Immersion

In order to find blessings in each day it is important to take time to enter into silent stillness and immerse yourself in God's peace. 


This peace is truly not of the world, for it is a gift of great depth which bears no apparent relationship to whatever chaos you may feel is going
on in your life or your body. 


To enter into a calm still space and find God blessing you is an incredible wonder that can transfigure you and fundamentally change how you feel about the whole day.


God's peace uplifts. It renews. It brightens . It upholds you through any trial. It touches your heart and mind and helps you to see things anew with fresh eyes and open heart. 


It reminds you of God's presence with you, it saves and refreshes your life.


One moment of peace and stillness can change the whole flow of your day and ultimately your life.


And so we ask that we can always find the moment needed to immerse ourselves in His energy, that we might bear the fruits of our time with Him. Amen.

Higher

When the world, perturbs, assaults, disturbs us, we must seek a higher perspective. God's light shines constantly, brings wisdom, discernment, truth. 


Going higher can give greater vision and understanding. You can see from a wider different perspective.


God's view is whole and complete. Ours is tiny and often subjective. 


When we do not know what to do, let us immerse ourselves in Gods light so that we can have clarity and insight illuminated for us.


God's light is pure and blesses all.


Let us ask to see things with greater perspective. Let us always seek a higher view, guided by God, blessed by the gifts of the spirit:wisdom, knowledge, discernment, love.

Amen

Pure

Gods love is pure. It is total, absolute and utterly unconditional.His way is straight.


There is ease, clarity, wisdom in His way, for it has a flow that feels right and good, that uplifts and strengthens us. 


We can know the people of God by their actions and intentions: "By their fruit you shall know them ", is so true. There is no expectation or demand on you. 


There is no condition of transaction. There is no game being played out to suit someone's ego or power or status or image. Interactions are genuine. 


Gifts are freely given. 


Relationships are healthy and open, not critical and controlling. 


The people of the Spirit give freely of their love and leave you feeling touched in some indescribable way ;bytheir goodness , wholeness, genuineness.


The way of life is strewn with false relationship, with secret demands and hidden expectations, with subtle compliance and disappointments. 


Ultimately it is only God in His perfection, who sees all and knows all and can tell what is written in our hearts, who can
love us purely for who we are.


May we feel loved, and guided and safe then in the knowledge that God's love is with us and is pure and true. 


May we be guided by the fruits of the Spirit, which shine out from people and inspire us. Amen.

Justice

God's justice is not always what we think it will be. God's justice is love, brings peace and restoration not punishment. 

Oh how we long for justice for ME.

 How great is the need to put things right, to restore truth and integrity, right presentation and service.

How great is the need for proper ME tests, biomedical treatments, search for a cure, accurate research, knowledgeable consultants, adequate care .

How great is the need for healing through the restoration of truth. Let us pray with all our hearts that this is not only possible but that God wills it so in our life time.

Amen.

Demands

Life places many demands upon us. It is not always easy or possible to comply with them. When demands become overwhelming let us place ourselves in trust and faith in Gods hands.

 Let us ask him for his Grace and help to see us through a demanding life. 

Let us find a still space and therein draw sustenance . 

Let us believe in goodness that it will triumph over adversity and a way forward become apparent in all stressful situations we find ourselves in.

 Let us find Hope in the Lord that we might rise above all demands and find His Peace. Amen.

Endeavour

Every day we endeavour to rise above the confines of this illness. It is so all encompassing affecting our lives totally. 

Yet still we find meaning in love, meaning in hope,meaning in our relationship, comfort and support from others also on the edge with this illness.

We dare to be our best selves and stay connected despite all the illness chucks at us to create separation.

 It is not a meaningless empty space we live in. It is one of love, passion, perseverance, trust and Truth.

It is a place where awareness brings compassion for ourselves and others like  us. It brings political awareness, it brings a longing for justice and a need for hope.

It is a shining place where God's light can dazzle us and shine through us. Amen.

Endless

The love of God is endless and boundless. It is ever present, sparklingly beautiful, ever flowing, all enduring. What an incredible energy we receive when we  find this love and receive it. 

