Rompecabezas

"The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity." -Douglas Horton

This weekend I watched the newly released movie Puzzle at the theater.   It reminded me of a previous Sacred Souls post dated March 26, 2016 in which I wrote about looking at the jigsaw puzzles and strategy games at my local Barnes and Noble.  I wrote about the joy and satisfaction in putting jigsaw pieces together to form a beautiful inspirational picture and how God knows the final picture even when I am missing pieces to the puzzle.

In the movie Puzzles, the main character Agnes, a devout Catholic who is a housewife caught in  an ordinary life, receives a jigsaw puzzle of the world for her birthday from her aunt.  In completing the puzzle, Agnes rediscovers her mathematical talent and ability to put a jigsaw puzzle together in record time. The final piece to the world puzzle is the city Montreal that she carefully puts into place and then smiles because it is complete.  She then answers an ad seeking a jigsaw puzzle partner and her whole life is turned upside down when she meets an Iranian inventor and champion puzzler.  Together they enter a national jigsaw puzzle contest as a team and win because Agnes deviates from the normal rules for puzzling which requires putting together the edges first and sorting by color.     The prize for the win is a trip to Belgium for the International Doubles Championship.  

During the course of the movie, Agnes' marriage and family is also turned upside down when she challenges their normal life and routine.  Robert, her puzzle partner, in one scene in the movie explains that everything in the universe is random and jigsaw puzzles alone, even more than love, provide the satisfaction of completing a picture. 

I believe that Robert's explanation is incorrect.  I believe that everything in the universe is related and that it reflects the Unus Mundus, a Latin term originating in the Middle Ages, for the deeper order of things which is based on love.  Carl Jung, the twentieth century psychiatrist, referred to the seemingly coincidences in our lives as synchronicity. We all operate in the unconscious in which God reveals to our conscious in her own perfect timing. In the final scene of the movie, Agnes is on a train alone headed to Montreal after turning down the trip to Belgium with Robert.  She always knew her destination and path she just needed to put the pieces together.

Eternal Life

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

-       Matthew 11:28-30

I have been thinking about what God means to me. In one of the churches I attend, the pastor preaches on salvation through accepting and declaring Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I think this belief misses the core message of Jesus’s life.  Jesus Christ is love and in his love we all can find salvation.

Eternity is existing in the present without fearing or focusing on the past or future.  When I realize how many mistakes I made in this life, the people I have hurt, all the chances for human love I missed, I can find forgiveness in God’s love.  God is eternity, and, in the eternal, all is as it should be.  In this belief, I find the peace to rest.

Kevin's Garden - God's Love and Ours this Christmas Eve

What if we had the ability to turn back the pages in our mind to a time when our love was fresh without preconceptions or abuses?  Each spring we are reminded that from the cold winter, sprouts of daffodil, crocus, and tulip bulbs will emerge through the ground with new promises.  

If anything I have learned in the last four years of my journey in Sacred Souls is that truly "hope is eternal" and love is the greatest of all gifts.  We are not bound by this space and time.  My mind being much wiser in my journey is ready to turn each blank page with a fresh renewed attitude and rewrite my story as it should be, focusing on each moment in eternity.  Immersing myself in love because in the end, God is love and all that is love survives.  That is God's eternal promise.

Kevin’s Garden - God's Love and Ours

“Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us.  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

1 John 4:7

We Ate From the Tree of Knowledge

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." Genesis 2:15 NIV

We ate from the tree of knowledge and we  no longer know.
Jesus was all knowing.
Sometimes I know.
Sometimes I don't know.
Sometimes I don't know and nobody else knows.
Sometimes I don't know and everybody knows.
Sometimes I know and others know.
Sometimes I know and everybody knows.
I always know.
Everybody knows.

God in the Mirror

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."  2 Corinthians 3:18


In the movie Dorian Gray, the sin Dorian Gray reflected in the inside was captured in a portrait unseen by him.  As time went by the painting became more and more hideous, but all he saw in the mirror was his beauty blind to how truly ugly he was.

