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Sometimes it’s hard to let go of things. Situations, people, jobs, whatever it is, it can be a challenge to simply let go. I recently left a job I once felt very called to. I loved it for a time, and I loved many of the people I worked with and spent time with. But it went south, and there was just no salvaging it.
That hurt. Feeling called, feeling love, and then having it go ugly, that all just really hurt. And when feelings are that strong it can be tough to let go. There’s something really magical about this type of situation, though, if you can let it happen. You see, letting go is freedom. There’s this thought in American society that only losers quit, but letting go of what doesn’t feed us or what is even harming us, isn’t quitting. If anything, it’s strength. It’s saying YES to our next, better chapter. It’s saying YES to our value. It’s saying YES to the beauty of our soul. What in your life needs letting go of? For me, recently, it was a job I really wanted and really loved for a while. The moment I let go of it incredible things started to happen in my life. New opportunities arrived that I had only sought as an afterthought. And it’s better hours and more pay than I could have imagined. And it feeds me spiritually. And it’s a group of people that work together, not against each other. It’s even more than I could have dreamed of. When I let go of my old job I made room for new and better things. I gave God the space to finally work in my life, whereas before, I had been trying to make the situation work so much that I couldn’t make space for God. Letting go gave me freedom - the freedom to dream, and manifest a better reality. And it gave God the freedom to do great work in my life. So, what in your life needs letting go of? Make room for the Divine to work in your life. Give yourself the gift of freedom.
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“Everyone is an incarnation of God, and a unique incarnation. All are rooted in the One Life. Your endeavor then, is not so much to find God, as it is to realize God’s Presence and to understand that this Presence is always with you. Nothing can be nearer to you than that which is the very essence of your being. Your outward search culminates in the greatest of all possible discoveries - finding God at the center of your own being.” ~Ernest Holmes
What a wonderful thought! God is at the center of our own being. We are never alone. We are never forsaken. The God of each of our understandings is right there with us all the time. When I first began studying the Science of Mind and Spirit philosophy this central tenant, that we carry God within us, rang very true to me. I didn’t realize how controversial it was, however. I was chatting with an evangelical minister about the philosophy one day, and he said to me, “You just all believe you are little gods.” I was stunned by his statement. Nothing, I thought, could be further from the truth. The God that made everything made me too. It’s true for all of us. And that God isn’t off in the clouds somewhere only half paying attention. I am, all of us are, vessels for the Holy One to do work here in the material world. Far from being little gods, we are carriers of the Divine. While we are each individuals and unique, God is simply all there is, undivided and ever expressing through us. Our truest nature is Divine. Notice, I didn’t say our truest nature was divinity. We aren’t little individual gods who get it right sometimes and screw it up other times. We are each a beautiful and unique expression of a God that needs us in order to come into this world of form. We are each a conduit to the best of our wisdom and understanding. So, look in the mirror and think of yourself that way for a moment. Think of yourself as a conduit for God to come into this world. See it in yourself, and see it in others. Then watch your life change for the better. Children are magical for a time. Their imaginations have no limit, and everything that we take for granted is new and amazing to them. Children are joyful because of wonder. We could learn a lot about wonder from them.
Wonder spurs our creativity and squashes our pessimism. We become critical and innovative thinkers when we tap into wonder. Joy can be found in the most mundane of tasks set before us. Wonder is all about questioning. Why are things the way they are? How can I change things for the better? How might I be changed if I engage with this task or person differently? By asking questions we open up a whole world of possibilities. That’s really what wonder is all about - possibility. At CSL Parker I like to say we practice what’s possible. When we engage in wonder almost anything is possible. Healing, change, clarity, all of that and more can come about because of wonder. So, how can you bring some wonder into your life? What situation are you dealing with that you can bring a questioning mind to? The magic and possibility of wonder is right there at our fingertips if we will only reach out and try. Practice some wonder in your life, and see how things change. I guarantee some magic! Oneness is the reality of who we each are. We are all interconnected, and we are all connected in God. That can be hard to accept about someone we don’t like or respect or who is very foreign to us in some way.
