GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Welcome back. We’re getting closer to opening with you all in the Center with us. We need to prepare a few things and practice In-person & Streaming yet, and then we are a GO!

The plan is to open for those who wish to be here with us on Father’s Day, 10 AM. Those of you who wish to remain at home for whatever reason, please watch us on FB.

Make sure you join us for our H.U.G. Meeting at 11:00 this morning for more information and a few other items of interest.

So, let’s talk Baseball this week! Who here is a baseball fan? I suspect that many if not most would have at least a passing interest in the sport…after all, it IS the favorite pastime of the USA, or so they say.

Baseball aficionados will tell you that it is more than a sport, it’s a state of mind. And because we are spiritual, everything is spiritual, so Baseball is a spiritual thing. Simple.

But this is not just any sport.  Opening Day is a holiday for many, a tradition that dates back to the day when father and son, mother and daughter, would share the thrill of the first pitch and a new season of hopes and dreams.

And this year, it looks as if we will have a ‘more normal’ season, with fans and all the trimmings. One more step out of the pandemic normal.

And if you happen to be a Phillies fan like me, mostly hopes and dreams—– fond reminiscences of winning seasons and pennant races! They might look good at one time or another, but then, bust. Maybe this year.

The history of baseball in the United States can be traced to the 19th century, when amateurs played a baseball-like game by their own informal rules using home-made equipment. The popularity of the sport inspired the semipro national baseball clubs in the 1860s. Several attempts were made to organize the game, which eventually happened, under the New York rules of play, as opposed to the Boston rules, or any other set of rules from independent leagues.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Negro leagues, and the formation of the All-American Girls league during World War 2, immortalized in the film A League of Their Own, one of my favorites.

So now we have baseball as we know it today, even with instant replay, which I’m not sure I agree with!

Let’s look at our ˜national past-time”. Many sport writers pay homage to the game with such titles as: Why Time Begins on Opening Day and How Life Imitates the World Series, both by Thomas Boswell; or Philip Lowry’s Green Cathedrals.

And no less a personage than Herbert Hoover pontificated that “next to religion, baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution.”

Many relate to the game as they would to a religion. If you recall the 1988 film “Bull Durham,” the character played by Susan Sarandon goes so far in the opening scene as to decode a religion of baseball as the camera pans over candles and “icons.”

Not a religion in itself, of course, the sport does incorporate four components that are also part of all the major religious faiths of the world:Creed, Code, Ceremony, and Community.

How does baseball measure up to these four necessary components of the religious enterprise?

 Creed

Baseball transcends time and space. It is not played against a clock but creates its own time frame; its base lines stretch out, seemingly to infinity. Roger Angell wrote, “Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do … is keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain young forever.”

Baseball is about finality, the attainment of a place and goal designated “home.” Comedian George Carlin encapsulated such a theme with this comment: “In football the object is to march into enemy territory and cross his goal. In baseball, the object is to go home.”

Code of Conduct

Baseball, even though it is obsessed with records and statistics, makes allowances for, even anticipates, human weakness and fallibility. As a New York City graffiti artist once wrote: “Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times,” yet he is known for his home runs. Or former commissioner Fay Vincent said: “What other gameincludes errors as one of the line items? We know people are going to make errors. Noother sport acknowledges that.” Makes me think about our word sin, which is missing the mark, a mistake, an error perhaps?

Ceremony

Baseball is full of something akin to what some religious folks would define as “sacramentals,” such as trading cards, caps, jerseys and autographs, all “relics” of the game. Baseball has its own high holy-days (Opening Day, All-Star Game, World Series) and its shrines (Cooperstown, and some of those archetypal “green cathedrals” like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park) that bring a glaze to true fans’ eyes. Baseball games have incorporated into themselves an entire series of sub-rituals, from park ground rules down to the celebrity opening pitch and seventh-inning stretch (not just take me out to the ball game but also Sweet Caroline in Boston).

Community

 Baseball fosters loyalty, not only to a team, but to a city or metropolitan region. Each position on the field has its own “priest” in attendance with his own particular craft. My favorite position is second base & I cried when Chase Utley, second baseman for the Phillies, was traded. Baseball is saturated with narrative, anecdote and history as means of fostering identity and a community of continuity and memory.

It holds up leaders of the past, both saints and sinners, as models and cautions to each new generation. Despite the fact that it took so long to include blacks (1947), baseball has functioned as an integrating factor in American life. Those at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder have often made their own mark and a place of pride for their people through the game: e.g., Irish in the late 19th century; Hispanics in the last generation.

And sitting in any stadium or ballpark, you will see a variety of people’s enjoying the game, a color-less fandom.

Baseball runs according to seasonal time, its four bases perhaps corresponding to the four seasons of the year. The playing season starts from spring training to world series, somehow imitating agricultural cycles of the earth: planting, growth and harvest. At least, hopefully, harvest a pennant.

Time seems less a tyrant during the baseball season. We can forget about it for a while knowing that the game continues until the last out.

But let’s look at the numbers; what is the significance of the 9s? The ninety feet between bases, 9 innings, 9 players? The number nine, in metaphysics means every level of being in heaven and earth and beyond. It’s a number of harmony and patience; fitting for the game.

Then there is sixty-and-a-half feet between the pitching rubber and the plate, six is a perception of duality, the picture and the batter.

Baseball is timeless and space-less.  In football and basketball, and almost all other sports, there is a starting time and an ending time. Even overtime is limited. Not so with baseball.  There is a starting time, but the game isn’t over until the last out is recorded. It ain’t over until it’s over. We have a vision of eternity while we watch game.

And the time passes by measuring outs, not ticks of the clock. Oh, that we could measure our day in increments other than minutes and hours.

The batter even progresses counterclockwise, flaunting his freedom from the tyranny of the clock. Because of its freedom from time, baseball always leaves time for redemption. Until the final out, the final strike, no deficit is insurmountable. There’s always hope.

It reminds me of our gift from our Creator. We can always start over as long as we are in the moment.

A football field has sidelines and end-zones. Limits.  Basketball too.  And baseball has a touch of that with the infield dimensions. But the outfield really is unlimited. There are no fixed measures for the placement of the outfield walls. Infinity again. A mere fly ball in one stadium could be a home run in another, which to me, makes the home run king a bit unequal.

And isn’t it interesting that this is the only sport. Not including Criket and softball, which are similar games, that the defensive team has the ball, not the offensive team. What are the metaphysics of that? Maybe ego is the defensive team, and we get to drive whatever we can at it to take dominion over our playing field?

As a metaphor for life, the dynamics of baseball must adjust as each batter steps into the batter’s box. The fielders adjust for left or right-handed batters; do they pull the ball, and of course they adjust to what type of pitch the pitcher throws. Everyone is a different expression of our Creator, we each have our own way of being.

Based upon the skills of the batter, the defensive team adjusts their positions and pitching style to give them the best opportunity to win. The micro battle about to play out.

The batter stands at home plate, defiantly poised before all that endless openness, hoping to reach each base safely and return home.  That’s the gist of the game, each batter leaves home, and then strives to return home again, safely. Kind of like the Hero’s Journey….

We do that each time we step into Unity’s home.  And we can reach home safely each time we connect with our inner Christ.

We can look at our Spiritual Journey in the same way as a baseball player, different ahaas relating to the bases as we move forward to our next level of understanding, home again and ready to look for our next hit, our next aha.

Such is our daily life too.  We practice our Principles and do our denials and affirmations, only sometimes, we have a forced error and must return to practice again. Or, like a batter, we think we know what to expect from the pitcher, yet ego sends a curve ball when we thought fast ball and we strike out.  We head back to the dugout, to Unity, to our teachers; for help from the batting coach.  The coaches suggestion: No expectations.  Always be ready for what comes by going with the flow. Be practiced up or prayed up.

We adjust to life’s hits and errors, sometimes changing our strategy along the way for the best possible outcome, using the guidance from our number 1 coach, God, Spirit, Divine Energy.

This game reminds us, too, that there is no such thing as perfection on this realm.  We all know that a hitter who succeeds in only one-third of their at-bats is considered remarkable. And yet, we condemn ourselves for a mistake 20 years ago!

The long, 162-game season, allows for hope and dreams to come and go and possibly, come again.  And if not, then spring training comes around, and the cycle resumes.

The same with our lives, we always get to start again if we so desire. And mostly, our lives are long enough to make adjustments as to the direction we wish to hit the ball. It’s our choice.

Baseball teaches us that to return home we must rely on our communities, live according to seasonal time, and attend to local limits.

pic

Baseball may seem like a fairly individualistic game. The duel between pitcher and batter calls forth individual feats of cunning and prowess. Yet, neither pitcher nor batter can succeed on their own, except for the rare instance of a home run.

In all sports there are rules, limits and physical boundaries. But only in baseball is a player rewarded for exceeding them — by hitting one ”out of the park.” It is the combination of power and defiance by metaphysically ”breaking the rules” in a sanctioned manner that grips the imagination. A miracle!

I think our personal spiritual homerun is finding that place where we fit, where we feel we have found home, and we just know we are on the right path for ourselves. To me, that was finding Unity, that might be the same for you.