It flows, lifts, heals, upholds us. It is beyond words. It is unfathomable in its breadth and depth.

 It is divine grace coming to touch us wherever we are in our lives, from the womb to our death and beyond,  we are immersed in this love that is available to transform and work miracles of healing in our lives. 

Praise God for the wonder of His love and the beauty  and mystery of his creation that we  incredibly are a part of. Amen

Reason

Today, both of us ill with the flu, making things unimaginably worse, so weak, so breathless, it's very, very hard. 

Just the two of us trying to cope on our own.

Such is our vulnerability.

Just two souls trying to hold each other together, the virus hitting us on every level. Feeling our fragility. So important to focus on the Light of the world; it is a reason to  find hope in this chaos.

There often seems no rhyme or reason to the suffering we experience. Yet if we can find the confidence and the strength and the Trust to focus  on love, to lift our eyes to the light of the world, we will find blessings and hope. For He will fill us and shine in us and we will be able to keep going , lifted by Him.

Centred

It is so important to find your centre in the day, so that whatever comes you can cope. 

Being centred helps you not lose your balance or sense of who you are when difficulties arise. 

The deeper your awareness of your centre, the true you, the connected with God self, the more you find you can cope. The more ephemeral the outside world becomes. 

The less likely it will harm and damage you.

Unfortunately, with  ME you  start each day within the centre of physical chaos. You are in effect chucked  straight in ' at the deep end.' every day. It  can be hard even  to begin to find your centre, so physically dispersed , so cognitively impacted , you are.  

In these circumstances, it is a miracle that we can find God at all. And yet somehow we do. We go within. We find some aspect of centredness and we more than survive. We pray. 

We hope. We reach  out.  

We keep going. We are love in a broken world.

Let us thank God then,  for this miracle of being. Let us thank Him for the strength, the Light,the Hope ,the Love , the inner peace and the centredeness He brings us. Amen

Stillness

Stillness is how we survive, finding moments of stillness together. Finding hope in the stillness together. 

Hope to carry on, hope to reach out in kindness and keep growing together. Hope of finding a clear safe pathway ahead.

 Stillness leads us to awareness of ourselves, to awareness of the beauty that surrounds us and to awareness of God with us.

 Stillness is a blessing, if we can find that stillness inside our selves that is alive with life , that lights up who we are for us to see and know and ultimately so that others might see and know the truth of who we are, for we are love.

Praising

Praise is easier  on a happy sunny day. It is harder to engage with when struggle with existence on a daily basis.


 Praise however lifts us up into the light, the love, the sweetness, the harmony, the goodness, the power of God.


Praise can transform a difficult moment by reminding us of a higher reality and helping us to reengage with what is important God's love.


God's love creates and holds us in this  fragile moment.


Today, especially we give praise for the precious gift of life . We give thanks for the life of Emily Collingridge, who very sadly died on Sunday . She is  greatly missed.  So wracked with pain, yet so full of life and love Emily helped us both  a great deal , she contributed so much to Stonebird. We were on the edge of giving up, if it had not been for Emily.


We have found, over and over that it is those who suffer the most who reach out the most, those who really know are the most genuinely real.




Praise, praise, praise , praise for the powerful life of Emily Collingridge !!!

Praying

Praying is so much more than words. Prayer is entering into stillness with the one who is Love  and finding a connection .

It is to be touched by grace. It is to find that however tiny you feel your physical existence to be, your spiritual existence is far and wide and boundless.

 No distance separates you from anyone. God and everyone is infinitely close in prayer. There is no separation only love flowing .

 It  is awesome and wonderful to be caught up in the incredible  beauty of the presnce of God, the infinite stillness, the perfect prayer. No words are required. No thought is needed.

 Only being is experienced in perfection  and purity.

A moment's true prayer is absolute. It is healing. It is restorative. It is comforting. It is restful. Nothing is quite the same after you have known this true intimacy of connection. 

The Light of Love dances with you. Infills you, blesses you, transfigures you.. Transports you. And all can be seen afresh, once the intimacy of prayer has touched our hearts and minds. We are never alone again.

Reaction

Today has been very very difficult with both of us ill, one with the flu, the other with severe ME, plus knowing that it is only time before we both have flu.

 An awful thought. 

On days like this we are reminded vividly of our almost total isolation from everyone.

We are reminded of how few people seem to care, one way or another, especially locally. We are very aware of neighbours , who go to church, chose not to want to know or get involved. 

It makes us more aware of the total vulnerability of our situation.

A strong reaction to days like this is a tearing sense of our own helplessness and poverty. On such days it feels as if  things cannot get any worse, except  actually they can, for today at least the continuing building work torment was not quite as extreme as other recent days.

Our reaction on days like this could be to fall into despair ,but we do not go there , because days like this also remind us of the love we have for each other. That is what is important. That is what is real.

 That is what lifts us and nurtures us and takes us forward beyond despair.

It is important then when things go wrong or deteriorate, to take a moment to not panic, to not react badly or fearfully, despite this being the natural response.

 It is time to draw close to peace and stillness, to seek healing and hope, to find blessings in the tiniest of things, such as watching a ladybird joyfully encounter the sunshine. 

It  is time to be more loving, more caring, more compassionate to each other and to ourselves and Trust that God in His  goodness will keep us safe and bring healing and  untold blessings into our lives.

 Amen.

Shining

The sun is shining here today. How beautiful it makes everything look. The cold air is not so cold, the flowers glow , even the leaves are translucent  as the light flows through them. 

The garden is transformed. Even the rooms in the house are warmer and brighter for the sun shine.

Many days here though the sun does not shine. It still feels like winter and the cold wracks through us, no matter how many layers of clothing we wear. Yet everything in the garden is still growing, is still reaching for the light, even if the growth is invisible to the naked eye.

This is a great spiritual  lesson to be learned. Look below the surface. see the spiritual light shining, transforming everything, radiating hope and beauty in a seemingly barren existence. The whole garden is groaning, bursting forth with new life and growth, some visible, some below the soil, where we cannot see so easily.

And so, like the garden,  it is  the same with us. 

We are still seeking God's light, still reaching out, yearning for His  warmth in the most cold and barren places. We are  waiting  for His light  to shine through us and transform us, even on the darkest days when we cannot see or feel  His light shining in the world or in us, when we feel there is no growth, no movement, yet still His Light is shining.

All we need do is seek Him with inner eyes and open heart, with Trust and faith that He is still with us.  For  His  light is ever pure and shining for the whole of creation. And we can always shine His Light and make a difference in the world, even if we know it not, by looking up and knowing He is the Light of Life and all is really well.

 Then we will find that transformation and growth has happened even though we noticed it not and suddenly beauty is restored and the Light shines brightly in our 

hearts . 

Amen.

Space

We all need space to collect our thoughts, take time to pray and be with ourselves and God, a space to rest to find renewal, a place hopefully of healing and clear sight. 

For the person with Severe ME space is a requirement that their health and life depends on.

The space required because the illness is so vast and all encompassing is a space that brings isolation from the world and results in true poverty: where everything worldly is removed slowly, day by day, year by year from the persons life.

This space can be a place for healing, or feel like a prison, trapping and confining the person. 

With God though, we can find a deeper meaning to life, a connection with anyone anywhere in the world without travelling an inch, a space of spirit and blessing that touches every hurt and offers a degree of sustenance,hope and comfort, even though you do not get well, still healing can occur.

The meaning of life, the meaning of unconditional love, these precious gifts can be found in the spiritual space that opens up, if discerned as such by the person who seeks to know God. 

This space can be welcomed into all our lives , for it is the space that we can only find by stillness and inner journey. It can lead us to an infinite space of wonder and gift.

 May we all seek and find this space this Lent. Amen.

Creativity

Creation is a vibrant ever growing ever- changing powerful experience. 

The whole of the earth and everything in it is caught up in this creative , chaotic, unpredictable energy.

