The First Time Jesus Winked at Me

By M. Sophie Schneider

The First Time Jesus Winked at Me is a spiritual memoir about how extraordinary moments in an ordinary life move us to a place that Mark Nepo so beautifully describes as our inch of lightthat place where we, as humans, grow into grace and our souls shine. The author takes us on a journey through the joy and knee-bending sorrow of her life as she navigates toward a brighter understanding of how faith can light the way to a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504369879

M. Sophie Schneider

M. Sophie is passionate about encouraging women to step outside the lines drawn in childhood and create a higher vision for themselves. Prior to moving to Arizona, M. Sophie was a certified massage therapist and the facilitator of Healthy Being workshops. Upon retirement, she and her long-suffering but ever-supportive husband moved to the Phoenix area where M. Sophie designs handcrafted jewelry and creates whimsical art for her company, Creations from Mars. She has written and published a creative memoir, Standing on One Leg, and is evolving her therapeutic skills as a Reiki practitioner.

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Copyright © 2016 Marsha Schneider.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-6986-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-6988-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-6987-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919495

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/22/2016

Contents

Acknowledgments

An Invitation

Part I Finding My Spiritual Wings

Chapter 1 Teachers Come in All Shapes and Sizes

Chapter 2 The First Time Jesus Winked at Me

Chapter 3 The Little Caterpillar That Could

Chapter 4 Coming to Our Senses

Chapter 5 The Devout Cowboy and the Ant

Chapter 6 I Dream of Jeannie

Chapter 7 When the Ordinary Meets the Extraordinary

Chapter 8 Expressing Our God-like Selves

Chapter 9 Asking for What You Want

Chapter 10 The Heart Knows

Part II The Call

Chapter 11 Giving Birth to Fear

Chapter 12 Calling All Angels

Chapter 13 Tuning In Not Out

Chapter 14 The Man in the Ill-Fitting Coat

Chapter 15 The Bridge between Heaven and Earth

Chapter 16 Don’t Feed the Beast, Give it Light

Chapter 17 Living with Dis-Ease

Chapter 18 Once Again

Part III Growing Your Spiritual Garden

Chapter 19 Growing Your Spiritual Garden

Postscript

The Blank Pages

Notes

To the littlest angels in my life,

Dani, Drew, Lucy, Vivian, Isabelle, Amelie, Zoe, and Maya.

Shine on …

And to Kay, Bob, Mark, Dennis, and Dan—stay strong.

Acknowledgments

My deepest gratitude to my sisters in light, Lori, Sus, Jennifer and Gillian

To my sister for her eagle eye and wide wings.

To my team at Balboa Press.

And as always, to Ed, who doesn’t get me but who lets me be me.

An Invitation

If you have somehow found these pages and are curious like me about understanding the life you live and honoring your soul’s intention, I invite you to find a quiet place and begin to read. I am offering that you will find at least one sentence, in one paragraph, in one chapter of these pages that will resonate with you. Will that be enough?

So often I read line after line in a book and it means nothing to me, and then suddenly there is a moment on a page that shines. It is in that moment I find a common bond with not only the author but with all who were, all who are, and all who will be, because you see, I have learned there is an infinite and invisible thread that binds us, one to the other, a delicate web of humanity.

I struggle with my humanity, not wanting to be in this body, at this time, in this place—not understanding what I am doing here, what I am meant to do, and how to go about doing it. I think there is a part of me that knows, a part that wants to fly and sing praise, but the rest of me has forgotten. Do you know what I mean? I think you might. We journey together in tribes, though at times it feels as if we are alone.

I think we are alike, ordinary people who have met some extraordinary teachers and on occasion seen extraordinary things.

If you are still there, travel with me for a bit longer. We can walk side by side, and if you want we can hold hands and I can tell you what I have learned.

I recently read that we are each born with an inch of light. It is my hope that somewhere in these pages, my inch of light will glow and you will see me, and in turn, I will see you.

Wouldn’t that be beautiful?

Part I

Finding My Spiritual Wings

This is not a book about my cancer. I wasn’t diagnosed until midway through the writing. But here it was, stepping its way onto the page. I chose to leave the words that had already taken flight and landed in this first part because they were important to me. They are my wings, and they have carried me through the rest of my journey. I invite you, however, to begin at your beginning, not mine. So as you open the book, find a page that speaks to you and begin there. Then, if you are inspired to do so, find your way back to my beginning. It doesn’t matter how you spend time here, whether we travel together or you traverse these pages alone. We all have to find our own way. I will wait here and if you need, quietly shine my light in your direction.

Wander in wonder.

Chapter 1

Teachers Come in All Shapes and Sizes

If I close my eyes, I can see you reading these pages propped up against your pillow. A blanket is lying lightly across your lap. It is gray and soft with fringe, with one tangled piece on the bottom right-hand corner. A notepad and a number-two pencil are lying diagonally on top of your nightstand, next to a box of Kleenex. I can hear the muted sounds of voices coming from the TV, its volume turned down low. Another of you is sitting at a glass-topped table in a yard filled with wind chimes and hummingbird feeders. There is a half-eaten sandwich—turkey on rye with tomato—and an almost-empty glass of cold green tea precariously perched on the table’s edge. Your black Labrador retriever is pacing by the fence, barking at something you can’t see. And one of you is coming home from work, riding a crowded subway train, bumping up against the person next to you. Both of you are so used to the jostle and bump that you ignore the contact.

I wonder about you. There are things I don’t know. But one thing I do know is that there were moments in your life that defined you as a person. A random event, an accidental meeting, or a surprising revelation—they could be anything. These moments might have caused you to veer right or left, broke your heart, or ignited your imagination. They arrived in the guise of an old man sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons, or in a classroom humming with electric lights, or perhaps on the wag of a lost dog’s tail. No matter how they came, they changed who you are and who you would become.

Please allow me to share one such moment in my life with you.

It was summertime, somewhere between the fourth of July and the beginning of August. I remember that because my family spent most of August at the shore wading knee-deep in salty water and building sand castles—at least that’s what my sister and