"Lift your Eyes Up and SEE"

A few years ago Dave and I went snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park located in Key Largo in the Florida Keys. This is a beautiful underwater playground where you go out on a two and half hour snorkeling tour and play in the warm waters among the coral reefs.

In the midst of the waters you come upon a statue of Jesus. His head and his hands are reaching upwards and fish swim around and through his outstreached arms. After about an hour and a half of snorkeling, the captain sounded the horn signaling us to return to the boat.

As I reached the boat's ladder and brought myself up and onto the deck of the boat, suddenly I felt dizzy and my stomach was turning summersaults. The first mate told me this was a common experience for a lot of people, and he gave me a bottle of water and told me to tilt my head up and keep my eyes looking up and onto the horizon, above the water until the feeling passed.

This was indeed the antidote as the queasiness passed away.

There is a spiritual Principle here: To lift the focus of our attention above any situation or concern, to lift it upward, Godward, onto the horizon and give thanks.
Jesus always lifted up his eyes and gave thanks; he lifted up his hands and gave thanks, he lifted up others and gave thanks; he lifted up little children and gave thanks.

When we lift our eyes onto the horizon, the queasiness passes, as the fear lifts. What emerges is a sense of Faith, a sense of gratitude, a sense of peace and love as we realize: We Are an integral part of something much Bigger, grander, glorious, we are the twinkling, blinking, colorful expressions of Christmas Light.

Shine On!
Rev Janice

"Many Decorations, One Message"

Coming back from a breakfast meeting this morning, I was driving down Bayshore, which seems to have the most "blow up" Christmas decorations of Santa, reindeers, and snowmen. Of course, being the daytime they were collapsed into piles on the lawns.  Our subdivision also seems to have many blow up Christmas decorations including bears and the polar express train. There are very few "traditional" decorations of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manager.

A friend sent me a link to a youtube song, called "Where's the line to see Jesus." It's a nice song actually, yet it brings up for me, anyway, a tinge of expectation that one needs to worship a person called Jesus in a certain way. And I am sure that many of us have seen the bumper stickers that say: "Keep Christ in Christmas."

Now, I love the nativity story; and when viewed spiritually, I can see how Mary, Joseph and Jesus lives in us. For fun, let us see how Santa, the reindeer and snowmen also live in us.

Santa is our heart's generous desire to give and receive gifts, eat cookies and drink hot chocolate; reindeer are our strong and fast luxury vehicles that can move us above congested traffic with one upward kick off; and snowmen, well, to me, they are about relationships. Their button noses and eyes made out of coal sure make me remember being dressed in layers of leggings and scarves, hats and gloves, rolling the snow, with the help of my friends, into as big a ball as we could manage to lift.

Decorations, whether they be traditional or contemporary; whether balloon type blow ups or made from plastic, whether they have a religious or secular theme, really all have one message in common to share.....

"Be of good cheer"
Peace
Rev Janice

Thanksgiving

"Be a Parade of Thanksgiving"

Dear Unity,
One Thanksgiving Day, long ago, when I was eight, I was part of a baton twirling majorette group that included many of my closest friends. We were invited to walk and twirl our batons in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We were so excited and thought it was the best thing in the world!
Now the parade was not the Macy's Parade in New York nor the Hudson's Parade in Detroit; No, this was a local community parade put on by area Service Clubs and held in beautiful downtown Mt. Clemens.
Bands from local high schools, Chappawa Valley, Clintondale, Lans'Cruse walked in front of the floats made by the high schools and Service Clubs and the reigning school kings and queens rode in the backs of convertibles.
Clowns walked the streets while making balloon animals and trucks followed them filled with local politicians and their families waving and throwing candy as they went past.
Then near the very end of the parade just in front of Santa being pulled on a tractor and wagon was us; a group of aspiring majorettes, twelve eight year olds dressed in short blue dresses with white fur trim, white tights, white boots, hats and gloves, all freezing.
We tried valiantly to twirl our batons as the wind whipped our faces turning our noses red and tearing through our not warm enough uniforms. But we did not care about the cold, for all along the route our attention was captured by cheers and waves from our families and many from the community who lined the two blocks wrapped in warm coats and blankets.
The whole parade lasted about three hours but the memory of this parade continues to live on in me.
This Thanksgiving remember everywhere we go and everyone we interact with, we are creating in them childhood memories. May you help to create memories filled with gratitude for family, friends, community and the unlimited possibilities that compassion, love and attention nurture in children of every age everywhere.
God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving
Rev Janice

Thanksgiving

"Be a Parade of Thanksgiving"

