Are You There? Is God Really Present in Our Daily Personal Lives?

 Where are you God?  This question dogs much of our spiritual queries as we travel our challenge-packed journey through life. Is it possible that we are missing his ever-present personal involvement in  our daily lives?  Kathleen Ann Thompson engages the listener in a supposition that if we change the perceptions of our mind so they perceive the world as God designed it to be seen and experienced, he would readily be discovered by us, Immanuel, God with us.

Check out this episode!

The Source of the Demand that Fuels Human Traffickig

Follow up to SEE ME!  HEAR ME! - Performances at St Paul's Cathedral, San Diego Oct 8-10

What can we do about the 'demand'?

      The audience was in a contemplative silence in the great Roone Arledge  auditorium at Columbia University in 2009 as SEE ME! HEAR ME! concluded it’s U.S. premiere performance.  The applause then broke out and I stepped with, not a little, anxiety to the lip of the stage as the applause faded to begin the Q & A.   A moment of anticipatory silence ensued before a man (typical professor type) in the back row rose to his feet and thoughtfully asked his question:  “ You have addressed the subject of supply quite well in your production. Could you address the ‘demand’ portion of your equation for human trafficking?”.

      I had a ‘deer in the headlights’ moment as I thought; ‘Well, nothing like jumping into the deep part of the pool first’.  I considered my answer for an interminable couple of seconds.  Do I give this man a true but innocuous answer that covered social counseling  like twelve step sex-addiction programs, criminal procedures for predators, legislative lobbying attempts, etc. or do I address the core problem with demand for sex slaves.

      I elected at that moment to tell the hard truth.  That truth is that we are not really going to make a noticeable and effective dent in this cavernous container of demand until we change the way we are mentoring young people in their understanding of sexual activity.   Intimate sexual encounters are not a recreational event but a divine sacrament - a physical expression of a deep spiritual truth.  Sexual intimacy within our covenant unions is a gift of God to us which includes pleasure, a sense of being loved and valued, a wholeness, a mystery of oneness and fascination. 

        In lieu of  experiencing  this fulfilling  sexual intimacy within a promised monogamous relationship, our society has bent the knee to the idol of sex any where, any time, with any body. Promiscuous sexual encounters promise a false pleasure, fool’s gold, whose allurement is like a glittering distraction object that the fool turns our head with while the enemy targets the  knock out punch to our soul, robbing us of the God’s intended condition of wholeness and fulfillment.

 In our current cultural stream of sexual attitudinal behavior we have an environment which treats sexual relationships as simply a ‘hook up’, often without even formal introduction. Sexual parts are sold by advertisers in the culture as bonafide  credentials for intoxicating pleasure and a valid identity card that we are a desirable person. The problem is that this card is forged and bogus and quickly discovered as phony.  The holder of the false identity is left without entrance to the land of God’s intended delights in this divine sacrament.

         The true answer, in my opinion, to defeated this horrendous crime industry is to dry up the demand by uncovering the glorious treasures experienced in  God’s gift to us of intimate sexual relationship in a promised union -  a type that points to the ultimate union of each believer with God. 

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband,  present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  II Corinthian 11:2

                                                       Obedience

One thing was for sure, as the little maid grew, her father found discipline to be one of the first traits which he wanted her to learn. He started with very small things so that obeying would become a habit. Perhaps, you don’t think a KING would pay attention to small, everyday things like dressing a little girl’s hair every morning.  Nobody really knows where the KING learned how to dress a maiden’s hair - but then, he has many mysteries that no one understands. His hands would fly in lyric arcs as he combed her long, silky hair so that all hairs lined up obediently ready for parting and pinning. 

As she grew, the KING wisely taught her to dress her own hair – one step at a time. It took a graceful curve in the line of the comb’s movement, a twist in the wrist to wind a curl, precise placement of the fingers as she pinned the bundle. Of course, this took several years, with the KING doing less and less as her fingers and hands learned to obey the patterns she was being taught.  By the time she was six years old, an amazing thing happened.  One morning she rose up before the morning star had set and went to sit in front of the glass at her table. Cautiously, but with an inner confidence, she let her hands and fingers remember the habits of obedience she had been practicing every day under the close tutelage of her father.  Yes, it worked!  She was six and almost a lady – father would be so proud. Obeying father always made her feel so close to him as did dis-obedience make her feel so alone. She would lose him. However, then all she needed to do was to come to him carrying her little penitent heart, holding it out to his mercy. Much later she would find out that he would not allow anything, not even her greatest disobedience, to separate her from him.

