Photographic Fun

Today I’m having a lot of fun designing a calendar. Although I now spend most of my time writing and speaking in public, I still love photography. Even though I no longer work for NASA as the photojournalist in their Office of Public Affairs, I’m still taking pictures . . . probably always will. The world is such a beautiful place!
 

If you’ve looked at my speaker web site at http://www.carolechapman.com, you know that for some people, the favorite part of my seminars is my slide show. Many people have asked that my photographs be available.
 

Therefore, I’m extra happy because I can put some of my photos in this calendar. I’m also using quotations from the Edgar Cayce readings to make a “God in Nature” 2008 wall calendar. It’s going to be great!
 

I’ve got pictures of waterfalls, butterflies—even two butterflies in a courtship ritual!—a mountain, orchids, roses, and many more. What fun!
 

© 2007 Carole Chapman
 

The Lion and the Lamb

     Yesterday in this blog, I mentioned my luncheon with a Richmond, Virginia friend. We also discussed a dream she had. Because I’ve been keeping a dream journal for years . . . and also, because I met my husband first in a dream . . . I am always very interested in people’s dreams.
     This one’s a good one. She said that she had two cats. She leaves a couple of bowls of cat food out on her deck for them. In her dream, a full-grown sheep came up on her deck and began eating the cat food.
     Since “the dream is about the dreamer” usually I asked her what she thought the dream was about. She replied that the first thing that came to her mind was Christ’s request “feed my sheep.”
     I agreed that if it had been my dream, I would have thought the same. Then, since the way you feel about your dream or the way you feel in your dream is important to its understanding, I asked her how she felt about it.
     She said that she felt it was pretty unusual since she lives in the country and is used to a possum or a raccoon coming up on the deck to eat cat food. She’s also seen deer in her yard. But never a sheep.
     This made me think for a little while. Then I said that I liked her dream because it showed me how something could be possible. The Bible says that there will come a time when the lion lays down with the lamb.
     I never saw how that could be possible since a lion would surely devour a lamb. That is, not until her dream. Now, I see that if the lion is a domestic cat and the lamb is a full-grown sheep, the lamb will have nothing to fear.
     Whether this is the correct interpretation of her dream or not, I like the idea of seeing the possibility of the lion laying down with the lamb.
Carol Chapman
© 2007 Carol Chapman
 

Karma and Spiritual Muscle

Today I had lunch with a delightful lady I met when I spoke in Richmond, Virginia. The Cayce people in Richmond have a wonderful group that sponsors a speaker once a month on Saturday afternoon from 3 to 5 at the Bel Air Library. Afterwards, those who want to, go out for dinner with the speaker at a nearby restaurant. If you want more information about their events, contact someone at the Regional Outreach section of http://www.edgarcayce.org.
 

We got on the topic of Karma and the rough things that come up in people’s lives. I said that sometimes when a person is going through a tough time, they wonder what have I done wrong to deserve this? Other people, who may not have as many difficulties in this lifetime, may think they are somehow better than the person with the problems.
 

However, we both remembered that in Cayce’s psychic readings he said that everyone has had many lifetimes in which they “lost” or made wrong decisions, took the easy path, used people, etc. But, we don’t necessarily take on a lifetime of compensation immediately after that lifetime.
 

We may coast for a few lifetimes. We may, in fact, take a vacation from working on our soul’s purposes and take on an incarnation in which everything is simple and easy. Then, when we’re ready, we take on a lifetime of challenges to give us the opportunity to strengthen our spiritual mettle. Of course, we may not take the challenge and instead spend our opportunities in self-pity or anger and resentment.
 

I remembered something I’d read about Mother Theresa. Evidently, she had been touring a leper colony with a visitor. When the visitor saw the diseased bodies of the lepers, the visitor asked something like, “Why do they have to go through this? Why have we been let off so easily?”
 

Mother Theresa replied that the reason we didn’t have to endure such hardship was because we were not strong enough.
 

I like that.
 

Wishing you a wonderful day.
 

Carol Chapman
 

© 2007 Carol Chapman