BoldGrace

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CLICK LINK Watch Listen and Remember our Friend Cliff

I sure do miss him!

Peace

Geo

We spent Saturday night at my Uncle Doug’s. Wow, I thought it would be kind of hard without Dad, but it was good. It was the kind of good where you just feel at ease with the new journies life has to offer. I was sitting at the end of Uncle Doug’s lane looking out onto the sky and this picture is what I saw. Isn’t it gorgeous??

We are quick to take moments like this and let them pass us by rather than sit peacefully and take it all in. We need to take it in because It is like giving our brain a bath!

My cousin Angie sent this to me this morning and after the weekend we have all had it fits just perfectly in this picture. It says this:

"Love is not a habit"

It is the quality of freshness, of newness, that is essential, or otherwise life becomes a routine, a habit; and love is not a habit, a boring thing. Most people have lost all sense of wonderment. They take everything for granted; this sense of security destroys freedom and the wonderment of uncertainty.

JKrishnamurti.org – Daily Quote

This is so true! "Most people have lost all sense of wonderment." Don’t let your life become a routine. Don’t let moments pass you by simply because it is out of the norm. Take a chance on something that you see different and find out what you can learn and then feel yourself grow. It feels good!

Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup They slither while they pass They slip away across the universe Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my open mind Possessing and caressing me

Nothing’s gonna change MY WORLD

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes That call me on and on across the universe Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

Nothing’s gonna change MY WORLD

Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears exciting and inviting me Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns It calls me on and on across the universe

Nothing’s gonna change MY WORLD    –BEATLES

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

This past week was filled with so many great conversations that I have been reminded of a post that my Father did February 11, 2009 called: What Keeps Us From Seeing Clearly. For my Father he wrote that "SEEING MORE CLEARLY has been a result of a lot less talking" and one of the things that I will carry with me from that post was when he wrote, "It feels so peaceful to know that my contribution is not nearly as important as my observation."–Cliff Hazelbaker

One of the things I have been learning this past week is that the most important thing I can do for myself and for others is to listen. I don’t have to agree with what someone says and I do not have to convince anyone that I am right, but in order to see another humans spirit which I believe to be the spirit of God then I do need to listen and when we listen we tend to see more clearly.

 I  believe that our spiritual form is destine to share ourselves with each other, but our earthly form wants to control what is shared. When we let go of the control we find peace.

I believe that once the spirit is awakened the flesh begins to die. I saw my Father take his last breath, but I am seeing my Father’s spirit live on through my Family. Once we start to acknowledge the innerself (spirit) we find ourselves on a journey of self discovery. The flesh begins to get weaker and weaker, but the innerself, the soul, the spirit becomes child like again. Children listen. They take in as much as they can. At some point the world starts to cloud their vision and the listening becomes more difficult. We end up giving in to the world and hiding who we really are. We become so afraid, so defensive and so judgemental that we begin to talk rather than listen.

 So, are you really listening? Are you hearing the birds singing sweetly in the trees? Are you really listening when your child speaks to you? Or are you hearing what the world is telling you?

I will always enjoy talking about my Father. He was the kind of man that made you feel like you could do and be anything. He made you want to Love life. He made sense of life. He could find joy in the saddest situation. His laugh was contagious and his heart was full of love. He may not have been seen as perfect by man, but in God’s eyes he was complete perfection. He had found his spirit from God and believed that God is Love.

I have found myself wanting to make sense of Dad’s death because I am still in denial that he is gone, but deep down I know the reality is that anything is possible so I will have faith in my heart and faith in my soul and when I get goosebumps over a feeling I have…I am gonna go with it and let it flow like a river. I guess why I am going here is because all weekend I had several conversations with different people and it seemed to always lead to a topic about the "light of Love". I feel the need to try and describe what my Father saw in his final days because it is important for people to understand that when you let go and let God all the fear goes away and I got to witness it.

