We are all born magnificent, Divine grace in action.

And we all have a choice. No matter our beginnings. No matter the happenings that have drawn us into darkness and driven us away from the divine essence of our magnificence, we always have a choice. To act with grace. Or not.

In, The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness: Preparing to Practice, Rabbi Shapiro writes, “I made the choice for heaven and, having done so, I went in search of tools for living it.”

Years ago, a family argument drove me into exploration of who I am, why I am, how I am the way I am. At the time, I wasn’t too happy about it. Angry recriminations and questions of How dare they? Why me? peppered my thoughts as I fought the gift of awakening that opened up before me.

I had a choice. To run and hide or face my demons and blame ‘them’ for my confusion and unhappiness, or to choose the gift of awakening. I chose to take the hero’s journey.

I am grateful.

Awakening has become a lifelong journey. It began with a deep dive into my psyche, ferreting out mountains of hidden hurts and pains, and frozen lakes of discord that were keeping me spinning out of control, continuously re-enacting limiting beliefs that did not serve me well on my journey but instead, drove me into the darkness of believing, I was not worthy.

In discovering lies I thought were truths, pains I thought were mine forever, I discovered Damocles’ proverbial sword was not hanging above me by a thread of someone else’s making. I was the one holding sword and thread above me. I was the one holding onto the past and in the process, killing my own joy. My own freedom. My own magnificence.

I had to make a choice. I could no longer live beneath the imminent danger of believing the sword was poised to fall upon me. I had to either decide to cut and run and hope the sword missed my head. Or, acknowledge the thread and sword were not real. They only existed within my mind.

To choose the first kept the past alive through the lie that I deserved to live a life of fear, of always believing something or someone was out to get me.

To choose the latter, to choose to face the lie of the thread and sword and imminent danger always waiting to cut me off, I could be free.

I chose freedom.

Every morning when I awaken, I choose freedom.

I choose kindness, not cruelty. To believe in abundance not scarcity. To trust in the universe and not give into distrust, resentment and self-fulfilling prophecies of doom parading as truth.

I choose grace over anger. Love over fear.

This morning, that choice lead me to these words by Franciscan sister and scientist, Ilia Delio:

“Heaven is earth transformed by love when earthly life is lived in love; the suffering of earth is transformed into a foretaste of heaven when one sees and hears from the inner center of love.”

And my heart beat wildly in recognition of truth shimmering in the quiet of this morning where darkness begins to retreat into the night and the days grow longer as light returns to the world. I breathe deeply into the truth.

Love is always the answer.

For today and everyday, may we all choose Love. May we all choose to let grace be the path we walk in peace. And on our path from one moment to the next, may our thoughts, words and actions transform the suffering of the world around us so that together, we use our power to choose peace, not war; joy, not bitterness; grace, not anger; Love, not fear.

Namaste.

__________________

This post is inspired by Richard Rohr’s morning meditation: Choosing Heaven

Years ago, my youngest daughter and I volunteered for one of the ‘Community Inns’ operated by Inn from the Cold.  The Community Inns were a network of faith and community based locations that every night housed homeless individuals and families. Children and their parents rotated from one church basement to the next, never staying in the same place more than one night.

It was a gift and a measure of community’s compassion to ensure everyone had a safe place to stay at night. But it was still a challenge for the families who had no stability, no capacity to provide their children a sense of security and home.

One year, our regular volunteering date happened on Christmas Eve morning. Along with a bevy of volunteers, our job was to wake the families up, help them pack up their things, serve breakfast and then clean up after the families left to get on the bus back to the main pick-up location.

On this morning, my daughter came over to me with tears streaming down her face. A little boy had asked her, ‘how will Santa find me if we don’t have a home?’

We stopped volunteering shortly thereafter. For me, the realization that our ‘charity’ was contributing to a painful reality for children was more than I could handle. I believed we could do better. And as a community we have.

Inn from the Cold no longer uses the Community Inn network for overnight shelter. All families experiencing housing crisis are housed in the main emergency shelter until appropriate, supportive housing is found. Emergency shelter is not ideal, but it is an integral part to helping families weather housing crisis and to fulfilling on our vision of ending child and family homelessness.

Yesterday, we held the opening event for Journey House 2, a newly renovated apartment building that the Inn bought earlier this year to provide a place to call home for 10 vulnerable families. It will also be a community hub with a resource centre for community engagement, courses and activities.

The day was amazing.

Donors, stakeholders, staff, government officials, and a woman who will soon be a resident of the building gathered together to celebrate what can happen when community joins together to take action. Journey House 2 was funded through a mortgage from the Calgary Foundation and Claire’s Campaign, an annual fund-raising initiative spearheaded by the amazingly philanthropic Gary Nissen. The renovations, overseen by Centron, were entirely funded by donors. All $700K.

The building is beautiful. The suites have been completely outfitted by Centron Cares and other caring Calgarians. They are spacious, light-filled and welcoming.

As Adriana, a mother of three boys who will be moving into Journey House 2 so poignantly described it, without Journey House, she and her boys would still be like all the other families at The Inn, waiting.

And now, they are home.

This Christmas, as my beloved and I juggle renovations on our new home and living in temporary accommodation as we wait to complete the final step of our move, I am reminded of all the families who are still ‘waiting’ at the Inn.

There is hope. Journey House 2 represents an opportunity for 10 families to stop ‘waiting’ as they move home.

Yet, there are still more families waiting.

Which is why we must never stop dreaming and building and creating opportunities for families to find their way home so that one day, no child will ask, “how will Santa find me if we don’t have a home?”