To engage in any  act of  creation, whether art, music, gardening, painting, web design, cooking, to name a few, there is a constant choice of what to do next. Sometimes this is obvious, others you get caught up in the process and do not notice. 

Many things can go wrong at any moment as well as go right. You can create beauty or ugliness with just one move, a wrong stroke of the brush, a wrong strum of a string, a wrong snip with the secateurs,  a wrong piece of code. 

This can lead to harmony or distress.

The whole of life is actually a form of creation. Every single moment we can chose how we live it, whether creating peace and harmony or chaos and disturbance, whether we cope or give up, whether we react or respond. 

Every response we have is a choice, even though we  may not always feel it is.

In ME the choices are pared back and  at best simple, but more often than not they are very stark. Sometimes they are only about choosing life, choosing to keep on, even choosing not to do something leads to the pattern of the way you live your life.

 Each word can be kind or unkind. Each thought can be loving or harsh. 

Each feeling can be expressed or suppressed.  Each action can be considered or thoughtless.

 Each moment can be a moment of awareness or dullness.

 Each response can have a different outcome, much like creating a work of art can.

Let us ask God then to help us grow in awareness of the choices we can make and the love we can pour into the lives we live. 

Let us ask for creativity to heal us and bless us and comfort our days. Let us find peace and beauty even in the centre of pain and chaos that is beyond our ability to control.

Breathing

Breathing is such a natural part of life that the well person would not necessarily  notice that they were  doing it. 

For the person  with severe ME breathing is not that simple.

Breathing can be a daily struggle; nothing can be taken for granted with Severe ME. 

The carer too struggles for breath, to breathe life into the situation, to find new pathways to tread to keep hope alive.

The withered dry bones that the Bible refers to,could represent so easily, the carer and sufferer  constantly fumbling with the attempts  to find a cure, to get a service , to make a stand, to just get through each day. 

Almost inevitably we find ourselves knocked back, knocked down time and again, having to pick  our weary bones up off the ground. The miracle is that we do pick ourselves up, metaphorically speaking at least, that  we do get through  and more than  just get through ,we live our life.

New life, vision, determination, hope, these are all gifts of the Holy Spirit : the very breath of God giving  us life, that protects us from despair, that gives us the strength, that breathes on us afresh every day, so that our  dry weary bones may have life.

Living

Life is essentially what God brings us. Yet we can get downtrodden by all that happens and slowly by degrees feel less and less alive inside.  

When we feel diminished, crushed, damaged by living, let us remember what St John said of Christ, that he was the Light. And that Light was the life of men.

To live in a situation of oppression and constant  suffering, we need to live fully in the moment, expressing all of ourselves, not just the compassionate, kind , caring side, but also the fierce , fighting, aware, 

assertive , self- contained, courageous side  of ourselves.

Truly our light can burn brightly, can shine through all eternity when we live as our true selves. In all our complexity ,  with both masculine and feminine traits integrating into a whole that is unique,beautiful, powerful, valuable.

 Let us chose to be our true selves this Lent and shine God's light by living as He meant us to. May we remember the Light of life who lives with us and feel blessed and safe. Amen.

Protection

We certainly all need protection. We are so easily hurt and wounded by careless actions and hurtful words, by what is left unsaid, by what is left undone. 

In so many ways we need protecting; we are so vulnerable in todays economy and political landscape.

People with ME need protecting even more,  for they are so easily misinterpreted and so much at risk from wrong treatment or neglect. 

The carer too is vulnerable and needs to feel loved and safe as much as anyone.

In this fragile state, in this fragile world, we humbly ask for Truth to guide us and love to live in us.

 We ask that God's protection keeps us safe and we know we can fly to His protection whenever we feel afraid or unsafe.

 We know that praise will lift us out of fear. We know His Word is love and His name is strength and our faith is a shield of protection against all that would harm us.

Praise God who in His Love and Mercy created us and surely knows  how to protect and save us especially  in our times of need. Amen.

Blessing

Each day is an opportunity to bless the world and everyone in it. It is a day to reach out in kindness and love. 

It is a day that can pass leaving you feeling better or worse at the end of it.

