Jesus spoke Aramaic. Recently people have been returning to scriptures in Aramaic to better understand what Jesus was stating that may have been lost in translation. I had the privilege of attending a gathering given by Maria Lawrence from “The Way of the Heart” group. She gave the Aramaic translation of “The Lord’s Prayer”. She stated that Jesus was a master of sound, and chose words for the effects that the sound had on people. We listened to a DVD by Jay Hammer speaking it, and not knowing Aramaic, we were affected by the sounds. A web site source she gave me was www.wayofmastery.com.

Using this prayer with conscious and openness helps strip away that which we are not, and helps us receive that which we are. Maria refers to the Lord’s Prayer as “Attuning to the Cosmic Fire”. I suggest that we open to the memory of a God of Love before we begin. You might want to leave enough time to spend a few minutes in stillness after the prayer.

“Oh shimmering and eternal Presence illuminating all!

We restore our holy union with you by breathing Your holy Breath.

The penetrating rays of Your Power and Beauty melt our rigidities, and
we are now receptive to Your vision for us.

We are surrendered to Your wondrous design as our mystical union
infuses our earthly forms with the power of your Light.

The infusion of Your nurturing Wisdom will now carry us
through the sacred moments of this day.

Just as Your Light’s infusion dissolves our hidden fears, we extend and
share this light, so that others too, can dissolve their hidden fears.

Your streaming Rays of Wisdom and Power release us from all forgetfulness
that leads to the constrictions of useless fears

Now! Your illumined stream of radiant Light is embodied, and your Presence is here as ‘us’ carrying me in Your stream of Grace from gathering to gathering!

[amen] The truth is sealed in our hearts, with unwavering commitment.

For the next few days I'll be writing about partnering with God. In  "The Shack" by William P. Young, it is suggested by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we become "less independent" in our own thinking, and allow God to work within us, as Jesus frequently states in the book. This is the basic theme of "A Course in Miracles", and also happens to be the basic first step of spiritual healing as taught to me by kahuna Kopa Kaluahine. It sounds simple, but exactly how does one do it? That will depend on the person. Each of us has patterns of thinking and doing that we've developed over at least this one lifetime that will need to be undone. Initially it may feel that we are giving up something, and we might experience sadness or anger, but as we open to that divine guidance within, we realize that we have only gained, and we feel more joyful and more at peace

To change one's personal patterns of thinking is a daunting task, especially for those of us who pride ourselves in our intellectual skills. We can reason and judge and make great decisions in our 3-D world. And that is helpful when our minds are only aware of this world. But when we discover that there is a spiritual reality, and this world is a collective illusion, what do we do then? The answers aren't out in the 3-D world. They are within, in the place that God lives within us. They must be experienced to be understood, and they may not fit into the 3-D concept of what is "real".  The first step is to set an intention inviting God to guide us in our lives. If it is said with sincerity and energy, heaven and earth will hear, and our lives will begin to change.

At our Sunday Circle today one of our members shared with us about the origins of Mother's Day. She stated that it was begun as a Mother's protest of the devastation of war that children had experienced. I looked it up, and found    http://www.thenews-messenger.com/article/20090508/NEWS01, which gave the following information, 

 Mother's Day was officially declared by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, as an official day of National Observance of Mother's Day in the U.S. and declaring that it should always be on the second Sunday in May.

It was Julia Ward Howe, writer of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," who first planted the seed for a day for mothers to come together. It was about 12 years after she wrote that song that she instigated the first Mother's Day Peace Proclamation in 1870.

The peace proclamation was in protest to the devastation that the nation had experienced during the American Civil War. She wanted mothers everywhere to protest the killing of their sons through war and June 2 was designated as the day to celebrate peace and motherhood.

She funded much of the protest gatherings with this intent and in 1873, the day was designated as Mother's Peace Day in 18 north American states.

All of the women in our Sunday Circle went to the Kapaa Triangle at 12:30pm and prayed, and stood for the children and grandchildren who are faced with war,  or violence, or pain and stress of any kind. Even a very violent person started out as a baby. Children often adapt to their surroundings, or act out for attention. We must help our children keep their humanity.

So, Mother's Day was not about a day to honor Mothers initially. It was the Mothers who were honoring children. We must continue to give all children the love and caring and attention that they need, so that they keep their humanity, and treat others with love and caring. It does seem that the military machine is huge and ominous, but every machine has a chink. Perhaps that chink will be that humankind will reach critical mass as a loving human race, and we will break into a new, higher reality where we truly know that we are one. Hope your Mother's Day was terrific. Hope your tomorrow is too!

Arthur De Fries, Hawaiian kupuna (elder), states that for things to be right with a person, he/she has to have a good relationship with his/her mother. He isn't implying that all mothers need to be considered wonderful. In fact, he knows that some mothers really don't do a great job, but they still carried their children into this earth plane, and deserve appreciation and gratitude for that.

According to Sue Monk Kidd in "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter", The Gospel of Thomas refers to the Holy Spirit as feminine. It is very comforting for me to think of the divine feminine aspect of God at times. After all, mothers at their best are the unconditional lovers, and comforters in our lives.  Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, and for years The Creator was worshiped as a Goddess. As a woman, it was important to me that there be a holy being that could understand how I would feel, and that I could relate to. God is One, I reasoned. Why not allow the image I talked to be feminine? It works for me, but I don't forget that God in true spirit is formless. It is my need that relates to God as a Goddess occasionally, God stays in divine integrity of Spirit.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the creative women in the world, and especially to those who have lived a life that says, "I will be responsible for my life, and for many years, that of another soul in this world." I am especially grateful this year that my mother is well, and back to her plucky self again. 

