-- And there is no anonymity with Spirit.  I suspect that is one of the first major hurdles on the spiritual path!  How I would love it, if I could just avert my eyes, shift closer to a “guru” or a “preacher”, and sneak along with the flow that surrounds the “guru”.  I had an “eyeball to eyeball” session with Spirit in 1955 and said, “Yes.”  But that has not kept me from still trying to do the averted eyes dance.  “Who, me?”  “Why me?”  “I’m just . . . .”

 

Divine will/purpose is uniquely personal and specific.  The only way we differ from each other is the timing of that moment when the eye sees, the ear hears, and the heart responds to some aspect of life, which Spirit has been holding for us, waiting to be noticed.

 

We read the stories of those whom Jesus called, the Buddha touched, or Mohammed instructed and of the great medicine men.  The stories inspire us and enrich our lives and imaginations.  Not one of them, however, can answer the very specific and personal call of Spirit which has the name “James Perry Robinson”, for instance, on it.  If I do not answer that call it does not get answered; and something remains missing in the sea of life.  I didn’t show up and say “yes”.  There’s a call of Spirit with your name on it.  Shame on me if I try to push you and tell you what your part is and what it is “supposed to look like”!  But the secret is: you will not find happiness or fulfillment, until you answer it.

 

It would be silly if I were to go to a restaurant -- Puleo’s Grille, for example -- and just sit and study the menu, tell the waiter and surrounding feasters what a great menu it is and what a great guy Steve Puleo is and just go on and on and on praising Puleo’s Grille.  The restaurant is there to serve me a great meal.  The staff, the kitchen, the building – its only function is to offer me – and anyone else who shows up – a great meal.  Significant praise is when I order my favorite dish off the menu and enjoy it!  After I have done that, any words of praise, probably, would also be appreciated.  But, until I order and eat, I am just taking up space in the restaurant!

 

This world, this universe, is a really neat place.  The “menu” is truly infinite!  Sometimes we have incarnated here mainly to “hang out and have fun”.  [I think my last incarnational episode was like that.]  Sometimes we incarnate here in order to participate in a specific part of what I would call “divine will/purpose”.  And who, by the way, gets to decide that hanging out and having fun it not also divine will/purpose?  In either case it is personal and it is mine; AND no one else gets to decide which of these I am here to do!  That is strictly personal business with Creator!

 

However, I talk with a lot of people who sense a feeling of purpose or destiny in their unfolding life.  I have that feeling myself.  

 

This is not about feeling self-important or special.  It is about being aware of our function in life.  After all, when the Spirit Of Life In All Things is lovingly mindful even for the life of the sparrow, it is hard to conceive a status “more important” than to be part of the object of that Ultimate Love.  I can rebel, deny, “opt out”, and temporize forever, but I cannot change that Ultimate Love any more than the fish can change the sea in which it swims.

 

But I also know a part of me which must live out some things I have been shown.  I think a lot of you feel the same way; and maybe we have been drawn together to help and support each other to fulfill of our “divine will/purpose” – sometimes individually, sometimes as a group.

 

If it is a dance, a sweat lodge, a seminar, a ceremony, a “Messiah Training” gathering, or whatever may be happening, sometimes “things happen” here at the Center for Peace.  Suddenly and unexpectedly a participant has entered into a life changing experience; and the other participants have instinctively created a “safe container”, within which the person can explore that experience without interference.  It is in those moments, I think, that the Center for Peace – as a place and as an organization – is really doing its work.  Because everyone present at that time gets to see a part of Spirit’s Plan fall into place.  For each participant there was a part which “had his/her name one it”; and each one said “yes!”  Like the shift of the tectonic plates in an earthquake, things are a little bit different from that point on.

 

I cannot tell those stories about what really happened in those moments; because they are very personal to the ones who experienced them.  This is the reason we sometimes get almost tongue-tied, when people ask, “Specifically, what does the Center for Peace do?”  It also is partly the reason that it would seem to some that the Center for Peace is the “best kept secret” in East Tennessee!  The only stories I can tell are mine – and a lot of you have already heard most of them!  

 

Those who value this kind of personal experience support the Center for Peace financially and through their participation, whenever possible.  Perhaps another way you can consider supporting this work is to share your stories.  These stories are like the rest of our spiritual life:  very personal.  It is a good idea to try really hard to tell only your own stories and not to tell other people’s stories, unless you have specific permission to do so.

 

It is autumn.  The trees are dropping their leaves.  Soon the cold winds will urge us to warm ourselves by the fires of the winter, where we shall share our stories, visions, and experiences of the seasons of our lives.

 

What is your story?  Is it a story you need to tell; or is it one you need to hold and ponder in your heart?  It is personal; it is yours.

 

Happy Holidays!