In The Silence.........

There is this beautiful song, I so love......I hear it in my head and heart often when I hunger for silence and it is not at hand right away. It goes 'In the silence, there is a sacred place, a sacred meeting place, love is there........'. When I hear that song, I can taste the gift of silence. I was in such a space the other day, walking home from a massage. I felt very silent inside and walked home in gratitude, cherishing the soft spring rain, noticing this beautiful rose bush I pass by often. This bush always makes me stop and be in awe of Spirit's Grace in nature. I could NOT resist and picked a rose and brought it home. I put it in a tiny vase and placed it on my altar before I went into meditation. I communed with the rose and thanked it for being there, for reminding me of my own inner beauty. It still had raindrops on it and I fell deeply into the silence I call GOD.
Every time, I look at that rose, it brings me back to this sweet simple awareness of how blessed we are when we really look, really feel, really commune with ALL that is. Now I am preparing for a 5 day meditation retreat. Some of the preparing is active.....being prepared for a week away from home and ministry. Packing my suitcase and all that. And then there is the quiet inner preparation for 5 days of mostly silence. I sigh at the thought and feeling of that. I am so grateful for this privilege.

SILENCE feeds the soul more than anything else, I believe. For it is in silence that we hear/feel the "voice" of Spirit. The voice that only we can hear for ourselves as individualized expressions of the One. It seems that most human beings are doing everything possible to avoid that silence.........

I invite you to welcome more and more silence into your life and see what 'happens'.
I invite you to be less seduced by noise, activity and outer stimulation and notice how full it makes you!

Know you are loved!!!

SUMMERTIME..........

AND THE LIVING IS EASY.......
In our space on earth, official summer is still about three weeks away, but the Memorial Day Holiday brought us to the unofficial beginning of summer and it sure feels and looks like it!
Because of our rainy spring, everything looks greener than green and nature shows off her perennial predictability.
As you find yourself outdoors doing your daily routines, whether is being in traffic, running errands or taking a walk or bike ride, STOP and take a moment to take a most delicious breath. Whether you have allergies or not, whether you think you are too busy or are not busy enough, whether you are sad or happy.....STOP..........and be grateful for your next breath.
Then take another grateful one, another delicious one......and another one....take FIVE minutes, at least, and make your breathing a spiritual practice!
It has been said that a breath without the name of God on it, is a wasted breath.
Let your breath, for at least a few minutes a day outside, have the name of God on it...........
Surely, you will long to make those few minutes longer, for it feeds your spirit like nothing will!
BLESSED BE THE BREATH!!!

YOU ARE PROFOUNDLY BEAUTIFUL: INSIDE AND OUT!!!

Just recently I found myself sitting with this picture. I was at the age of 1 1/2 and the I of today could not help but smile.
It's an old picture so it is a bit fuzzy and I wished it was digital so I could zoom in and see my own face a little closer.
I wanted to see her better...I wanted to look into her eyes deeper. I truly do remember her innocence, her joy and her light!
I wanted to embrace that me, 'cause I found her so embraceable.

Do you have pictures of yourself as a baby?
Do you sit with them? Really sit with them?

There is something quite amazing about looking back.
The most amazing aspect is the eyes we look back WITH.
And no matter how far we look back.....no matter if it is 1 day, 1 year, 1 decade or more, it's the eyes we look back with that makes it meaningful or not.

We can look back with horror, fear, pain, loss, lack OR with love, appreciation, mystery, healing, interest, fascination!!

We have arrived! Arrived to THIS day. And yes, some of us have more scars then others, but scars are kind of interesting.
They are stronger than non scars, I have noticed.

We have arrived and are filled with experience, wisdom, awareness........
Life has become so rich and I find all of it delicious (even though not necessarily in every moment), I welcome it all with open arms.

So, open YOUR arms to all that you are, all that you have been and all you are yet to be........
Delight in it all.
Embrace yourself, for you are MOST embraceable!
Re-discover your original innocence and joy. For what I know for sure is that THAT cannot be destroyed by life.....by anyone....or anything! It is yours and cannot be taken away. EVER!!
Look deep enough and long enough until you find it.......and delight in it!!
YOU ARE PROFOUNDLY BEAUTIFUL....IN ALL WAYS!!! INSIDE AND OUT!!

YOU ARE SPRING ITSELF!

You are a most delicious, juicy creative expression in Spirit.
THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!!
YES, YOU!! ALWAYS WERE, ALWAYS WILL BE, ALWAYS ARE!!
No matter what anyone says! No matter what you say (or think). IT'S THE TRUTH!!

We are God in expression, so how can we be anything less than deliciously juicy?
We can only appear less than that, when we forget who and what we REALLY are.
And FORGET we do, don't we?
Forgetting is incredibly painful! It's agonizing, it's depressing, it's saddening, it's scary.....