A blessing can be a spiritual prayer , an act of kindness, a smile that brightens up a moment and transforms a situation, it can be a moments peace, a generous action, a supportive word, a flower blooming bringing beauty to the world. 

It can make a huge difference in the life of a person with ME or a person caring for someone, or indeed for any one:  a moment's kind thought  or word or action, an uplifting prayer, a thoughtful look, all  can save the day and bring untold blessings.

If you  surround a person with loving thoughts, if you touch their heart , if you connect with them spiritually  your life too will be blessed and changed.

To get through a day with severe ME is a major achievement, to get through the day, blessing others is a courageous act, to give to others when you feel you have  so little to give is a transcendant joy.

Let us ask for the blessing  of joy this day. Let us ask that we are enabled to bless others and accept the blessings of the day in whatever form they come. Amen.

Hopeless

It is a terrible place to be , where you feel hopeless. God gives us a light in our hearts where hope dwells.

 It  seems very dark with this  hope diminished or extinguished. 

The path with ME can be a desperate and difficult path. 

It may feel as if doors are shutting and the options are fewer and fewer, yet in God we can find Hope, when all hope seems gone, when all roads seem empty, when light is fading, may we hold on with all strength to hope, not the hope of achievement nor the hope of getting somewhere, more,  let us hold on to the hope of inner peace, of the sense of goodness, of life,  of love in our lives, of remembering God is with us and we are not alone: that all things are possible with God, that miracles do happen and there is a way forward even if we cannot see clearly where or what  it is.

This is the Hope we strive for daily. This is the Hope which touches us.  This is the Hope we hold on to when everything seems to go wrong.

Let us ask always then for  God's  help to  always find  hope so  that we do not feel hopeless  in ourselves and lost from His Love, which is miraculous.  Amen

Reflection

What sort of reflection do we shine in the world? With ME it is hard to have a reflection at all it feels sometimes, so hidden and unknown we are, in the world.

The illness makes you not who you want to be. It makes you physically unable to function. 

It makes you unable to engage with normal ever day activity, events and people. It can twist the world into a very ugly place.

So important to take time to be still and find truth. The act of actual spiritual reflection may itself be beyond the reach of the person with ME due to massive brain fog and depleted mental  energy . 

The  carer too may struggle to find the time for self reflection and spiritual awareness, so easily caught up in the business of the day.

Yet there are great rewards to take space and enter into a reflective mind in whatever way is possible, even if that mind feels empty, yet still God is with you. Perhaps some ray of light might illuminate the fog, might show a path through busy ness , might fill the heart and mind with a peace beyond the world and deposit a word of wisdom, not previously known or sought after : the  blessing of the day.

 Let us ask God then to help us be still inside a moment, then,  so that we can reflect His love and grace in the world, not be so  diminished  by the ravages of illness that we feel we have no reflection at all, or worse, mirror back the cruelty, neglect and unkindness that we so often experience ourselves. 


May his  blessing lead us to knew knowledge and awareness, touched by love.  Amen

Trials

Trials come every day with Severe ME , for the person who has it does not have the energy or functional ability to deal with even the ordinary requirements of every  day living.

Even getting dressed is a huge problem. Washing your hair , brushing your teeth, eating your breakfast, drinking anything, communicating, all are major challenges way beyond the ordinary  recurrent every day reach of the person. 

It is hard to relate to their reality it is so physically crushed and tiny. Even living in the same space the reality of experience is not the same for the carer and  the person with Severe ME.

This can easily be forgotten. It can even be a trial how to exist together in the same space with such acute hypersensitivity and physical illness making huge demands on awareness, time and energy.

This is where we need to turn to God, to find peace and stillness, to try and cope and make sense of  a bizarre situation. Life can be come fragmented, disjointed, disturbing and discordant.

Let us turn then to prayer and communion with each other and the Lord and beg him to free us from distress and comfort us in our limitations, find blessings and hope and a way through the struggles to a brighter place of peacefulness - where connection is possible and we can rise above all trials. Amen.

