Ghia – The Spiral Moon, the Great I am, and the present tense.

Hooray.

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Ghia here.

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I'm this week's host of the creative

spiritual journey podcast Where

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I talk about connecting with

nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living and anything

else I've been learning on this

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remarkable journey we call life.

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So I had a different

podcast plan for this week.

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And then I looked at my calendar

and realized we are only a week

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away from the July full moon.

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So of course today, I have

to talk about the moon.

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Oh, the moon slowly.

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I have been learning

more and more about it.

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One thing that has recently tickled my

fancy about the moon is come to find out.

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The degree to which the moons elliptical

orbit around the earth is a long gated.

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Because the path is changing

slightly all the time.

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Right?

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The change in the path is

called an X centricity.

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To have an X centricity means to

have odd or whimsical behavior.

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Eccentric odd whimsical.

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Those are words I love.

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Those are words I can relate to.

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Those are words I long to emulate.

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If someone called me eccentric, odd

and whimsical, I would feel validated.

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Like I had lived up to my ideal.

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I have no doubt.

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I qualify for the adjectives,

eccentric and odd.

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But whimsical.

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That is something to work on.

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I think I'm a little too serious

and busy and I don't know

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self-conscious to truly be whimsical.

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But the moon, I believe the moon

has learned to fully embrace the

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words, eccentric, OD and whimsical.

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I say this because to me the words,

describe my relationship with the

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moon over the last few months.

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Eccentric odd and whimsical.

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Where is the moon tonight?

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I asked when I haven't seen it for days.

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Or when I expected to be

somewhere and it isn't.

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And then I randomly walk outside

in the early morning and there

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it is a perfect Crescent on

the horizon shining in my face.

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The moon is all over the place.

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Did you know that each month the moon

moves all the way across the horizon,

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similar to how the sun moves across

the horizon over an entire year.

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The moon does it each month?

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So on top of rising at different

times during the day and a

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different phases of visibility,

it's also moving across the horizon.

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I've heard the moon called this

celestial body without a home.

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It's a wanderer.

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It keeps you on your toes and it

makes you work for a relationship.

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So.

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As we approach the July full moon.

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I wanted to point out that when

naming moons, it isn't actually

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the full moon that we are naming.

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It's the whole phase of the

moon from new to new again.

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Just something to note and maybe think

about if you're naming your own moons.

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As I contemplated what I

wanted to name the July moon.

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What this time of year meant to

me, I read over a list of names,

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similar to what I've read you before.

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But nothing spoke to me.

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So I read over the list again,

searching for something.

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And what I found was a niggling

at the back of my mind that told

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me July was the spiral moon.

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But my rational mind thought no,

that doesn't relate to anything.

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A spiral seems like the beginning or the

end or some sort of significant marker.

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Not the middle of summer.

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Why did I want a spiral moon for July?

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I still don't know.

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But I couldn't change my mind.

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So that's what it is.

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July is my spiral moon.

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I have no idea where it started, but

for years I had a thing about spirals.

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And they became a really

big thing the weekend.

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About 12 years ago when I

married my fabulous man.

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On that weekend.

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He brought me to the property we

live on now for the first time.

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We arrived in the dark.

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And when I got up and looked outside

in the morning, I was blown away.

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I could hardly believe

how beautiful it was.

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In fact, I always tell people that I'm

glad I married him before I came to

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the property or I would be afraid I

married him just so I could live here.

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That's how much I love this place.

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But just when I thought it

couldn't get any better.

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He showed me a Rockpile just

inside the property line.

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With not one, but two spiral petroglyphs.

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I would have been ecstatic with

any petroglyph, a little sheep

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or something, but for it to be

a spiral seemed to meant for me.

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Now I look for spirals everywhere.

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Even Judy sends me pictures of

spirals when she finds them.

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Why am I drawn to spirals?

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Perhaps it's because we live in a

spiral galaxy or the spiral tendency

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in nature or the spiral whirlpools.

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I see.

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So often on the river, I'm not sure.

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But here is where I've learned

to appreciate spirals recently.

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Spirals have the ability to represent

the past, the present and the future.

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I think of the center of

the spiral as the past.

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It's where you started or came from.

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The furthest point away from you.

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Then, if you follow the spiral around

and around you journey through your

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life until you come to the end, the

end of the spiral is the present.

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The point where you are

right now, this moment.

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But if you stop there.

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You may find you're tempted to

complete more revolutions around the

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spiral to keep the momentum going.

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This is what produces the future,

the endlessly adding to the spiral.

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Now there is a popular

analogy about spirals.

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And this is the idea that as individuals,

we may look around at our lives

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and feel that we have circled back

to the same place we were before.

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That we are still dealing

with the same challenges.

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Still wishing we could reach

some goal or break some habit.

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But the reality is we may

have come full circle.

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But we are not in the same place.

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We have spiraled.

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We have moved even if only a slight

degree and whether we believe

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it or not, this is progress.

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I have lots of things I spiral with

what to do with my life, what to eat.

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Am I doing enough?

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Am I doing it right?