May this and all of your days bring you peace and joy. I fly back to Kaua'i in a few hours. Mission completed. My mother is able to eat again, and is seeing her friends. We've tidied up and now I need to pack. My sister has arrived and I'm passing the baton of my mother's care to her. Thank you for your prayers. They worked. She healed quite quickly, and I've seen a wonderful spring! Hello Kaaaaaauuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!

In the movie, “What the Bleep” the heroine realizes that her negative thinking helps program depression in her body. She takes pills, which are supposed to balance her brain chemistry, but they don’t seem to be effective. They’re not effective because they are not getting to the root, or the cause of the symptoms: She has no self-love. She sees herself as fat and unsuccessful. An animated segment demonstrates that the brain is responsive and efficient. The negative thinking and depression begin to create more brain cells with the receptors for negative thinking and depression. The brain chemistry actually changes. It is a spiral downhill unless something changes.

I studied Dr. William Glasser’s Reality Therapy in graduate school, and learned how important self-esteem is. We need to feel good about ourselves, and believe that at least one person loves us unconditionally to be sane. But I also think we have to consider what the self-esteem is based on. If it is based on a collective ego agreement, then the foundation is precarious. For example, Dannion Brinkley in his book “Saved by the Light” acknowledges that he was a great assassin for the government during wartime. It gave him self-esteem. When he was struck by lightning, and went through his life review, he got to experience how his victims, and all their associates and families felt because of his violence. Now what had been a sense of pride could have become a sense of self-condemnation. But he also experienced that even though he had caused such pain in the world, he felt the most all-encompassing, unconditional love he had ever received by the beings who greeted him on the other side.

Dannion turned his life around and began to let spirit lead. He began to help others, especially those who had a fear of death. He had experienced it as the most beautiful, loving place ever, and helped dying patients transition in peace. The second time that he was clinically dead during a heart surgery, he experienced the love and caring that he gave others. He began to love himself more. As far as I know, this man who died twice, and whose body was pretty damaged, is still causing waves of light to flood into dark places punctuated with sporadic belly laughs as he tells his many stories. Science has proven that laughter changes brain chemistry. It helps one spiral upward! Google him If you like.

Several people have asked me if I have read "The Shack", by William P. Young. [www.theshackbook.com] When something is presented to me three times, and I haven’t checked it out the first or second, I follow up on it. I‘m reading it now, and beginning to understand why people are asking me if I’ve read it. What I like about it is that it states that God (Papa) is a loving Creator who adores her children, who can’t seem to believe that she loves them. Because they don’t believe God loves them, they don’t really trust her to make decisions for them. Because they make decisions for themselves without knowing the full truth, they make decisions that lead them to pain. They then blame God for the pain, because God knows all, and allows it to happen. So some think that God is cruel. Actually, God gets them out of the trouble, and usually leaves them better off than they were before the mistake, which they wouldn’t have made in the first place if they had allowed God to work through them as Jesus demonstrated with his life. I can agree with that.

Everyone tells me that there is a terrific section about forgiveness, one of my favorite subjects. Just yesterday I asked myself if there was anything that forgiveness couldn’t heal. The forgiveness I speak of comes from a knowing that we are all loved equally and maximally, that we are spirit, and that no one can cause any real harm to us, because pain and suffering can only occur in a state where we perceive ourselves as mentally or physically separated from the one we believe hurt us. Spirit is one. There can be no physical or mental separation in our true spiritual reality, but when our attention is in the 3D world it can feel or appear that pain is real. True forgiveness empowered Jesus to overcome the crucifixion by resurrecting. I look forward to that section in The Shack.

My dear friend Samuella inspired me today with her true and personal story about healing, Since healing was yesterday’s subject, I decided to share it with you today. She had asked me to pray for her about the procedure she describes as the end of her story, and when I emailed her asking how it went, she sent the following:

“Let me tell you that is was a very exciting procedure that went very well. The three nurses and the technician and the doctor could not have been nicer. I actually enjoyed the experience so much that I told them that I was having such a good time that I actually had forgotten why I was there in the first place. Lots of laughing, goofing around and carrying on !!!! I had had , about 6 weeks ago, a "stroke" in my right eye. ( Never heard of it ! ) Went totally blind driving down the road that Saturday. Rushed to the eye surgeon and he told me what had happened.  A blood clot had occluded the retinal artery shutting off the supply of blood to the retinal nerve and without the oxygen feeding the nerve, my sight was gone ! The doc told me that it was irreparable !!!!!!!!!!!! but he also told me that he believed in the power of prayer. Well, let me tell you I have had everyone I know praying for me and my eyesight !! And best of all, it worked ! YEAH !!  All of my vision has returned now....a little bit at a time each day it has gotten better. So I am so blessed. It was so scary !!!

The visit to the hospital was for  a "trans esophageal echocardiogram." (Phew !! Long word !! ) I had to swallow this long tube with a echo cardiogram camera and they searched for more clots that might be "hiding" between the heart and the esophagus. They didn't find anything and they told me that I had a beautiful healthy heart and that they found NO clots !!!!
So there you have it ! I am still "riding high " with the thrill of my vision returning and that damn procedure being over and done with !