Managing

It never really feels  like we are managing. All day long is a constant dance  with severe  ME calling the tune. You want something. You cannot have it. You hope for something. You are disappointed. You demand you can do it. You still cannot  do it. It just simply does  not work like that. 

You cannot fathom out the beat, nor the rhyme, nor the reason , most of the time. Managing ME then is simply impossible really.

The best we can manage to do  is not despair but leap over the hurdles thrown in the path of life by ME and all its complex symptoms and torments , in order to find moments of love, moments even of happiness, moments of calm , moments of inner peace and oneness.

This then is our aim. To manage not to fall into the many traps  of the day, set by the illness that can  unhinge us and lead  us away from  stillness and flowing together . For this we  need God,  to rely on,  to lead us and lift us and hold us and comfort us , to bless us and keep us safe.  Amen

Overloaded

Every day  the person with ME is overloaded with the intense range of symptoms that jangle and rage through the body. 

Any external pressure or stress, on top of an already physically stressed body can easily become too much to cope with, very quickly.

The person who lives for and cares for the person with ME is also overloaded, with all the worry of what to do and not to do, of how to get proper medical advice and appropriate treatment, with the constant anxiety and threat of deterioration, with a host of other things coming from the strains and stresses of living in the world and maintaining a household with and for the person, to name but a few.

The ME is unrelenting, it never goes away, it never slows down, it demands total focus, it can be utterly  overwhelming. It is in this overloaded state that we come to God, not necessarily peaceful, not necessarily present, not necessarily focused on Him and yet needing His tranquility and solace, His comfort and consolation, His light, His wisdom, His healing balm, His  power to transform, His hope to transfigure, His  mercy to pour into all that needs healing, all that  is unforgiven. 

This is how we turn to Him today and ask for His blessing. Amen

Survival

It is often hard to feel that we are doing anything more than surviving and on days like today it feels like we are being pulled deeper into dismay and away from all that is hopeful. 

The sheer torment and unrelenting nature of the  tirade of symptoms is beyond most people's capacity to endure. Yet enduring constant pain is the only option. 

Seeking some form of distraction is the best to be hoped  for and even that fails dismally to relieve the tedium of so many lost moments hours days weeks years,it seems sometimes.

It would be great if we could say we live always in  awareness of God's light and every moment is happy. The reality is far more dire.

 Yet it is secret glimpses of love that come within the endurance of this harsh reality which keep us surviving and moving forward: the  sweetness of a smile, the twinkle of an eye, the touch of a hand, an achievement unexpected, a message of love or hope, a word of encouragement, a message from a dear friend, a gift from a stranger, the  sun shining through the clouds or a lady bird sunning itself on a post. 

These are the small moments that bring love, warmth, goodness and relief , these are the moments when we feel wrapped in love and God's presence shines through the desert of pain.

Lord lift us up into awareness of your love and hold us safely, bringing comfort  and consolation in our struggles to survive. Amen.

Fighting

It is striking how people with ME  and carers share the exact same experience that Christ had of being ignored, being persecuted, being treated with derision and suspicion by the establishment. 

What we can learn from Christ's experience, what we share with Christ  as sons and daughters of God, is the dignity , majesty and power of the incarnation. 

It is too easy in our situation to  feel bad about yourself, inadequate, powerless, as if you are somehow not good enough or too much trouble. No one likes to feel they are making a nuisance of themselves or that they are being too demanding,  but with ME, the way things are, you cannot possibly make too much of a  nuisance of yourself nor  demand too much. 

The fact is we have to fight every day for everything, even peace of mind .

Christ showed us what it is to be fully human, fully alive, focussed on things that matter, true to your values, because He knew the Father who is infinite love.

Let us be bold then in God, having confidence in his sound guidance and strength to fight for truth , justice and our basic needs to be met rightly by the world. Amen.

Struggling

The struggle to survive, to cope, with severe ME and  all its implications,  is profoundly difficult.

 Some people tragically choose to take their lives. We know from our experience that without spirit despair looms menacingly close. 

People, us included, are worn down by the need to constantly fight for everything.