Life is a spiritual journey.  You play it one day at a time.  One moment at a time. Each day brings you a new experience.  If you truly believe, you’ll be led, the Higher Power, like the baseball Gods, is in charge.  We are simply servants open to be led.  Enjoy each day.  Give it your best.  Remember, you are a gift created by God.  As Yogi said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

The Gift of Grief

Welcome back to our Sunday Service. I hope you all enjoyed your Mother’s Day celebrations, whether they were with family or whether they were in our hearts, we all have ways to love those who have mothered us through our years.

With that in mind, and with the last year plus of pandemic, maybe it’s time to acknowledge the grief we all may be experiencing. It could be from missing a Mother, a Father, or other relative or someone who was dear to us and helped us become the person we are today.

But it also is most likely associated with the pandemic and all that we have had to adjust to, to survive as individuals, as a community, as a nation and as a world.

What has it been like for you this past year plus? The pandemic has separated us in different ways. Have you been lonely? Have you been ill? Did you lose a loved one to this illness? Did you have to change the way you interacted with your work, your school, your day-to-day activities?

Is there ANYONE who hasn’t changed something about their daily routine? AT the very least, hopefully, you are wearing a mask as you leave your home. I pray, most of you have opted to be vaccinated. I acknowledge it is a personal choice, but it does and will affect the others in your community, so I have chosen to be vaccinated.

And I acknowledge that I have experienced some depression and loneliness during this past year. It comes and goes. The lack of interaction with others is important to me, as I would guess so for many of you. I pray you have come together with ideas to get some of that interaction with others back into your lives.

The Board and Prayer Chaplains and I, myself have been reaching out to you via text messages, emails, phone calls, and letters. We hope these actions have aided you through this time apart. We have enjoyed the times when we were able to chat with you or when we received a response from you. Thank you for thinking of us by responding. We need that touch from our community also.

Now, let’s get into our discussion about grief and the gifts and lessons we can experience as we travel through that emotion. 

What is it?

According to the dictionary, grief is a deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone’s death. As far as I am aware, one family has been affected directly by a death due to COVID in our Unity community. We prayed then for that family and we pray for ALL families, no matter where they are or their make-up, we pray for their strength and love.

Grief is a natural and normal reaction to loss but is often misunderstood. Most of what we were taught isn’t useful, and mistaken myths about grieving only set up unrealistic expectations.

Molly Steel, a former hospice worker who is a certified specialist in The Grief Recovery Method, gives us several myths about grief:

Myth #1: Be Strong for Others

She relates: Upon learning my mother had terminal cancer, I began to cry. I quickly wiped away my tears to comfort my dad, believing I had to be strong for him. In truth I was sad and scared, yet relieved to know what was wrong with my mother.

Honestly expressing feelings not only helps you heal—it gives others permission to express their feelings. This is especially important when children are grieving. If the adults bury their feelings, the children learn to bury theirs. These feelings can show up in unhealthy ways later.

Myth #2: Replace the Loss

She continues: In the aftermath of my mother’s death, my dad quickly remarried. After the initial joy of beginning a new relationship, he was once again sad and talked of missing my mother. Lightbulbs are replaceable; relationships are not. Having another baby, finding another partner, adopting another dog, or taking another job doesn’t replace what was lost.

Myth #3: Just Give It Time

Rose Kennedy, who lost a husband and four adult children, said, “It has been said ‘Time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain.” Time can no more heal grief than time can fix a flat tire.

A widow once shared that she had burst into tears upon hearing a store clerk’s voice because he sounded just like her husband, who had died 15 years earlier. Hearing the voice brought back all the pain she had felt while caring for him during a long illness and death, even though many years had passed.

Myth #4: Grieve Privately

Grievers often isolate. It seems some of us have taken to heart that old saying, “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.” Friends and family may unwittingly encourage the isolation, thinking they should give the griever some space.

Myth #5: Don’t Talk About It

Nothing could be further from the truth. Grievers often want and need to talk about what happened. It’s part of the healing process. You can help by asking what happened; saying the name of the lost person or pet; and listening without judging, criticizing, or advising unless asked. Grievers usually want and need to be heard, not fixed.

Myth #6: Keep Busy

Sometimes grievers want to distract themselves from the mixed feelings around loss. A griever is reported to have said, “Filling your time so you don’t dwell on the loss doesn’t change how you feel.

“It temporarily makes you forget about the pain of the loss in a flurry of activity. It makes one more day go by. Yet at the end of the day, I’m exhausted and there’s still a hole in my heart.”

Myth #7: I Don’t Want to Forget

How many times have I heard someone say that moving on with life would mean forgetting the person who died? Healing is not about forgetting; it’s about enjoying warm memories without the pain.

Grief takes as long as it takes, and there is no right or wrong way to express it. Nor does it really end; instead, we gradually take new shape around it.

I read somewhere that the grief we feel is the love we had for that person or pet. That helps me as I journey through the grief I feel, knowing it’s the love that I have for the person or pet that I am missing.

Most of us recognize the stages of grief as presented by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book, ‘On Death and Dying’, those stages are:

• Denial: When you first learn of a loss, it’s normal to think, “This isn’t happening.” You may feel shocked or numb. This is a temporary way to deal with the rush of overwhelming emotion. It’s a defense mechanism.
• Anger: As reality sets in, you’re faced with the pain of your loss. You may feel frustrated and helpless. These feelings later turn into anger. You might direct it toward other people, a higher power, or life in general. To be angry with a loved one who died and left you alone is natural, too.
• Bargaining: During this stage, you dwell on what you could’ve done to prevent the loss. Common thoughts are “If only…” and “What if…” You may also try to strike a deal with a higher power.
• Depression: Sadness sets in as you begin to understand the loss and its effect on your life. Signs of depression include crying, sleep issues, and a decreased appetite. You may feel overwhelmed, regretful, and lonely.

In this final stage of grief, you accept the reality of your loss. It can’t be changed. Although you still feel sad, you’re able to start moving forward with your life.

I would suggest that most of us have experienced some form of these steps…maybe not even recognizing it.

What we don’t readily accept or even recognize is that there are gifts to our grief.

We have learned, I would think by now, to look for the gifts in any and all circumstances. Well, we need to look for them in our grief also. I tried to do so after my Mother transitioned two years ago. The very first gift was that she no longer experienced pain, sorrow, loneliness, and any other feeling that goes through an elderly persons’ heart.

But here are some other suggestions for the gifts of grief:

Perspective…Perspective is how we see our lives playing out. It’s how we see ourselves showing up for it. It is the meaning we give to each painful and glad experience.

One of the greatest opportunities to figure out who you really are comes in the wake of your greatest loss. That severity of pain shakes you awake, forcing you to take a good look around the room. It’s a world at least partly shaped by how you see it and you might decide that it’s time for a little rearranging.

Stepping into grief is one of life’s precious “second” chances.

It’s a time to reflect and reevaluate what’s important to you. It’s a time to reconsider how you’ve been living your life (do you want to keep going that way?) and how you want to be remembered by others.

It’s also a chance to find value within your own self. (That love is irreplaceable.)

Death is a lesson for the living.

Approaching that deep, ugly pain is going to teach you way more than giving it away would.

Feeling your grief is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but living that experience fully means that even if everything else in your life is “taken” from you, you still feel you have something which is untouched, kept, something more essential and deep.

That something is your perspective. Your attitude. Your memories. The heart of who you are.

Humanity…Even though you come out of loss hurt, you can grow, and you can learn, and you can give.

You love a little differently each time, yet each “new” love is a testament to how flexible you’re willing to be. Each time you choose to love again — to grow better instead of bitter — you’ve turned an otherwise negative experience into one marked by compassion and courage. It takes such strength to be bettered by loss.

If you let your wounds make you wiser, that is a gift of grief.

If you take your pain and turn it into love of some kind, that is your gift for someone else.

If you practice forgiveness, you learn how to be more courageous and generous with your love, not only in the realm of your past but in every single moment.

“True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.” (David Ridge)

We each have our own regrets, fears, weak points, and hopes… but in so many ways, we’re the same. Heartbreak shows us that in full force. Whether we let the experience harden us or break us out of our own shells is a choice we have to make for our own selves.

If we let grief shake us into kinder human beings, we wake up to our own shared humanity.

We wake up to what binds us together as people. We see the light in each other even when we can’t agree with each other. We find community. We find sources of love everywhere. We learn that giving isn’t a loss to us, but another gift.

This is how, through grief, you develop a strength so deep nothing in the world can rob you of it.

Endless love…“The ties of friendship and love do not unravel with death.”

This is something I’ve found to be apparently true,

My relationships with those who’ve passed are still alive and well.

To this day, I have conversations with them and somehow, somehow, in my heart of hearts, I know I am heard. I know their love is a witness to my own.

This has been one of the greatest gifts of grief I can attest to: When someone you love dies, the love you shared doesn’t end. It sustains you.

Vulnerability… when we let ourselves vulnerable, we let the light in. Think about the Kintsugi ( “golden joinery”), also known as kintsukuroi ( “golden repair”) the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Link that to ourselves, our vulnerability. Looking at it that way, when we allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable, we are adding value, not taking it away…just like the pottery.

