Frost-Bitten

Even knowing that all 44 of my years have been in Indiana/Idaho/Utah, it has become abundantly clear that I was not built for cold-weather climates. I have been lying to myself every winter. Gritting my teeth & baring it. If there's ever an apocalyptic event that causes the entire world to go into deep freeze, I will simply lay down, huddle in a ball, and pray for the sweet release of death. I. HATE. COLD. Fingers and toes should NOT stay popsicles. Legs should be warm and tanned. Faces should sting from healthy exposure to sunlight, not the slap of frigid air. Eyes should water from life experience- joy, pain, loss, excessive laughter- NOT as a result of cold breezes, sneezes and germs! I am more determined now to save for retiring to a tropical locale! With or without my kookie husband, who doesn't mind the cold, loves to hunt & fish, and secretly gets a kick from refusing to put on a coat when we're "just going out to the mancave." He's clinically insane. 

I miss sunshine. I miss warmth. I miss gentle breezes and the scent of lilac from the bushes in the yard. I NEED the sun. I crave being hot & sweaty- working outdoors with my hands in the dirt, sculpting and pruning my vegetation to make it beautiful & fruitful. I miss flip-flops and shorts, eating popsicles and crunching ice cubes. The whir of the fan in the window, and the chirp of crickets in the yard. These winter days seem eternal; a never-ending drudgery of darkness and cold. If I could just hibernate through it, and hunker down in the blankets and pillows until the beautiful sun beacons with springtime, I would be a happy girl. But alas, duties call. I must soak up the heat from my morning shower & pray for the intestinal fortitude to make it through another bone-chilling excursion into the frozen outdoors. 

Mark my words. One day I will live in a warmer climate. Where constant sunshine and warmth bring my heart joy. Until then, I'll bundle up and begrudgingly muddle through; warming my path along the way with smiles and laughter. Meanwhile, God bless the inventors of the indoor furnace & automobile heaters!

Only 57 more days 'til spring. Only 57. ONLY FIFTY-SEVEN? That's an eternity... Gaaaaaaaaa...

For My Sisters

After the first Sister Week (my sisters and I take a week each summer to be together.) none of us were sure we would continue it. That was hard. Getting to know each other again, as women- as adults all. But we CHOSE to commit to it, and have WORKED to keep our relationships. We stumble, loose touch, fail to be there, repent, ask forgiveness and work at it some more. We are all constantly changing and evolving and we are different women each time we get together. Sometimes not as much as others, but there have been Sister Weeks that were anything BUT a vacation. We talk about the hard stuff. We contemplate the big "Why" questions and we support each other through our evolutions. We CHOOSE to be friends and sisters and we have to keep choosing that, or we would be like every other sibling-hood on the planet. Polite to one another but distant and removed; hugging the brief "hello old friend" hugs at weddings and funerals and the occasional holiday. We would naturally drift apart because life is constantly moving, changing and shifting with or without us. And we WANT to be in this journey with and for each other. We are sisters because of birth. Mom and Dad gave us that. But we remain sister-friends because we make it a priority. Simple as that.

The Origin of this Blog

I have been writing and posting my Share the Love philosophy via Facebook for many years. I don't know what took me so long to start a blog. Last October I wrote the following piece. My sister suggested the name of my future blog based on this writing. So T-nut. This one's for you.

Everyone is entitled to their own belief system. Your path to Heaven may not be the same as mine. Your god may answer to a different name, or your idea of The Maker may be different than mine. Your concept of Christ may vary from mine. Someone who's interpretation of the bible or another scripture is not exactly like yours is not evil or to be pitied because they have "gone astray." Judgements and condemnation have no place in our human relationships. Falsehoods have been preached and hammered and engrained into us for thousands of years. Shame and guilt and fear have been the tools of our hierarchies for far too long.  TRUTH: The Divine Creator is never far away and we can receive our own, direct, "no-middle-man-needed" revelations for living a LOVE centered life. We are all hard-wired in our very essence to the One we came from - the One to whom we will return. Whatever your path is, respect all other journeys and chose to SHARE THE LOVE. Please...for the love of ALL that is holy.

Sailing Through Life

We have always heard, "It is better to give than to receive." But instead of receiving, we have embraced want, desire and greed. Things have become our most cherished thoughts and stuff our highest goal. In order to truly give or receive, we must get back to the basics of connectedness - the Divine purpose of our souls' journey: to LOVE our Creator & one another. How can I "give" if I do not live embracing ALL my fellow life-travelers?

