The ones I did not Acknowledge

On this blog, I have expressed many thoughts.  It started 5 years ago, in a difficult time, when I was trying to make sense out of madness.  I knew somehow that the path to better things required my getting deeply connected to most important, most central beliefs and values.  I realized that my path had gone wild because I allowed myself to be aligned with beliefs and values that were far from my own.  I had overlooked and ignored the signs that should have told me that danger would lay ahead.
After reading my acknowledgement for the book I just published, (Find Your Spirit) Holly mused that I was oft inspired by others I would not wish to acknowledge.  How very true!  I have needed to write to create a better energy.  Quite often the loudest voices around me have been quite negative.  I wrote because I had to express and hold onto a better voice - the voice deep in my spirit.
I recall "religious" discussions.  One particular favorite involved a Bible slammed on the table in front of me.  It seems the slammer was intending to impress me with her sacred interpretation of the word and her belief that I was ill informed on it's content.  When I asked how literally she interpreted the part about the sons of God having sex with the women of the world and producing giants, she insisted there was no such thing in the Bible.  It didn't take too many more months before she found no value in our friendship and set her sights on holding Bible studies with people who did not question her as an authority on the subject.
Other similarly minded authorities have lost patience with my lack of seeing them as conduits for God.  And, of course, they perceive that in questioning their authority, I am questioning God.  They don't seem to understand that I simply don't see them as God.  The more it angers them that I don't, the more I am certain they really don't speak for God.
But I am thankful for these people who have tested my spirit.  They pushed me into a deeper search for understanding.  They inspired me to be a voice - to raise my voice - to speak more clearly about a path of love - the need for love - the need to see God not as the image of us but rather as the entity that binds us all together.
Listen - Hear all voices.  Even the ones who speak in a strange language can inspire you to speak yours in a profound way.  So, I take a moment to acknowledge those strange ones too.