I didn’t grow up in any particular church. I like to say I grew up culturally Christian. My family is white, Western and nuclear. My parents were raised Baptist, and while they didn’t force my brother and I to go to church the influence of the traditional Baptist church was clear. God was separate from us. God was male, and an overseer. There was no fear generally associated with this, but there was no relationship either. As I grew up and began to explore religion on my own I discovered that many religions viewed God as not separate, but internal to each of us and connecting us all to each other. That rang true to me. In the Science of Mind and Spirit we like to say God is all there is. That means every person, every thing, is imbued with the Divine. Yes, even that person we don’t like, don’t respect or who is foreign to us. There is only separation in our human mind, not in the reality of our Oneness. We are each glowing embers in the heart of God. And aflame within each of our hearts is the Holy One. No action, either by us or by the one we are struggling with, changes that. It doesn’t mean we have to let someone continue hurting us, but shutting them completely out of our hearts only hurts ourselves. Boundaries are never wrong, but forgiveness is the path to our own healing. Oneness is what makes us whole and what celebrates the Divine within each of us. It can be a challenge to accept that about everyone we meet or everyone in our lives, but the challenge doesn’t make it any less true. If anything, the challenge of accepting Oneness makes it more real. As the saying goes, nothing worth having comes easy. I hope you are willing to take up the challenge of accepting Oneness as Reality and Truth. The world becomes a better place when we live from Oneness. There is less harm, less pain, and we are better problem solvers. Oneness is Divine Truth. Embrace it and see how your life changes. I recently read a social media post that said in America we aren’t separated by divisions of politics or policy or beliefs, we’re separated by a division of cruelty. It said that some of us are willing to engage openly in cruelty because we have seen it rewarded publicly, while others remain appalled by acts of cruelty. After giving it some thought, I agree.
Cruelty isn’t just taking pleasure in the pain and suffering of another, it’s also indifference to that pain and suffering. The Trump administration openly stated their family separation plan was designed to be cruel. That was the point of it. But the former administration simply revealed something. When cruelty is the point, some of us will not only be okay with it, we’ll applaud it. There are, of course, disorders of the brain that cause some human beings to be indifferent to the suffering of another, but the rewarding of cruelty that we have seen in recent years here in the US has broken something open. It’s not a rogue administration being cruel, it’s our neighbors, it’s our family, maybe it’s even us. Cruelty has become our dividing line, and there’s only one way to cure it. Dr. Maya Angelou said, “We are not our brother's keeper, we are our brother and we are our sister. We must look past complexion and see community.” She’s talking about Oneness. She’s talking about a deep spiritual understanding, a kind of maturity that not everyone has. Hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people. Oneness is the acceptance that we are all interconnected and that when we cause harm, we harm ourselves too. We all have the capacity for cruelty. It’s been alarming, however, to see just how readily some have embraced and celebrated cruelty, whether from politicians or in their own communities and homes. We’ve lost the thread of Oneness in America. It’s because so many people are frightened of all the changes happening in our society. A black president, a woman vice president, our children expressing themselves in ways we don’t understand, all of these things and more have caused great spasms of fear. It’s no excuse for cruelty, however. It requires maturity and emotional intelligence to express our fear in ways that still make our society safe. We have discovered that many are simply lacking those skills. For those not lacking in spiritual maturity and emotional intelligence Oneness is the answer. Remembering that we are all connected can be challenging. Those on the opposite side of the cruelty divide can appear almost alien to us, but it has become our calling to be the teachers of Oneness. When we not only speak of Oneness, but embody it, we are beacons of light in a dark time. Understanding and living from a place of connection makes us healers in our communities. It’s not easy, but the time for it has come. The cruelty divide can destroy us if we stand idly by, shaking our heads at our neighbors, family members and those that represent us, and doing nothing else. It’s time to speak up, reach out, and be the ones. It’s time to tap into whatever spiritual belief feeds us and let it lead us to the Truth of Oneness. It is the only way we will heal our divide. |
Rev. StephaniLiving by the affirmation, "Everything I want is chasing me!" Archives
November 2022
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