                   

 

                                                         Humility

 

The tiny baby under the KING’s cloak survived and physically flourished under the KING’s nourishing fatherhood. Now, I said she flourished physically – but it was not so in her soul. Too young to remember her rescue from the palace steps, her soul had fury in it Her heart knew it had been abused, rejected and abandoned and was disconsolate. Small though she was, this fury sometimes broke out in her and she tasted bitterness as she clenched her angry fists and reacted with pushing hands.

 

Such was the kind of storm raging in her one morning while she was planting springs seeds. Her whole body shook like an earth quake as she pounded the dirt with her seed stick and then stomped the ground. The tears came following fast. The KING watched paternally from the door of the goat shed – for he saw all things. He sighed deeply and walked to his little maid and knelt in the fresh earth next to her. Her face turned down to the ground and her shoulders were rigid as he lifted her face in his hands he said; Your anger, bitterness and jealousy are separating you from my love. There’s no room in your soul for my love. I want you to run with all your might into my arms when your heart is having a terrible storm. Then, as I hold you tight in my arms the storm will be squeezed dry and you will only feel my love.

 

But, those little hands pushed the KING’s hands away and then pushed out her chest and started to plant those seeds with a new fury. The KING, being so wise, knew he couldn’t reach her heart at that moment. Therefore, he finished cleaning the goat shed, chopping the wood and fixing the midday meal before this small maid would collapsed on the ground, frustrated and exhausted.

Suddenly, the KING was holding her small tear-stained face in his oversized hands and scooping her up in his long arms. He sat with her nesting in his lap in a large rocking chair on the front porch and sang a song whose notes soaked up her tears – now, she would listen. Her fists were limp as he softly said; Yes, you were left for the vultures to devour, but I have rescued you and chosen freely to be your Father - to love you. All your work earns you not one measurement of my love. Will you allow me to provide and protect you? It gives me such pleasure.

 

Yes, she would stop trying to earn her bread and cheese at the table. When the storm in her soul returned she would remember his song and run into his arms. It’s a mistake to think that very small people are too young to learn very large lessons of life. The small maid, not yet five years of age, was already learning in the KING’s meticulous mentoring care. What could he have in mind for this adopted child?

                                                 
The Ancient Forest

 

The KING disappeared into a part of the forest that was older than man – a place of great mysteries and untold stories – a place the realm knew nothing about. Here he determined to let the destiny which his subjects had chosen to play out.  He was certain the truth would be revealed in time and he would return to the throne.  Meanwhile, he would raise the prince and his newly adopted baby daughter (yes, the ‘it’ was a baby girl) to prepare them for their royal life to come. Unencumbered by all the royal trappings and environs of the court, he would live a simple and rustic life in a small cottage - which was the best environment anyway for teaching children the ways of royalty and noble character.

The KING maintained contact with the realm through a confident – a currier of exceptional talent. He was faster than mercury, faithful as the son, smarter than a learned wizard and almost as invisible as the wind.  He could travel in and out of the realm almost unnoticed and worked like a cobweb among the subjects to learn how their thinking was developing.

 

And so the years of sequester began. They were long years, by the standard of ordinary men, but by the KING’s standard, they were just right - the exact amount of time to prepare his heirs for their royal destiny. I say heirs because the KING had now fully adopted that baby girl as his own precious and valued child.

                                                  
                                                                 -- Next Episode - Humility-

The Last Dressing - Installment One

Greetings my friends!  It has been a long time since I posted here. A very busy year  has kept me away from my blog.  I am now posting  six installments of the story behind Belleherst's newest production, The Last Dressing, which will be on tour once again in the U.S. during January and in Poland during March, 2014. I'll be posting one installment each week.  Enjoy!

THE LAST DRESSING

                                                                                                by

Kathleen Ann Thompson

The Beginning

 Once upon a time, as most stories begin, is not so appropriate for this tale, as it began before time was marking the comings and goings of life. But, nevertheless, we shall begin at a point of time in the story. This is the point where, our hero, the beneficent, wise  and powerful KING, charted a plan for his threatened realm – a realm with so many territories they couldn’t all be named and more subjects that the stars in heaven.

 A jealous rebellion has broken out against the KING which endangers the realm’s stability and existence. Now, one must not think that the KING could not muster an overwhelming force of his own military to squash the revolt.  He could.   But, I told you, the KING was wise.  A rebellious element overcome by brute force would only thrive underground, chewing on their bitterness and anger waiting to fight again some unsuspecting day.  No, he must change their thinking, and then their hearts could be changed.

 Now, the KING had no queen, for she had died in child-birth five years before.  His son, the prince, was their only heir to the throne. So, just before dawn, as the rebels were gathering with huge and hard boots, fire brands in their hands and curses in their mouth to attack the palace, the KING took the five-year-old Prince under a large grey hooded cloak and fled down the palace stairs.

