Opening the Door for Strawberry Shortcake (no, not the dessert)
There was a time in my life when I would do anything to hear God…except listen and for many years I had no relationship with spirituality or religion.
I remember being on the ASU campus while I was getting my Religious Studies degree and seeing a preacher proselytizing about Jesus. He pointed me out in the crowd.
“What about you young lady? Have you accepted Jesus as your savior?”
“No.”
“Well why not?”
“I just don’t know what I think about that yet.”
“That’s acceptable,” he said.
And I didn’t know what I thought about any of it. I was studying religion from an academic perspective and it. was. fascinating. But when it came to my own beliefs, my own connection with something greater than myself I literally had no idea.
Soon after that someone very close to me died in a motorcycle accident and it sent me reeling. My spirituality developed in the darkness of suffering.
I know for sure that too much of life is beyond our grasp to not have a foundation based on something we believe in. In my work with clients and students, even conversations with my friends, I often hear stories of religious disenchantment.
Religion has become a dirty word in our culture and many other places in the world. And this makes me so sad. Because the way I see it, religion is beautiful. Of course not the corruption or distortion of it. But the beauty of it, the ceremony, the ritual, the foundation, the mysticism, the prayer, symbolism, and values.
There’s so much good in it and it gets wrapped up in the guilt, horror and terrible very human actions made in the name of God.
To me, it doesn’t matter what you call it. Spirituality is a multifaceted deeply personal concept that involves seeking meaning and connection with something greater than yourself. As a practice, it leads to a more profound understanding of oneself and the world.
I was having coffee with a woman one day when she said: I want what you have. I want to get closer to Spirit. My connection with something greater than myself has developed a lot over the two decades since that preacher called me out in the crowd. And no, I don’t relate to Jesus as my savior but I’m often told I have a direct line to the divine and am referred to fondly as a spiritual coach, teacher and healer.
The thing is, we all have access to this.
I fully believe it: we all have a direct line to the divine. We all have access to that brilliant power within. The highest-most God and the innermost God are one.
Again, it’s not the name. It doesn’t matter if you call it Holy Spirit, Great Mystery or Strawberry Shortcake (although that last one seems to lack reverence, it has a playful innocence, so do your thing).
What matters is that you can feel it and connect with it and call it your own. All of my work is about bridging the gap between who you are and the person you’re meant to be. I do this work for myself too. Daily.
And what I know for sure is that we can’t get there alone.
We can’t get there without support from this world and the world beyond. We need our friends, our communities, our loves, we need everyone willing to show up for us and we’re missing out on a huge piece if we leave out faith.
Faith is the foundation.
Faith is what keeps us going when we want to give up.
Faith is the secret sauce to filling that gap again and again because you’re never done.
Being human can be a lonely road.
A holy power to hold our hand, walk with us, encourage our ability. It’s the pristine cosmic parent we never had.
Closer to Spirit: Six Weeks of Spiritual Development is open for enrollment.
Sign up before Sunday with code: SHORTCAKE and save $102.
I’m leaving the link for more details here.
Read about it, feel into it, check out the map and the modules. Let me know if you have any Qs.
With lots of love and then some,
Jem