paravanes:meditations

I am preparing to dive into National Novel Writing Month , and will return with original meditations in December. PositiveChristianity.org is one of my favorite resources. Here is their October 28, 2013 post: It has been said, Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. I’ve met some of the finest people that I’ve ever met in church, and also, to be honest, some of the worst. Some people come to worship God in love, and some just to carry out personal agendas, or human power trips. Of course the latter is missing EVERYTHING. Personal power can be an addiction. Needing to be in control of others and situations, can often rob a person of spiritual spontaneity of the serendipitous experience of finding unexpected good. The ultimate power, is human surrender, to experience the FULL power of the infilling of the Christ. Spiritual masters have said for centuries, that we must empty ourselves so that we may be full.

Having grown up regularly attending Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, I recall my teachers often mentioning this: “God is watching!” My child-mind imagined “God is watching” meant something like this: “In a place far away (and unknowable by you), God’s telescopic vision enables Him to see everything you do, so you’d better behave.” My child-mind reasoned if God was far away, His telescopic vision might turn from me for a moment. During that moment, I might “get away” with something I wanted to do, but believed would be labeled “bad.” The idea that God was in the room with us was never entertained by me or taught by my teachers. The thought of every movement and action happening in the very “face of God” was perhaps a bit too much for my teachers and was definitely more than I could imagine. Julian of Norwich , one of my favorite devotional writers, describes all of creation as a walnut in the palm of God, a creation regarded with love by a “courteous” God.

Making my way through a parental alienation forum recently, I came across a very intelligent and well thought out discussion of when a targeted parent should end their legal battles in response to the alienating tactics of the “other parent.” I have some experience with parental alienation and thought about what the author of the post said.  In a few words, her comments can be summed up this way: the “good guys” don’t always win. It’s unnatural and deeply wounding  for an ex, or someone else, to disrupt or destroy a once loving relationship between a parent and a child. If you have been the victim of this, your first thought may have been “it’s impossible, and what I think is happening isn’t really happening.” The recognition of reality leads to lengthy and sometimes expensive legal battles, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion, and a cycle of recrimination and anger that can go on for years. In the meantime, your child is caught in the middle of something they ar