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One place I find myself

circling around to is prayer.

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I'm always trying to make prayer

more meaningful, more relevant, more

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hopeful, more helpful, more powerful.

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And I get the impression sometimes that I

haven't progressed with this goal at all.

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Ah, But if I stop and look around, I

recall that I am in a spiral and there

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has been some forward upward movement.

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I have grown, I have changed.

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My prayers are more than they once were.

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A recent addition to the spiral of my

prayers has been to pray in the present.

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To pray in that spot, right

at the end of the spiral.

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To be there in the

present moment with God.

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We hear the words present a lot lately.

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Be present.

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Sounds good.

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Doesn't it.

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Yeah, sure.

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But how exactly do we do it?

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Well, one way I have applied

this admonition in my life is

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to pray in the present tense.

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I love this.

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So let me explain.

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Do you remember the term present

tense from high school English class.

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The present tense describes a

current activity or state of being.

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I'm recording a podcast.

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Judy is out on a walk.

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That is the current activity.

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I am happy.

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Duty is even happier.

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That is the current state of being.

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Okay.

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So just now, when I was speaking about

myself, I said, I am recording a podcast.

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I am happy.

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I use two very important words here.

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The words I am.

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Good chance.

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You already know this, but I

am is one of the names of God.

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The great.

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I am.

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I don't know about you, but for me, this

is a hard name to wrap my head around.

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What exactly does that mean?

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Lamb of God or bread of life.

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Those are names I can grasp.

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But I am.

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Well, here's, what's really

cool about the words I am.

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They are in the present tense.

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They are the current state or activity.

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They mean right now in the present moment.

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God is in the present tense.

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He is always here and now.

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I think that's cool.

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It explains why everyone is telling us

to be present, to be like, God, right.

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Okay.

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Now, just in case you think you have

your head wrapped around this idea.

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In the English language, not only

can the present tense be used to

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talk about the present moment.

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It can also be used to describe

the past or future moments.

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Judy hikes every morning,

hikes is the present tense.

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H I K E S the S on the end is

what makes it present tense.

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So keep that little S

in mind as we move on.

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This podcast ends in 15 minutes.

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Ends with an S on the

end is present tense.

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But it refers to the future.

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So that's an example of the

future usage of present tense.

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Now the past usage of the present

tense isn't heard often, but you

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will recognize it from stories and

jokes such as a man walks into a bar.

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Walks with an S is present tense.

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But it refers to something in the past.

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That is the power of present tense.

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Just like my spiral.

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It can represent past, present and future.

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That is what it means

to be the great I am.

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I am past present and future.

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So here's my point, regardless of whether

you understand anything, I just said.

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I want to invite you to

pray in the present tense.

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It works like this.

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Say you have a sick

grandchild and you pray.

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Dear heavenly father, please,

please, please heal my grandchild.

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Don't get me wrong.

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There's nothing wrong with these words.

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But can you hear the

uncertainty and doubt?

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They almost sound heavy and desperate.

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Please help me, please, please, please.

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As if he might decide not to.

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See how this sounds instead of asking

for something to happen in the future.

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I thank him in the present

tense for helping you right now.

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Thank you.

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Heavenly father for helping

my grandchild to heal.

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Doesn't that sound lighter and

happier and more confident.

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But you might say Ghia,

he hasn't helped me yet.

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Why would I pray like that?

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Do you remember what I just said?

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About the great I am my

spiral and the present tense.

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All of them embody the past,

the present and the future.

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You can thank God now or later.

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It doesn't matter.

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He doesn't care.

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But doing it now creates a lightness

and happiness inside you in your heart.

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And it demonstrates your

trust and faith in him.

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Michelle Craig explained this

concept in her talk wholehearted.

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She said, quote, The scriptures are

filled with examples of men and women.

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Disciples of Christ who went

facing the impossible simply acted.

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Who got up in faith and walked.

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To lepers who sought healing Christ said

go shoe yourselves and to the priests.

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And it came to pass that as

they went, they were cleansed.

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They went to show themselves

to the priests as if they

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had already been healed.

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And in the process of acting, they were.

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And quote.

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Now if you still don't feel comfortable.

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Praying for something you haven't yet

received because maybe you're concerned.

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God doesn't want to give you that thing.

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Consider praying for what you

know, God is willing to give you.

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Thank you for inspiring the doctors.

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Thank you for offering

my little one comfort.

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Thank you for giving me peace.

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Of course, he wants to give

inspiration, comfort, and peace.

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Find things you don't have to question.

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Uh, things, you know, he is

willing to give you and pray

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in the present tense for those.

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If this still feels odd.

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Do it anyway.

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Take a chance be whimsical, embrace

the spiral and the great I am.

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They are in the present

and we can join them.

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I hope you have enjoyed the

creative spiritual journey podcast,.

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And that you will take a moment

to share it with a friend.

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It would mean so much to Judy and me.

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And don't forget.

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When you come around to the

same thing again, and again.

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That your creative, spiritual journey.

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Isn't a circle.

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It's a spiral.

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Nama stay.