What helps us more than anything is knowing that we are not alone, that Christ is with us, holding us in every moment of struggle, whether we are fully  aware of this or not. 

Brother Lawrence,  a 17th century mystic, writes so beautifully of the presence of God, with whom he spoke all the time. This gave him great confidence and strength that he could face any situation because the Lord was with him and that was what the Lord was asking of him.

Truly Christ is most present with the sick and disabled, the poor and the marginalised and has touched and  holds all pain, all struggle that we experience and knows it intimately.

As we reach out in prayer to others, so we too are touched and feel their pain and come to  care even more deeply for the hurt of the world and feel compassion and connection  for  those who struggle. 

As we   become immersed in the plight of those we pray for  we  too are touched by love and held by God. Christ's simple prayer, the Our Father   , is a wonderful gift to us all, helping us walk more closely in the way of God. 

Amen.

Strength

We are strong because we are not strong.

 In this intense situation , year after year for decades , we are too aware that a large part of us is seemingly irrational, possessed with a mind of is own; we are aware that  despite our best efforts we don't get it right always.

The  strength in our situation  is rooted in a lack of pretension, a necessary humility , out of that though comes an endless capacity to love, to grow, to strive, to embrace; being  caught up in the ongoing wonder and process of creation.

Love brings strength. Love brings tenderness. Love brings goodness and bears all. It is strong in protection. It is strong in kindness. It is strong in forgiveness. It is strong in holding all and moving us forward to higher ground where all things are possible and hope springs eternally,

We are each others strength in ways we do not see necessarily. 

God is our strength and blesses and heals all hurts and inspires us , lifts us ever deeper into the mystery of Life  and Love.

May we always choose humility as our strength. May we always shine love in the world. 

Amen.

Reminding

You don't need much reminding in our situation of our seeming powerlessness and lack of significance.

 You don't need  much reminding of how profoundly ill the person with severe ME is on every level.

 You don't need much reminding of what a struggle it is to get through each moment sometimes . 

You don't need much reminding of how tiny and remote your life has become when you live in the realms of severe ME.

It is the world that needs reminding that they ignore us, isolate us, neglect us, refuse to engage with us at their peril; because we are so in touch with the truth, with what is real, armed with the sword of the Spirit,  the breast plate of  integrity,  the shield of faith and the helmet of righteousness , that we surely cannot fail. 

With God's goodness we have kept going this far and we are not giving up now.

We , the sick, the disabled, the carers, the poor, those on the edge, are a mighty force in the world that does not even  see or  know it.

Let us then be reminded of our spiritual power, blessed by love, and be uplifted by faith and the rightness  of truth that keeps us moving forward  to  gain justice in an unjust world for the  physical reality of ME.

On days when life is a struggle and everything feels too much, let us be reminded to daily  put  on the armour of the Lord and therein feel his protection and strength  leading  us and guiding us   safely forward, in His name. 

Amen.

Feelings

There are so many feelings experienced with Severe ME;  the pain, the loss, the hurt, the rejection, the distress of abandonment and neglect, the outrage of denial and abuse. The list is infinite . 

To deal with these feelings we have to go deeper, we have  to search for greater meaning to survive, we have to seek connection, we find meaning in the minute detail of being , overlooked by most whose lives are busy and full.

Instead we are surprisingly blessed with a mysterious gift, one that opens up as time slows down and infinite presence reveals itself within us.

 We find deeper meaning in the living of life, battered by suffering, yet blessed by  Divine Love, expressed through friendship, kindness, generosity, communion, community, prayer, spirit, awareness and also through direct connection with God himself , as we enter more deeply into oneness and  presence.

There is a peace , there is a love of silence and stillness, there is a fulfilment ,there is a lack of fear, there is an acute awareness of what is false here , in this place, despite the irritation , the poverty of opportunity,  the political and  medical isolation  that comes with living with  severe ME.

Feelings come and go , but deep in our journey into suffering, they become  just ripples on the surface. For what lies deeper is how we chose to respond to the situation we constantly have to deal with and increasingly that choice is more real  , more based on love, more determined to fight for real change, and more and more connected within the Heart of Love.