This is where I am going on Friday night, the 17th. Spirit you say? Yep. I intentionally didn’t use the three letters that we Anglo-Saxons use (DOG spelled backwards) because it wouldn’t make any sense. We all agree that there is but ONE true God, and He is OUR GOD. That reminds me of the bumper sticker that reads, “God is my co-pilot“. Excuse me! But, I think WE are His, not that HE is OURS! Just because we call the Spirit that created the universe God, doesn’t mean that’s His name (except in our community). Elsewhere He is known as Vishnu, Kali, Allah, and YHWH, to name just a few. Whoever we say He IS, that’s who He will BE to us! A profoundly scary thought now isn’t it. Well, if you really think about it, it is.
We ALL belong to God regardless of color of skin, nationality, what religious branding we embrace, or even if we’re not nice people: we belong to this animating, all encompassing, creative Spirit (that I call God, as most of you do). That notwithstanding, wherever I AM, it’s holy ground!
Take your shoes off! Exodus 3:5.
I love how Diana Eck put it in part, as she wrote about places she had been,
>I unlace my hiking boots at the temple of Siva at Kedarnath.
>I add my shoes to a mountain of Reeboks at the door of the new Durga Mandir.
>I take my shoes off at the entry of the Ganesha Temple in Nashville.
>I put my shoes in the orderly racks of the Sikh gurdwara in Fresno.
>I take my shoes off in the vestibule of the Jain Temple in Norwood.
>I enter the huge mosque prayer room with no shoes in Chicago.
>I put my shoes on the porch of the new Thai Buddhist temple in Auburn, Washington.
>I put my shoes in the shoe racks by the door of Sri Lakshmi Temple in Ashland, and pile my shoes with those of our Kosovar teens at the edge of the gymnasium in Roxbury.
Get the picture?
We need to take our shoes off a little more often- in far more places than we’re comfortable in doing so. It sends our spirit man a good message. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with any and all that you encounter. Far from it, and borrowing another quote from Diana Eck, “Don’t hang up your minds when you take off your shoes.”
I’m now headed to the Hill Country for a three day contemplative retreat (along with 27 other people). So, whatever I write next will come from a little higher elevation, and hopefully higher consciousness too. Have a great weekend. And don’t forget to take your shoes off from time to time. 
There’s ONE SPIRIT, (in my God-language- ONE abba FATHER)
My shoes stay off unless I’m at the grocery, library, etc. I wonder if that means that there’s a spot in Texarkana, AR that is holy ground?:)
Have fun contemplating!