Blessing My Bills? Yep!

When Rebecca decided to facilitate a book discussion on "Even Mystics Have Bills to Pay" in March and April earlier this year, I decided to participate. There was a group of us who showed up on six consecutive Monday nights.

"Even Mystics" is subtitled "Balancing a Spiritual Life and Earthly Living." The gist of the book for me is when I know that God is my Source and a consciousness (or awareness) of God is my supply I am taken care of. The book was written by Rev. Jim Rosemergy and consists of twelve chapters in three Sections plus Section Four is A Forty-Day Guide to Prosperous Living. I first finished the book and then on June 1st I began making my way through the Forty-Day Guide, not getting hung-up on proceeding literally over 40 days.

Today I'm writing about Day 29 in the Forty-Day Guide. It is titled:  Today I bless my bills and their payment. Rosemergy writes:

"When we are rich in Spirit, we pay our bills with joy. When we are poor, if we pay our bills, we often do so begrudgingly. The power company has supplied us with electricity for a month, allowing us to live in relative comfort and to do things associated with modern living, but we resent having to pay the bill. We have so many current needs, and what about tomorrow? We reluctantly mail the payment but wish we can use the money for another purpose. This attitude and behavior are signs of a consciousness of lack, a belief in a limited supply and fear of tomorrow. 

Many people have begun to pay their bills in a different way. In the lower left-hand corner of their checks where "For" is imprinted or on the bills they return with payment, they write, "Blessings" or "Thank you, God." They have received a service, so they give thanks. This does three things. It acknowledges God as the Source, expresses joy rather than resentment when paying bills, and establishes a giving state of mind. These are chief ingredients in the heart of a prosperous person."

Yesterday was bill paying day for me. Actually I had two bills and one membership to pay. The instructions in the lesson were for me to "write a simple blessing that expresses an attitude of thankfulness. Hold each bill or invoice or payment between your hands. Hold your hands prayerfully and speak aloud the blessing you have written. Do this whenever you pay a bill until thankfulness is a natural part of your way of being."

I wrote: Thank you, God within, for this organization and for the ability to easily and comfortably pay this bill or membership or gift. I am so blessed and I am so grateful.

I had never looked at my credit card bill or any of my bills in quite this way. I realized I am very grateful for the vet who takes care of my doggies, for the grocery stores where I buy the food and other supplies for my home, and for the service station that supplies the gasoline for my car so I can drive to my appointments, to visit friends, to attend meetings and many other things. These are just a few of the companies I appreciate that show up on my credit card bill.

I choose to be rich in Spirit and I pay my bills with joy. Thank you, God within.

~ JEAN

SILENT UNITY AND UNITY'S FIVE-STEP PRAYER PROCESS

SILENT UNITY

Do you know about Silent Unity?

Silent Unity, the worldwide prayer ministry of the Unity movement, has been praying with people seeking spiritual support for 125 years. It is a 24/7 prayer ministry—which responds to prayer requests via telephone, postal mail, online, or via the UPray mobile app—and it serves people of all faiths from all parts of the world. 

Silent Unity prays affirmatively, believing that God is everywhere present and active in and through all lives, and serves with sensitivity, compassion, and confidentiality. From the moment a prayer request is received, the sender is lovingly enfolded in prayer. After a response has been provided, the prayer request is placed in the Silent Unity Prayer Vigil Chapel (at Unity Village in Missouri), where prayer is continuous, for 30 days. 

In the sacred space of the Prayer Vigil Chapel, all prayer requests are enfolded in prayer. Here someone is praying 24 hours a day—praying as a kindred spirit, in a consciousness of oneness with God.

The ever-shining light at the top of the Chapel is a reminder that you are never alone—not even in your darkest hour. Silent Unity is as close to you as a prayer. It is the light that shines for you!

The Silent Unity prayer ministry is supported primarily by freewill offerings.  Every prayer request is held sacred and confidential and receives the same loving attention, regardless of donation or ability to donate. No matter how you contact Silent Unity, you will first receive personalized prayer and then a letter of support.

To contact Silent Unity, click here for contact information.

UNITY'S FIVE-STEP PRAYER PROCESS

Are you familiar with Unity's five-step prayer process?  Prayer is a means by which to commune with God.  This Five-Step Prayer Process is designed to help enrich your experience and your awareness of the Divine Presence.

1.     RELAXATION – Take a moment to relax your body.  Get comfortable in your chair.  Rest your hands gently in your lap.  Bring your attention to your breath.  As you breathe in and breathe out, imagine a warm, white light streaming in through the top of your head and gradually filling your being down to the tips of your toes, as all tension and stress leave your body.   Breathe in light, breathe out tension.  Breathe in peace, breathe out stress. 

2.     CONCENTRATION– As you continue to breathe slowly and deeply, let all thoughts melt away and turn your attention to God.  You might like to use a mantra to help you stay focused.  For example: “Breathing in, GOD IS.  Breathing out, I AM. “   In Unity, we use prayer as a way of becoming more aware of God’s presence in our lives.  In prayer, we let go of our wants and needs and seek only to expand our consciousness of God.