I need to constantly be re-evaluating my thoughts, words and actions and adjust my forward motion to the course which brings me ever closer to that Divine purpose: LOVE. I will try not to judge my past as wrong or "bad", but as a learning experience from which to glean understanding. Like the sailors of old, I must use what I have naturally available to chart my course. The people in my life are like the stars; each constellation pointing my way. Some larger "stars" providing much needed insight and perspective.  The Divine is my wind; steering my vessel where I will have opportunity to either harness it's power or fight against it in a fruitless effort to go my own direction. My choices; where I place the rudder and how I use the sails determining my direction and ultimate destination. Lastly, remember "A smooth sea never made a good sailor." ~P.Frye

The Music of Humanity

YOU are such a magnificent creation. Genetically/Biologically we are all 99% the same. But you- your personality, likes, dislikes, humor, foibles, strengths, talents and abilities, your voice, your fingerprints, the impression you leave behind you in life's path- are uniquely YOU. The trick is to remember the connectedness. Remember that you are never alone. That beautiful, wonderful, incredible God-spark planted deep in your soul (some would say that IS your soul) is metaphysically bound to every other God-spark that ever was, is, or will be. 

When you are going through the tough times, WE feel it. By quieting the noise and turmoil of our physical world-  through prayer, meditation, or just walking about in a wooded glen or through your neighborhood- you can tap into the energy & love that is readily present and available to recharge and realign yourself for your/THE greatest good. 

Life is a beautiful song. So when you feel the drag of the physical realm, just know that perhaps it's time for some darker chords or maybe a "rest" is called for, in order to make the crescendos bolder & brighter when the chorus resumes. Just know that your life is your instrument. It has been designed to work in harmony with every other player in the orchestra. Stop judging it as out of tune, or bad, or the wrong kind. A harmonica is just as vital as a violin. A banjo just as lovely as a cello. Even a triangle or cymbal has it's moments to add to this beautiful orchestration called LIFE. We are the authors of our own life songs. We just forget that each one is overlapping and moving with all the other composers' work, contributing notes and tones and rhythms and harmonies which fill and build every measure, every movement, to create this incredible chorus of praise to the Divine.

God Bless you as you begin this beautiful Tuesday. May you be blessed enough to hear the symphony of humanity and treasure your part in the orchestra. Namaste. ~P.Frye

Equal Rights and Divine Love

When we post things on social media or state an opinion - whether Twitter, Facebook, via email or told face to face - I wish more people would think before putting it out there into the universe. If you think it's "my opinion, my right to express it", yes that's true. Think it's "just a joke", think again. Question: Would it be funny or cute to the person or people it's about? Would it uplift and edify the group you are talking about? Does it bring loving thoughts of you to the mind of ALL who see/hear it? If you represent Christ, does it make EVERYONE want to know your Savior by your actions and words? 

Personally, I don't care what religious denomination to which you ascribe. If LOVE is your aim and you are sharing the love, I heartily chime an "Amen!" to what is shared. But when "even the least of these" is shamed, made fun of, degraded or made to feel less than anyone else by your meme or statement or "joke" then it is NOT productive and doesn't bring joy to the Creator- no matter by which name you call it/Him/Her. All humans have shortcomings. We all are faulted in some way and fall short of perfection. To single out ANY "sins" as worse than or more damaging than any others is to put yourself into the role of The Judge, and that is not our job! BE love and loving to all people, all things, all situations at all times. THAT is what we are to do here in our earthly time given. 

No one's rights are threatened by sharing those same rights with everyone. As I've said before, how, where and with whom YOU sleep does not effect MY restful hours in any way. Whether you work nights and sleep during the day (which I would find "abnormal" and prefer not to do) IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS. I would no sooner mandate sleeping hours than whom another adult, consenting, independently thinking person can marry or not. 

"Straight" marriages fail 50+% of the time. Why not outlaw divorce, make marriage prep classes mandatory, or at least work within your church system to improve families and marriages from where you currently stand? Why not just be an example of LOVE- Unconditional, unprejudiced, ever-reaching, inclusive, embracing, DIVINE love to the world? 

Hate is hate- even when disguised as a self-righteous act in the name of your God. And hate never was and never will be love. You cannot "love the sinner and hate the sin", because as long as hate is part of the equation, love is voided. We must, as a whole, BE HOLY. Be whole-ly LOVE. Period. No judgement. No qualifications. No "BUT..."s about it. Love and love alone is Divine. All else fails to make this world a better place. 

