I wondered where the angels were going when they started this week’s message and then had to laugh. The imagery of a huge alligator is a good representation of what some of our challenges can feel like at times—huge, threatening, impossible to get around. I didn’t have an alligator photo so had to make one. He’s kind of cute even if he is blocking the path. I’m going to think about this next time I run into an obstacle!
Despite our seemingly large obstacles in life, the adage, “All things are possible with God,” remains true. Every time I find myself facing a challenge, I remind myself that I am not limited by my knowledge, human knowledge, widely accepted truths about “the way things work,” or even the so-called “rules” of the physical universe and biology. I am only as limited as I am willing to believe. God is unlimited.
This spring, the neighborhood wasps decided to build their nest right outside the front door, next to the office window where I do readings! “Of course,” I thought. They’re sensitive souls, and they like the energy. Nonetheless, the delivery folks who bring supplies weren’t as comfy with them as I was. They had to go. So, I faced the “alligator on the path.” I went outside and stood under the nest. The little wasps buzzed around me, telling me in no uncertain terms that this was their territory. I stood my ground in peace and sent them love. I told them how precious they were and that I didn’t want them to be harmed. I pictured smoke blowing towards their nest, which is a wasp warning to leave (like a wildfire alert), and gave them three weeks notice. I imagined the babies hatching and everyone leaving peacefully. Lo and behold, three weeks later, they left and found a new home in the cucumber patch! We were all much happier.
There are certainly many large alligators on the path these days. A family member has a serious health challenge, and I can do nothing about it in the human sense. I can only take a step back, enjoy the day, and focus on all I love about this soul—their strength, their grace, their future health, and the light within. The alligator of their condition may just leave with all that love, as they, too, are taking the same steps and receiving good guidance.
I’ve had numerous technical challenges lately, but after taking a step back, enjoying my day, and trusting that all turns to good, the situation has turned to good. I had to reschedule a few clients due to my calendar deleting them, and it ends up that the new times and conditions were better for all. I had to get a new email app, and it has features that are making life easier. I have had numerous obstacles on the learning curve to open an Etsy shop, and yet, one by one challenge, I’m gaining knowledge that will serve me far into the future. I’m actually enjoying the journey.
When I got my water bill this month, and it was unreasonably huge, that felt like an alligator. There are so many places where the leak might have been. I took a step back, enjoyed a glass of water, and trusted God to help me figure it out. Later that day, I randomly got up from my desk to retreive the mail, just in time to see the geyser in a random place in the front yard! The gentlemen who came to fix it found an even more significant leak in the back and repaired it for a very reasonable fee. I didn’t wrestle with the metaphorical “alligator” so it left the path!
Even in physical areas, the Divine can move the alligator. So many times in my life, conditions have appeared, I’ve refocused on enjoying my days, listened to guidance, and then the conditions disappeared.
The angels like to humorously say to people who explain why they can’t have what they want (can’t heal, can’t afford something, can’t deal with someone, etc.) “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.” No matter how logical or true our reasons are for not being able to have what we want, it is a mighty big assumption to think the creator of universes can’t figure it out 🙂
I have an incurable disease. There’s no way I’ll get through this. “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.”
I have a huge bill that I’ll never pay off. “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.”
My spouse will never change. I’m stuck with them. “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.”
I hate my job! There’s nothing else for me out there. I’ve looked everywhere. “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.”
I’ve given up on finding a relationship. I’ve tried. There’s no one that I could stand. “Don’t tell the Divine what it can’t do.”
I have seen so many miracles, insanely elegant solutions, and changes of heart that I no longer doubt the power of the Divine to remove any obstacle.
So next time you feel defeated, remember you don’t have to know how to solve something. You don’t have to understand how the money will come, how the body will heal, how the intractable and unpleasant human being can be worked around or assisted. You don’t have to know how you’ll manage if this candidate or the other gets into office. You don’t have to know anything really except that taking a step back, enjoying the day, and remaining filled with a faith in something much larger is the key to receiving your solutions.
That alone is enough to move mountains… or life’s “alligators.”
Here are a few tips to help you face your “alligators.”
1. Accept the “Alligators”
When seeming obstacles show up on the path, accept that this is here and now, but not necessarily forever. These things show up for a reason. They are either helping us by delaying us, shifting us to new directions, or turning us away from thoughts that don’t work and back to thoughts of God, good, and love. They are never without purpose.
Accept where you’re at and accept that something in this is trying to steer you towards the good.
2. Take a step back
It is all too easy to go into a mental spin trying to solve our problems. If the solution is not easy, apparent, and obvious, wait. Wait until ideas or solutions arrive organically. Take a step back, release the problem temporarily, and focus on enjoying what you can. Look around. There is good in your life unrelated to the problem, even if only the warm cup of coffee on your desk, the puffy cloud in the sky, or a smooth stone you picked up years ago.
Chances are there are many more things to enjoy in life if you look, and are willing to focus on the good. Instead of fixating on what youI can’t do right now, ask yourself, “What can I enjoy about this day or this moment?” Challenge yourself.
In doing so, you consciously and intentionally allow love into your life and feelings and, therefore, vibration. You’ll get better guidance, ideas, and solutions to work around the “alligator” in that higher vibe.
3. Trust that higher power has higher wisdom
We agonize when we don’t know how to solve something. We settle for what we know and talk ourselves out of wanting what we don’t know how to get. I imagine God watches us as we would watch a two-year-old screaming or pouting about being unable to reach a cookie on the counter instead of calmly asking for help from someone with higher reach.
When you don’t know how to solve something, have faith that the Divine does. Be expectant that good will arrive. My favorite way of praying when I don’t know what to do is humorous. I made up a little sing-song rhyme prayer that helps me not take myself and my challenges so seriously:
I know you know what to do.
When I don’t even have a clue.
I know you know what to do.
You’ll tell me what and when it’s true!
My inner child gets into this, and I calm down, give my alligators to the divine, and enjoy my day. Solutions will arrive.
b as I like to say, and give your problems to the Divine. The love and wisdom that creates our bodies, the galaxies, and the entire known universe might just be able to figure out something we can’t 🙂
Have a blessed week,
Love,
Ann
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