Barbara Birch
@barbarabirch
Quaker author of Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy (Quaker Quicks) I amplify the good on social media. And some snark too.
Thu Meditatio Bro nailed it this time. I beat myself up for not doing all the ‘spiritual’ things & preferring to do my own living in Love the best I can. I can’t be that long-faced Quaker following the 'rules'. Note: I will be on hiatus for a month. Traveling in the ministry of friendship. 🙏
Wednesday Meditatio How the mind does wander & forget at the surface of life but per T. Kelly, at a deeper level the heart/soul stays fixed on Love/Truth in rapt attention & prayer; One instant the mind recollects & returns before leaping again to another doubt then to come home again. AmenAmen
Tuesday Meditatio If sin is missing the mark or unskillful behavior, if I harm someone unintentionally & say sorry if I forget to love just give it all to the cosmos where the thing is tiny w no meaning at all if a lil mangod will not count it agin us, so even more the immensity of Love Amen.
Monday Meditatio i’m not beaten back by Bro's mangod pronouns & possessive determiners; pluckily i translate to my own faith Love&Truth are w me in my body/soul/mind my perpetual Joy is to sense Love&Truth & follow Love&Truth in my actions & choices & doing all w gratitude for the good & bad.
Sunday Meditatio Renunciation=sacrifice w o regret & w joy bc it’s for Good, for Love, meanwhile living love (let’s all do it). Conversation isn’t words, it’s immersion incarnation grounding invading awareness of the now in the Eternal Now T. Kelly’s double consciousness A felt sense of Love innit
Saturday Meditatio Don’t mistake the trees for the forest Don’t overthink it Devotion is not a performance & u get no final grade for what u give up. Only let Love be w u in Love. not mushy hallmark love but Love as a force of nature the strength of resistance the greatest power in the cosmos
Friday Meditatio Be faithful & deny ur will for Love & voilà: a life of love will result, facing bad news w equanimity bc the Christ Within strengthens & preserves u. Do u believe it? Do u have confidence? Bro doesn’t mention resistance but I see that outcome too. Face the bad w strength. 💪💪
Thursday Meditatio perfect resignation to the will of Love makes life on earth a heaven w no need to expect an afterlife of reward; it’s enough to live in Love in the now w each now part of the Eternal Now. Willingness to die for Love is the essence of Christian nonviolence. Let's not forget that
Wednesday Meditatio Bro loses this reader when his GOD causes bad things to happen then gives him strength to bear I know many ppl share this belief in GODLY intervention w favors or disfavors. What -ism is this? I dunno. Still the outcome of courage & independence-- so he could walk cheerfully.
Tuesday Meditatio Altho Bro’s GOD was up there in heaven he felt HIM inside/around as he worked so external rites & liturgies didn’t matter to him Altho bad things might happen the worst would be to lose his felt sense of inward grounding & accompaniment aka the practice of the Presence. Amen.
Monday Meditatio Bro’s fresh remembrance or return to Love invested inflamed transported him so his body couldn’t contain his spirit. exaggeration? hyperbole? no Kelly & Jones described such inrushes of Spirit (& early Friends too). This was their quaking. Does this happen in the now time? To u?
Sunday Mediatio Being w GOD in easy times so he could be easy in uneasy times when he had business to do w o brooding or dread or fear-- “he did not think of it” So be it. So Truth will tell me what to do if I stop & listen & Love is a mirror where i see my Self reflected in infinity. Amen 🙏
Sat Meditatio The concept of a He/God up there separate from ppl so they draw down graces… W Friends, the metaphor is an expansive ‘within’ Seed Within Inner Voice, Inward Light Walk In It. =incarnational=union=non-theistic Still, we all must surrender, endure, trust, love truth. So, same. 🙏
Fri Meditatio Schooling thoughts on Love Doing all for Love. Do u forget? Just return. No need to feel ‘wretched’ when Love is unconditional & self-loathing need not apply if self-loving is part of Loving. So just return to Love if u forget for a time. Remember: each time's the Eternal Now.
