Meister Eckhart, a Christian metaphysician said:

"If you do nothing, truly nothing, God cannot help but come into you. If you leave, God can enter."

We call ourselves in Unity the path of positive practical Christianity, practical spirituality. How then does the above quote by the Meister make any practical sense?

When I was a young mother with two small children, I used to read the latest child care theories. I also drew on the experience of my childhood, doing what I considered to be good parenting and promising I would not do what I thought unskillful.

One day when my son was grown, he gave me a Mother's Day card which read "I know you wished you had found Unity when we were young, but I want you to know I could not love you more."

What I've come to realize is when we put down the theories, leave the past, dismantle our structures of how things should look, we leave the ego, the sense of a personal "me" and what we discover is God/Love rushes in and moves us to care, nurture, and love.

Happy Easter,
Rev Janice

"Abide in my Word""

Dear Unity
"If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
(John 8:31-33)
What are the words you are abiding in right now?
If we are practicing spiritual principles, we set our intention and our attention to looking for the good, as Saint Paul advises us in
(1 Thessalonians 5:18) "Give thanks in all circumstances."
When our four year old granddaughter Emily was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, I am reminded of what my beautiful daughter, Jill, said as she and her family walked through a year of doctors, weeklong stays at the hospital to have chemo treatments and then her daily trips to Boston for proton beam radiation treatments. She said "We will face this as a family. For now, this is what our family is doing."
Her intention and attention was focused on being with her family and living life fully. So, after treatments they treasured every moment by going to the museum or for a ride on a swan boat or ice cream treats. Jill created a lovly book, "Emily's Story,"which shows Emily's spirit beaming from her eyes.
And in the midst of this crisis, her family and her community and even people as far away as Australia were abiding in the idea, in the vision, in the word that the Spirit in Emily was healthy and whole, and she was receiving the best of the best medical and spiritual treatment possible. We were so thankful we lived in a time medical treatment is as advanced as it is today.
How then can we live when we are faced with seemingly impossible situations?
I invite you to take a lesson from Emily. She cried when she cried; she slept when she slept; she watched Nemo and other movies dozens of times; she played with her big brother and little sister when she could; she played doctor with her mom and her dad and her granddad and nana and grandma, and aunt, taking tumors out of all of our heads and each of her dolls.

In other words, she abided in life.

This April Emily turns six and her little sister, Amy, four. They plan to visit us here in Florida. And we will celebrate this little girl with her smiling eyes and beautiful curls.
I give thanks to you, my Emily.
I am grateful
Rev Janice

Dear Friends,

I had a wonderful conversation with a friend this morning; we were enjoying the taste of some freshly brewed coffee while listening to catch the meaning and emotion behind the words.

Communication is like driving down a two lane winding roadway. Our heart's first response is to wait and listen, knowing one cannot pass (speak) while the other is speaking and you must pace yourself by keeping behind the words.

Our minds first reaction is like that of a racehorse biting it's bit at the opening gate. It is as if the words in the story turned into a horn, and our mind takes off because we have run this course before.

How then can we engage the wisdom of our heart to listen and the wisdom of our mind to keep us detached from the story?

John Maxwell Taylor says in his book, "The Power of I Am" to practice Body Centered Spirituality. One way to remember yourself is to place your attention in your toes, feet, arms and legs and then move it upwards, centering behind the navel.. Then, if and when we do respond, the words travel up through your body and have a rich resonance.

This is also called "Listening Lowly," and allows the depth of the meaning to reveal itself at the very moment we taste the sweet underlying tones of the hazelnut in the coffee.

Communication moves from being a quick fix to tasting a full bodied, aromatic and delicious cup of communion.

With this Cup, I am
Rev Janice

"ASH WEDNESDAY"

From ancient Egypt comes the story of Anup, who lived in the dark and empty reaches of the earth. We are told his voice rang out, " I am the preparer of the way of the other world. I am the power making straight the paths to the upper realms of heaven." We see this divine mystery play out years later, only the role is played by John the Baptist in (Matthew 3:3) and his lines were: " Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near...Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

Here is the Esoteric key to understanding Ash Wednesday.

You are an eternal spiritual being , the beloved expression of the One life. You are unconditional love and you are loved unconditionally. You know this and have sensed the allness of God, as Eric Butterworth says, lives in you, as you.
And then one Friday afternoon, along with your check you are handed a pick slip, saying "your services are no longer required." You may go through your drill "I have faith that God is in charge." But there is that "practical" part of you that says "Look at my age, no one wants to hire me." And there we are on our knees before the God of lack, running off with the gods of negative energy saying "I am afraid, worried, at the end of my rope."

The problems and appearances seem solid and real. This is not to minimize the challenges we face but is to maximize the power of the principle.

Today let us cast ourselves in the role as Anup/John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Christ; Let our voices call out in the wilderness, "Repent, I am the preparer of the way of the other world." In other words, "I am willing to shift, reframe and refocus, my attention on my intention to co-create something that makes my heart sing out Yes."