Dad said, "Mindy, when I look at people I don’t see a person that is wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I see a light and all I feel is Love for them." He would also always say to me that this message is SIMPLE!! Dad wasn’t seeing judgement or fear. He didn’t feel insecure about who he was or what he had done in his life. All of that nonsense, all of the worldly perceptions, perspectives and illusions had gone away. He had a mission that he had completed. It makes me wonder if what I was witnessing in my Father was what Jesus had seen while he was hanging on the cross?

During my Fathers 57 years he never stopped learning to love. He never closed his mind to anything. He kept it wide open. Is that why his time here in this life was finished so soon? Had he learned all that he could and he had finally reached his resting place where he saw nothing but the light of love in everyone? Is that what we are here for?

In 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verses 6-16 Paul is speaking about the Wisdom from our own Spirit which is the spirit of God who lives within us all.

 ⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (I BELIEVE THESE "RULERS" ARE THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS) ⁷No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
   "No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him"^[b]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[c] 14}The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
 ¹⁶"For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?"^[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

What I have highlighted in blue helps me understand how far my Father had gone on this earth and how far I want to go.  My Father understood the spirit that lived within him therefore he understood the Spirit of God. My Father had acknowledged that this had always been there within him, but had come to a point in this life where his mind had finally rested and he had the mind of Christ. The words were written on his heart. He had no need to search any longer for the answers. He is at a place of peace and everlasting Love. 

God is Love and I believe I came from Love and I will go back to Love. My Spirit is from God and I am working everday towards the mind of Christ.

We cannot get to where Dad got by human wisdom. We get there through the spirit that lives within each of us. The spirit of the world is an illusion we will not find the mind of Christ there. We have to go to the words of the spirit within ourselves and those words are written on our hearts.

In 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1-3

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. ³You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

 MY FATHER WAS HUMBLE AND HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HE NEEDED NOTHING FROM ANYONE ELSE. HE HAD BEEN GIVEN LIFE BY THE SPIRIT.

Where he is now I am not sure. Most of the time I think he is a bird that sits outside on his back porch, but I am not sure. What I am sure of is that he was a spirit of the living God as are all of us. He had one hell of a journey and it was an amazingly wonderful life full of LOVE…

My cousin Angie wrote a poem about my Father that was chosen to be printed in the 2009 issue of Tributaries. The new issue of Tributaries will be available in September.

The Perfect Process

 Before he left he said

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 @ 9:00pm EDT will be a dedication to Cliff Hazelbaker. Go to www.glennkleinonline.com to listen or call 1-800-436-3260 to tell your story of Cliff.

It is funny how some days are easier than others. Today is a day where I am swimming in my tears. The urge to cry today has become unbearable and I have had to give in. It is a day of disbelief that my Father is gone. Some days we are strong, happy, secure and at peace. The next…well, you never know what the day will bring.

Today will bring for some a birth, a new job, a raise, remission, a lottery winning or a loved one comes home from war. For some it brings a death, the loss of a job, hunger, an accident, an addiction, a bad diagnosis, or a loved one does not make it home from war. For me the day has brought a storm and my sea is raging. My ship feels like it is taking on too much water and all I can do is hold on tight…

When we are tired of the tribulations we want to run. I guess I figure if I run then maybe the things that sadden me will stay behind. The reality is that they don’t stay behind. We have to fight through these days. We have to find the strength to steer our ships. We have to use our faith until the storm subsides. We have to acknowledge the peace that fills our soul. I have lost sight of it today and it is easy to do, but I have to remember that I am staring into a world of illusions. I have to gain back the knowledge and the faith that lives within me…that lives in you.

Sarah McLachlan sings a song called “Angel”. Her words say,“In the arms of the Angel may you find some comfort here.” On the days where the sadness has taken control I try to be comforted by the idea that an Angel is watching over me. It is important to understand that each day will be different. Take the day for what it is, but don’t give up on the peace that fills your soul. I can’t hide what kind of day I am having. It is a tough one, but I am not going to be afraid. I will still love and be loved.

“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life IS worth living and your belief will help create that fact.” —James Truslow Adams