Second Sunday in Lent- 2016 – Imagination

Imagination is the ability to image, picture, conceptualize, envision, and dream. In order to change conditions in our mind, body and affairs, we must first transform the pictures we are holding in mind.  If we don’t like the conditions we are attracting, we can change them by building new images with the eye of mind, our faculty of imagination. We imagine the life we desire and focus our thoughts and actions to bring it into manifestation.  

When I think of the word imagination, the first the first things I think of are dreams, imaginings, or made up things.  But it is much more than that.  It is also using our minds to create realities.  This year my Cadettes (6^th graders) in my Girl Scout Troop are working on an anti-bullying patch called the BFF Patch (Be a Friend First). The goal is to help them feel safe in school, online and everywhere in between; build confidence to deal with mean girls and cliques; and develop healthy, positive relationships.

For their homework (because we don’t have enough time during the meetings), I’m asking them to consider what the world would look like if all girls treated one another with kindness and respect and no one was bullied – at school, online, or out in the world.  They love making videos on their phone; so I want them to create a public-service announcement (PSA) video that tells us what that world could look like and how we can get there.

This is going to take imagination and they will have to reach deep down into their consciousness by answering some serious questions about what bullying is before they can create their videos.  I think they are up for it.  After all they are Girl Scouts and say at each meeting the Girl Scout Promise and Law.  They have the training and qualities to be resourceful and creative.

GIRL SCOUT PROMISE:

 

On my honor, I will try:

to serve God and my country

to help people at all times,

and to live by the Girl Scout Law.

THE GIRL SCOUT LAW:

I will do my best to be,

honest and fair,

friendly and helpful,

considerate and caring

courageous and strong, and

responsible for what I say and do

and to respect myself and others,

respect authority

use resources wisely,

make the world a better place, and

be a sister to every other Girl Scout.

 

This is my 24^th year as a Girl Scout.  My life would not be the same if I had not been a part of the Girl Scouting experience.  When I was young girl growing up, it was the one constant that kept me strong.  As a teenager and young adult I never imagined that I would accomplish so much including earning the highest award at the time, The First Class. Later as a young mother, I enjoyed being my own daughter’s Girl Scout leader and now I’m in my sixth year as my granddaughter’s leader.  Using creative and imaginative ways I serve my highest good and that of others.

“Long live Girl Scouts.” ~ Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts, 1912

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lent 2016 – Day Ten – Power

We are the power of God within. We have the power to be and do what we want to be.  The power to control our thinking is the highest gift mankind has been given.

 

I remember the first time I said out loud that I would not ever let anyone have power over me.  I was walking along the track at my junior high when my P.E. teacher yelled at me and my friend to run.  At age thirteen, I was skinny, uncoordinated, and not in the least bit athletic.  We had run for what seemed forever and the heat and humidity of that day seemed overwhelming.  I believed in my heart that I could not run anymore.  My teacher come up from behind us and instead of encouraging us with positive reinforcement or urging us with empowering words, she belittled us and continued to embarrass us.  Something snapped in me and I just stopped and I started walking.  When I got to the gate, I walked back to the gym and got dressed in my school clothes.  I’m not sure I passed my physical fitness test, nor did I care.  It was a wonderful feeling to say out loud to my friend never again. And I stuck to that the rest of my life.  What I did learn from the experience is that power can be misused and only I can decide which way to use it.  I chose to use my power from my heart.

Power comes from within.  I am not alone. I know that power is a spiritual tool that leads me in an abundant life.  We live with the truth that all power comes from love.

“I use my power to manifest the life I want.” ~ Rev. Paula Mekdeci, Unity

Lent 2016 – Day Nine – Love

Yesterday’s 2016 Lenten theme was Love. The Rev. Evelyn Foreman writes, “Like the sun, love’s joy is pure, nourishing, and continually giving.”

Susannah Conway challenged me to find heart-shaped objects or just hearts.  Love is a theme for the month of February.  Hearts, flowers, Valentine cards, and chocolate candy all have a common thread – love.

Finding the hearts has not been easy.  I have a beautiful book by Connie Smith, a cancer survivor, entitled “Never Lose Heart; hope for the journey.”  It is filled with photographs of hearts and inspiring poetry.  Slightly intimidated, I have begun my search.