Robert Brumet, Unity minister and author, tells us “We can truly experience a new beginning only when we have fully dealt with the ending that preceded it; otherwise, we simply carry the unfinished business of the past into the future.”

Judith Orloff, M.D. tells us the purpose of these emotions is to enlarge our heart”. “If you’re dealing with fear, the point is to teach courage,” she explained. “If you’re angry, the point is to find compassion. And if you’re dealing with grief, the point is to let grief work through you to find a level of acceptance and keep moving on to experience more and more love.” 

We can ask ourselves, what can I learn from this? What is this trying to teach me? And not least of all, How can I help? How can I serve?

Here is another gift…our loss is a new beginning. What is not lost is the possibility of a new beginning. What is not lost permanently is our ability to live and to love and to enjoy life. In truth, as we accept endings as part of a greater life process, we ultimately increase our ability to live and love and enjoy life.

We overstate the importance of an ending when we perceive that this emptiness and meaninglessness is a permanent condition rather than the passage to a new life. We overstate the importance of an ending when we believe that the lost person, possession, or circumstance was that which gave our lives meaning and that without this outer condition our happiness is lost forever.

Brunet says, “I often counsel my students to honor endings but not to worship them. To worship an ending is to give it more power than it deserves, to make it bigger than you are. To honor an ending is to acknowledge the impact that it has on our life; it is to honor the people and experiences that were important in our life; it is to honor the divine wisdom and order that govern every aspect of our life if we but have eyes to see it.”

It is especially important that we turn to the God of our understanding during these times of passage. Ironically, this is often a time when our faith in everything, including God, is shaken. Yet, if we can but realize it, the possibility for an entirely new understanding of God—and a new relationship with God—is emerging. Each transition allows us the opportunity for a “bigger God” than the one we once believed in. We can realize that God is not only guiding us through the transition but is the very force that is bringing about the transition—and the resultant transformation.

in some ways, grief won’t go away entirely. After all, we’ve lost someone or something we can’t get back. But healing from grief is possible, and you can still have a full, happy life that includes grief and loss. A big part of coming to terms with grief is understanding how grief changes and recognizing when those changes come.

One joy scatters a hundred griefs. —Chinese Proverb

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Welcome back to our Sunday Service. I pray you are well and preparing to return to the Center in person, for Father’s Day. And if you choose to remain in the comfort of your home, that is fine also. We plan to stream the Service to you as well as have those of you who choose so, to attend in person.

We are practicing streaming the first 2 Sundays in June. Then, as I KNOW we will have everything under control, we will welcome those of you who wish to attend Service at the Center as well as stream the Service to your homes.

I am looking forward to seeing some happy faces here. You will be 3 feet apart and wear a mask, just to be safe since we do not know who has been vaccinated. Looking forward to it,

So, since we are coming back together after being apart for over a year, it’s time to review our 5 Principles. We will have a mini-series discussing them over the next few weeks. I will be using “The Five Principles” by Rev. Ellen Debenport, as well as other sources for this series.

Do you know what a Principle is? What’s the difference between a principle and a rule?

A Principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. Principles are set. They apply to all people, all the time. Spiritual principles work the same way.

For example, one of the principles of mathematics is 2 + 2 = 4; it is unchanging, the same for everyone.

A Rule is one of a set of explicit or understood regulations, rules can change. A rule in baseball, for example, governing the grounds, would change from field to field, adjusting for structures and dimensions, etc.

Interestingly enough, we didn’t always have the 5 principles. They were written up in a

Booklet, “The Keys to the Kingdom”, by Connie Fillmore Bazzy, great-granddaughter to Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. It started out as an article for Daily Word magazine in 1990. Connie’s article condensed the Unity teachings into 5 essential points; restating what the truths were from our point of view.

These 5 principles offer tools for daily living and suggest answers to some of the great questions we have been asking since the dawn of conscious awareness.

First, let’s get one thing out of the way…God. Actually, the word God. In Unity we honor the ‘many names and the many paths to God.’ And I will use the word God to represent the many names for that energy, the Source, our Creator. It’s just easier than listing the many names we could use. In reality, no name covers the unlimited energy, love, power that is Divine Presence.

There are different versions of the 5 principles:

1. God is all there is and present everywhere. This is the force of love and wisdom that underlies all of existence.
2. Human beings are divine at their core and therefore inherently good.
3. Thoughts have creative power to determine events and attract experiences.
4. Prayer and meditation keep us aligned with the one great power in the universe.
5. It is not enough to understand spiritual teachings. We must live the Truth we know.

Here’s another version:

1. God is absolute good, everywhere present.
2. Human beings have a spark of divinity within. Their very essence is of God, and therefore they are also inherently good.
3. Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking. Everything in the manifest realm has its beginning in thought.
4. Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth wisdom, healing, prosperity and everything good.
5. Knowing and understanding the laws of life, also called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live the Truth that he or she knows.

When was the last time you reevaluated your Spiritual Truths? You do understand, God, spirit, the Divine Energy that makes up all that is, is always there. Energy is energy. God doesn’t change…but we do.

Look back through your years…how many times have you changed your idea of God? I suspect a few. If you are anywhere near my age, we grew up, most likely, in traditional Christian churches. And so, there was one idea of God.

Then, maybe we went discovering a different philosophy, searching for where we belonged. I did. Always questioning. Trying to understand God, religion and what was my Truth.

It took a few years to find Unity, and another change in what was my Truth. I think I found it…Unity.

The point being, God doesn’t change, we do. So, it is a good thing to reevaluate what your belief is from time to time.

The 1^st Principle: “There is only one presence and one power active as the universe and as my life; God the Good, Omnipotence.”

All power, all knowledge, everywhere

Although principles never change, our understanding of them grows as we grow and experience life. The more we engage with a principle and the more we explore it, the more active and alive it becomes.

So, it’s time to look at our beliefs, thoughts, and actions to this understanding of the principle. How well do they align? Where am I doing really well embodying the principle, and where do I see a gap that I need to bridge?

Our intention here is to notice, not judge. By noticing and lovingly accepting what we notice, we empower ourselves to change. To the degree that we resist or refuse to see where we are misaligned, we limit our freedom to choose anew and grow.

Finally, through our spiritual practices— such as love, introspection, compassion, and self-forgiveness—we can release those actions, judgments, and beliefs that don’t align with principle and begin to establish a new, empowering way of being that can help us to live in greater alignment with spiritual Truth.

 

So, let’s look at the 1^st Principle… “There is only one presence and one power active as the universe and as my life; God the Good, Omnipotence.”

 

IN an article by Ben Jamison, he breaks down the 1^st principle:

 

God: What do you believe about God? Does the term God even work for you? Do you prefer Spirit, Light, or another word? I believe God is unlimited, unconditional love. I believe that in the full recognition of love, anything unlike it dissolves, disappears. I believe God is whole, complete, and perfect. Spirit has always existed and will always exist. It is kind, generous, and gives fully and freely of itself all the time.

Only one presence and one power: Nothing other than God exists in ultimate reality. Spirit has no opposite. As the one presence, it is Spirit that is living in you, me, everyone, and everything. The tree outside of your window, the neighbor’s dog that wakes you up at night barking, and the coworker who seems out to get you every day are all, according to principle, Spirit. (This is true regardless of whether they know it or act like it.)

As the one power, God is not only everything you see but also the power behind everything you do. Whether moving your eyes to read, beating your heart while you sleep, or birthing the universe, Spirit is the power behind all of it. It’s not a different power for each example, but the one power in all. The same power that created all life can be used to take life—as well as to accomplish mundane tasks. There is, after all, only one power.

Active as the universe and as my life: This presence and power is active. It doesn’t just sit idle. It is always loving, always creating. Even when we are not consciously creating, Spirit is. It is active as my life, as the universe, as everything. Wherever I look, there God is.

Good, omnipotent: All powerful good. Inherent good. No lack of recognition can diminish this good, and it is unlimited.

How are you doing in living this principle? God is all there is. That unconditionally loving presence that birthed everything and is expressing as everyone is present everywhere all the time. At the core of every person, there God is. In the midst of every situation, Spirit. How much of our lives do we approach in that way? How different would life be if we approached everything in this way? Are you seeing some gaps? Are you staying out of judgment? Just notice.

The truth is that most of us rarely approach life with this principle forefront in our minds. The two main reasons for this are lack of awareness and lack of easy-to-use spiritual tools that we can apply in an instant to bring ourselves back into alignment with the principle. Hopefully, you now have a bit more awareness of the gaps you need to bridge. Now let’s look at some tools.

 

Tool #1: Love

 

God is all there is, and God is unconditional love. That means that we, too, are unconditional love. We are at our most aligned when we are practicing loving. Love isn’t just something we fall in and out of, but a practice we can consciously engage in.

With people, we can practice seeing the loving essence at the core of their being. I love you simply because you exist. I don’t look at what you’ve said or done, or what you didn’t do or didn’t say. I blind myself to all that and simply recognize that, according to this principle, God is all there is. As such, God is present at the core of every person.

 I may have a hard time loving your personality and I may be unable to love certain actions, but I can always love Spirit. The Good Omnipotence, God Itself, the one presence and one power exists as everyone. As we practice finding that spiritual center in each person and loving that, regardless of anything else, we align ourselves with love and bring the first Unity principle into play.

If we find ourselves needing to realign with this principle in a particular situation, we can start with loving the people involved. We can look for where love is present in the situation and acknowledge it. We can find even unconscious acts of love to focus on, but if not, perhaps we are being called to bring love to the situation. Ask yourself: How can I be the presence of love in this situation? The next time you have to go to the DMV or jury duty, consciously bring your loving practice with you and watch what happens!

Tool #2: Introspection

 

This principle tells us that good is present everywhere, in every situation, no matter what. This can be tough to swallow, especially in traumatic experiences, but notice that the principle doesn’t say that every situation or circumstance is good. It says that there can be good had in any situation or circumstance. This good isn’t guaranteed. It is up to us to seek, find, and embody that good.

We can ask ourselves, What is this experience here to teach me? How can I grow through this? Perhaps we’re being taught the art of surrender. Maybe we’re being shown how powerful we are. Possibly, we’re looking at the neon sign pointing us to a long-held judgment we’re ready to release.

No one can tell you what your possibilities are for growth in any situation. You must uncover them for yourself and discover how to shift your focus from the negative to the affirmative, align with principle, and move through the circumstance more quickly and more gracefully.

Tool #3: Compassion and Self-Forgiveness

 

This work is not easy. When you set out to bring the first principle with you everywhere you go as an active practice, you’ll forget—often. I know I do. You’ll fail a lot too.

It’s okay to forget. It’s okay to fail. Compassion is the key. You will never berate yourself into compliance or shame yourself out of old ways of being. Instead, open your compassionate heart to yourself. Forgive your false beliefs. Forgive yourself for judging yourself as a failure because you didn’t quite show up the way you intended. As you do so, you’ll be able to let go of old ways of being much more rapidly so you can establish a new life in this powerful principle.

Remember the most important part: There is only one presence and one power. It is unconditional love, omnipotent good— whole, complete, and perfect in every way. As the only life that exists, it is the life you live. You are that unconditional love. You are that omnipotent good. You are the power that birthed the universe, and you can use that power to create a life beyond your wildest dreams!

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Welcome back. Soon we will be together here in the Spiritual Center. I am looking forward to it. And I know, from some of the surveys we received, some of you are excited for it too. You will receive an email this week with more details. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

There’s an ancient parable told in many cultures describes a time when the gods became angry with mortals who squandered their talents. So, they conspired to hide the highest gifts of divinity, wisdom and enlightenment, from them.

A debate ensued among the gods as to where to hide the gifts. Some said, “Let’s bury it deep in the earth.” Others said, “No, that will not do because humans will dig into the earth and find it.”

Then the gods said, “Let’s sink it in the deepest ocean.” Others said, “No, not there, for they will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it.” Then the gods said, “Let’s take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there.” But once again, they replied, “No, they will eventually climb every mountain and take up their divinity.”

Then the gods gave up and said, “We do not know where to hide it because it seems that there is no place that human beings will not eventually reach.”

The final answer emerged: “We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there.” All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done.

And since that time, humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing and exploring — searching for something already within themselves.

We reintroduced our Five Principles last week and discussed the first principle, “God is absolute good, everywhere present.” This week let’s look at Principle #2 – Human Beings have a spark of Divinity within them, the Christ Spirit within. Their very essence is of God, and therefore they are also inherently good.

Eric Butterworth writes about this divinity in humans in an excerpt from his book,  Celebrate Yourself!

Within every person is the unborn possibility of limitless growth, and ours is the privilege of giving birth to it. Paul obviously had this in mind when he referred to: … the mystery hidden for ages and generations ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:26, 27).

Studies of God have abounded in all the religions of the world, most of which have dealt with an intellectual construction of a Being “out there.” And we have been subtly conditioned by artists’ visualizations such as Michelangelo’s classic frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. A massive figure of a man, representing the Almighty, reaches down to touch a human man. It is a beautiful work of art, but not the best example of our attempt to define the indefinable.

Through the ages of man’s quest for Truth and reality, there has appeared, here and there, a lone figure who caught the idea of the mystery of God in man. Ikhnaton, King of Egypt from 1379-1362 B.C.E, was a forerunner of the ideal. His is probably the first awareness of “God is one and man is one in that one.”

Among the Greek philosophers, Plotinus, who lived in the 3^rd century, CE, stands out as a forerunner of the new insight of Truth. He caught the idea of a cosmic force that is both imminent and transcendent in life. Each being contains in itself the whole intelligible world. Therefore, all is everywhere. Each is all, and all is each. He saw man at the very center of the universe which rushes and streams and pours into him from all sides while he stands quietly.

But for the most part, this idea of God in humans has been a well-kept secret in the field of religion, and a rejected theory in science. This could well be the most colossal blunder ever made by humanity, for while we have searched the heavens and the Earth, the great secret of existence lies within ourselves. It is only through realizing this mystery of God in humans that we can understand one like Jesus, with all His spiritual power, as a demonstration of that which is fundamental in all life.

Dwell for a while on the idea of the universe as the allness that we call God, realizing that everything within it, from the vast galaxies to the subatomic particles, is created in and of the universe. You may wonder about the vastness of the universe and peer at it through a telescope. However, you are not on the outside looking in. You are on the inside looking out. You are the universe at the point where you are. Think about that!!

Attributed to Saint Augustine is this profound thought: God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. If the center is everywhere, it is where you are. You are the center of the universe, the center of God. This is not a point to be made egotistically, but transcendentally, spiritually.

There is that of you which is centered in God, and which is a point of God-activity flowing forth into expression as you. And the circumference is limitless. There is no limit to God, or to us in God consciousness. THAT’S IMPORTANT. We limit ourselves so much…

We are like a wave of the ocean, each of us distinct as a wave yet made up of the energy and attributes of the ocean itself. We are not the whole ocean but of the same composition.

And God is like the ocean is in a wave. The wave is nothing more nor less than the ocean formed into the shape of a wave.

And you are God expressing as you. Thus, the divine is not a projection of the God into the human. God cannot project Itself outside Itself; God can only express Itself within Itself. Humans are not an individual in God, for that would presuppose isolation and separation. Humans are an individualization of God.

We are expressions of God, we are the divine expressing in human form.

This is fundamental for everyone. As Jesus said: ” … he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do … ” (John. 14:12). Jesus was demonstrating what is possible for human beings when we are fully aligned with the presence of God within us.

God in each of us is the allness of which we are an eachness, and the constant need in our lives is to unfold more of our allness in a process of conscious evolution. It is not trying to get into God or to get God into us. It is to, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10).

We can never be separate from God.

We all have a long way to go, but Jesus demonstrated a goal that is believable and achievable, and He pointed to that in us which is perfectible. Wherever we are along the way, no matter what the problems or challenges, there is always more in us, the Christ in us as our hope of glory, which means our potential for healing, overcoming, prospering, and succeeding.

“Is it not written in your law, ‘I have said you are gods’?” John 10:34

Our job as humans is to revive this spiritual Truth in the world and to live from the Christ of our being, the part of us that is God, our divine core. The whole point of spiritual growth is to know ourselves as Spirit and express it in our lives.

The root of both sin and evil, from our mortal view is ignorance, a sense of separation from good that brings negative results into our world.

We are not conceived in original sin but in original virtue.

We are spiritual beings living in a spiritual universe that is governed by spiritual laws and run by spiritual forces.

It is living from the Christ within, making choices from the higher Self, loving unconditionally, contributing to the well-being of the planet.

And there is no limit!

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Thank you for joining us this morning as we continue our discussion of our 5 Principles.

This week we will look Principle #3 & #4. They are “Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking. Everything in the manifest realm has its beginning in thought,” and “Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth wisdom, healing, prosperity and everything good.”

Let’s start with Principle #3: “Human beings create their experiences by the activity of their thinking. Everything in the manifest realm has its beginning in thought,”

Or “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.” Sometimes called the Law of Mind Action.

What we truly feel with our emotions and give power to with our thoughts is what we are really thinking. Notice, emotion behind the thought is important.

Whether you are conscious of it or not, your thoughts are transmitting energy that is attracting more of the same. When you remain focused on your intentions, you will draw those things into your life.

As the Buddha said, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him…If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”

Or simply put in Proverbs 23:7; “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Jesus said: ” … he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do … ” (John. 14:12). That power comes from connecting with Divine Mind. With that power comes great responsibility. I love that about Unity…we emphasize our responsibility in the creation of our world.

We are co-creating our world with the other children of God. AS one of our great metaphysics teachers is fond of saying, “Watch your thoughts!”

Watch what you are putting out there.

I think we have established that God is energy, love and light. Energy becomes matter and matter becomes energy. Everything is energy. It just changes form, just like the food we eat, changes into energy for our bodies and then, excess changes into fat and anything left is eliminated.

So, if you are not happy with your body or how it is functioning, you change the input to get a different output.

