Spiritual humorists say, “Be careful what you ask for, because everything unlike it will show up!” Have you ever experienced that yourself? For example, you claim more love in your life and then you notice your moments where BEING loving is just hard! Similarly, I’m mindful of picking my subject titles carefully because I know that they will "work" me throughout the week.
Spiritually enlightened people can just be annoying at times. Have you ever told a story and one of those pesky people says, “well, you know, ‘it just is what it is’”? There goes my intention to have only loving thoughts!
Rumi suggests that we entertain these moments that arise within us as if they are “unexpected guests.” Welcome them all! For, they just may be clearing you out for some new delight. (The Guest House)
I say that this is Life loving us. It’s a perfect feedback system that reflects just what we are to accept and forgive within ourselves. Life is always FOR us and never against us, clearing us so we may accept what we say we want.
My e-blast message last week entitled "How Is Your Practice?" joked about how Unity folks are just so darn happy. Why is that? Because we know that as we practice these annoying little sayings in our lives it does eventually lead to contentment, happiness, and a faith and trust that all things ultimately work for good for those who love the Lord. What is the Lord? It is the I Am of our being, the Christ within. These uncomfortable moments that arise are the very moments when we get to choose to align with Its thought system, with the Voice for God-Love.
As I embarked upon my 500 mile walk across Spain as a Pilgrim along the Camino de Santiago Frances, I claimed that I was going to be a Happy Pilgrim throughout the journey. The first day is arduous as you cross the Pyrenean Pass along a 16-mile hike with a net elevation gain of about 4500 feet. It was a beautiful day, and I was filled with such joy and happiness on those first few steps of the 40-day journey. As the day progressed, the weather shifted to high winds and torrential rains. I was alone, afraid, and unfamiliar with my gear in a foreign land. The inner voice was filled with death and doom. As things got progressively worse, I remembered my claim of being a Happy Pilgrim ... no matter what. Here was my chance to prove this.
In my moment of remembering my high happy resolve, the Voice of our teaching dropped in.
“The wind and rain are just clearing you for some new delight.”
“It is what it is.”
“Acceptance is the solution to all my perceived problems.”
“I am a lover of what is.”
Then a big laugh came over me and I was just tickled. This was the genesis of the René “Oh Goodie, Goodie” theory. Though I thought I just might die on that mountain, here was my chance to choose in the face of death to be a Happy Pilgrim.
Around this time of year, our resolutions and new names we claimed 40 days ago begin to fade. The "dust and grit of the journey" takes its toll, and we may begin to forget the radiance and resolve that inspired us. (Howard Thurmond, The Moments of High Resolve).
What was that new name you were going to dedicate your lives to, that one word in our Love poem? Remember it now. Recommit it now.
This Sunday, we will unveil our Love poem and remember the radiance that inspired us with a word, a quality, a name that the very voice of Spirit, the I Am of our being, dropped into our awareness.
Together, we remember our moments of high resolve. We continue our practices. We let The Way of the Heart remind us to be Happy Pilgrims, trusting that all things are simply clearing the way for our greatest next expressions in our lives and in this beloved community called Unity Renaissance.
I am honored to journey along this pilgrimage of spiritual awakening that is filled with Peace, Love and Joy as we transform our lives and transform the world.
I Love You,
Reverend René