Thu Meditatio Equanimity comes to those who practice the Presence: whatever comes lucky or yucky is God doing to me? No no the Divine never does to me, the Divine is Love & my task is to love (come what may, lucky or no) Love, others, the planet & my self, live Love easy to say not easy to do
Wednesday Meditatio This obsession w sin & Blood, even w o anxiety, can’t be healthy. A favor-dispenser God harms my psyche. Do u think God bestows the goods on Mad$$Men? Or do they grab? Love gives love to the loving & unloving I see many signs of random mercy & random chaos in the now, do u?
Tuesday Meditatio Our ‘intelligence’ VS Divine Will (u can't think your way to it) D W is loving Love mortification self-denial self-punishment why would living Love want that? My 1st insight at age 17 was that I didn’t want to worship a god who wanted to be worshiped that way still true today
Mon Meditatio & rēs the body: Love loves it demands respect not pain deprivation self recrimination useless 4 obsession & unhealthy desire. What's effective is double consciousness Accompaniment, a sense of divine love in on w under beside me in the now & the Eternal Now. Together strong.
Sunday Meditatio Bro describes my spiritual journey word 4 word In centering prayer or meeting for worship the story in my head comes & goes gathering wool & cobwebs & tumbleweed A body scan is best & focusing do I feel a felt sense do I hear an inner voice do I quake & is Love at the center?
Sat. Meditatio Two things are important in any moment: the now & the Eternal Now, otherwise banish pesky thoughts of mischief reject intrusive ideas of impertinence Friend, doom scrolling & brooding do u no good change your mind & “Turn towards the Light, however faint it might be.” (T. Kelly)
Fri Meditatio here’s the practice of the presence no need for a human director only a confessor rē: feel love & live love & do love if something is awry, confess humbly w o defense feel forgiven consoled repeat repeat Each minute of each day is holy surrendered Today I water the pots on the deck
Thursday Meditatio This is Quakerly for a monk a life of ritual & liturgy--no For Bro no ‘secular’ time exists the now always the Eternal Now Life lived on two levels acc to T. Kelly Times of prayer are not more sacred they are a time to feel more clearly the Inner One praying thru me to the now
In serious training for Pendle Hill, I walked up a steep hill in my ‘hood. It’s steeper but shorter than P H but a great workout. And there’s a lil stone spiral/labyrinth 🌀 at the top so I can also fit in a walking meditation. 🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️
Wednesday Meditatio Bro did not like his kitchen tasks but w his double consciousness of Accompaniment he found the labor light & easy it’s all the same to him what he does or doesn’t if he’s surrounded by a loving Presence & basks in the Love of the Divine So may it be in my kitchen. Amen.
Tues Meditatio I have aphantasia but even I imagine Bro rolling around on barrels a little slapstick humor for the friar Still, faith wins & GOD triumphs I often find the same thing when I go outside my comfort zone all my dread is wasted in the end it serves no purpose as it all turns out Love
Monday Meditatio In simplicity I try talking to u at night In humility I pray in words by day May I put my faith in u Love & my flaws? May I confess my hubris to u Love & my failures? Love heal me & my dread Let me disremember my memory in u Love In simplicity I talk to u In humility I ask today
Sunday Meditatio Faith. Equanimity. Peace. No 'what shall we eat drink wear?' Tomorrow will take care of itself (a sermon of Jesus) The future was no worry 4 Bro the Indwelling would support him thru any thing. Humility: I’m nothing w o U & from T. Kelly: ‘This is what I am except Thou aid me.’
Happy Interdependence Day! True patriotism is wanting the government to live up to the country’s highest ideals. #july4
Saturday Meditatio here is the crux of it: Indwelling Love replaces obsession & banishes anxieties fear overcome by joy & abundance in life Bro this is wise ‘converse’ w GOD continually not ‘talking’ but immersion & incarnation. (T. Kelly got this & it also freed him from obsession & depression)