Do you have an unopened gift?

You are now cleaning up all signs of Christmas.  The tree is coming down.  The lights on the front of the house have been removed. You're gathering all the gifts and boxes that were left under the tree all week. You notice there is one unopened box,  way in the back of the tree.  You pay attention to this package, which seems to be  the most beautiful package you have ever seen.  The paper is colorful.  Red and yellow stripes. The ribbon that makes the bow is white and glowing. There is almost an aura around the package.  You wonder to yourself, "how could I have missed this beautiful gift? Maybe I should open this gift in the privacy of my bedroom?" You quickly move to your room, you tear off the paper, you see the card...it reads, "with all my love, God". You push back the tissue paper. In the box is a strange , unusual machine, with the words " creative power".  In small letters at the bottom, read the words "First given on ___________".
The date embossed on the line in gold are the dates of your birth. (God gave you this gift when you were born and every year since then you have ignored the gift. Having been made in the image and likeness of God you have spiritual power to create the life you desire, all as a gift from God. (Matthew 7:11).
As the clock ticks off the moments of this year, 2011, be grateful and move into the next year with great intention and all the power God has given for you to create a life that honors God's gifts and blesses you and your world. It is time for you to believe that you are empowered by the Spirit of God to create.

Peace!

Multiplying Joy and Gratitude

Life is so much simpler than we want it to be.  I have written in the past about our love of drama. We get energized thinking about our problems. When we live from moment to moment, in gratitude and joy we find more and more joy and plenty of things for which we can be grateful. I challenge each of you this week of Thanksgiving, to see and feel only joy and gratitude.  If some other attitude tries to get your attention, speak to it, with your most declarative voice (out loud) and let it know it is not welcome in your space. You have the power over your life.  You will not give that power to anyone else.  If your partner makes you angry, it is still your choice how to react.  You don't have to react to every sound your children make or the  complaining of a customer or client.  This is Your life. This is a play written by you and the only important questions have to do with what you are going to do with this life and how joyful and gratitude filled you are going to make it. 

Some of you have already started complaining about the dinner and how tired you are going to be, and all the relatives you really don't want to see.  You have two choices, be grateful you have relatives that want to see you, or tell them you are going away this year.  Either way you make the choice for you.  And if your choice is to stay and eat with Uncle Trevor and Aunt Beulah, then whisper a prayer for all of you and expect the best Thanksgiving ever. 

I wish everyone a great day on Thursday, but my prayer for you is that everyday be a day of Thanksgiving.

Peace!

my soul ponders: Church a reflection of culture or culture a reflection of Church?

my soul ponders: Church a reflection of culture or culture a reflection of Church?

Church a reflection of culture or culture a reflection of Church?

• I wrote the title as a question for which I have no answer. I have  concern.  The community of believers who describe themselves as sisters and brothers in Christ, acting like persons who have either misunderstood the teachings of the Christ or at least baffled by his life, confuse the world. Is it really because we succumb to the needs of the institution rather than staying true to the movement Jesus began? Some believe the church has to win. Some believe the church wins when it is strong and unchanging. The present church does not respond to the needs of people.  It continues to teach and "be" the same institution of the 3rd and 4th century, the 12th and 13th century.  Oppression, wars, suppression of thought are all a part of its history.  This is all forgivable when speaking of it as a past act but what have we learned? How should we have evolved? We teach that spiritual life is a continuing growth experience.  If that is so, why aren't we seeing that with the church? Does the church get a pass, because it is an institution? Why can we preach that people should be different, and not expect the church to grow and change? Is there something in the organization, culture, or belief systems that keep it from growing or changing? 
• I have no answers for any of these questions, but I do believe we are responsible for seeing that these questions are asked. As we seek to improve the institution let us consider how much better it might work if we work harder at being our best selves.  Imagine and work for the new YOU and the new "body" of Christ.

Happiness is a Choice

A dear friend of mine wrote a very significant saying on her facebook page. She reminded us that happiness is a choice. I think that statement should be printed on billboards and internet blogs all over the world. There is a lot of frustration in the world. Wars, conflicts, riots, and economic loss seem to abound. People are concerned that only pain and suffering are available for them. A sense of loss is growing everywhere. We must remind the world that our joy is not created by something outside ourselves. Our joy does not come from what we have or what is created outside of us. Our joy is created through what we know God does and "is". When we look at the distractions that life offers, we tend to believe what we see. If we are connected to our Source (God) we know that much of what we see is "not" the real deal. How we feel and how we respond to life is a choice we make everyday. Because our thoughts are many and come through so fast, we believe that we don't participate in how we feel. This is not true. With each choice/thought we make a decision. This is great/This was awful. They meant to hurt me/no matter why it happened I don't give that kind of power to anyone. Each moment is a choice - Choose Joy. Choose happiness. The more you expect joy, the more joy you will receive. The more joy you share, the more comes back to you. One of the great things about joy and happiness is what it does for your health. Did you know that laughter lowers blood pressure. Smiling releases stress and anxiety. Raucous, belly-shaking laughter releases toxins.

Joy is one of the best ways to stay healthy.

The next time you realize that life is about choices - choose joy. What do you get from feeling bad, sad and down on life? Please remember that happiness is always a conscious choice not an automatic response.

Peace

The promises of God are true - you just have to choose.

The Moment of Peace.com

Imagine one million people stopping on June 18, 2011 at 8:00pm for an hour of mindful silence for peace. Just the thought of that much energy amassing from all over the planet and directing itself to "Peace", is amazing.

This is an important reminder, in traditional language it is about touching and agreeing and what happens when we do, in New Thought it is the amassing of energy for change, no matter how you read this it is a good thing.

Please join us on Saturday, June 18, 2011 for one hour of mindful meditation for PEACE.

Peace!

Go to:http://www.themomentofpeace.com for more information

You can change your feelings

Sometimes, we get to this time of day and realize that it was an okay day, but there was no exhilaration or strong passion in this day and we could use a jolt of joy.This is the time of day some people reach for energy drinks or an extra strong coffee. May I suggest another way to change your energy level. This change will come from the inside and work better than anything you can find on the outside.

Take five minutes in a quiet place. (the bathroom? ). Quiet your mind, open the door to your gratitude list. Count your blessings. Be amazed by how blessed you are, have been, and how you look forward to more of God's goodness. Sit for one moment in that joy. Stand and walk out into the great joy of how good God is. You have been saved so many times in the past, you have never felt the real consequences of anything you have done or not done. Rejoice, it is all good. Wear that gratitude like a new designer suit.

It's good! Real good!

Peace

REAL SOUL FOOD

REAL SOUL FOOD

How are you NEW?

It took all of my willpower not to write before Easter. As a minister and former pastor so many ideas came, to use as thoughts to write about this high Holy Day. Now that you have had the experience of the day, attended worship, visited with family, met new friends, read something really inspiring, my only question is "How are you NEW?

Ressurection is about rising from the old, shaking off the old, rising and entering into the new. How are you NEW? If you have not considered your newness you have not yet experienced Easter. The real blessing of Easter is the opportunity to consider how we can become new spiritual beings, which of course impacts our behaviors and therefore produces newness in our lives. This newness is seen in more love, more relationships that are good, more good to rejoice about, more of God's long list of good. So how are you finding and experiencing the new good in your life. During the past days I got to see some of my cracks and crevices that I am more than happy to release as my old ways. My favorite change is in my expectation. On Easter I was speaking with someone who started their sentence with the words, "something is going on with me" then they paused, in the seconds of the pause I expected they were going to say something not good was happening with them and started to respond out of that kind of concern - WRONG - WRONG
they were about to say something different was happening and it's outcome was good. I could say that I have heard many more stories from people who had bad things happening, but that would just be an excuse. I no longer will expect anything but good from others. I have already moved to expecting good for myself in my business and dealings, but now I must assign that to my interactions with others. We often get what we expect. Watch what you EXPECT, you may be getting just what you expect.

