Sincerity or Hypocrisy?

In England we talked about sincerity in spiritual growth, and how quietly and easily hypocrisy can slide into our lives, creating facade, eroding our good deeds and causing stagnation. 

As we wake from the numb slumber of addiction and avoidance, its tempting to soothe the restless soul with 'spiritual' words and thoughts that we think spell progress.

As facade cracks, pain and loneliness so long covered over, begin to seep forth, we grapple for 'control', to understand, to feel we know and we can cope. 

And in doing so we can end up spending time talking, instead of growing, we loose sight of truth and open the way for hypocrisy.

But true joy is to be found in the other choice. 

The choice of faith in the process God has designed, to trust that His Ways will have us cope the best. 

True progress requires this choice, this trust. 

Our group was small and intimate, which made for great discussion!

The measure of our sincerity is how often we choose love and humility in our day-to-day lives. And these choices will germinate into actions, since they can do nothing else.

When we take action in sincerity:

1. We will confront all issues of love and untruth in our lives meaning that change is certain
2. Error will begin to leave us which means that pain is certain
3. We open ourselves to God and to our true selves so that joy is certain

Sincerity about spiritual growth leads to action and change in our lives automatically.

For me, this talk, this visit was good soul food. Stuff to sustain me, stuff to inspire me.

It was also great to stay with and catch up with dear people. Thank-you Mike, Fi, Luca, Angela & Peter.

Heligfjall - in opposite season

Some days I look around at the world we live in and I see injustice and greed, hard times and hunger. My grief is so much that I don't want to let it go and allow it to wash over me. At those times I loose sight of God. I don't see His Hand in the things around me. I strangle our connection by choking down on my own emotion.

But there are certain days, and special places on the Earth, where God's Power, Her Stamp on things, is suddenly able to open me and to crowd all my disillusionment out. 

Eva & Per’s home at Heligfjall is one of those places.

What was in winter a magical wonderland of white, crisp beauty, is now transformed into a rich colourful feast for the senses.

The sun is shining 24 hours a day and the landscape is a palette of vibrant greens, sprinkled with wildflowers of every colour of the rainbow. 

Birds are singing and the air is alive with bugs, mosquitoes, and insects of every kind. Big bumble bees weigh down flowers on their moving feast amongst a living bouquet. 

In the woods by our cottage –the place last winter we called our ‘church’ for its still, quiet beauty that felt ethereal and earthly all at once – the neighbour has seen a mama bear and her two cubs.

But perhaps most striking of all is the smell. Fresh mountain air is mixed with sweet aromas of new growth of spruce and pine trees, blooming grass and fresh flower. It blends together to create a scent akin to honey. I find myself wanting to drink the air!

Everything in God’s creation shouts ‘life’ and ‘growth’. As man still struggles for dominion everywhere on earth, here at least it is evident that God and Her Creations are full of love and are a force of great power.

We are spending our days exploring the land and talking with Eva and Per about their Learning Centre plans. We are harvesting wild greens for our salads and smoothies, and sharing with visitors interested in this area.

The community here is sustained by logging and the common summer pastimes are hunting and fishing. We are discussing ways to regenerate logged land and create a safe haven for all kinds of wildlife. Some of the local youth are already interested in this idea for an ‘eco park’. Ideas on how to serve this community in northern Sweden are on all our lips often. I love that about our stay.

July 2012

The same spot in January 2012!

Summer in Sweden

Its summer in Sweden, and the Swedes have wide smiles and relaxed gait as the sunshine warms and thaws things out. Here in Gothenburg, dusk occurs at 12am and the birds start chirping at 3am! Its strange for our already confused sleep patterns (smile).

We had a fantastic weekend with around 80 people in attendance. AJ gave awesome talks focussing mainly around the law of attraction. Here are some photos of the days.