 It was here that everything changed. The KING suddenly stopped and perched with one foot up and one foot down on a step - he had heard something.  It was the cry of an infant. Searching through the grey mist of pre-dawn light, he saw movement – like a moth caught in a web –thrashing, erratic, desperate movement. The cry was weak and pleading. Time – no time.  The big and hard boots were coming, the fire was near.  He reached for it and with his right arm swooped it up.  It was wet and slippery with its own blood as he tucked it under the big grey cloak and fled into the mist.

That was the last he saw of the realm’s subjects for a long, long time.

 

- next week-     The Ancient Forest

 

 

 

The Stilling of Desire

A sequel to The Killing of Desire (posted 2006 on my website, www.belleherst.com)

I know, I said I would get back to the seven part series on the Perfected Marriage, but once again that intention is stalled by lack of free time at the moment and a compelling rush of intentional adrenalin to write on, The Stilling of Desire.   This seems to be the  proverbial moment of a clear eruptive understanding in my mind after weeks of fragmented dialogues with God on the subject of personal accreditation.  I have been speaking a great deal this spring on the subject of finding our true accreditation, not from the world's faulty and fickle standard, but from God who is able to truly validate our value and worth since He designed it. This accreditation can be summed up in us as a satisfaction for the seven longings or desires designed into our spiritual DNA by God (thanks to Mike Bickle for defining this for me).  If we do not seek satisfaction in God for these longings, we will attempt to wrench an accreditation, whole or partial, from the world's systems.


These seven longings drive us like turbo motors in our life.  They motivate our decisions, stimulate our will, occupy our thoughts, structure our life style, determine our actions, explain our relationship choices and in short, design our entire life. How?  They cause us to move consciously and unconsciously toward experiencing their satisfaction. Like an unbearable itch, we eventually move toward activity which we believe will relieve the sensation of longing and desire.

One morning this week, I awoke in the early hours of dawn with this declarative statement cold minted in the space of my brain, as if my brain had just been branded and the brain was still smoking from the imprint(like fire and ice).  The statement was (clearly God's thought), "I came to satisfy you." 
It seemed so startling to me because I realized how much I think and believe the other way.  Life is frustrating - sometimes at every turn. Does anyone care what I am trying to do here (like God?).  I will never achieve what is in my heart to do - just plain inadequate for the task and so on....


The dialogue went on for several days in prayer, under my breath while attending to mundane activities, in my head as I slept with one compartment of my brain awake until some impressions crystallized.  The seven longings (I list them here):  The longing to be loved, the longing to be beautiful, the longing to achieve something great in the world, the longing for intimacy, the longing to be relevant (meaningful) to the world we live in and to the people we  are connected to, the longing to be fascinated with life, the longing to be whole-hearted (so committed to something that we could die for it). These desires are not stilled until they are completely and perfectly satisfied.  They are like vortexes pulling us into unknown territories where we try, despair, struggle, deny, create, cogitate, emote and much more in our effort to find perfect satisfaction, but to no avail.


I listened to a TED talk the other day on chronic pain. The doctor gave an account of something which happens much too frequently in life and particularly in science.   A little cell (gilia cell) which was thought to be of no real significance to the body (sort of like dead weight -as cells go) until, it was brought to an enlightened mind that  it was actually a very important cell accomplishing many necessary and important function relative to the perception of sensation brought to our body by neuro-transmitters. The scientists should have known that God did not put anything in us that is superfluous. I repeat this account here, since it is relative to the fact that those seven, God-designed and implanted desires in us are not there as dead weight to our existence.  They are not insignificant to our development.  They are not evil and therefore, should not be denied and eliminated so we can live a desire-free existence.  They are not the root of greed, lust, deception, promiscuity, perversion, envy and blasphemy....unless, we seek satisfaction for them from the world's systems of accreditation.  


Quite the contrary, these longings in us are to drive us to connect in the most intimate of ways to Him, our God, who placed them within us to act as a spiritual GPS which is programed to always find God.  We must turn the vehicle of our life toward its destination -walking so close with God in the garden of life that our will is one with His. Then, we join the dance of love with the trinity which has been going on since before the foundations of our world were laid and realize we are totally satisfied.  We experience His unconditional and jealous love for us, we realize He has given us His beauty, we discover that we didn't chose Him BUT, He chose us to bear endurable fruit, we are fascinated every day with a new revelation of His un-graspable being, we are strong and committed to Him (even unto death), we see that our relationship with Him gives us salt and wine to share out to others in our worldto be relevant to them and we are immersed in an inescapable addiction to being known by Him and to knowing Him, an intimacy we never dreamed possible.



In this condition, all desire is stilled.  We are suspended in present state of enjoyment and pleasure.  Our whole life is now in Him.  We are at last whole, complete  without desire. He is the end of all our desires.