The same goes with your life. If you are not happy with your life, you change your thoughts…start from the inside and work outward. The thoughts you think have an impact on your world and life.

We have free will, we choose with our focus…we must acknowledge that we have the power of choice. Then we visualize that truth, and feel its positive action, see it true.

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge by right judgment.” When you see things as you want instead of as they seem, you are out-picturing it ‘rightfully’.

James Dillet Freeman, Unity writer and poet; “The key to life is consciousness…As we change negative feelings and reactions to positive attitudes and actions, thought by thought, word by word, and act by act, we grow toward the divine perfection that is God’s will for us.”

The best way to do this is through meditation and prayer. The purpose of prayer is not to change God. How would we change perfect good? Our prayer is to change us, so we can be come to realize we are made in God’s perfect image.

And this is Principle #4

“Prayer is creative thinking that heightens the connection with God-Mind and therefore brings forth wisdom, healing, prosperity and everything good.”

Think about the first three principles, God is all there is, all good; we have a part of God in us, our thoughts create our world. If these are Truth, then why pray?

We pray for us, not for God. We pray to ready ourselves for communication with God.

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of Prayer Works, states that affirmative prayer “sets into motion the forces that enable us to manifest what we pray for.”

Prayer is the time we take to focus, to align ourselves in oneness with the divine and affirm that whatever we need is already ours.

Francis Foulkes in ‘Effective Prayer’ wrote; “To acknowledge that we ourselves have brought into our world everything less than good and to forgive ourselves for all the blame we have ever attached to God or to others for the sorrows and sufferings that have come to us are very important steps in preparation for prayer.”

In Affirmative Prayer, we are remembering who we are, expressions of God, and we take the time to align our thoughts and feelings with that highest good. We affirm in those thoughts and feelings our well-being and that our needs are met, there is no lack in the universe.

Those positive vibrations are sensed throughout the universe…so “every thought, every feeling, is a prayer.”

And the universe always says YES!

But is it the YES we are hoping for? Maybe, maybe not.

“Prayer is ineffective when it is accompanied or followed by negative thinking, or the endless repeating of affirmations. We have to put power and intensity into our thought, change our thought, and believe in the guidance we are receiving.

All the potential YES’s exist in the quantum field of possibilities. We have the choice to pull from that field according to our vibration or focus. So what is your focus?

If a prayer seems to go unanswered, it is not God denying us. It is either:

1. We are attracting from an unconscious, deeper desire, or
2. We are blocking the answer we want.

Blocks are made of fear, doubt and feelings of unworthiness. This is where we get to prove our faith…change our thoughts and feeling and focus.

So affirmative prayer starts with a change in consciousness, praying from a consciousness of God, from our higher self.

Affirmative prayer means to remember that whatever we ask for in prayer is ours already. We affirm its availability.

Words have creative power. Never put into words anything you do not want. No matter what seems to be happening in the moment, look past the appearance and speak only what you want.

This will focus your intention in your mind and is how we bring our intended outcome from the field of possibility.

So, watch what word or words you place after the words “I AM”…for whatever word you place there, said with determination, is powerful.

“As we learn to use the power of the word, we discover that we no longer have to beg for that which we think we need and that which satisfies our longings … We receive not by begging and crying, but by acknowledging and realizing, as Jesus Christ did, our oneness with the Father.” (Myrtle Fillmore)

James Dillet Freeman wrote that prayer “is a way of life as well as a way of facing life. It is an end as well as a means. It is a spiritual experience.”

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Happy Father’s Day!

Father’s Day is a holiday for honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in our society. Founded by Sonora Smart Dodd  and celebrated on the third Sunday of June officially since 1910 to celebrate the father figures in the lives of those we see as Father figures.

From Daily OM:

The idea of fatherhood is both personal and universal. We all have ideal concepts surrounding fatherhood, and we also have our real fathers — fathers who were there or not there for us, fathers who provided financial support for our families or failed to do so, fathers who loved or neglected us, fathers who were our role models or gave us someone to rebel against. Our father may have been there for us sometimes and not there for us at other times. The process of reconciling the ideal father that resides in our minds with the father that we actually have is a fertile one that can teach us a great deal about ourselves. 

Our relationship with our father will often affect our relationships with the other men who will come into our lives. You may have learned to behave and think in certain ways because those were the ways that your father acted and thought. Certain talents that you possess may have been passed down to you by your father. There also may be personal issues that you inherited by virtue of who your father is. Understanding how your relationship with your father has influenced you can help you better understand yourself and the life that you have created.

In a time when mothers, the sacred feminine, and female energy are being honored, it is important not to forget the importance of fathers. Father energy and mother energy are the two complementary energies necessary to bring a healthy human being to fruition in the world. Many of the ideas surrounding fathers are changing in the wake of more modern parenting styles and the more egalitarian roles that are evolving between the sexes. More men are embodying the mother energy these days, and a woman can provide father energy for her children. Either way, we can all benefit from thinking about our fathers and how they have influenced who we’ve become and the ways that we walk through this world.

As has become my tradition to read “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch for Mother’s Day, I thought I’d remind you that the last page of that book is about the son who has now become a Father and is holding his baby daughter, rocking her back and forth and singing  “I love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be”. The very same song his Mother sang to him. What a great lead into Father’s Day.

Let us remember to honor our fathers.

You know, when I was a kid, we had children’s day too. It wasn’t about honoring as it was for Mothers and Fathers tho. I remember having to recite some verse and sing songs in front of the whole church and being very nervous.

The only good thing was a ride after to the Burger King near Harrisburg for a whopper (cheap way to feed 6 kids!) and then watch the planes land and take off at the Hershey airport (just a grass runway with single engine planes) and ice cream at Twin Kiss.

THAT WAS A DAY we all looked forward!

I hope you all take the time and give some loving to those in your life, alive or transitioned, who have given you support throughout your life. We ALL need a hand up once in a while, a smile of support, a hand to hold, a hug.

Thank you to everyone who has been that person for me.

WELCOME BACK!

It’s kind of a home coming this morning. What a wonderful morning to be back together, Thanks for joining us.

We all have experienced the trauma of the pandemic, for almost a year and a half now. And we all have scars of one kind or another. Please do not be hesitant to reach out to your Unity Family, your leaders, your Prayer Chaplains, your friends as we move forward to a new ‘normal’.

If you have been following as we have reviewed the 5 Principles, you know that we create with our thoughts, words and deeds. Lets all work together to make these next steps forward to an even greater reality for us all.

Now I think it is very appropriate to talk about our 5^th Principle on Father’s Day. This principle is all about action, and isn’t that what these people have done for us throughout our lives?

So, the 5^th Principle is “Knowing and understanding the Laws of Life, also called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live the Truth that he or she knows.”

We have these wonderful Principles, but we have to put them into our lives for them to work…”If you work it, it works!”

Comprehending the nature of God and humankind, understanding the power of the mind, and knowing how to pray will not stimulate spiritual growth unless applied to daily living.

It’s what we mean when we say, ‘put feet to your prayers’.

The whole idea of learning something is to then to apply it to our lives, either to make it happen as in a good thing, or to keep something from happening as in understanding the laws a gravity and not falling off a ladder.

If an endeavor is to become fruitful, there must be both spiritual and physical action.

4 of the 5 principles are about changing consciousness before changing behavior.

If we do not change our consciousness, the behavior we attempt will not be true…

Our part is simply to ‘move a little’ today in prayer; ‘move a little’ in thought, word, and deed, and let God take care of the rest. We use our inner faith and outer application and act accordingly.

… we are creating our experience with our every thought and feeling. Remember, the emotion behind the thought is very important.

The goal is to live consciously in that awareness and take action as we are guided by our higher self, by the inner Christ, by our Buddha heart.

When we are living the truth, any action we take will be from a consciousness of Spirit and oneness, from our integrity, with the ego at service to our soul. Our work is to learn how to wield our spiritual tools in our human experience.

Our 1^st 4 principles are a checklist to #5

1. Do I affirm divine intelligence and love in this situation?

In other words, do I believe there is only God, the good, omnipotent?

• Do I remember my own divinity and that of others involved?

That we are all of the Divine Spirit, the energy that makes up everything.

• Do I take responsibility for attracting this situation into my experience and know that its outcome for me will match my thoughts and feelings about it?

Have I recognized that I have free will and I choose what I am focusing on to make it happen, consciously or unconsciously?

• Have I aligned myself with God, the universe, the Good, and received guidance before I act?

In other words, am I placing feet to the thoughts and prayers behind the Principles that I believe?

Any action that feels forced, impulsive or emotional is likely not to be in principle. Acting in principle brings a reassuring sense of being on the right track.

Spiritual action does not demand marching in the streets against something.  It means integrating our divine essence into ordinary, annoying, daily living with its drudgery, confusion, and difficult people—-how do we apply these principles when we are feeling ill, heartbroken, angry, etc.? How do we make the choices daily aligned with principle so we can create the kingdom of heaven on earth?

The first thing is to be connected to Divine-Mind. Then, listen to the guidance.

