Comfort and Joy

Every month when I sit down to write a blog entry, there is no end of possibility for topics. Since 'tis the season, this month we'll focus on comfort and joy.

These are troubling times. War, inflation, hunger, suicides and mass murders. Particularly troubling for me in my role as a healer is a growing number of requests for quick fixes to long-time issues and impatience with Spirit. I have found myself becoming impatient with cries from souls who are not getting the results they want NOW, and my own impatience is a message to slow down, stop even, and find additional compassion for those who are hurting so that they are crying out this way. Healing is not about my agenda- or that of the person in pain. Healing is about what is needed.

What does this all have to do with comfort and joy?

Recently, I received a Power Animal with a penchant for having fun. Over time as I've communicated with this compassionate spirit, I have found comfort at night when I go to bed troubled. Those big paws wrap around and comfort me. My dreams are vivid and telling, and night journeys are powerful in the embrace of such a remarkable spirit. Comfort is the easing of grief or distress. I may not be having fun, exactly, but comfort is the next best thing to joy, and sometimes exactly what is needed.

This relationship is teaching me to step back from others' pain sometimes. At times the best way to comfort someone is to simply be there, in the background, waiting for the person in pain to be ready to be aided or comforted. There is no bucking against someone who chooses to be in pain over counting blessings. All in good time.

All in good time. And this is how Spirit acts. When we deposit a wish or drum and rattle in power or reach out for healing, it is imperative that we understand that everything takes time- and time is different in our every day Ordinary Reality and the Non-Ordinary Reality of Spirit.

Yes, there are miracles, in which people are suddenly cured of terrible afflictions. And there are everyday miracles, like that we get up in the morning, a new day ahead.

This is not a miracle? Here is a dictionary definition of miracle: A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. Well, maybe we can say getting out of bed in the morning is a perfectly natural occurrence- but one day that occurrence... does not occur. For every single one of us. Maybe we could say having a new day before us is a miracle, every day.

And this brings us to joy: a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

For several years a friend and I have talked about creating a worthwhile alternative to the commercialism of Black Friday. This year we had the opportunity to offer a free streaming of the film Mission: JOY, a conversation with the Dalai Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Every single time one reached for the other's hand as they sat together, and their hands clasped, I felt the most immense sense of joy. It was inexplicable, just watching the holding of hands between two very different but very similar big spiritual leaders, communing.

"The Holidays" are upon us. What does this mean? Regardless your spiritual or religious leanings or affiliation, there are common tenets to humanity. The song God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, original manuscript from the 1650s, offers "tidings of comfort and joy." Any time of year, please offer comfort when you can, and embrace joy in the day. These troubling times can use a little comfort and joy.

Many blessings.