As a lifelong educator and researcher, my tools included books, white boards, markers, laptop & projectors. Savvy students navigated zoom lectures & learning systems. Data gathered through immersion and interviews led to this finding: strangers, signs, synchronistic Divine Intervention, changed live
SPIRITUAL INSTRUMENT
When God Gets Our Attention, we're directed to act - and the guidance comes from Source. We may not always be receptive, but we are, and always will be, God's vessel or instrument to do Good in our Capacity to do so.
A Spiritual Instrument is a living being that The Divine works with, in, and through, to grace, gift, and guide. God uses our specific form, skills, talents, and location to heal, help, care, love, comfort, rescue, and inspire.
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TOOLS, GEAR, INSTRUMENTS
Did you ever try to read an on-line article without the use of glasses, phone, Wi-FI, or computer? We all use tools and instruments in our work, and can't manage without them. But if we all use the same tools, why do outcomes, creative projects, and results differ? Could the difference be .... You?
Your unique self, smile, heart, mind, personality, ideas, laugh, talents, training, knowledge, skills, intuition, and soul effect every interaction. You go the extra mile to service a client, nurse a patient, lend a hand, volunteer in a natural disaster, teach preschoolers, or plant a garden.
Plato used the term, Divine Determination* - The Divine plan for each of us to use our gifts, talents, and skills for good. I use the term, Spiritual Instrument -the vessel that God works with, in, and through to do good in our capacity to do so.
Q: How are you Spirit's Instrument in the work that you are called to do?
* Citation: Lobel, Diana, 'A Divine Craftsman Shapes All for the Good: Plato’s Realm of the Forms', The Quest for God and the Good: World Philosophy as a Living Experience Columbia Scholarship Online, 19 Nov. 2015), https://doi.org/10.7312/columbia/9780231153157.003.0002accessed 8 July 2023.
HOW ARE YOU A SPIRITUAL INSTRUMENT?
Were you ever a solo traveler lost in a foreign country? How grateful were you when a kind, native speaker - a complete stranger - asked if you needed help in your language, and guided you to your location?
God uses us, like you use a tool. You are the instrument by which people are healed, entertained, cared for, fed, protected, clothed, housed, mentored, rescued, valued, and appreciated.
Think for a moment of a teacher, coach, physical therapist, chef, gardener, mechanic, caregiver, neighbor, grandparent, shop owner, doctor, friend, colleague, housekeeper, military buddy, or random person who listened when you needed a friend.
Were they Divinely Guided to show up in your life at a particular time? Why do you remember them? How did they make a difference in your life? Then, consider how God uses/ed you, to impact others.
In the classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life" Jimmy Stewart's character minimizes his self worth, until an angel guides him, at the 11th hour, to view his profound impact on everyone in his community.
Q: Think of the angels, messengers, mentors, or strangers who you encountered in your life. List them and offer a personal or prayerful thank you.
Exercise: 5 year retrospection
Take stock of where you were 5 years ago.
How did someone serve as Spiritual Instrument for you?
How did you serve as Spiritual Instrument?