Parents

A spiritual idea that has been really helpful to me is the concept of the Soul Covenant. The Soul Covenant is an agreement between the soul and Source/God/The Universe. The contract is made before the soul enters a human body and comes into existence on this planet. This agreement defines what you have come here to learn, what you have come here to do and who you have come here to serve. After the soul agrees to the covenant, it then chooses the time in history that it needs, the place that it needs and the parents it needs in order to best fulfill its covenant with Source.

When I first heard that my soul chose my own parents because I needed them, in order to become who God needs me to be, I was frustrated...but then as I sat with the idea - it began to bring me a lot of peace. The ensuing questions were fascinating: What was it about an absent, too busy father that was necessary for me to become who I needed to be? What was it about a shut-down, overwhelmed mother that was necessary to teach me what I needed to learn?

Until I have clear, unobstructed communication with my soul, I won't have access to all of the answers to these questions. However, I do know that a lonely, difficult childhood connected me early and steadfastly to nature; it connected me to the very old and to the very young, and to other outcasts of society; it connected me to the God who seemed always present no matter who else was missing. In trying to understand my soul covenant, I have found that all of these deep connections formed in childhood have opened up areas of ministry as an adult. I have grown more fully into God's hands and feet on this planet.

There is a movie that my husband and I like called, Smoke Signals. The theme of the story is that everyone has to forgive their fathers. All fathers, and mothers for that matter, were there too much or there too little. They gave too much or they gave too little. They loved too much or loved too little. We all have to make peace with our parents. What better way to do that than to realize that our souls actually picked exactly the right parents, in order for us to learn what we needed to learn?