Now, again I ask, How are You NEW?

Peace

April Fools Blessings

Tricks, jokes, funny pranks, good clean fun, hearty laughs, laughter that makes you cry, are all things that keep us laughing and feeling good. It is so important to be able to laugh. Doctors say a good laugh not only releases tensions, but causes our organs to become healthier from the increased oxygen from the laugh to our cells.

We need to laugh more. Why is it that some religious people are always so serious? Is it a part of that Drama we like so much? Somehow we have created an idea in this culture that serious things are more important than anything that looks like frivolity. Notice the word frivolity related to the word frivolous. It is not frivolous to laugh. Some of our Puritan history serves no good purpose. In this life as we contemplate God's good, remember to smile, laugh out loud, feel the good that comes from laughing. It is only when you feel good that you can practice and participate in God's good to you and others.

Be Blessed on this day of fun!

Peace

LIVING IN GRATITUDE

I do a lot of reading. I like books and I now love my kindle. But with all the reading that I do I just realized that I often put things I read to the test. It is often not enough that the writer has sound reasoning or describes things really well. No matter what they have seen I want to prove for myself. I am not suggesting that this is the behavior one should have. But I share this because I have just had some new experiences that I have read about for years, but have recently seen come to fruition.

Often on shows like Oprah, in books by Wayne Dyer, we hear about living in gratitude and the joy it can bring and the changes that occur when you are really grateful. For the past several months I have been intentionally focused on how grateful I am, not just for things (even though I include things) but for people, situations, health, relationships, everyday happenings, etc. The results of my focused gratitude is an enlarged experience of all things for which I am grateful. Improved relationships, better health, less tension, new ideas to help create more of what I want. All these things because of less criticizing, less attitude about what was happening, and my determination not to bring complaints into any situation I was experiencing.

I write this encouraging you to try this path for yourself. Take one 24 hour period and watch how often you are critical or complain about something. LESS COMPLAINING = LESS REASON TO COMPLAIN. Now isn't that amazing! When we move to a position of purposeful gratefulness, life changes. The more we live in gratitude the more we experience things differently. Try it!

Peace!

Love is more than a good feeling!

I was in a store recently and a young man was looking for the perfect card to go with the gift he had for his girlfriend. I asked him why was he giving her something. He responded that he knew if he did not she would leave him for someone who would give her even better gifts. And besides its Valentines Day. These kind of conversations are often what we think of when we think of Love. Love is more than our good feelings about someone. It is more than finding someone who makes our heart beat faster. It is more than someone who fits the physical description we have dreamed about since our teens. Love is a desire to see the very best for someone and of someone. Love is trust, respect, behavior that always considers the other person and more. We have watched so many movies that have convinced us that love is a funny feeling in our hearts, (is that like heartburn?) How often have you heard of abusers saying right after the abuse, how much they love the person. Television and movies have distorted our understanding of real love.

If you want to find real love, give real love. Examine your definition of love. Examine your desire. Look to see what your love behaviors are. Realize that in any relationship the only person you can change is you. There is love available for each of us. Grow in your love and more will come to you.

The young man decided to search for a card that more aptly gave words to his true feelings.

Peace

SIMPLE

We have been taught that things, especially involving people are complex. That's why negotiators became popular in the late 90's. There are now licensed mediators and attorneys who do nothing but mediate controversy daily. A part of the reason for this growth is the expectation that because we now live in a selfish time, that no one wishes to care about others' wishes. The other is that you have the right to be just as selfish and self-serving as the other person, and get whatever you desire the outcome to be.

This thinking is not sound, we are socialized to believe there are no more kind, sensitive, sharing persons in the world. That is not true. Everyone is not out to get you. Your belief that there are

people like that will guarantee that you will meet most of them.

Believe me, living through your spiritual sense instead of what the world tells us, provides for a more simple and gracious living. Believe what your spirit says, not the radio commentators, or political pundits. God is good. Life is good.. Look and expect good. Hear Spirit! It's just that simple.