Love is All There Is

I am a pacifist: a peace-loving, tree-hugging, hippie-girl with rose-colored glasses and a utopian dream for our world. I believe that love is the cure-all. I also know that reality doesn't reflect my philosophies...yet. If you don't agree with me, fine. But do not put your religious rhetoric beneath my posts. I try to put only positive, LOVE themed ideas out into the universe, and will not have my blog space become a forum for your "My way is GOD'S way." judgements. My motivations are simply to invite people to open their minds.  Open their hearts.  To read. Learn. THINK for themselves. I invite all to have lively discussions and debates with your peers. To stop relying on television personalities for your "news" and religious leaders for your "rules." Respect yourself and others by engaging in healthy conversations with everyone in your life, expand your sphere of influence to those who don't look, think, act & believe the same as you. And, when necessary, agree to disagree. There is no holiness in self-righteousness. There is no sin in unconditional love. ~P.Frye

Our Planet

Jesus's ways were so simple. Love. Love God. Love your fellow man/woman. Just love. Love life. Love the sinner. Love the sick, hungry, homeless and downtrodden. Be love. Minister to the soul of every one, every thing, all the time. Live love. Let it fill your thoughts, words, motivations, actions and dreams. The Pharisees didn't like the simplicity of Jesus's teachings. They wanted the "rules". They wanted judgement, blame, black & white, who's right & who's wrong. That is human nature. But our divine spark within, our holy core, resonates and thrives when we are able to quiet the chaos and chatter of our upbringing. We are meant, at a cellular level, to vibrate tender, healing, beautiful, light-bringing LOVE with one another. To connect in that cosmic space of oneness with ourselves and with each other. The Earth breathes and moves and changes based on how we either use or abuse that connectedness. We are either consciously contribute to the healthy, life-giving energy of this world, or we selfishly rob ourselves and co-dwellers  of any future. To sit idly by, is to be a tick on the back of our world. A tick doesn't care about it's host. It cares only to feed and feed and feed...until he and his brothers have left behind disease and death, and the host dies. But unlike the tick, we do not have another "host" we can move to when we've killed ours.

One day we will wake up and say, "It is too late. We are doomed." We will have depleted our resources. Polluted our water, land & air to such a point that Mother Earth will be terminal. She will be so sick that she will shudder, shake and vomit us all into the universe so that she can begin again. 

We MUST heal...ourselves, our world, each other. Live consciously and connected. See ourselves in our sisters and brothers. Look into the eyes of every living being, in every moment and connect to the God-spark in each one. Be aware of how we use and occupy the space, objects, animals and people in our sphere of influence. We must BE LOVE. 

It really is that simple.

There is no Boogie-man

At birth we come to this world with nothing but love in our hearts.

Over time we become right and left, black and white, gay and straight, fat and thin, correct and wrong, good and bad. We are taught to hold tightly to the beliefs of the family. To listen to our elders, our leaders, our priests. To listen to the teachings of our church, school, government & society. Fear, anger, shame, judgement and regret are learned and, over time, our pure hearts begin to turn cold & hard.

We are taught that to question is sinful. That doubt and wonder separate us from our Divine creator. That to look for answers and contemplate another way to God may separate us from the family and people that we love for eternity. We are told "But this is the way it's always been!" or "The scriptures say..." or "God is unchanging! How dare you question God!" We are told, "Do not think too much about it. You can't know all the answers anyway, so just have faith." 

But blind faith is a blanket thrown over your head when the boogie-man is under your bed. 

Start a conversation. Have a debate. Talk to family and friends about LOVE. Look for answers. Question everything. Meditate. Listen to what others have to say. Most importantly, listen to what your heart has to say. Beneath the fear, anger, shame, judgement and regret lies a heart who's birthright is LOVE.

There is no boogie-man. When we throw off the blanket and look around, and really SEE our world in all it's splendor, there is only love. Love is life. Life is God. God=Life=Love.

Love is all there is.

Feminist/Humanist

I am a female. And I have resented and despised my femininity for as long as I can remember. The world had ideas for me. It taught me that I was only HALF of one whole. That I would not be complete until I'd "caught a man." That my value and worth were highly dependent on whether or not I'd been validated and found worthy of someone marrying me. That unless my uterus had housed at least 1 child for 9 months, unless I'd tended to the household chores while my husband was the wage earner, sat quietly in church while the "menfolk" did the preaching and rule-making, and turned a blind eye to the fact that my paycheck was not equal that of men holding the same position...I was not fulfilling my duties as a woman.

We have "come a long way baby.", but until our feminine contributions are held in the SAME esteem, weighed JUST AS valuable, pay-worthy, and necessary as our male counterparts, our job is not done. Feminism is not a rejection of men and the masculine of our society, but rather an uprising of women to demand respect and equality in ALL things. Until a girl can dream, without judgement, of being a life-long bachelor who holds a high ranking position, content to remain childless while achieving all her ambitions and goals, we still have a LONG way to go. The pathway to a brighter future is in the validation and support of the INDIVIDUAL'S dreams, not in holding on to the "but-this-is-the-way-it's-always-been-done" mentalities. Whether a little girl or boy wants to hold dollies or power tools, make-up or mathematics, high heels or steel-toed boots, or a combination of them all...SUPPORT THEIR INDIVIDUALITY & RIGHT TO CHOOSE. 

I am a feminist. More importantly, I am a humanist. And the human spirit can only triumph when allowed to dream outside the box in which our society wants to place us. Less judgement, more love. ~P.Frye