Faces of the Goddess

Issue # 46 of Faces of the Goddess is available. This issue theme is dedicated to service and activism. Below is my introduction to this issue.
INTRODUCTION FROM SHARON/SIANNAN
“You Make the Difference�
When I was in high school, a girl in my drama class tried to kill herself. After she returned to school, I approached her backstage in the green-room and talked to her about her experience. I don’t remember my exact words to her, but she clung to them as a lifeline. Years later she told me that what I had said kept her from attempting suicide again. Being only sixteen, I hadn’t really given much thought to the conversation, but that day, I saved a life. I was in the right place at the right time and said exactly what she needed to hear. I was a channel for the Spirit.
There have also been people who’ve come into my life at the right time; who’ve said just the right thing which profoundly altered my life. We have each served as voices of the Spirit for someone in need, even though we may not have realized it at the time. But, God/dess knew the need, so S/He sent us as messengers.
Every Christmas season at least one television station replays the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. In this story, a suicidal man who thinks his life is inconsequential, meets a heavenly guide. The angel teaches him the impact he has had on the lives of others by showing him the alternative; what their existence would have been like had he not been present in their lives. He comes to understand the greatest truth of all; that we are all interconnected. We each play an important role in affecting the lives of others.
How many times have you wallowed in self-pity thinking your life doesn’t matter? Honestly consider for a moment what the lives of your family and friends would be like if you suddenly vanished, or if they had truly never known you. What would your corner of the world be like if you had never occupied it?
The German movie, Run Lola Run, explores the effect of our actions on the world and others. The movie depicts alternate reality lines where the lead character’s choices, even the smallest, affect not only her destiny, but that of those she meets on the street. The message is clear. There are no meaningless acts or random encounters. Everything counts. You count. As it says in A Course in Miracles, every encounter, albeit brief, is an opportunity for salvation; to heal our self and another.
So, reach out to others. Smile and say “Hello� to strangers. Start a conversation with those you meet randomly. Help someone feel welcome in a new place. Spend time with those you love. Let someone know you care. Sometimes just a simple gesture will make a great difference in another’s life.
“Be a gift to everyone who enters your life, and to everyone whose life you enter. You can always be a gift, because you always are the gift—yet sometimes you don’t let yourself know that. Why else do you think a person has come to you? I tell you this: every person who has ever come to you has come to receive a gift from you. In so doing he gives a gift to you—the gift of your experiencing and fulfilling Who You Are. When you see this simple truth, when you understand it, you see the greatest truth of all: I HAVE SENT YOU NOTHING BUT ANGELS!�—Neale Donald Walsh from Conversations with God (Book 2)
Your life is significant. You are God/dess’ gift to the world. Your presence here is essential to the Divine plan. God/dess often works Her/His miracles in other people’s lives through you. Everything you say, everything you do, has the potential to rock this reality and bring about miracles. We are each God/dess’ angels on Earth. That is both a great honor and responsibility. So practice mindfulness in what you say and do. Use your life to teach love, peace, joy.
“What a piece of work is (wo)man. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In form and moving how express and admirable. In action how like an angle. In apprehension how like a god(des).�—William Shakespeare from Hamlet

Titles of other articles appearing in this issue: Are You Contributing?, Be the Change, Get Active!, Support of a Good Crew, Looking Out for Number One, What is and is not God, Saving Our Spirituality, Saving Lives One Fear at a Time, Changing the World One Craft Project at a Time, Question of Class, Sex Positive Feminism, Victoria Woodhull, From Survival to Triumph, Lady Freedom.
Illustrations by Corine Adams and Kimberlee Traub (www.kimberleetraub.com)

Rates: $12 yearly or $5 sample copy (USA) and $6 sample or $18 yearly (overseas) Checks made out to "Sharon Niman". POB 486, Crows Landing, Ca. 95313