Saved By a Jehovah's Witness!

As I was doing my nanny duty of feeding the toddler today, there was a knock on the door. I answered and there stood a lovely woman with a bible in her hand. She asked me what I thought about the “Kingdom of Heaven”. I told her that the Kingdom of Heaven is right here, right now. It is all of us. She went on to ask if I attend a church and I told her I go to Christ Community Church in Spring Lake then paused for reaction…for those of you who don’t know, Christ Community (C3) is a progressive Christian church which embraces all faiths, beliefs, sexual orientations and…gasp!...”encourages independent thinking” (murmurs among the crowd). It is a place where I’ve sung Hindu bhajans and Buddhist chants during service with great reception. And, although I don’t consider myself to be a Christian, it is the place where I’ve felt the most connected with the philosophies and the people here in west Michigan. Now, as I was telling this woman which church I attend, there was that familiar egoic voice just chomping at the bit waiting for the response. I so wanted her to start asking me about the bible and trying to impose her views on me just so the ego could have its chance to tell her my very progressive views. That voice that I’ve tried hard to do away with somehow finds a way to rear its ugly head every now and then. Generally, I’ve done pretty well with keeping it in-check, but today, it made an appearance. Not a grand appearance, but an appearance none-the-less. The well-intentioned lady asked if I say the “Lord’s prayer” and I answered “nope, not since I was catholic”. She looked a little confused. Then she started talking about the meaning of the word “kingdom”…”a land with a king. It’s really kind of like a government with a ruler” she said then pulled pamphlets out of her bag and asked if I wanted them. I said that they “weren’t my sort of thing but I’ll leave them on the counter in case the family wanted to read them.” (huh?) She left in, I’m sure, a confused state and I went back to the business of feeding the child. But, for some reason I was feeling unsettled this time. The ego didn’t feel that usual sense of satisfaction. There was nothing overly harsh said on my part. It was just the way the ego was talking with the intention of getting a reaction that left me with that feeling of unsettledness. What surfaced next, I wasn’t prepared for. What surfaced was me, the Divinely True me, the I am. That part down deep inside decided to come up closer to the surface and shut the ego up before it had the chance to revel in its small victory. Instead, I felt completely defeated myself. I don’t want to be that person. Isn’t that being exactly the thing that I was against? Isn’t that, in a way, imposing my views on others? Isn’t that being judgmental? I completely believe that we all have our own truths and every single one of them is real and true. Being a Jehovah’s Witness is exactly where that woman is supposed to be at this point of her journey. It’s what works best for her in this moment. Shouldn’t I love her instead, and cheer her on for the journey ahead? There was a time when being a catholic worked best for me. But we grow and progress. And today, I did a little bit more of that. But there I was with my feelings of shame and guilt realizing that, once and for all, I didn’t want to let that ego-voice rule the roost. All of a sudden, everything seemed so much clearer. I felt so much love for that woman who came along and gave me that experience of Divine Love and connection and acceptance. I’ve forgotten lately how that felt. It’s time to re-awaken that part of myself and move forward.

Now, there are many who say that one of the ways the Divine feminine (Mother God) shows her love is by sending flowers…and do you know what? 5 minutes after that lady left the front door, there was another knock. A lady delivering flowers! And she happened to be the mother of a friend of mine! Ahhhhh Divine timing.

Thank you Mother. Jai Ma!