 

I found: a cut paper lamp shade that has been a bedside table lamp for years, a Pennsylvania Dutch print wedding announcement, a gift from my parents;  a Pirkenhammer tea cup, originally from Czechoslovakia in the 1800’s that belonged to Mark’s grandmother;  a drawing by my granddaughter Lexi; a signed and dated poster of the Canton (MS) annual Flea Market showing hearts on the clown’s face; and a heart-shaped frame of my precious dog, Speck who shared 16 years of his life with our family.  All these heart shapes are symbols of the love that lives in my heart. (Excerpt taken from my Facebook Musing.)

 

“Love in Divine Mind, is the idea of Universal unity.  In expression, it is the power that joins and binds together the universe and everything in it.  Love is a harmonizing, constructive power.  When it is made active in consciousness, it conserves substance and reconstructs, rebuilds, and restores mankind and its world.” – Charles Fillmore

When we know the Truth we know that we are all one, that there is no separation whatsoever.  We learn by experience that love must be directed by wisdom.  God is kindness; God is love.  Loving-kindness is a word of rare compound.  Our greatest good comes in the welfare of all.  Divine love sees no distinction among persons.  When we even faintly realize the love of God, we begin to love our fellow man.

Love is more than gifts one time a year, it has no boundaries and knows no limits—it soars beyond strife or struggle.  And remember through love all things are possible.

“I am blessed by the overcoming power of love.”

~ Rev. Toni Stephens Coleman, Unity

Eight Day of Lent 2016 - Wisdom

I grow in wisdom through forgiveness and release.

Listening to my inner voice keeps me on my path.  I may get my divine messages from a dream, an email, while meditating, from something I read, and/or a conversation with someone.  Knowing that my messages come from God, I see it as pure light RADIATING through me and into my world.

“Christ within me is my glory.  The brightness of God’s presence wipes out all darkness, and I am filled with life and light.” ~ Charles Fillmore

The questions I face every day are not unlike so many others.  How will I react when I am faced with someone who “pushes my buttons”?  Can I go without judging?  Can I balance what I hear and what I say with what I do?  I trust my inner wisdom to make the right choices.  This is because Wisdom is the spiritual capacity of knowing the Truth.  And that which is will set me free.

I have a new Fitbit.  It’s not new, but new to me.  My granddaughter gave it to me.  She upgraded and offered me hers along with a dozen or so colored bands.  I chose the turquoise band because at the time it matched my turquoise fingernail polish.  But in truth, it goes with just about everything I wear and when it doesn’t, I don’t really care.  I like that it counts the calories I burn, the steps I take, the miles I walk and the amount of time I sleep at night.  It does more but I don’t have that programmed in yet.  I use it because it keeps me accountable.  This morning I got an email telling me I needed to charge the battery in my Fitbit and the instructions noted that it might take up to three hours to fully charge.  Bummer.  My husband and I had plans to walk the Mall in a few hours and I would have to leave the Fitbit at home.  Then I remembered I had a pedometer that I could use as backup.  I listened to my inner voice and let go of the concern and went about my morning.  When time to leave arrived, I noticed my Fitbit was fully charged.  It had only been a couple of hours; so I’m guessing it didn’t need a full charge.  I share this because it is a perfect example of an opportunity to get frustrated or disappointed.  Instead, my path was made clear.  Listening to my inner voice, I received two good solutions.  I believe that as we walked around the Mall I could actually feel myself becoming conscious of the Christ radiance.

“I awaken to the higher wisdom within me.” ~ Rev. Paula Mekdeci, Unity

Lent 2016 – Day 5 – Twelve Powers

The Twelve Powers are Unity tools for an abundant life as named by Unity founder Charles Fillmore.  He said, “These spiritual abilities were perfectly expressed by Jesus and are present in every person.”  These powers include: Faith, Strength, Wisdom, Love, Power, Imagination, Understanding, Will, Order, Zeal, Elimination, and Life.  Fillmore also saw the twelve disciples of Jesus as symbolically representing each of these twelve pathways, these twelve powers of the Christ.

February’s power is STRENGTH.  Andrew, brother of Peter, who became fishers of men was the disciple of Jesus that represents this power.  It means the ability to endure, stay the course and persevere.  It reminds us that we have the STRENGTH to do all that is ours to do.