Dear Unity,
One Thanksgiving Day, long ago, when I was eight, I was part of a baton twirling majorette group that included many of my closest friends. We were invited to walk and twirl our batons in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We were so excited and thought it was the best thing in the world!
Now the parade was not the Macy's Parade in New York nor the Hudson's Parade in Detroit; No, this was a local community parade put on by area Service Clubs and held in beautiful downtown Mt. Clemens.
Bands from local high schools, Chappawa Valley, Clintondale, Lans'Cruse walked in front of the floats made by the high schools and Service Clubs and the reigning school kings and queens rode in the backs of convertibles.
Clowns walked the streets while making balloon animals and trucks followed them filled with local politicians and their families waving and throwing candy as they went past.
Then near the very end of the parade just in front of Santa being pulled on a tractor and wagon was us; a group of aspiring majorettes, twelve eight year olds dressed in short blue dresses with white fur trim, white tights, white boots, hats and gloves, all freezing.
We tried valiantly to twirl our batons as the wind whipped our faces turning our noses red and tearing through our not warm enough uniforms. But we did not care about the cold, for all along the route our attention was captured by cheers and waves from our families and many from the community who lined the two blocks wrapped in warm coats and blankets.
The whole parade lasted about three hours but the memory of this parade continues to live on in me.
This Thanksgiving remember everywhere we go and everyone we interact with, we are creating in them childhood memories. May you help to create memories filled with gratitude for family, friends, community and the unlimited possibilities that compassion, love and attention nurture in children of every age everywhere.
God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving
Rev Janice

Lessons of a swan

There is a graceful black swan that lives in our subdivision. She glides up and down the stream that runs behind our house.

She often hangs out with a family of ducks, who have clearly adoped her. She is well fed by the stream and also the neighbors who come out from their homes to visit with her and throw her bread.

I have heard, and conventional wisdom says:
"It is not good to feed wildlife," And I have read many signs saying "Don't feed the wildlife."

The reason, I have been told is because it makes the wildlife depend on humans for food and they need to care for and find food for themselves.
Now if this were an alligator, I would have no problem following that advice.

But as she glides along, she is beautiful, regal. She honks when she sees you, as if to say "hello." Her tail feathers waggle as she dives her head into the water for the crumbs that fall around her; and if a fish or turtle grabs the crumb first, you hear her hiss.

But when the last morsel has been swallowed, she glides away, without looking back.

Maybe she is teaching us a Swan Lesson:

Yes, we need to learn the lifeskills to care for ourselves
Yes, we need to accept gifts from one another
Yes, when it is time to leave, we need not look back, but carry the grace of this swan with us in our heart.

Blessings,

Whole Foods

I remember growing up and my mom insisting I eat my vegetables.  Those brussel sproutes could sit on that plate for hours, I wasn't gonna eat them, or I'd be happy to help ship them to Ethiopia or wherever they needed to go. 

Today we are much more aware of the nutritional value and benefits of eating in a more healthy way.  Staying away from fast foods, processed foods and loading up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains.  You can feel the difference in eating fresh veggies.  After a while your taste buds come alive and eating an organic tomato reminds us of childhood and what tomatoes used to taste like.

We are what we eat, and whole and fresh foods are a better grade of fuel, but  to take that deeper, you can eat as many whole foods and grains as you like but if you have deep seated anger, resentment  or are holding erroneous beliefs, those thoughts will eat you up. 

That is why the best whole food we can eat is the manna from heaven,  which is to get in touch with our higher self or God self every day.   It's not enough to eat healthy and then hold thoughts that we are less than;  You don't have to go anywhere or do anything to "get" wholeness -  it is under all the getting  and doing. 

We feel whole when we let go of any pretense, any mask, any trying and just read a story to a child; when we just play with our dog;  when we just water the flowers.  Life is in the "Just" doing something for the simple pleasure of doing it.  When we "just" do it, wholeness surfaces like a friend who never left.   

Chickens

Growing up, my best friend, Debbie's grandparents lived on a farm in Michigan.  During the summer, they would visit them, and I occassionally went also.  To my eight year old eyes they lived and worked a big farm.  It had a large vegetable garden, dozens of cats, dairy cows, pigs, dogs and chickens. 

Her grandfather, wore the blue denim uniform of a farmer and seemed to be endlessly working on a tractor.  Her grandmother was small and round and  seemed to spend her time going between the clothes line, baking, cooking and canning.  There always seemed to be a pie cooling on the window ledge, while she also stopped everything to take care of the cars that honked when they wanted service at her outside fruit and vegetable stand.

One morning, she gave us a basket and shooed us out of the kitchen, telling us to go to the chicken coop and bring back some eggs. Her grandpa told us to be quick about it though as those chickens were just plain nasty.  Excited and dizzy from the heady smells of the barn and the chicken coop in back we had the idea that one of us was to distract the chickens while the other snatched up the eggs.  Yes, they squacked and pecked, but I thought it really was because they were trying to protect their young.

Recently I read an article in Mark Nepo's book Finding Inner Courage, that chickens peck at each other when they don't get enough light.  For many years farmers thought that it was the "nature of chickens" to be nasty, as they were loners and couldn't mingle.  Come to find out, they are nasty when they are cooped up in small spaces and live without much light.

I think our nature is similar.  If we don't allow ourselves time to bathe in the light of love and to refresh ourselves with good food, sunshine, open air, exercise, and building relationships with one another, we start to peck; first at ourselves and then at each other. 
Blessings, Rev Janice