). (Paying homage to Michael - archangel of the north)  :o)    Am I sometimes tempted to stretch out and snooze for a few minutes?  Certainly.  But such sweet slumber.

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Carolyn's H.O.W.G. - Star Date - July 22, '06

I had a friend, when I was 10 years old, whose mother was a grouchy, impatient sort of person.  As I look back now, I see that she was trying to embarrass me by insinuating that something was wrong with me; I was somehow inferior.  She kept asking Martha Anne (her daughter) if she didn't "smell something."

My mother was a "drill sergeant" about cleanliness ,and she made sure that I was always "socially presentable:"  clean clothes, clean hair, clean body, clean teeth - no smell.  (In fact, I still have a fixation about washing my hands and eating after people.)  :o)

One night, I spent the night there, and Martha Anne told me she had to run an errand for her mother.  It was now dark, and I thought it strange her mother would send her on an errand after dark. However, she asked me to accompany her, so I did.

My eyes began to get big as we went to a bus stop - bigger, still, as the bus went to a very rough part of town.  And downright huge when the bus stopped and we went to a liquor store.  (Before legal age laws)

Little 10-year old Martha Anne then purchased a bottle of bourbon  (like it was a candy bar.)  Obviously, she had done it many times before.

Her mother proceeded to "dull all her pains."  (She said she had a headache.)  (Methinks she was a headache.)  (No doubt she did "smell something" - her own whiskey-soured breath, and the base energies oozing vibrationally from her.)

I now realize there was no father there, and I feel so badly about Martha Anne, who had no loving parents who cared for her safety; and had the one who would subject her to such "stuff" for her own sensual pleasure.

I never told my mother.  I knew it would have started a World War and my mother would have been horrified and "mad as a wet hen."  Maybe from her space in the fourth dimension (or higher) she is peering over my shoulder now as I write.  And at last she knows, "The Saga of Martha Anne - and the Bottle of Booze."  (I think I can hear her fussing, at me, saying, "You should never have gone.  That was pure stupid.")  And it was.

How blessed I was to have those who truly loved and cared for me; enough to not let me do idiotic things.

Sometimes I think when it seems God says "no", God is really saying "I love you enough to not let you blunder, foolishly and ignorantly, into a dangerous and awkward situation."   

"Though I walk through a valley full of dark shadows, I will fear no harm - for Thou art with me."  (Psm. 23:4)

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Carolyn H.O.W.G. - Star Date July 23, '06

I'm transported - listening to the C.D. Missy compiled for me:  26 minutes of varying versions of "Greensleeves."  It has always been my favorite piece of music (and I have written many songs an poems to that melody).

I was once told that it was thought to have been written by King Henry VIII for his (at that moment) love, Anne Bolyn.

Such haunting, soul-stirring beauty is hard to equate with what we know about "Old Henry."

But I console myself with the belief that it was actually composed by a great spiritual master - one who understood the plucking of the heart-strings and the impact of vibrational energy.

Maybe even Jesus.  Henry VIII was probably just the physical "channel" the tune came through.

"Hank" was known to be very knowledgeable about music - proving once again that God is no respecter of persons.  God uses us all to express God's beauty and love.  Not because we are good, but because God is good.

For me, the great gift is that the song came to earth, no matter who composed it (in the physical).  It always lifts me to the Highest (and Deepest) realms.  It sings in my soul.  Real "Love Drops from the Heart of God!"

Amen

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Encore:

Life is just like doing the "Hokey Pokey."  You put your right foot forward and you turn yourself around.  And that's what it's all about!!!

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Carolyn's H.O.W.G. - Star Date - July 24, '06

Now I know who I remind me of - Dobbie, the little house-elf, in Harry Potter.  Dobbie had to wear an odd "sack-like" garment until he received "real clothes," which would then set him free.

I have become very attached to my sleep-shirts, which look so much like Dobbie's costume.  They are soft cotton-knit and soooo comfortable.  I used to awaken and change into something more acceptable to "the world,"  such as slacks and shirt (and unmentionables).  Now this S.L.U.G. does her H.O.W.G. in true "house-elf" style - Comfort!

So conducive to the flow of Divine Energy.  (Purrr)  :o)

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Encore:  On Leaving The Nest

Yet another thought - the stirring of the heart chakra due to "Greensleeves," I guess.