3.     MEDITATION – In the silence, become aware of the feeling of God’s presence.  Let that Holy presence envelop you and support you.  Imagine that you are breathing in and breathing out in synchronicity with the breath of God.   Attune yourself to that Divine energy.  Rest in this sacred space for a while.

4.     REALIZATION – In the stillness of your soul, know with certainty that you are One with God.  Allow this realization to permeate your being.

5.    THANKSGIVING – Give thanks for the awareness that you are One with God, that God is all-knowing, all-loving, ever-present and fully active both in you and as you.  With gratitude, affirm "Amen."

~REBECCA

Not Letting Doubt Stop Me

The most profound experience for me during Lent this year was the slip of paper I drew from Rev. Carmela's basket in mid-February. My slip of paper said:

"Doubt: Believe God has a plan for you that is beyond anything you could imagine. The future is brighter than you could ever realize."

I've been studying about Fear and this reminder about Doubt was perfect both in content and in timing for me. I keep a copy by my desk at work and in front of my keyboard in my office at home. Every time I read it, I say to myself; "Oh yea! Don't let doubt get in the way of you doing this or that!"

Here's one example: I had an opportunity to go visit my sister who was babysitting her grandson who had a liver transplant at age 6 months. Now he's a year and 4 months old, in the 30th percentile of weight and he has about 10 teeth. The only time I had seen him in person he was in a hospital bed and couldn't be picked up. The one "hurdle" for me was to figure out how to take public transportation "all the way" to Brooklyn and back home.

I said to myself (after looking at my reminder on Doubt): "I can do this." I had handwritten directions with the right subways to take. On Wednesday,  April 19, my husband took me to the bus in Clinton. An hour and a half later I was walking up the steps to Stanley's apartment. My sister Nancy and I had about three hours together with Stanley before I retraced my steps and another hour and a half my husband was picking me up at the bus stop. Everything went smoothly and even faster than I expected.

I think about doubt stopping me from having that day and I am so grateful I didn't let it.

At the end of Lent, on Easter Sunday, I chose this affirmation:

"My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:2

As I studied with Rebecca's class on "Even Mystics Have Bills to Pay" by Jim Rosemergy, I resolved and am willing to know in my highest soul-self that God is my Source and Consciousness of God is my Supply. So my affirmation is just a reminder of that resolve.

I began working the Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up hints again this week. My office continues to need my attention. At the same time, I am dealing with a couple minor health issues with as much calmness as I can muster. I just continue to not let doubt stop me and to know that God is my Source and my consciousness of God is my supply.

I'm so grateful ...

~ JEAN

Vacation Envy

This week is Spring Break week for the schools near my home, and for the past several days I have been looking at pictures on Facebook of my neighbors and friends and their families in warm, sunny places like Florida, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos, and Mexico.  Today, as I was taking my morning walk and thinking about how envious I am of those who are traveling this week, I realized that I actually had a gnawing, awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I was physically uncomfortable thinking about how much I longed to be resting on a beach or frolicking in the rain forest like the people in the photos.

I just finished facilitating a 6-week book discussion course on Even Mystics Have Bills to Pay by Rev. Jim Rosemergy, a longtime Unity minister who is currently pastoring a church in Fort Myers, Florida. Rev. Rosemergy is a mystic at heart, which means the underlying theme in all of his teachings is that rather than seek material things or particular circumstances in our lives, we should put aside our earthly needs and turn our attention to seeking God.  By trusting that an awareness of God's presence is enough and by cultivating such an awareness, he says, we will find that all of our earthly needs are met.  With these teachings fresh in my mind as I walked along the edge of the pond near my house, I asked myself if God could be enough to satisfy my longing.

It's funny to watch where my mind goes when I am attempting to alleviate my own discomfort.  My initial thought was that I wasn't willing to let go of my desire to be traveling.  I didn't think that a consciousness of God could be sufficient to quell my craving.  This, along with a nagging fear that I might never have the means to travel the way I'd like to, made me feel even worse than my initial feeling of petty jealousy over the Facebook photos.

Thankfully, my next thought was to ask myself, "What is it that this type of travel represents for me?  What am I really yearning for here?"  My answer to that question was simple: I am yearning for some time to rest; I am yearning for a change of scenery; I am yearning to experience something new; I am yearning to have fun with my family.  Once I had distilled my hunger down to these basic terms, I asked myself again - could God be enough to satisfy my longing? And this time my answer was "yes."  I decided I could trust that in seeking God and God alone, my longing for rest and adventure and fun might be satisfied.  It might not come to me in the form of a vacation to Costa Rica, but I am willing to let go of my earthly desire and seek God and see what happens.

