culture, God's masculinity does remain the prevalent belief system. But in this belief something crucial to us all has been left out—the Feminine. Indeed the loss of the Feminine from our spiritual ideologies has caused a grief so deep and so raw, particularly in women, that it has been virtually unspeakable until recently. Why? Because, as women, we have been disinherited; we are not created in His image. In her book, A God Who Looks Like Me, Patricia Reilly beautifully addresses the wounding some women feel around this issue.
But the loss is not women's alone. No matter how we may feel about the idea of a purely male God, it is obvious that when the Divine is only masculine, only male qualities are highly valued. This leaves the feminine qualities of compassion, inclusion, cooperation, tolerance, beingness, intuition, and nurturance underrated and even perceived as weak or ineffective. With the negation of heart-qualities such as these comes many of the malignancies in society; lack of empathy, elevation of power, violence, disregard for nature, concentration solely on the mind to the exclusion of the heart, and loss of soul, to name only a few.
In a human family, it is optimal when both loving masculine and feminine models are available. The same is true within our spiritual family. Believing in and honoring both the mas-culine and feminine divinity within our hearts, and within the great unknowable mystery that is God, is essential for the balance and harmony of our spirits.
We need both the law and the love, the word and the wisdom, the mind and the heart of God. With tender honesty, ask yourself if the God that you love possesses both feminine and masculine aspects. If not, make a commitment to give yourself a sacred gift by incorporating the missing virtues into your heart's vision of the Beloved.
I honor and appreciate both the masculine and the feminine qualities of the Divine.
I possess qualities worthy of honor and admiration.
Finding the Motherhood of God
ALTHOUGH I BELIEVE THAT GOD IS BIGGER than I can ever hope to fathom and embodies both masculine and feminine qualities, I often feel a deep yearning to sit at the feet of an ideal Mother God to be consoled or taught.
It wasn't until my own mother's last illness that I became fully aware of how much I longed for an unconditionally loving female presence. I wanted, both within me and in my spiritual ideology, a guide and plumb line who represented the feminine principles of love, wisdom, and patience. Jolted by the recognition that my most important female influence would soon be unavailable in physical form, I began to pray for and meditate on a feminine aspect of God to whom I could relate.
God responded to my request in beautiful ways. Teachers appeared as I was ready, and the two most important things I learned from them were very simple: Your desire is valid and essential and Trust your images.
As I began to trust my own images, they became clearer and more frequent. Right now, I'm aware of several female beings who comfort and guide me. One in particular, whom I call “The Lady,” appeared as a result of a knocked-to-myknees, end-of-my-rope plea. She is incredibly strong, about seven feet tall, infinitely wise, and impersonally compassionate.
Please understand that I realize that I haven't a clue as to the reality of the mystery of God. The best I can do is love, honor, and serve the images that resonate with my heart at this time. But frankly, I don't think God cares what we call Him/Her/All, as long as we keep in touch.
I trust my images of God.
I ask for the Mother God who is right for me.
Walking the Earth with Sensitive Feet
IN A PERPETUAL DANCE, EARTH AND SKY provide us with a beautiful life-sustaining environment. Just when Mother Earth pulls back into her roots to replenish and revitalize, leaving her queendom brown and barren, Father Sky fills his realm with a carnival of clouds that bring moisture to a parched planet. Working in concert, they never leave us with a time when our eyes cannot be dazzled, our hearts uplifted in awe, and our lungs filled with air. Regretfully, ignorance and greed are damaging both earth and sky as we humans act as if there is an extra earth in the attic.
One outcome of living more in harmony with the Spirit will be a natural increase in awareness about the need to care for our planet. It is the literal ground of our being, and both Mother Earth and Father Sky need us to be sensitive to what harms them. We are planetary stewards and must learn to treat our home with respect and care.
Every now and then I travel to sacred spots with a group of spiritually-minded women. Recently we went to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah, where Mother Nature has responded to the elements of wind and water by creating breathtaking sculptures, awesome in size and beauty. One of the goals of these excursions is to consciously bless the earth and restore energy to places that may have been depleted through misuse.
On this trip, we spent two hours silently in the presence of the incredible arches. The single suggestion made by one of the leaders before we began was to hold the sentiment, “I see you from afar, and I am longing for your healing” as we experienced Mother Earth. Afterward, one woman's comment especially struck me: “I promised that I will walk the earth with sensitive feet.”
How different our world would be if we all walked everywhere with sensitive feet! Take a moment today to consider your relationship with nature. How can you walk the earth with more sensitive feet?
I appreciate and care for the planet.
I see you from afar, and I am longing for your healing.
Learning from the Stones
GLEANING WISDOM FROM INDIGENOUS AND Eastern cultures who revere their elders, our heretofore youth-worshiping society is finally learning to let go of “age anxiety” and value the patina that aging can bring to the soul. Of course not all people magically become wise and wonderful as they age, but those who choose to look at what they gain from advancing years, rather than what they lose, generally have a lustrous heart and a gleam in their eyes.
Ideally, the experiences accrued throughout the years bring increased wisdom and instill an inner security that allows us to speak our truth fearlessly and act from an unshakable sense of integrity. I love the quote from Dorothy Sayers: “Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.” Yes. For the good of the whole, we need to be uncontrollable and untamed in our efforts to invite the spirit of love to quench the thirst of our souls and re-green our world.
I saw the beauty of aging exemplified by nature while on my trip to Arches National Park. In silent meditation, I sat in the protective shade of an eons-old rock that I came to think of as “Grandmother Rock.” Gazing through the unbelievably huge arch in her facing sister, I was awed by the beauty created as this stone adapted to the elements and, over the millennium, grew a window through which the pristine sky gleams.
In the face of her patient transformation from one kind of beauty to another, I found myself asking how I was being called to mature as I age. What sandy sediment within me needs to erode away? What window into my very soul is yearning to be revealed in my walled-in personal world? What must be transformed in me in order for my transparency to reveal a vast and changing sky? I have no answers, only the knowledge that they will come if I remain open to the questions.
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