I was never "kicked out" of my home-nest.  Always loved my Mama and Daddy birds - and knew that when I did leave physically, anytime I needed a place to "light", to rest, or to heal, my home-nest was there for me.  It comforted me to know that - and I landed there several times.  But I never abused it.  Never became dependent again on the family flock, and when I did fly home, I contributed to the "bird-seed" supply.

What a lesson God has hidden - in plain sight - (in nature).

It happened with me, as with most other young fledglings. I ventured into the world (discovered the opposite sex), went through storms and shipwrecks, and limped back to the nest to regain strength to try again.  How I loved that "nest."

Then life, itself, finally happened and the nest and the parent-birds went "the way of all flesh."  And I survived.

Some "little birdies" need the security of the nest for much longer than do others.  Some are adventurous, feisty, bold.  Others are soft, gentle and timid.

Life is so beautiful.  There is a place for us all.

Some birdlings are kicked out into the world while still chicks; develop coping skills.  Others hide under their mother's wings for a very long time.  (Song to God:  "You are my Hiding Place.") (Psm. 32:7)

Experiences from a long-forgotten past have shaped our characters.  One needs one thing, another, something else entirely. Who can judge, save God?

How foolish to say that one must strike out on his own at a given time and fly to "South America."  When the chick is ready, the shell cracks.  Too soon, and it is just an egg!

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Carolyn's H.O.W.G. - Star Date - July 25, '06

Holy Spirit just told me it was going to storm, with thunder and lightening.  (It did)  I was directed to take my shower and shampoo now so I wouldn't be "fried."

Later:  So now, I am sweet and clean, hair shining, cup of coffee, in my "hermitage, and wearing a fresh "elf-suit."

Ah - life is sweet.

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Carolyn's H.O.W.G. - Star Date - July 26,'06

Moments are just that - moments; fleeting moments.  Yet, each is pregnant with the fullness of time; each capable of producing wondrous things.  How often we either waste them or cling to them.  We fail to realize that life is a flowing energy.

Man measures time in his linear, earthly, third-dimensional fashion.  In Spirit it is always NOW and multi-dimensional.

Yesterday I was one step ahead of myself  As I made my coffee,  I was mentally taking a shower.  As I took a shower, I was mentally drying my hair.  As I dried my hair, I was mentally at my computer.  And so it went - on and on.  I finally realized what I was doing - trying to live in the future.  Sometimes it is in the past.  I re-enact in my mind (over and over) a past event;  sometimes pleasant, more often traumatic.

The two thieves that were crucified along with Jesus have been metaphysically designated as "the past" and "the future."  One a scoffer, embittered, resentful (the past); the other repentant, hopeful (the future).  The Master gave Grace to the one we call "the future," saying that today (Now) he would be with him in Paradise.

Paradise is a good place to be.  It is like a garden of refreshment.  It is "shalom."  (completeness.)  It is health, harmony and abundance.  It is a high state of consciousness.

The gift of God is that we are Now Here.  (The "devil," a lie and a liar, bestows the connotation of nowhere.)  Don't need to set it right, just see it right.  (Or read it rightly.)

World of difference!

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Encore:  On the transitory experience of earthly life.

Death has entered the family structure once again.  And so I wrote. . .

       . . .And in the autumn the flowers die,

                They fade, one by one.

            And in the winter, the branches cry,

                'Til spring, again, has come.

"The desert will rejoice, and blossom as the rose."  (Isa. 35:1)

Or, as Solomon said in The Book of Ecclesiastes:  "What is now, has been before, and will be again." (That means, us, too.)

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I hope the H.O.W.G. this week brought you some insight along the way.

As I said in my talk at church last Sunday, "As you go heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out lepers. . . ."  Honest, I said that.  (Poor lepers)  What I meant to say was (along with Jesus) "As you trot along the road of life, doing "your thing," remember to be compassionate and help the sick (of both soul and body), raise the dead (give encouragement and hope) cast out evil spirits (negative thoughts) and cleanse the lepers (sick, diseased, "stinkin' thinking.)  (Matt. 10:8)

I did mean to say that - really I did!!

With my love,

Carolyn