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

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

FEARLESS or FEARFUL

There is a popular quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt about fear. He says, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." (Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugrul Address, March 4, 1933.) I like the quote from Pallius in the first century, "What we fear comes to pass more speedily than what we hope". In other words what we give attention to really expands. Frederick Bailes talked about this in 1941 when writing Your Mind Can Heal You....When (someone) glimpses the truth that all the Universal Power flows through their body, they are able to to sit back in quiet assurance with a total absence of fear at the appearance of illness. For their fear has been created by a picture of themselves invaded by an enemystrong, cruel and merciless. What do you picture? How do you see your next year? Which is greater your fear pictures or your hopeful and promising pictures?

Fear is like a bad virus. At first it moves quietly into our psyche. After awhile it begins to fester and infect other thoughts and plans, until what might have been a great thing becomes something to frightening to even try. Sometimes we say that everything is good while we have just beyond the smile the thought of how it all can go terribly wrong. Living with hope and expectations of great things is healthy, wise and opens up things in us that can draw real life, joy, happiness and peace.

We shortchange our lives whenever we don't do all that is in us to do. Do you have a dream? Do you often wonder how much greater your life can be? Step out, get rid of fear. You know that FEAR is false evidence appearing real. Everything you need or want is available without fear.
Peace!

Tiger Woods acknowledges the need to return to his spiritual roots

The Saturday after Tiger's apology, I heard a news commentator remark that he was surprised to hear Tiger throw in that "stuff" about Buddhism. I do not know if the tone he used or the words he used were about the fact that it was a surpirse to him that Tiger was talking religion and spirituality or that Tiger had been raised a Buddhist? Either way, why should he have been surprised that Tiger would acknowledge that his behaviors were not in sync with his spiritual upbringing.

We are not separate from our spiritual selves. We would like to live as if our choices don't matter, and that we can do whatever we want without doing harm to our spiritual self. This is not possible. Some refer to this kind of living as being unconscious. Being unconscious does not mean that we don't do harm to our spirit when we ignore it. Tiger acknowledged the great harm done to his spirit and the need to find balance, or the need to come into alignment with his source.

I would hope that our commentators would take more seriously the need for anyone (star athlete or not) to acknowledge that they are more than the thing they do or the part they play. The more that persons acknowledge their need for balance, the more the world we live in will change. Imagine if each person really listened to their spirit and chose behavior that honored their spirit, the world would be a different place. Peace!

Taking Risks

Do you know how many people have succeeded because they were willing to take risks? I'm asking myself this question because I used to think of myself as a risk taker. I now realize that I live a lot of the time only in my head. That means my thoughts often do not become actions in my life. Am I a daydreamer? Somewhat. But more than that I think we allow fear to stand in the way, like a brick wall between what we can imagine and what we can create and manifest. We want change in our lives, in our relationships and in our world. God has given us all that we need to make that happen. It's time for us to start demolishing the wall. Vines of " FEAR OF FAILURE" easily grow up our walls. Each effort and its' results are lessons on the way, no need to fear that. So we must destroy the wall and any fear that convinces us that we can't make our lives different. What area of your life do you imagine taking more risks ? Now is the time. Let this be the week your wall falls and you manifest the first of your important creations. THIS IS THE WEEK! YOU CAN DO IT!