~REBECCA

Impermanence

One idea that is becoming clearer in my mind as I get older is the idea of impermanence.  The nature of life is that things are always changing.  It was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said, “We step and do not step in the same river twice.”  I remember reading this quote in high school and being in awe of its cleverness.  “Of course,” I thought - because the water in a river is always moving, when you step into a river the second time it is not the same water that you touched when you stepped in the first time.  So true.  Like the water in a river, life is always moving and changing. 

 

It wasn’t until recently, though, that my understanding of the idea of impermanence began to have a positive impact on my experience.  Eric Butterworth in his book In the Flow of Life says, “life comes to pass.”  At first glance, one might interpret that to mean that life happens or life transpires.  But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that what Butterworth is driving at is that life comes for the purpose of passing.  In other words, in life, situations and circumstances come and go, and things don’t stay the same, and this is exactly how life is meant to be.   The sooner we get on board with this idea, the easier it becomes to get into the flow of life.

In her book When Things Fall Apart author Pema Chodron makes the case that the majority of suffering for human beings is caused by their tendency to be constantly striving to get “solid ground” under their feet, when in truth in life there is no such thing.  The ground is always shifting and changing.  In Buddhism, impermanence (or anicca) is recognized as one of the three characteristics of existence. The Buddha taught that because no physical or mental object is permanent, desires for or attachments to either causes suffering

I find lately that as I go through my days, this idea of impermanence is really beginning to sink in.  While I don’t enjoy the idea that my loved ones will not always be with me or that the happy circumstances of my life are only temporary, I do notice that accepting this truth brings a suprising sense of peace and calm.  I also notice that I get lots of comfort from understanding that many of the negative circumstances of my life will eventually pass and that I don’t have to get too wrapped up in them or give them too much attention.

When I look around my house and I see shoes and clothes and books and my children’s other belongings strewn from one end of my living space to the other, it’s easier for me to relax in the face of the mess and remember that there will soon come a day when my children are no longer living in my house and that this particular mess is only temporary and I can focus more of my attention of enjoying my children while they are still living in my home.  

When I am feeling stressed about finances and I find myself wanting to focus too heavily on the struggle to make ends meet, I can remind myself that this too shall pass and then it becomes easier to relax and enjoy the things that I have rather than agonize over the things that I don’t.

As a person who craves routine and has always tried desperately to bring order and regimen to her life, I would think that this idea of impermanence would bring tremendous discomfort, but instead I am finding as I get older that embracing the idea of impermanence brings joy and a sense of freedom that I have never known in all of my years of trying to keep things under my control.

~REBECCA

Belly Breathing

I just completed a five week study which Rebecca facilitated of Thich Nhat Hanh's book Fear. Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm. It was terrific and I recommend reading the book.

Here are two "practices" that have

been very helpful for me. You all may already know about deep breathing to calm yourself. I did too. TNH has a section on what he calls Belly Breathing. As you know, I've been dealing with fear lately. I've found belly breathing more successful than I ever expected at calming my fears - whether I'm in traffic, waiting in line or at odds with a dear friend.

The other internal message I have found extremely helpful from the book is this acknowledgement: I am fine right now. No matter what's happened in the past or what might happen in the future, I'm fine right now. And I also know that I will be fine no matter what.

As you probably can guess, there are quite a few more practices in this wonderful little book on Fear. But I wanted to share these two because they worked immediately for me.

So the next time you're stressed, give yourself 10-20 minutes, belly breathe and know "you are fine right now."

~ JEAN

Power of the Year

On a recent Sunday we showed the movie: The Sound of Unity: The Twelve Powers. Each of us was encouraged to wear the color of our chosen power. Ever since I read the meditation on Imagination in the Advent booklet, Imagination has been the power I intend to concentrate on in 2017. So on that Sunday I wore the sweater pictured here. Only after I put it on did I realize that the sleeves deepened the meaning of the 12 powers in my life for 2017.

The blue in the sweater could be Imagination and Faith - I'm open to that. The light green in the sleeves is Strength; the gray (silver) is Will; the purple is Power; and the brown is Release. I'm open to all of those too.

From the Advent booklet:

"Imagination: Today I pause to imagine the life I AM led to live for myself, and for the world. I know this vision is mine to achieve. I blend my Imagination with Faith and Love, and I express the Power to create new possibilities."

"Strength: I AM One with infinite Strength. I express that strength with love and compassion as I move through a day of creative opportunities."

"Will: I AM One with the Will that achieves its purpose through me. Free of all reluctance and resistance, I joyfully undertake the work that is mine to do."

"Release: I AM always in the flow of infinite spiritual energy. All that I need today flows to me now. All that no longer serves my spiritual purpose flows easily away."

All of these meditations guide me and encourage me to do what is mine to day each day - to make each day count and, ultimately, to make this year an amazing, growing experience.

Coincidentally - whoops, there are no coincidences - Unity's 2017 Theme is "Unleash Your Divine Potential."

I hope the same for all of us.

~ JEAN