“Through Christ the mind and the body of mankind have the power of using strength on various planes of consciousness.  I affirm that I am steadfast and strong in thought and in deed, and thus I am establishing strength in soul and in body. I refuse to let the thought of weakness enter my consciousness, but always ignore the suggestion and affirm myself to be a tower of strength within and without.” ~ Charles Fillmore

Last year my Girl Scout troop hiked on Lookout Mountain, GA.  We hiked a trail in Cloudland Canyon State Park, which is approximately two miles round trip to the bottom of the waterfall rising 90 feet.  I was amazed not only at the beauty and strength of the waterfall but also the courage and strength of my Scouts going the distance.  We sat on the rocks, poked sticks into the wet earth surrounding the pool.  It was the first time many had hiked much less seen a waterfall.  I sat back and watched with delight in their new discoveries.  However, our true strength came when we hiked back up the mountain.

The 40-degree slope going down wasn’t too bad, but going up explained why the hike is considered “strenuous.”  It was the 1,200 stair steps that almost did me in. About halfway up, I stopped and centered myself.  I know that I am stronger than any challenge; so made it back to the top of the mountain.

Every experience is our teacher and through these experiences, we discover new STRENGTHS.

Lent 2016 - Day Four - I AM

“I am a joint heir with Jesus to abiding life, wisdom, love, peace, substance, strength, and power.” —Charles Fillmore

Rev. Pat Veenema writes, “The ‘I AM’ presence in you is the same that was in Jesus. Your I AM is the spiritual perfection of the Christ Idea to which Jesus was completely awakened. You, too, can awaken to your I AM spiritual identity, and allow that presence to illumine your thoughts, words, and experiences.”

The I AM is both individual and universal.  We are all part of God and also part of the God-consciousness.  The real source of life is within us.  The I AM is the same in all men and women.  It is without limit in its capacity to express the potentialities of God.

Through the conscious and subconscious of Mind, we live, move and have our being.  It is easy to judge and act upon something positive or negative, but not so easy when it is happening without our conscious effort to make it happen.

Rev. Veenema also said, “I am in God, and God is in me, as me.”  I agree and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different.

When we bought our home there was one plant in the backyard, a burning bush.  Once a year the green leaves turn a bright red.  Eric Butterworth writes, “When Moses heard God speak in the burning bush, it was a knowing so clear that it was as if God was speaking to him. He was told to take off his shoes, meaning to let go of preconceived notions and to become as a little child.”  I look at my burning bush and I am reminded that my I AM is the Christ within me.  If I want to see my life through the eyes of God, then I have to remind myself where my real source of life is, within, and live that life with God.

Lent 2016 – Day Three – God

“God is good and everywhere present.” ~ Lent 2016, Unity

The Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Shepherd writes about the importance of seeing things from a higher ground and also the lower ground.  He writes, “Higher ground is everywhere—when women and men take a stand for faith and justice and open their arms to people from all branches of the human family tree.”

When I was a little girl, the most impressive place in the church, to me was the alter.  The brass cross, candelabra’s, huge white Bible, and sometimes flowers.  Growing up in the Episcopal Church, rituals and pageantry was a staple.  For a time, I helped my mother and other women clean the communion plates, polish the brass and pews.  We worked in a side room off the chancel.  I remember thinking the Alter looked so bare when we did our polishing.  I thought God wasn’t in the church unless the Alter was set up perfectly.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, LA

 

 

 

Of course I grew out of those feelings and even began to take the Alter for granted.  Then one day many years later, I realized that the Alter with all its beauty was just a symbol.  It is that place of consciousness where we are willing to let go of the lesser for the greater, to let go of personality and enter into individuality.  Today, I know God is not just on the Alter, but is everywhere present.  In the words of Charles Fillmore, “God as principle is the unchangeable life, love, substance, and intelligence of Being.”

Rev. Shepherd goes on to say, “Lower ground is the root system, telling me who I am and where I’ve come from and how to celebrate the joys and challenges that have brought me here, today.” Every day I make choices and every day I look for my greater good.  I do this by letting go and letting God live through me.  For me, God is very real.  God is Love, Wisdom, Intelligence, Power, Substance, Mind, and the Truth and I find God when inside me as Tennyson said, “Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”  I go to the Alter and find myself with God and I am grateful.

“There is only One Presence and One Power in the Universe and in my life, God the Good.”

 ~ Rev Pat Veenema, Unity

 

 

Magic Hour at Chickamauga Lake 001 by Janice Kennedy