Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “Rise above the little things.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “You gain when you give of yourself.”
This is a portion of a talk delivered to the congregation at Unity South Twin Cities.
No doubt all of us want to and in some cases actively try to live our lives from or in a fashion that reflects the best that we are.
After all who wants to be known as a grouch, or as my granddaughter says, a meanie.
Unfortunately, I have found that there are certain people in our world, who take great pleasure in the seeing the demise of another no matter what.
I think some of us have met these folks.
I’ve told the story of when I lived in Dallas, Texas, going into professional selling for the first time, that among my peers was a liar, a thief and a cheat.
I think I learned the most in life from those men. They taught me to help my sprit recognize that there some people who need our prayers more than others. Not that everyone doesn’t need prayer, but some folks around us need it more than others.
Sometimes it comes to a point in our lives where we make the conscious decision to live our lives on a higher plane. One that encompasses all that we know as good, and try to express that as we go about our walk in life.
This is what I call, living from the heart center.
My very first meditation is one that I still remember and will briefly share here.
On a beautiful Sunday morning, the Unity Church of Omaha met in a park. I arrived as the mediation was underway. I’d never experienced a mediation before. The late Rev. Helen Saunders shared this with us. “If you like, you can close your eyes right now and as you do, imagine that you’re sitting on a park bench. As you gently close your eyes, you realize that even though you’re with other people, they seem to drop away. You can hear the wind and even feel the gentle breeze on your face. You can feel how sturdy the bench is beneath your weight. As the wind blows, you hear the rustle of the leaves in the trees, birds singing in the distance, but you’re simply concentrating on simply breathing in the breath of God. And then breathing out all the cares of the morning. Breathing in the purity of God and gently exhaling any concerns that you may have been dealing with this past week…breathing in the wisdom of God and exhaling all impurities through your breath.”
As I heard these words and continued breathing, I began to feel a burning in the middle of my chest. The more I breathed, the more I became aware and the feeling began to envelop me and I felt a sense of peace like I’d never experienced before. It was a sense of connection with God, Jesus that until that point, I had never known on that level.
From that point, I can’t tell you what the sermon was about. All I knew is that I wanted that closeness and that experience again. I imagine it was like the story in the bible. It talks about the disciples being sad that Jesus had died. As they walked a person joined them and they continued talking. Soon after reaching their destination. One said, didn’t not our hearts burn within as we talked with this person. I wondered if I had experienced the same burning sensations as the disciples.
After having my encounter or experience, I was changed at depth. I began my search for a deeper understanding of what Unity was all about. Intuitively, I knew this was some good stuff. The experience was an understanding that I connected with and I began calling it religion I could use in my daily life. It was from that point that I’ve attempted to live my life from the heart out.
It’s gotten me into some trouble along the way. While I might have been able to identify a liar, cheat and a thief, it wasn’t until after they had done their deeds, in many cases against me, that I realized them for who they were.
When you live from the heart, you begin to see the connectedness in everything. I would assert there is no event that just exists by itself. I believe that in some way it and all of us are connected in ways designed to bring us to a higher calling, a higher understanding and a higher connection with God in our lives.
Make no mistake that God is there, present and active in our lives, all the time. I find that the more we turn within and recognize the presence, the more we SEE God show up.
My personal search I mentioned earlier was to experience that burning sensation, but it would be some years before it would happen again for me.
Over time I’ve come to know that it’s not so much the feeling, it’s the living that’s most important and the knowing that God is there, that God has never leaves us, and that in every situation God is present.
Even as we go through this process of securing our next senior minister, there is no doubt that an incredible person is being made for us, that will help lead Unity South Twin Cities to the next level, whatever that happens to look like.
Like all of us, we have situations that we deal with. Illness come, health challenges; up and downturns in business, our living arrangements get upset, our family members and so called friends fail to act the way we want. The in laws visit and forget they need to go home.
Living from the heart center doesn’t guarantee a blissful life. It does mean that through it all, we are not alone. There is a healing, that permeates everything, and like the ocean, ebbs and flows and washes over us at the time we need it.
I think about the experiences of our lives and when we do an inventory, as we often do, we can begin to see how connected we are and the perfect pattern of our lives. It normally goes something like this. “This happened to me, how terrible, but, if it had not taken place, this would not have happened and I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t gone through that situation.”
Deep in our being, it is important to know that we’re living from the center that that God has got us. Spirit is there.
We know the story about Daniel and the Lion’s Den. The story is not so much about not being mauled or eaten by the lions, rather it’s the recognition that no matter what, no matter how horrible, no matter how unexplainable, no matter how weird, no matter how sick, no matter how lame, no matter how poor, no matter how rich, no matter what they say, no matter what they do, no matter the circumstance, that God Is the Den with us and that it works out well.
Here are the three points to remember.
1. God is with us all the time
2. We can call on the power to come forth to comfort us in times of need
3. Regardless of the Circumstances, God IS there.
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “Be who you are.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “Make it a point to laugh more. “
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “Have a tender heart.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “In Unity and there is strength.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “It’s okay just to be.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “Every day is a clean slate.”
Here are today’s Words to the Wise. “You can’t buy friendship.”