Ash Wednesday is for you to use esoterically, and realize this Divine Mystery plays out in us. Take this Ancient Wisdom that came into the world along with humanity to help us lift our eyes up from the physical, animal, horizontal plane, and as our Co-founder Charles Fillmore did, "call into manifestation our world according to thy perfect law."
You get my drift. Come inside, but before you enter, wipe the dust from your feet.

Happy Ash
Rev Janice

"Mindsets"

My dad was a master builder and in England he was considered an architect; His style followed the Modernist expression and he would say that form was only beautiful if it was functional and ornamentation hid poor workmanship. This mindset expressed itself in streamlined and functional designs of homes and furniture he built with integrity and no frivolity.

My mom, on the other hand came from parents whose shop, Gurnhill's nestled on a corner in downtown Grimsbey baked and sold cakes and tarts, pies and puddings piled high on excessively decorated tables surrounded by displays of silks, wools, beads and baskets filled with ornamental ribbons, buttons and bows. She loved texture, gems, frills, fragrance and flowers.

These two cultural mindsets sometimes collided over the purpose of giving birthday or Valentine's gifts, cards and flowers. But through the neutralizing and harmonizing aspects of love, mindsets learn to honor and create a third more eclectic one. Perhaps this is the meaning behind the story of Jesus healing the blind man.

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus replied "Neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world" And the Teacher healed him.

The way we live is an act of worship. We heal our hearts and souls as our mind turns away from believing there is only one right way to worship and sets on SEEing and experiencing the unconditional love that emerges when praying in monk-like austere fashion to celebrating elaborate, ornate and carefully crafted rituals, to crafting an article, rocking a baby or watering flowers.

We heal our blindness by being still and know "I am God."

Be well,
Rev Janice

"War of the Gods"

As I drove back from breakfast with a friend, I saw a marquee on a Pawn Shop that read "The gift of jewelry = Love." What surfaced for me was the paradox life holds that one of us was faced with having to "pawn" something while another one of us could purchase a treasure and give it to a loved one.

Paradox plays out everywhere in life. We must develop within ourselves the capacity to be present with sadness while at the same time rejoice with another.
If we cannot hold the paradox of life in our heart, our head thinks we must shoulder the responsibility and make it 'right' for all, condemning us to the fate of the Greek God Atlas.

In the story, the Titans and Olympians were at war over control of the world. Atlas, the leader of the Titans, along with his brother Menoetius fought against the Olympians, led by his father Zeus and his other two brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus.

In other words, this was the "original" family feud

The Olympians won and Zeus condemned Atlas to holding up Uranus (the sky). This feeling of needing to shoulder responsibility is universal, as the photo above shows a statue of a Greco-Buddhist Atlas. Our Atlas qualities surface when our heart is not content for our mind is hovering over a hurt.

The key to releasing ourselves from "holding up the sky" lies in understanding God does not take sides; God loves as the sun shines and the earth renews in its season.

We bring peace to the Titans and Olympians within us, as we are able to hold the entire world in our hearts, the sadness and the joy, for we understand Love is not in the jewelry, the home, the job, the relationship itself, Love, Life, God is experienced in between the giving, the receiving and the letting go.

Put down the sky, and receive a spiritual Valentine; a realization that Centered in God, all is well with the world and the Gods.

Happy Valentine's Day
Rev Janice

"Sunrise "

I love to walk the beach in the morning and watch the sun rise turn the sky from dark to dawn to the clear break of day. Feeling the waves splash against your legs and the sand beneath your feet slip from under you, calms us like a lullaby, creating in us a sense of wellbeing. This renewing experience is not only found at the beach; it is found everywhere.

Everywhere, as Mark Nepo says, in "The Book of Awakening," that we allow ourselves to live slowly.

When I was recovering from a car accident, I was forced to live slowly. Yet what I recall most was the appreciation I had for being alive. I recall the kindness of friends, family and strangers who supported me in every way imaginable. Not only did front row parking spaces show up when snow covered the ground and elevator doors open as I approached, I noticed that in living slowly I stepped into endless moments of Seeing and Tasting the miracles of life.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says: "The miracle is not to walk on water, the miracle is to walk on the green earth dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling deeply alive."

Living slowly allows us to see that we, as creative "Godlings" have come to breathe in the morning, noon and eventide air while we play in the sand; Our breath anchors us, allowing us to birth from the ocean of Being the song, the recipe, the report, the birdhouse, the blueprint.

Every moment we stand at the shoreline of Being. Can you feel the life force pulsing? Your attention, like the sun rises, and the fog lifts. Before you appears an idea, an image, a note.
Shape it, mold it; play it, appreciate it and release it.

Like the sand as it slips from under us, another miracle has come to pass into and through you to bless our world.

I Am
Rev Janice