Sixteen months ago I was reading one day when a series of words flashed like they were neon lights blinking insistently and telling me: "this message is for you. Take it in: embrace the these words; engage them, chew on them: know their meaning."

This experience of direct message to my Spirit {from The Spirit, I believe} is not a frequent happening and yet, the above occurrence was not a new one either and so I paid attention and grabbed an index card from the packet I keep handy for notes, ideas, reminders and words that blink as neon lights.

The words blinking at me belong to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "I am (he said) an organ through which the Spirit executes it's will and creative power." I have now lived with Emerson's words for over a year, speaking them aloud several times a day, honoring them with their own candle as I whisper the words and light a flame knowing that with this ritual, I open the door of my Spirit so the energy of the words may burn within me.

When I am given a gift such as Emerson's words I know that in order to make the words mine - to know them - requires more than just reading and thinking. Knowing requires that I engage them and to this end, I wrote them; I wrote about them, I drew an image of what 'engagement' means for me, and the words themselves are taped to the side of my end table where I see them as I sit in my chair for I have discovered that seeing the same words at different times of the day is like a horizon seen from different viewpoints.

The most important act of engagement was that I took the words with me each morning onto my patio where I sit in the silence of a newly born day thanking the Spirit of Life for a new day and for the guidance I receive as I move out into and through the day. Emerson's words became my words as they moved into the ritual of my meditation and prayer.

Committed to engaging the words that were given to me (engage indicates being involved with and becoming entangled in) I took time to reflect on how I was experiencing the truth of the words in my life. I reflected on the concept of the word execute: to carry out; fulfill; accomplish. Execute is a very powerful word and Emerson was brilliant in his understanding of words and so I knew it was the correctly chosen word and therefore the power of the word was not to be dismissed. I chewed on the idea of allowing myself to be 'used' in this manner. I sat with the idea of being an organ - a Being - through which a plan: a 'willing through' is carried out. Was I okay with this? Was I willing to agree to these words? We are self-choosing individuals and so the Power of the Spirit would wait for my agreement - my personal yes before 'using' me as it's personal 'organ'.

Yes is also a powerful word. Actually yes is possibly the most powerful word in the world for yes opens doors and windows of the self to experiences that remain closed until our personal yes is said. What I was also aware of however is that the older we become, the more difficult it is to say a big yes; an unequivocal yes (you know, the kind of yes that is said without addendum's) because the older and more experienced we become the more aware we are of the truth of saying yes. The truth of saying yes is that we have no guarantee of what the yes is attached to - we do not actually know all the doors and windows the Spirit will open when we say our yes. Our own past experiences of taking 'vows' of saying 'yes' has a tendency to make us wary and cautious - whether we admit to this truth or not! I know very few 'adults' who are not wary with their yeses. Actually I admire people who are least honest about their wariness in saying 'yes' for I know immediately that they understand the power of yes. Better to wait and chew on our willingness than to say a mediocre yes!

Sooner or later however, if we say our yes and willingly engage the message we are given (hard to miss flashing neon lights) and we then follow the guidance guaranteed in the idea of actually 'being' an organ through which Spirit executes will and creative power, understanding of the meaning - meaning as I personally experience the words - begins to dawn. And so it was this morning as I sat on the patio engaged in my morning time of prayer, meditation, study & reflection, and then BAM!! it hit me: I am a coffee maker of the Spirits will and creative power!

First of all, please know I love coffee so I'm actually pleased at the idea of being a coffee maker used by the Universe. I am in fact a connoisseur of coffee: I blend my beans, I grind them fresh for each pot of robust, bold, delicious and delightful coffee. Daily I engage this ritual of coffee creation and so I am familiar with the process of pouring in water, grinding beans, putting the grounds in the basket, flipping on the switch and KNOWING the end result will be a pot of glorious coffee. Which, I realized today is exactly the same process I engage each day on my patio: I sit in my chair and offer thanks to the Spirit of Life for this day of pouring through me - the water has been poured into the pot of me. I offer myself: the seeds - the beans - of the unique individual named Mary whom God placed on earth here and now with my quite human personality traits, gifts, abilities and quirks: the 'grounds' of my being are now sitting in the basket. I flip the on switch of yes by engaging the ritual that begins each day of my life: sitting on the patio and being intimately engaged with the Creator of all and each: I pray, read, write, color mandalas, study {any combination of those}: these are my actions speaking my yes and from my commitment to their practice I KNOW that the power of the Spirit of Life is now pouring through my Being in the exact manner of the the water dripping into the basket and creating coffee. Voila!! I am the organ through which the Spirit of Life now executes It's will and creative power.

Does the fact that I know myself to be an organ of the Spirit mean I think I am now perfect? Not at all perfect - which is not unusual as nothing human is perfect - for the Spirit must be content to use my quite human self to pour through. What I do know however is that every day that I am willing to engage the practices; the actions and rituals of availability, I am enlarged. The more I am enlarged the bigger the space within me for carrying the Spirit of life becomes and in this way, my Being becomes bold, robust and delicious with flavor - despite it's human imperfection.

Each of us carries this potential Emerson spoke of so poetically for {I believe} this is the design of Creation: we are the carriers of the Spirit of Life into the world. However, just as a process must be engaged in order to drink of this glorious beverage called coffee, so too must we engage in a process in order to be effectively used as an organ through which the Spirit executes It's will and creative power.

We are self choosing individuals and so we have many options for how completely we are willing to be used by the Power of Life just as we have options for the quality of coffee we drink: we can choose to run into a coffee place and accept what is being served and made by them; we can make instant {personally I don't see the point} or we can learn how to make the coffee that fits our taste buds most perfectly and therefore provides the greatest pleasure.

Here's the other thing to consider: how frequently do you wish to enjoy a cup of coffee that is perfect for your taste buds? Personally, I want wonderful coffee daily and so too do I want to be a coffee maker of the Spirit daily. To get the best coffee possible I engage my coffee preparation and making ritual daily and to be the best possible coffee maker of the Spirit I engage my ritual and practices for that daily also.

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Just a note: this is a crazy summer for me of going in and out of town and so I apologize for not being consistent with my Postings. I leave again tomorrow for another wonderful week of teaching at church camp and since I have not yet 'received' instructions on how to obtain a laptop with WiFi capability, unless I get really organized and post one tomorrow before I leave again, this is the last one until I return a week from today. Blessings to all.