Giving

“The greatest grace of a gift, perhaps, is that it anticipates and admits of no return.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Give without hesitation. Give without expectation. Give freely of yourself, and watch. There are miracles just waiting to happen.
-Lissa Coffey

God

For a While

We have all come to the right place.
We all sit in God's classroom.
Now,
The only thing left for us to do, my dear,
Is to stop
Throwing spitballs for a while.
-Hafiz

We're here to learn, and we're learning whether we realize it or not! All of our experiences, all of our adventures, disappointments, joys and grievances... they're all lessons. Sometimes they whisper in our ears, sometimes they shout in our faces - the message is there. Do you hear it? Are you listening? It's time to stop "throwing spitballs" and pay attention! God Is.
-Lissa Coffey

Grace

“It is the grace of God that helps those who do everything that lies within their power to achieve that which is beyond their power.”
-Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)

The grace of God: is there anything more powerful than that? And it is available to us all the time. God’s grace is here to help us, and when we help others, when we’re doing the best we can, we can see that grace kick in and allow us to accomplish amazing things.
-Lissa Coffey

Gratitude

"A grateful thought toward heaven is of itself a prayer."
-Lessing

What other topic could be better for Thanksgiving week than Gratitude? This is a reminder for us all to count our blessings. Thanksgiving is a traditional American holiday, which used to be all about giving thanks for the bounty we receive. Lately it's been referred to more often as "Turkey Day" and the main activity is the football game on TV! Let's turn our thoughts, and our hearts, toward heaven this week, and express gratitude.
-Lissa Coffey

Giving

A man there was, though some did count him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had.”
-John Bunyan (1628-1688)

So many people have said the same thing: when you give, you receive. Whatever it is that you want in your life, give that. Somehow, it comes back to you, in a bigger and better way. Somehow, what you are looking for finds you. You have to put it out there; it has to circulate. Rather than hold on to something, set it free. Let it live, let it breathe, let it grow. Giving is good for everyone.
-Lissa Coffey

Giving

“The one desire which grows more and more is to give… Giving and receiving are at bottom one thing, dependent upon whether one lives open or closed. Living openly one becomes a medium, a transmitter; living thus, as a river, one experiences life to the full, flows along with the current of life, and dies in order to live again as an ocean.”
-Henry Miller (1891-1980

In this season of giving, let’s look at the process, and how much the simple, and natural, act of giving contributes to our spiritual growth. Giving opens us up, it opens our hearts. The more we give, it seems, the more we want to give, because we experience that current in our lives and are energized by it. It just feels good!
-Lissa Coffey

Giving

“When I give I give myself.”
-Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Most of us have too much “stuff.” We could probably give half of it away and not even notice. It doesn’t “mean” anything to us. Giving isn’t necessarily just distributing stuff into another person’s hands. The best gifts are thoughtful and heart-felt. The best gifts are personal, given with the receiver’s needs and wants in mind. The best way to give is to give of ourselves.
-Lissa Coffey

Giving

“We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.”
-Anne-Sophie Swetchine (1869)

God’s gifts to us are bountiful! Yet how many of them do we recognize, how many do we use? All the riches of the world are available to us right here and right now. We have only to graciously accept them into our lives. Is there any work of art more valuable than a sunset? It is ours to gaze upon every day! Giving makes us rich, by allowing us to experience the good we can do in the world. Receiving God’s gifts makes us rich, because we understand that there is nothing that we lack.
-Lissa Coffey

God

"God is a circle whose center is everywhere, and its circumference nowhere."
-Empedocles

God is omnipresent, without borders, without limitations. Everywhere we go, God Is. Everything we see, God Is. Everything we touch, smell, hear, taste and sense... it's all God's creation. When we tap into the God energy that is with us here, now, and always - then we are without limitations as well. There is nowhere that God is not. God is all-encompassing, we can never be outside of God's circle.
-Lissa Coffey

God

"Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere."
-Emerson

"Glory" is a great word! Glory, glory, Halleluah! :-) It's a glorious day today and everyday that we see it as such. God doesn't hide, the glory of God is vibrant and wants to be experienced! Enjoy it!
-Lissa Coffey

God

"We know God easily, if we do not constrain ourselves to define him."
-Joubert

We could wax on and on about all that God is... because God is All there is! But it seems that any definition, any kind of label we could attribute to God, is limited by its meaning. So we just need to know that God Is. That's it. God Is.
-Lissa Coffey