Scared and sacred have the same letters in each word, so when we go from forgetting to remembering we just shift from scared to sacred. And that we must do within ourselves!
In spiritual practice we actually experience the shift from scared to sacred, for there we remember that God is ALL there is, God is all we are and the scared literally tranforms into the sacred.

That's what makes life so deliciously juicy, for every time we remember, we feel energized.
Take the energy of Spring and rebirth into your heart, let it touch your ability to be reborn over and over and find yourself as the sacred made manifest. See the sacred in all that is!

BLESSED BE, rev. frankie

YOU ARE EXQUISITE!!!!

What a beautiful life we get to live......when we are open and receptive to the exquisite beauty of Spirit expressing as Life, it can be overwhelming. And the best part is, that it is so all the time....everywhere. The question is whether we are tuned in or tuned out!

I am spending the last day in the Monterey Bay Peninsula area in California. Two days of board meetings and then 5+ days at the Asilomar grounds for the International Centers for Spiritual Living Leadership Conference. We are blazing a new trail, this was a whole new conference for leadership at a sort of new location for us. We have met here every year for 60 years, but it was always the conference for everyone in July. This conference was the leadership conference that previously traveled around the country and besides spiritual leaders there were other people in leadership positions at our centers. It was a great success.

Asilomar means 'refuge by the sea' and THAT IT IS!! (just look at the photo and that's only one scene captured by my iPhone)

So, back to my first paragraph......being tuned in or tuned out to Spirit's exquisite creation......
When we look deep enough and long enough and with an open enough heart we get to see what is REAL and since LOVE has created what is REAL we are shown a beauty beyond description. Once we see what is REAL, we want to live THAT. And the sweetest part of THAT is, that everything is given already within.....free for us to access it whenever we are ready!

What if......we saw ourselves that way more?
What if we saw each other that way more?
What if we saw all of life that way more??

You are exquisitely beautiful.....it is inherent by right of consciousness!
BLESSED BE!!!

Ohhhh, goodness....it has been TOO long!
I have missed YOU!!

Dear friend, I bow my head in humility for not keeping a promise to myself for doing a new blog every month....
I have skipped 2....I "owe" you :-)

Since the last blog much has happened, surely for all of us!
It is a new year and now on March 1st, a new month.
The month that brings us Spring: new life.

So much room for newness, new life.
Often in order for something new to be born, we have to let go of the old.
Ask yourself:"What in my life is no longer serving me?"

If you really do not know, it is for 2 reasons:
Everything is working fabulously for you and you serve and are served beautifully!
Or you think you don't know.
If you think you do not know, all you need to do is look at your life and turn within following your feelings.
Where do you feel 'less than', where do you feel you are not fully expressing yourself, not fully authentic?
THAT is what no longer serves you and you feel the way you feel for something within you is ready to let go of it.
It is "old" and something new wants to be born in and through you.

Let yourself fall, be willing to trust, turn within to Spirit and let Spirit lead the way...
Listen to that deeper voice of continuing new life within you and celebrate.
Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate YOU!!
I DO!!!
Love always!

GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF PEACE..........

A Morristown Winter Day..


I LOVE WINTER! There is something pure and silent and sacred about first snow, it is so magical....
There is nothing like walking in fresh snow, knowing it has never been walked upon.
It makes me walk more consciously and more mindfully, then my mind slows down and my heart sings.......
It becomes an infusion to my spiritual practice, the kind that reminds me of animals hibernating in winter.

Most people do the opposite at this time of year.
They run around shopping, wrapping, giving or going to parties, eating and drinking more than they usually do and often not the stuff that gives them energy but weakens their energy.........and then the Holy Days are over and a new year has begun.

After many years of not really enjoying the Holidays, I have made a commitment to have them be what I want them to be.
I know this may be easier for me, for I have no family in the U.S. and I have no children.
I do however have friends and my beloved, Norman who has a small family and 2 sons: one is a young son of 12!

Still, the Holiday Season for me (since I do not consider myself a Christian) is about rest, silence, additional spiritual practice and reading non spiritual books: i.e. good fiction that brings me peace, inspiration, relaxation and joy! And KNITTING!!

I listen to my heart and follow what feels right. If that means shopping for gifts: I do that. If it means sending cards: I do that.
If it means NOT: I don't. My days seem longer and I refuel for the year to come.......

Give yourself the gift to do what fuels you during the Holiday Season, even if it is for a few hours.
Remember to do your spiritual practices and show up as LOVE, as LIGHT and/or as PEACE.
Letting that make the difference in the world.
Letting that be your gift to the world.
YOU ARE A GIFT! YOU ARE THE GIFT.
Know you are loved.
HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON.