The Highest God and the Innermost God: One God, Sunday Service

In this moment, I hold the greatest expectancy that the entire Universe is conspiring for my good and I act like it. My every thought and action is blessed with the firm knowing that everything that happend in my life is the unfolding of my highest good.
And So It Is!

I feel so used.

How can I serve today? 

There are times in our life when we feel really useful. We may feel everything is going well, we have direction, we have connections, and we are being called upon by others for assistance. These are the times to reflect upon the idea of being used.

Some of us do things out of guilt or obligation. Some of us do things because we believe it would really benefit another. Some of us do things because we really feel we have to make a name for ourselves. If we take a step back and look at ourselves through eyes outside of ourselves, we may find a clear answer to our purpose and place in this world.

Being used, in a Spiritual sense, is remembering that the I AM presence, God, Spirit, is moving through us. We are a beacon, a channel, a direct source from Spirit through to our actions. When we allow God to move through us, rather than making things happen, the actions can come with grace and ease. The idea is to remember throughout our day to continue to ask, "What is moving through me today?" "How can I be of service?" "Use me where I am needed most." These are all statements/ questions that will bring us closer to a realization we seek.

Also, when we understand the way of Spirit moving through us, it is easier to know we are not alone in this world. We have the Universal Consciousness which is working together for our collective good. When we allow Spirit to use us, we not only experience the benefit  to the recipient but the benefit to ourselves.

Today, when we go about our day, ask ourselves, "In what way is Spirit expressing through me today?"

photo: Rodney Brown https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosneybronze/

Praise Fills Your Consciousness With God

"When God fills your consciousness, results naturally occur." Petra Weldes

Have you ever experienced a moment of grace? I believe it is the feeling that Wordsworth wrote about when he wrote Pippa's Song:

"THE year 's at the spring,
And day 's at the morn;
Morning 's at seven;
The hill-side 's dew-pearl'd;
The lark 's on the wing;
The snail 's on the thorn;
God 's in His heaven—
All 's right with the world!"

When you see the world through the eyes of Divine Love, you will see only the qualities of God -- Beauty, Truth, Love, Joy and Freedom. You have a feeling of well-being, a feeling of greater good unfolding. You can let go of needing to make something happen and simply make welcome the good that is already surrounding you.

When there seems to be something missing in your life, it is natural to wonder how to fix it. When we first learn that thoughts are things and that our beliefs become our experience, we attempt to change the negative thoughts to positive ones. This is not a bad practice but it does not get to the Power Source. It is like taking a candle into a darkened room which will be illuminated but if one flips the switch the room will be flooded with light.

It is the same with our consciousness. Positive, life-affirming thoughts are much better than fearful,hateful, depressive thoughts but to fill the whole being with light requires saying yes to the ideas that are God's thoughts. One way to multiply the God thoughts you have in a day is to purposefully keep a gratitude list. Rev. Bruce Fredenburg suggests that we make a list of 100 things each day for which we are grateful! all the while you are searching for things to be grateful for , you are not dwelling on the problems, issues or concerns that might have been part of your experience. What you put your attention on grows. then tomorrow you will have even more things to appreciate.

When you are filled with appreciation and praise, God fills your consciousness. Start right now. What 100 things are you grateful for today?

Remembering Spiritual Truths in San Clemente

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks earlier. ~ Wikipedia

I am always struck by how the topic for today from the Joyous Living Journal matches what is going thru my head before I get out of bed in the morning to write my blog post. "Remembering Spiritual Truth" is the title for today, and we are reminded that the most powerful spiritual practice is more than sitting on our meditation cushion in the morning and seeking the Presence of Spirit. The most powerful spiritual practice is taking Spirit with us throughout our day. Knowing that we are the Voice, The Hands of Spirit on Earth as the song says, in our every action and reaction. Like the butterfly who's wing beat can start a hurricane on the other side of the planet our interactions with those around us can show the power of our God Qualities as we personify them.  If we think about how we are living in this way, everything we say, everything we do becomes a prayer and matters.

Even the smallest act of kindness will reverberate across great distances and spans of time -- affecting lives unknown to the one who’s generous spirit, was the source of this echo of good. Because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage, years later, and far far away. Likewise, each small meanness, each expression of hatred, each act of evil... ~ Dean Koontz

Contemplation: What are some of your favorite spiritual principles and truths? and more importantly how will you personify them on this day? Because You Matter.

You Are The Wings Of Spirit On Earth

Affirmation: Spirit is all there is, in every situation, person or event, I remember a spiritual truth in any moment of concern, worry or doubt.

And So It Is! 

Who is God?

"I Believe in God" by Rev. Judee Chapman

Every Sunday morning, we read the Declaration of Principles together as a congregation and ......... every time I repeat those words, my faith is restored. To me, the first statement of Truth, "I believe in God", is the most powerful and makes me think...... 'hmmmmm' Who is God? This Wednesday we will explore what 'God' is and why we believe it is 'The Thing Itself'.

The next declaration is " the One Creative Intelligence"... etc. It appears to me that this Intelligence is within us and that we can create what we put our attention on in our life. We will discuss the 'creative process' and how we create our experiences through these dynamic spiritual laws.

Declaration of Principles

I believe in God, the one Creative Intelligence operating through the Universe and operating throughout my entire being now and always. I believe this perfect Creative Intelligence can be used by me and by every other person, to produce health, abundance and love, in mind, body and total life experience. I use it now, and I rejoice in it. And so it is!

Who is God?

KGOD: What station are you listening to?



Tune into the Love of God

 

Imagine listening to a radio station, we select the content we like to hear based on the push of a button.  Take that image and instead of radio waves, place your thoughts in those call letters, station numbers.  When we are tuned into the Love and Light of Spirit, we hear a wonderful stream of good thoughts.  From those thoughts we experience life with eyes of ease. 

Sometimes we catch ourselves on a different station and wonder who changed the channel. Remember, we are the ones who select our station.  We are the ones who can change it.  When we do get around changing the channel, the world has a different meaning.

Once we tune into KGOD, events that seem miraculous will begin to appear.  It is not uncommon to have circumstances that seem to be "coincidental" happen.  In our line of thinking, there is no such thing as coincidence.  Events that occur in one's life are in direct alignment with the thoughts which one is tuned into.

If we find ourselves out of sorts, it is time to pray and meditate.  Being still, and allowing the flow of the self to fall away, to expose the True Self is a conversation in Spirit.  If there is a longing in our heart, there is a longing in our Soul.  Quench Soul's thirst with the taste of meditation.  The connection experienced in meditation is far beyond a verbal conversation we have as humans.  The conversation in Consciousness with Self is a transcending moment, which puts us exactly in the space where "coincidental" events become the norm.

To experience meditation join Center for Spiritual Living, Capistrano Valley every Sunday morning at 10:00am. Meditation occurs just before the service at 10:30am.

Up to Know Good

Mom, Heather (with a far-off look in her eyes), sister Cheryl 

Intuition is your inner architect. What if you heard someone declare loudly, "You are up to know good, aren't you?" Audibly you could not distinguish the homonyms "no" and "know." Depending upon the speakers inflection or feeling tone, you would probably think you were being scolded.

When I taught junior high school, if the class was too quiet, I knew that something was afoot, someone was up to no good. Of course I understood life in terms of rules, right and wrong behavior, choices, etc. But since coming to this teaching the lines are blurred. Because I know that God or Good is everywhere present, the best thing someone could say to me is that I am "Up to Know Good." I am living on purpose and living following the stirrings of my soul.

Just like the junior high students would get quiet, you and I need to get quiet, to still our busy minds and our bodies, this is required to Know Good. When I began meditating, I had the erroneous thought that there was a "right" way to do it. I would try so hard not to think about anything. I would be so intent on doing it right my body was filled with tension. Of course, nothing can happen in that atmosphere. All I was able to do was to know God as struggle. But since God could not possibly struggle, I was using the holiness of the I AM unwisely. When I remembered the quiet expectancy of the evening of my spiritual awakening, I realized that I had begun my spiritual journey by getting still to "know Good."

Some of you know my spiritual awakening story, and if you know it, skip to the end of this blog. When I was a young woman, in my early thirties, I was quite cynical. I believed that "religion was the opiate of the people" and was not for me. I was too smart. (Haha!) I had just started teaching again after a two year interruption to prove myself in the real world. I was living in a huge old house, built in the early 1900's. I was newly married for the second time. My sister and her boyfriend were living with us.

One Saturday evening, in early September,in addition to the four of us, my girlfriend from Calgary and a new neighbor, recently moved from London,had a dinner party. We barbequed steaks,with all the fixings -- baked potatoes,corn on the cob and ceasar salad. The wine flowed freely. None of us had to drive anywhere that night. After dinner while we were sitting around sharing stories, our new neighbor Hayley, asked if we were interested in the supernatural. We all had some curiosity. None of us had any religious convictions that this was bad or wrong. She had a Ouija Board which she brought over. We started playing.

We relaxed and put our hands lightly on the board. Then as if powered by something unseen,the cursor flew around that board. We all looked at each other suspiciously. Who was making this happen? It was delivering a message to me, the great skeptic. It answered some questions. The big question I had was, "Did I know the man who recently shocked me with an obscene phone call? Did I know this person? What reason would he have for doing such a thing?"

The Board told me that the call was from my first boyfriend, one that I had throughout highschool and first year college. When asked why would he do it? the Ouija Board answered with a group of letters, that we determined was a French word. It was still a mystery but was going to get cleared up in a few days. My sister was studying at a French immersion college and she didn't know the word and asked her professor who also didn't know but later found the word in a French dictionary. It is obsolete and hasn't been used in common usage since the 1100's! What does it mean? It means to reclaim what was once yours, as in claiming an indentured servant. I didn't find that out until later that week, but after the revelation of why we decided to ask, to whom are we communicating. The answer was God! Now, nothing could have shocked this smart-aleck, know-it-all agnostic more than the word, "God."

For the next few weeks all I could do was to attempt to recapture the feeling of playing that game, to get back to the consciousness that allowed the Divine to speak to me, and me to listen. My greatest desire was to Know God. I was often "Up To Know Good!" and have been most of the time since then.

What is the Divine Masculine?

Sunday is Fathers Day. It is a day to honor our dads. My intention is to honor men -- God knows they have had their fair share of  ragging on, dismissing, distrust and jokes about their unworthiness, their lack of compassion or their brutality. Yes, there are some brutes out there! I will concede that point, but there are so many good men too. As I was researching the Divine Masculine (which is part of both women and men) I realized that even the men that scare me have redeeming qualities. And maybe being scared isn't all it's cracked up to be! The six archetypes of the Divine Masculine are God, King, Sage, Lover, Warrior, and Priest. We all can develop these qualities.  The Divine Masculine is the part of us that chooses, initiates, causes things to happen. It is a very important part of our spiritual make-up.

Lela & Gordon Clark, and Neil & Geraldine Burrell

What I really want to write about is my father, Gordon Douglas Clark. Most readers of this blog may not have met him.  He made his transition twenty years ago, but continues to influence my life today. It has been said that our parents' job is to develop both roots and wings in their children. Roots so they will remember what is important and wings so they can look after themselves. 

Dad was the youngest child in a family of three boys; the oldest became a geo-physicist, the second a dentist and my dad was a teacher. These men loved ideas and when they were together there would be  much laughter, not joke telling as much as story-telling about themselves and their friends. They all loved language and were always quipping and playing with concepts. 

Dad also loved to sing. One of the highlights of my childhood was family car  trips because the whole family would sing for hours. Later when I learned to play piano, I learned those old standards that the family loved to sing. Then finally, when dad's Alzheimers' had robbed him of his quick wit and logical thinking, I made a cassette tape for him that contained all the old standards that he loved to sing -- "Let me Call You Sweetheart," "Side by Side" and dozens of others. Although I lived nine hours away, I could participate in our family sing-alongs. My sister would take it to the care facility and they would enjoy an evening of singing.

He was a very good dancer, but I could never follow him!

Gordon & Lela dancing

I have many favorite memories of my dad but the one that is heaviest on my heart today, is getting a letter from him offering me support when I was nursing a broken heart; it seemed to me that I was often feeling abandoned and rejected by the ones I loved. Dad wrote the sweetest note, quoting Tennyson, "Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all." I was in my thirties then and I had not expected that kind of kindness and love. I guess I had expected outer voices to match my inner tormenter, who was yelling at me for choosing such a scoundrel in the first place.

There are so many stories I could share about my dad. He passed twenty years ago this August. I miss him still. So much of who I am came from my dad.

What are your special memories about your father?

My family 1979

My family 1991

My family 1961

Depression and the God connection

Seeing the Light in darkness.

This past Sunday's talk: "With God as your carrier, you're never dropped" lead me to reflect on depressive thought.  Because, even in the midst of a depressive thought, I'm never dropped.  No matter when, why, how, what, or why, God is always within me.

Looking back at my youth, I remember spending a lot of time alone with my huge imagination, my thoughts were my company.  Even in college, spending time alone at the beach was heaven.  I loved being alone and never thought anything of it.  Then in my mid-20's I started to notice an unhealthiness about it.  Though never clinically diagnosed, it appeared to take a form of depression.  I started to rely on my huge imagination to convince myself to get out of the house.  It seemed to work, however, I thought of depression as something inside myself that was not welcome, it was a bad thing.

After many years of cultivating Spiritual awareness, a revelation came.  The same power in my mind that has the ability to create thoughts of depression is the same power in my mind that has the power to create thoughts not to be depressed.  I took all the teachings I've had and looked at depression in a new light.  Depressive thoughts may be something inside of me.  What if I honor that part of me?  What if I greet it, acknowledge it, and let it know that whatever it is, it has no power over me?  The reason is my connection in God.  I know God and I are One, I know prayer & meditation work, I know all that I need is within me.  With this knowledge I am comfortable with personality traits within myself.  Depressive thoughts can come and go; I acknowledge them, bless them and send them on their way or use them in a creative purpose. 

In a conversation with ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ author Matthew Quick , by Patrick Ryan.
Quick states, "If I didn’t have depressive episodes, I wouldn’t be a novelist. When I wrote this book, I had been living in my in-laws’ basement for two years. I was unemployed and felt very alone. I hope this book helps people feel less alone, too.”

Connections lives We Touch Now and Then

When I was a little girl I had a crush on all my uncles. I had an especially big crush on my uncle who was only two years older than me. I probably followed him round on family gatherings and giggled a lot in his presence. As far as I knew, he didn't know I existed. For many reasons, after I moved to the United States in. 1993, we lost touch.

My uncle and his wife, en route to cruise Hawaii, were in the area a couple of weeks ago. We got together for lunch. We spent a delightful time together catching up on thirty years of living!

Two surprising things I discovered were that he told his wife and friends that I was a great public speaker! That was a surprise since I was certain that he didn't know I existed. He didn't know I could talk, what's more speak in public.


Secondly, he said that he had had a big crush on me! What a shock!

Here is my point. I had a greater impact on my uncle than I ever imagined.

You are also more powerful than you now know. You are touching more lives than you can imagine. When you live from a conviction that you do matter, the world listens. You can help create a world that works for everyone simply by letting your heart light shine, see the good in people around you. Let them know that you see them, hear them and value them.

It reminds me of a story a girl cried out to God, "god, the world is in such a mess. People are broken-hearted, lonely and afraid. God, please do something!" And God replied, "I did. I sent you."