God

"God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

There is so much more to life and to living than we could ever comprehend. All we can do is to keep growing, keep learning, keep stretching our capacity for wisdom, and trust that all that we need to know is available to us when we need to know it. We can dream big dreams, and know that there is yet more beyond that, even if we can't see it right now.
-Lissa Coffey

Grace

“ The breeze of God’s grace is blowing continually. You have to set your sail to catch that breeze.”
-Swami Prabhavananda (1893-1976)

I have a beautiful little niece named Grace. When I read this quote, it was easy for me to think, “The breeze of God’s Grace is blowing continually,” because, like most children, Grace has a lot of energy. She’s always dancing around, full of joy and light, and it’s so contagious. You can’t help to catch that breeze and sail along with her. Children are wonderful reminders to us of the beauty and fun that are a part of our world every day.
-Lissa Coffey

Grace

“The state of love is the state of grace.”
-N. Sri Ram (1899-?)

This is the simplest definition of “grace” that I found. Webster’s defines grace as: “an attractive or pleasing quality; good will.” And yet there are so many meanings attached to such a little word. There is the “grace” period, which means a temporary extension of a deadline. There is the “grace” that we say at the dinner table before we eat. There is the “grace” of a dancer’s movements, or a swan’s gentle glide across a pond. All of these are wonderful things. Look and see where you can find grace in your life today.
-Lissa Coffey

Grace

“All is waiting and all is work; all is change and all is permanence. All is grace.”
-Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1984)

All is grace – yes, that’s it! Everything, the all – it’s a blessing, it’s a virtue. I wrote a book called “Getting There With Grace” and my editor titled the book after it was already written. I thought it was really interesting that she chose that particular word, “grace.” And when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. Grace to me conveys a sort of ease, an effortlessness. And that’s the way it is when we understand that we’re not in it alone. We’re never alone. All of creation, ALL of nature, is here to support us in our dreams and desires.
-Lissa Coffey

Grace

“Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness.”
-Thomas Adams (1640)

First we glimpse it, then we recognize it, then we know it as ours. Then we embrace it, and bask in its beautiful glow. And then it starts to radiate from us, and we see it as a part of who we are. This is the process of our spiritual growth. With grace comes love and patience and acceptance and reverence. It’s awesome!
-Lissa Coffey

Gratitude

"It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so."
-Seneca

The only way to truly give is to give without expectation. And that includes any expectation of gratitude! We may not see, or hear, the immediate results of our giving, but the universe does. Whatever we give is ultimately a gift to ourselves. We can be grateful for the opportunity to give, to better ourselves and our environment without expectations.
-Lissa Coffey

Gratitude

" When thankfulness o'erflows the swelling heart, and breathes in free and uncorrupted praise for benefits received, propitious Heaven takes such acknowledgement as fragrant incense, and doubles all its blessings."
-Lillo

We give without expectation, and we give thanks without expectation... and then watch in amazement and wonder at all the gifts we receive from the universe. It is a beautiful thing.

Tonight I am attending a special Interfaith service of light. Many different faiths and religious holidays will be represented, and the common theme among them all is gratitude on this Thanksgiving eve. I am grateful for this spiritual community, and the opportunity for all of us to come together and give thanks.
-Lissa Coffey

Gratitude

"O Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."
-Shakespeare

I read a comic strip this morning and had to laugh - a grown son was disappointed that his parents were taking a vacation over the Thanksgiving weekend. His wife said that she was glad that the parents would be enjoying themselves. The son said: "Thanksgiving is not about enjoying yourself, it's about family!"

No matter where we are in life, either physically or spiritually, today is a day for some recognition of our blessings. And our families, whether they are our genetic family, our church family, our neighbors or friends, help us to grow. Some families create conflict, but conflict often leads to growth, understanding and acceptance. Other families provide unconditional love and support when we need it the most. We have the relationships we have for a reason. And if we're truly honest with ourselves, we know that we're given exactly what we need, when we need it... even if we don't think so at the time!
-Lissa Coffey

Gratitude

"It was easier to do a friendly thing than it was to stay and be thanked for it."
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

For many of us, giving comes easy - we are natural "givers." But for some reason it is not as easy for us to be on the receiving end. We feel awkward, uncomfortable. Why is that? Do we feel that we are undeserving? Look at it this way: by receiving a gift, or accepting someone's gratitude graciously, we are actually giving one of the most valuable gifts of all! We are GIVING that person the opportunity to GIVE! Allow them that. Without receiving, there is no giving - the two go hand in hand. So accept the "thank yous" that come your way with a loving heart - and enjoy how good it feels to be appreciated. And you'll also see how good it feels for that other person to express gratitude.
-Lissa Coffey