People who are practicing principle may choose different actions, whatever works to keep you in positive vibration. I might walk the dogs or at one time I would take a run. You might meditate or have a date night.

Remember-action includes the thoughts and feelings you contribute to the whole, the One Mind.

This is the example from the book, “The Five Principles” by Rev. Ellen Debenport: pg 119

So if we predict something bad will happen, and it does….what we focused on grows—positive or negative. Emotional energy packs more effect than we give credit.

Charles, “Pronounce every experience good and of God, and by that mental attitude you will call forth only the good. What seemed error will disappear and only the good will remain. This is the law, and no one can break it.”

The bottom line, put your energy, as in for equality for all and not anti-gays, or for peace and not against war.

When beliefs or attitudes are held by nearly everyone, they will inevitably erupt into the physical world. An energy shift always precedes physical changes: The fall of the Berlin Wall was the result of a shift in collective consciousness; the green movement to save the environment is the result of collective consciousness. When enough people begin to shift their thinking, we reach a tipping point in awareness happens, then outward physical change begins.

To bring peace to the world, be peaceful.

So, pray without ceasing. Keep your thoughts aligned with your heart.

Mother Teresa; “We feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less without that drop.”

What truly matters is what’s going on in our hearts and minds.

Meditation   

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

It’s nice to be back with you again. I do hope you enjoyed last weeks’ Message from Rev. Pamela Whitman. She always enjoys returning to Unity Spiritual Center. Maybe next time around she can be with us live and in person!
Well, I also hope many of you took advantage of our FUNraiser flower sale. The spring part is over in a few weeks and then later this summer the fall sale will begin. I have most of my purchases in the ground or growing seeds. Just need to get the bulbs planted.

With that thought in mind, maybe a little Lesson from the Garden would be good for our topic today.

Have you ever thought of what the gardens teach us as we move from spring through summer to fall and then winter? There is much to teach us. Let’s look at that today.

And keep in mind that gardens go through all the seasons, yes, all four.

Have you ever thought what your gardens would look like through all the seasons? It’s something to consider…especially taking into consideration what plants and flowers have color or striking seed pods, or dry leaf colors and formations. Many serious gardeners plan for color and variety through the entire year.

For instance, how striking red-twig dogwoods look in the winter landscape…with or without snow.
Anyway, it’s something to consider beyond spring, summer, and fall. If I had space, I would definitely have one. I’ll have to consider my landscape and see if there can be a space for one or two.

So, consider the gardens, no matter what form they would take, what could/would be the lessons we could learn from them?
We can easily think of some lessons… patience, being a huge one; flexibility and perseverance too, to name a few. These are the easy lessons we can recall from our experiences from our gardens.

Here are some things I found as I researched this topic:
Plan Ahead: Planning in life, planning in the garden – both pretty critical if you want to succeed. You must know what your goals are, so you make a plan to achieve them. In a garden you don’t just scatter seeds about willy nilly…not usually anyway if you want to have any real results. You make some sort of plan out for where each seed will be planted, at what depth and how far apart…if we only gave our lives such detailed thought. What would that entail, do you think?

Beauty Isn’t Everything: Beauty is to be appreciated, sure; but some beautiful stuff is down-right deadly. In life we must learn to appreciate beauty but know it isn’t everything. Ask a vegetable gardener about gorgeous butterflies and birds…they are a wonder to see but can wreak havoc in your garden. And that mis-shaped tomato usually tastes just as sweet as the perfectly round one.

Learn from Your Mistakes: If you haven’t made a mistake in your garden, you must not have been gardening long. Every garden will have pests, underwhelming harvests, and death. But I know I’ve learned something from every mistake I’ve made, in the garden or out. I have also learned to reach out to other gardeners (as we should reach for wisdom in life) and ask for help. I’m not saying I’ve never repeated a mistake but I’m getting better all the time. And not just gardeners. I have reached out to my mentors and guides as well as you. And of course, the God of my understanding.

A Good Foundation is Key: The bible talks about building your house on a rock for a strong foundation. A garden’s foundation is good soil. Without a healthy foundation it won’t matter if you have organic, non-gmo seeds; you can’t throw those babies in sand and hope they’ll grow. In life, as in the garden, we need a strong foundation to grow and achieve our goals. Many of us didn’t get that growing up but we can bring in some healthy people, faith, books, classes, and such to “fertilize” our foundation until it is ready to support life.

You Reap What You Sow: Cliche of all cliches but it is a cliche because it rings true! If you sow good organic seeds in that healthy foundation you are going to grow amazingly healthy food to nourish you and your loved ones. In life we need to sow the sort of goodness we want to grow (love, respect, charity, goodwill). Plant those seeds in your heart.
Timing is Everything: Some people can’t grow, say lettuce in the spring as we can (or at least try to). They must wait till the weather is cooler in their area. In the same vein, if I based my garden (aka my life) on everyone else’s timing, my garden and efforts could possibly fail, if based on say the weather in Phoenix. Those tender greens would literally burn up in the scorching 110 (+) degrees and nothing, but frustration would be grown. In the garden, as in life, we need to know the timing for our pursuits may not be the same as someone else’s. Like they say, ‘when the student is ready, the teacher appears’.

Variety is the Spice of Life: Diversity is key to a healthy and vibrant life. And a healthy and vibrant world. In the garden if we continue to plant only one or two things in the same space, year after year, it will cause disease and pests to become rampant. Variety in vegetables, fruits and herbs brings vibrant life to the garden by feeding in what the last crop took out. Life gets boring in black and white – add some color and diversity to spice it up!

Location, Location, Location: Location isn’t just important in real estate – it is everything in gardening. Some plants crave all day sun, while others need a little shade to grow properly. We need to be in the right location in life to grow and succeed just like our vegetable gardens. Sometimes you must play around with the perfect place to put that raised bed; but once it is right you just know it. The same goes for your life, sometimes you must look for where you fit in…and when you find it, you know.

Stop and Smell the Roses Dang It! Sit on your porch, sip your coffee or tea, and admire the beautiful flowers of your zucchini, chives and tomatoes. Sure, they might not smell as good as the roses, but they should be admired for the stunning displays they make. Even a purple cabbage can be ornamental. Life is short, don’t be so busy that you miss the stunning awesomeness all around you!

Crap Isn’t the End: Garbage will come and go. But if you know how to compost it, well crap can make some pretty awesome soil full of rich microbes to feed your garden. Life will hand you some crap; that’s a given. But handle your crap with grace and you never know what amazing thing will come out of it in time. Remember: respond, not react! Just know what to toss in your compost and what to shovel in the garbage while holding your breath.

Generosity: My garden has given me many lessons in sharing my abundance. There is nothing like sharing tomatoes, zucchini, beans or other garden deliciousness with friends and neighbors. Sure, I worked hard for that harvest but sharing it with someone who is blessed to enjoy it gives me a lot of joy.

The same goes with the lessons we learn about life, whatever we learn brings others up too, in knowledge and vibration. So, keep working on understanding yourself and that will help you understand others.
Think about those weeds as you pull them: each weed could represent those areas in our lives that must not be allowed to “take root” and, for example, like bitterness, should not be allowed to grow unchecked.

Each labor of love in the garden has a spiritual counterpart…a lesson…

Consider the parable of the sower…

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.
3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Then he continued….
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

So, think, where do you fit into the parable of the sower?
Was your heart snatched away by the negative thoughts found in the seeds of knowledge found along the path?

Are yours the seeds that fell among rocky ground, with no roots because of the lack of fertile soil, of a strong foundation? Was your heart easily given away when trouble came around?

Maybe you fell into ‘the wrong crowd’ and lost your footing in the brambles and thorns. Negativity can do that. So can participating in many of the negatives of our lives in the realm of the physical.

But joyful is the soul who has heard the word and brought it into their heart for it to grow in abundance. They heard the word and understood it. And therefore, they have prospered a hundred, sixty or thirty times.

“Every problem contains in it the seeds of its own solution.” Norman Vincent Peale.

And we can sow things that will build up our spirit, and this is like sowing good seed into the soil of our hearts. Sometimes thinking of what we can plant as good seed is so simple; it merely takes a friendly reminder to start doing it, things like:

Daily reading and meditation, teaching out to help others, sharing resources, time, and to be a blessing wherever there are needs,

Praising and thanking God, Thanking others for their kindness to us,

Listening to uplifting music, Taking time to pray for others,

Sending a card, a note, or a letter to someone who needs our love,

Making a phone call to a friend, loving those who are your enemy, or who demonstrate hatred towards you,

Forgiving others when they wrong you; never holding a grudge against someone,

These are some of the things we can do to help keep us on the path.

I like gardening — it’s a place where I find myself
when I need to lose myself. ~Alice Sebold

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

GREAT Morning my friends. And welcome to another Sunday Service at Unity Spiritual Center here in Long Neck, Delaware.

And a Happy Mother’s Day to you all, Mothers, and all of us who wore the Mothering hats in our lives….fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, mentors…many, many people who never bore a child but still had the Mothering instinct for others as needed.

It’s tradition that I read the book, “Love you forever” by Robert Munsch to celebrate Mother’s Day and really lead us to Father’s Day in June. Normally, I read the book at the end of the Service, but I thought I’d start our Message this year with the book. 