The horror in this world is caused by the fact we no longer see God who is love and reflect his glory and love to others.  The most beautiful people in the world who do not meet our beauty standards are left to feel unwanted and unloved because we view and treat them as ugly.  Some are left to feel undesirable or unlovable because they were physically, emotionally or sexually abused leading many to commit suicide or to pass on their pain to others with hurtful actions.  Our society is full of damaged and hurting people because we don't love God or our neighbors before ourselves. 

Many people who are given the chance by God to see their reflection, will not look in the mirror.  Why?  Because they are aware of the hideous acts they have committed and the degradation of their soul.  Even when presented with the Word of God and others who reflect God's love, they have turned away from God often committing horrendous acts.  Others won't look because we have treated them  maliciously with our words and actions and they feel ugly and unlovable. 

There are those in the world who enjoy inflicting pain and are serving Satan or the Dark Side.  They don't care what their reflection will show.  Can we turn them to the good side like Luke did his father in Star Wars?  Or are there some who cannot be redeemed because they are so evil they cannot be saved and will continue to inflict pain and suffering even when forgiven?  How did they become so evil? How do we make this decision?  Those anointed as Angel's of Mercy can look into their minds and soul and know if they can be healed.  If they cannot be healed by an Angel of Mercy, then do we have a moral duty to prevent others from being hurt?  I think in that case, we must act.  Otherwise, we must work to heal the damage others might have perpetrated on that person while holding them accountable for their own actions.

We need to spread love and the Gospel as quickly as possible to every person on this Earth.  We need to treat our Earth home as a sacred space worthy of veneration.  We need to shine the light to end the darkness. We need for every person to look in the mirror and see God who is love.   We can save our Earth home and each other.  Why?  Because Jesus already won the war dying on the cross and defeating Satan in Hell.  He ensured victory.   We need to finish this resurrection.   Miracles including Heaven on Earth can happen because Jesus told us "All things are possible with God" if only we believe.  Ad majorem dei Gloriam.  For the Greater Glory of God.

The Christmas House on Marbarry Drive

“So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  Luke11:5

This week on Friday I will be closing on my new home located in Summit Springs, Fairview Heights, thereby opening a new door in my life.  My new home has a cranberry red door reminiscent of my former home on Church Street that I referred to as my "Christmas House."  My former neighbor of my last home, Lynne, crafted a beautiful ribbon and flower wreath with a welcome sign for my front door to match my new front door mat that states “Life is Always Better in the Garden.”

Although this home may not be exactly what I envisioned it, it still will be filled with laughter and joy!  I pray that God blesses this home with peace, love, and family.    As George and Mary say in It's a Wonderful Life" (my favorite movie) as they gift bread, salt and wine while blessing the Martini's new home.

"Bread that this house may never know hunger."
"Salt that life may always have flavor."
"And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever."

The Butterfly Garden

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."  Rabindranath Tagore

The Butterfly Garden represents to me a place in Heaven where souls are bound together and is reflected in our collective human journey on Earth.  For many people who travel their lives, they feel the emotion tying each other together, but are unaware of the deeper spiritual connections.  You see, God in his plan has anticipated our decisions made without his guidance.  Our lives are not only subject to those who hurt us through sinful actions, but we have also hurt others.  God, in his infinite plan works for the greatest good for all.  This is whey when I have learned to listen to God, he will tell me to wait, move ahead, or no.  This is hard for me to accept because I have my own inner desires and dreams.  But are my dreams worth it if I hurt others or leave others behind in the journey?   God asks us to sacrifice our dreams so that others may thrive and leave a spiritual legacy we cannot.  He answers the prayers consistent with his will.

This weekend I was going to deliver a special butterfly garden bouquet to someone I love deeply and will always be bound to in the Garden.  But I finally accepted today that my dreams of a family are not in his and others best interest.  He is bound by the love of his children and former wife and those human bonds are also spiritual. In the Butterfly Garden God works to bind all of us to him.  No matter how much it hurts, I have to listen to God and the answer from God is no but there has been time enough.