Why, you may ask? Well, it has been a very different time this year not just for Mothers but for all. And so, what a better way to celebrate our new normal than to change things around a bit.

So, this is for you MOM ….I hope I don’t cry:

Mother’s Day is so iconic, isn’t it? Who doesn’t know what it’s supposed to represent?

Wait, you may not know what it started out as…

One of the earliest Mother’s Day celebrations was in Ancient Greece.

The Greek would have spring celebrations in honor of Rhea, the goddess of fertility, motherhood, and generation.

According to Wikipedia, the history of American Mother’s Day starts with peacemaker Ann Jarvis.

During and following the Civil War, Ann Jarvis made a concerted effort to foster friendship and community between the mothers on both sides of the war. She started a committee in 1868 which established the first glimmer of today’s holiday: “Mother’s Friendship Day.”

Ann’s daughter Anna continued her legacy by creating the official holiday. Anna Reeves Jarvis sought to honor her own mother by establishing an intimate day of observance that is very obviously the basis of today’s holiday. The very first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1908.   Woodrow Wilson signed Mother’s Day into law in 1914.

Anna Jarvis would later try to stop what Mother’s Day became. The holiday quickly became a commercialized opportunity for producers to sell flowers, candies, and cards. Anna Reeves Jarvis felt this was detracting from the personal and intimate aspects of the holiday and defied this by starting boycotts, walkouts, and even condemned first lady Eleanor Roosevelt for using the day as a means of fundraising. Jarvis would eventually use all her money in this fight and died at the age of 84 in a sanatorium.

Mother’s Day was, in part, about peace and community in the beginning. And even though Anna Jarvis’ attempt to reverse the success she had by making Mother’s Day a National Holiday was unsuccessful, I’m guessing many of us have had some of the same thoughts about the commercialism of this and many of the holidays that we celebrate in this country and often around the world.

For instance, more calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year, Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants, and it is the third highest selling holiday for flowers and plants. All those things are a good thing!

Carnations have a special meaning on Mother’s Day. Anna Reeves Jarvis used the carnation on Mother’s Day to symbolize whether your mother was living. A red carnation meant she was living, and a white meant she had passed.

The first thing a baby can vocalize is the ‘ma’ sound, which is why in almost every language the word for mother begins with the letter ‘M’ or is some iteration of the ‘ma’ sound. Ma, Mom, Mother…all from that first baby sound.

This past year, with the onset of the pandemic, many Mothers have had to face a new reality. Not only with the often-real possibility of losing a loved one to the COVID-19 virus and its many iterations, but many Mothers have had to be the teacher to their children while still trying to maintain their responsibilities at their jobs. Some even stepped away from their jobs to spend all their time with the children, especially since childcare was not available in most instances.

It became a new reality that mothers faced – moms are either super-overworked or super-lonely from being sheltered.

 Even though Mother’s Day is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of May, we could probably agree that we should be celebrating Mother’s and those who take care of us as our Mothers do/did many more days than just one.

Call your Mother and/or those folks who cared for you when you needed a Mother.

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Great to be back with you again. I do hope you are enjoying our Lenten Series based upon Rev. Mark Anthony Lord’s book, “The Seven Living Words…Transform your life with this illuminating perspective on the Seven Last Words of Jesus”.

Last week our words were ‘forgiveness & NOW. If you missed it, go to FB – Unity Spiritual Center of Coastal Delaware or the webpage – www.unityspiritualcenterofcoastalde.org to review the message.

Here is a wonderful ‘review from Alan Watts I just found on FB: “We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, or will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore, out of touch with reality.”

NICE. Right? Or maybe not, if that is where you presently are…

This week we will look at two new words, ‘Oneness’ and ‘truth’.

Let’s start with Oneness.

I know many of you may think of the Oneness movement popular throughout the country and the world. This is a bit different. We are looking at Oneness with God, with everyone and everything; but also, oneness with each other. We are emphasizing that we are all ONE with the Spirit and energy that is God, Divine Mind, our Creator.

Let’s look at this week’s verse: “Woman, behold your son!  Behold your mother!”  from John 19:26-27

What comes to your mind when you see or hear or read this verse?  It would be wonderful to hear your responses. Send me a text or email…I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Rev. Lord ‘s ‘take’ on this verse is pointing us in a different direction. I would suspect a very different direction than what you or I may have originally gone.

He sees this as a ‘spiritual direction’ for us to look at. He wants us to look at the possibility that Oneness is the direction that verse is leading us to.

Oneness and right relationship.

Lord tells us we can only awaken to our spiritual power and evolution when we go deeper in the roles of those around us. We take all those in—–family, friends, neighbors, Black, white, rich, poor, all faiths, all cultures, all colors…they are all our family, all our friends, and we hold them all in right relationship.

We see everyone as One, as part of the whole. No separation. Only togetherness.

A Course in Miracles tells us, “Heaven is not a place or condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect oneness.”

What a wonderful realization…heaven is an awareness, an awareness of perfect oneness. Perfect togetherness. Perfect connection.

To get to that perfect awareness, we must crucify the illusion of separation, fear, and suffering when we focus our attention and prayers on the Wholeness of God, here and now, and always present.

The illusion needs our belief in it to survive! Kind of like the ego.

When we take that belief away, we open our closed eyes and experience perfect relationships…with Divine Mind, God, with all.

Lord tells us we do not need the ego – another word for false reality. It is not of God…it is of the dualistic world. None of us need the ego because God always provides. Divine Spirit is our safety, our sustenance, our all.”

The Lilies of the field do not need an ego to know the love and care of God.

“The only reason we do not know God as our complete, perfect, and constant support is because we don’t believe it.”

And that, my friends, is what holds us back from experiencing Gods total love. Our needs are met exactly to the extent that we allow them to be met. And we are responsible for what we allow…simple.

You don’t like that? Only you can change it. I love that Unity reminds us of OUR responsibility in this life.

“When you no longer fear, resent, or perceive your brother or sister as separate, you no longer live and move in fear. There is no way to transform into the full power and presence of the Light of God within and be afraid of your brother or sister at the same time.

A choice must be made.”

Try this, as you move throughout your day, whenever you pass or interact with other folks, say in your heart, “You are my sister/brother. We are One and you are loved.”

Centered in our Love of God, we find that we love others even more.  We realize our true relationship to every other human being in the human family.  In Spirit, we are each others’ mother, brother, sister.  We feel our closeness to others as we reach inwardly to Spirit.  Being one with God, we are close to all that is.

When we collectively say “YES” to Oneness, the Kingdom of Heaven will appear right before our eyes. First the collective ego of humanity must be diffused and released. We can do this, one person at a time, you and me.

We all must recognize that all paths lead to God. No matter where you are on this journey…every journey leads to God, by whatever name.

Now let’s look at this week’s second word, Truth and the verse, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Matthew 27:46

For many years I believed Jesus was saying that God left him alone to die a terrible death.  As I grew, I began to search my beliefs, trying to find where I fit. Things just didn’t seem right to me. I and my brothers attended a United Methodist church with my Uncle and Aunt & their family for several years.

We learned all about Jesus loving the little children in Sunday School and then as we sat through church, we learned about God’s anger and wrath.

A bit confusing.

It got even more so when I attended Mass with my Mother, she was Catholic and yearned to return to Mass. Looking back, I wonder if she felt she needed one of us kids to want to attend Mass before she thought she could safely attend also, because of my father.

When the Catholic teachings didn’t fit, I was a seeker without a church for many years.

My search for understanding and meaning took me finally, to Unity. It was there that I could see the story of the crucifixion differently…metaphysically, metaphorically. When we are challenged spiritually, we often feel as if God has forsaken us. We get into that dark night of the soul and feel so very alone. But we must recall that Jesus passed through similar challenges. We are to persevere.

When we do so, we then re-connect with our consciousness and KNOW that we are not alone.

If we take a look at this verse and all of the words from Jesus, we see that everything was done for our awakening, and to support us in our own crucifixions and resurrections. Jesus was a Master Teacher. He knew what he was doing!

This Fourth Living Word is a gift that says, “Now is the time for a final, deep cleansing of the consciousness…are you ready?”

If you think you are finished cleansing, forgiving…think again. I saw something the other day, if you are still alive, you still have forgiveness work to do.

We have done some powerful forgiveness work thus far, and so, we may hit a wall of despair. When we embrace this part of the journey, whether we despair or not, we celebrate it … it is a sign that we are moving in the right direction.

If you feel fearful or abandoned, these are not wrong feelings. They are to be moved through with perseverance and faith in all that is Good-God. Embrace the word TRUTH and go deep to uncover any fears or betrayals lingering there. Past betrayals by people we have loved or needed, we may have thought we dealt with them, but often remnants of fear, despair, and anger linger.

Going into the Truth, we can gain new insights.

Master Yoda: “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”

We need to find our fears and confront them, to remove them from consciousness and subconsciousness.

There is that part of our consciousness that still clings to the belief that there is something outside us that has power over us.  By giving expression to this universal sense of aloneness in times of trial, Jesus released it for himself and for us.  He speaks what is often in our own hearts when we embark on the spiritual path. 

Experiencing crucifixion, spiritually – erasing sense thought, error thinking, letting go – may be difficult.  Sometimes we may feel that God has left us, forsaken us.  When these periods of darkness and doubt come, we too question.  We ask, “Why?”

Our emotions can have a voice; we don’t need to hide them but may speak them aloud and bring them to the light of prayer, to be transformed by the light of love.  Our spirit knows, “My God – for this purpose was I born” and allow ourselves to pass through our self-imposed boundaries.  It is through this experience we find new life.  We have come to this hour for a purpose. We no longer see ourselves as victims but as the vehicles of pure Spirit.

All this is true for grief. Truth is being willing to face the reality of our grief. “When grief is hidden and unexpressed, it blocks our growth. Any grief is to be expressed…

Mark Anthony Lord states that we all have a coating of grief around our false beliefs about ourselves and the world. Our false beliefs separate us from our true source of love and the joyous, peaceful feeling of knowing we are One with the goodness of life.

Acknowledging and moving through this grief is part of the healing process. When appropriately used and moved through, grief will return us to the experience of our inherent wholeness.

Our word Truth…the truth is none of us have ever been forsaken. None have been abandoned.

GREAT MORNING BELOVED!!

Great Morning my friends. It is wonderful to be with you again. I pray all is well with you and that you are taking care of yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoyed the Black History Month presenters, Diane Mitchell, Leroy White, Jr., Carolyn Showell and Angela Taylor. They did a great job, and I am putting it out there now hoping that they will continue the special presentations for Black History Month next year. If you haven’t seen these presentations, they are available on our FB and web pages.

Today we start our new Series for the reminder of Lent. This year, Big Unity’s Lent Series is based upon Rev. Mark Anthony Lord’s book, “The Seven Living Words” and their own booklet based on that book for the Lenten Season, “Release and Renew.”

This booklet has ‘release’ affirmations and ‘renew’ affirmations for Lent. There are also excerpts from Rev. Lord’s book and daily readings for Lent.

I’m reading the book and using this booklet for our Services, as well as whatever I find in my heart and online, to add to the Message.

This week we are looking at the words, “forgiveness” and “NOW”.

So, what were the Seven Last Words of Jesus? They were, “…for they know not what they do.”

Jesus, our Way-Shower, gets right into it, doesn’t he? No messing around. We are to forgive because sometimes we, everyone, do not know, not understand, what we do.

How many times are we going to talk about forgiveness? Well, as many times as we need to get to the point where we are forgiving? Where there is no question whether forgiveness is even needed or required.

70 x 7? 

YES! And even more, if necessary.

If we are all one, then when we forgive others, we are forgiving ourselves, and vice-verse.

Forgiveness is the mightiest of spiritual acts.  Without it, we are blocked in our spiritual journey.  Forgiveness resurrects our peace of mind from the perils of victimhood and releases our negative judgments.

SO why do we have to discuss forgiveness still? Because we are human, living in a dualistic world. And our error thinking gets going and before we know it, we do something that we need to ask forgiveness, of others…of ourselves.

Or someone does something to us that we think requires forgiveness from them.

We forget.  ‘…forgive them for they no not what they do.’ To err is human.

We recognize the destructiveness of unforgiveness and remember that it arises from a lack of understanding.

Fred Luskin, Ph.D., has been studying forgiveness for many years. He said forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past. 

Thinking that forgiveness is needed is error thinking, which causes fear-driven choices. If we are in fear, then we truly do not know what we do.

Rev. Lord tells us, “seeing so much bad in the world is not an indication that what you see is correct; it is, instead, a sign that you are stuck in the illusion of duality and seeing incorrectly.”

Our collective belief system has come up with some horrific manifestations…Hitler is one most people question right away. And we have witnessed some pretty extreme examples of fear-based manifestations in the last year, right here in our country.

All based upon fear and the belief of separation.

Well, we are not separate. We are One. There are no lines of separation if we are practicing forgiveness.

If we do not accept the process of forgiveness, then, as Rev. Nirvana Gayle states: “If we’re unwilling to heal, we only condemn ourselves as species to reenact and repeat whatever is unhealed.”

Haven’t we seen this already, throughout our country’s short existence?

The racial divide is enough in itself to maintain the unhealed if we do not take a stand and move forward with the healing process.

Forgiveness is the act of releasing ourselves from the bondage of an ongoing negative connection. Forgiveness resurrects our peace of mind from the perils of victimhood and releases our negative judgments.

 Let’s reach out as our Way-Shower has shown us with the simple but powerful words: “Father forgive them…” Jesus is “calling upon the divinity, the wholeness, and the unconditional love of God to do the forgiving.”

John 14:10 tells us, “It is the Father within that doeth the work.”

The Father within Is the consciousness of all that is good, perfect, and pure.

Research tells us we are wired for revenge and forgiveness, and we have the capacity to choose either response. Researchers are specific about how they define forgiveness when studying its effects on our well-being and happiness. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky calls forgiveness “a shift in thinking” toward someone who has harmed you. It has nothing to do with reconciliation, forgetting, excusing or justice. When you are ready, forgiveness is a powerful choice you can make that can lead to greater well-being and relationships. This choice carries with it an intention to heal yourself.

So then, How Do We Forgive? Mary-Alice and Richard Jafolla in “The Quest, A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery” tell us:

We make up our minds and our hearts to let go, knowing that carrying around anger and judgment toward others or ourselves is a burden we no longer wish to bear.

To understand forgiveness, we need to understand what it is not. It is not about condoning bad behavior or saying we must trust those who have mistreated us. It does not mean that there will be no justice for bad acts.

Consider this from H. Emilie Cady’s Lessons in Truth, written more than 100 years ago:

“To forgive does not simply mean to arrive at a place of indifference to those who do personal injury to us; it means far more than this. To forgive is to give for—to give some kind of actual definite good in return for evil given.”

This may seem like a tall order but when done, we can see the results straightaway. Rather than be consumed with anger and bitterness, we forgive. Forgiveness is the answer.

Those who we believe have been unjust to us, “know not what they do”…perhaps they have pushed us to new levels of being, enlarging our hearts and minds. 

Forgiveness Affirmation

I forgive myself for my mistakes, and I forgive others for their mistakes, knowing none of us is perfect.

The Second Living Word for this week fits in perfectly…it is Now.

Mark Anthony Lord looks to the crucifixion scene and sees Jesus representing the Now. The two men crucified with him represent the Past and the Future.

The past and the future play a big part when we are in the midst of transformation.

Jesus’ said, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.”

Paradise. The Kingdom of Heaven.

It is available to us here, now and always.

But paradise can only be experienced in the now-present moment.

It is not so much the past that determines our current experience but our thoughts aboutthe past. We do not allow the past to rob us. We give thanks for how it has shaped us.

Anxiety, worry and doubt about the future rob us and so we bring our attention to the present moment.  Spiritual awareness gives us strength and protection.  Today we are with Spirit.  And only today – in the present moment – can we experience paradise.  Paradise – our oneness with God.  It is here, it is now, it is forever.  Experience it in this moment now.

Nothing else exists except the eternal now. God and all good things are present in your life NOW.

A Course in Miracles tells us; “Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true.”

In what areas are you “walking backwards” through life? To what extent are you using the past as a blueprint for the present?

In what way are your thoughts and feelings about the future affecting your present happiness? 

These questions when answered may help you release what is holding you from experiencing NOW moments.

The saying, “One day at a time” could be ‘one moment at a time.  We need to learn how to be present in our lives one moment at a time.

That is when change takes place. Where learning to grow into the people we want to be…who we need to be to truly live a blessed life.

It’s not wrong to have desires. Neither is it wrong to expect fair treatment. But our flights into our past or future leave us wanting for the peace that can only be found in the Now moment.

And we will have disappointments when our dreams to not come to fruition. When we spend too much time lamenting the unrealized dream, we miss opportunities in the here and now.

Disappointment can be a joy destroyer. We all need to process our disappointments.

But we also need to realize that God is our Source. What we were hoping for may not be what is ours to have or experience.

And if we are really in touch with ourselves and the Universe, then we know not to have expectations…that’s hard though, isn’t it? Disappointments come from having expectations.

In the “Creative Mind.” Ernest Holmes tells us:

Life is for us today. There will be no change for tomorrow unless we do the changing today. Today we are setting into motion the power of tomorrow. Today is God’s day, and we must extract from it what of life we are to live. Tomorrow in the divine course of events will care for itself. The soul that learns to live in the great gladness of today will never weary of life but will find that he is living in an eternal here and now.”

The Now moment is where paradise resides. The Now moment is the only space and time where we can change, grow, and feel real joy…that is where God resides.

Two wonderful words to start our series for Lent. The other words for future Sundays are: Oneness, Truth, Vision, Completion, Surrender.

I hope you will continue to tune in to our Sunday messages. I am sure much wisdom and compassion will be part of Rev. Lord’s thoughts. I met him years ago at Unity Village, a wonderful man with great, positive energy.