Month: April 2012

April 29, 2012 – Snow White & the Codependent Queen

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4/29/12 Rev. David McArthur

Snow White symbolizes a part of our spiritual growth. She loses her parents (the knowledge of who we really are). We lose this as we grow up and our feminine (feeling) side follows false outside values. “Mirror, mirror…” The Snow White part of ourselves is the beautiful, pure experience of touching the divine in our soul, and the harmony of recognizing the beautiful qualities of those around us. If we look without for the world to tell us we are right, then we have conflict when we find out we are not “the fairest”.

But you cannot kill the soul. So Snow White is sent into the forest (our subconsciousness); we cannot see what’s in there So we stay with what we see “out there”. When we feel we are “not good enough”, we send our Snow White part into the subconscious (the forest). We give over our authority to the wicked Queen. That which we value most highly in ourselves, the ability to touch the beauty—the divine—is suppressed.

When you choose that which is right for you, you come into conflict with your culture, your outside values, and “the wicked Queen” brings a poison apple. Not everyone’s poison apple is the same. Anita Moorjani, was born in India into a society which devalued women. To survive she became a people pleaser. She wrote, “I…feared this approval. Everything I did was for others’ approval, not my own. I lost myself. The fears were the poison.” When, literally, her poison (cancer) was killing her, she had a near death experience. Transformed, she was cancer free in days. What was found, she said, was that “I am magnificent!…Love, joy, ecstasy, and awe poured through me. I was swallowed up and enveloped in more love than I ever knew existed.” What frees the Snow White in us from the forest is the love. The Prince is our ability to focus, which, as the Prince, you command. And as the Prince, you give permission by acknowledging your need to be lovable and to be loved, and we discover we are loved!

Repeat, “I am lovable. I am loved. I am love.” Yes you are! And when you know that, you create that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after!”

April 22, 2012 – Giving and Receiving Love

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4/22/12 Barry and Joyce Vissell
Giving & Receiving Love

“Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.” (23rd Psalm)  God loves us so much! It is something that is with us throughout our lives. Death is our final adventure. In it, God has planned for us the very best. But we live in DOD– denial of death. Death, however, is an experience in holiness.

Many years ago Joyce’s mother came to her and said, “When it’s my turn to die, I want you to be excited for me. I know you will find a way.” She said it would be the greatest gift her Creator would give her. Recently, it happened. Over the weeks, the Vissells learned death is nothing to be afraid of. It is a beautiful time of life. It is not the enemy, but to be embraced as an adventure. Louise, Joyce’s mother, told them, “I love my dying process so much!” Amidst all the pain, she focused on receiving God’s love. “I didn’t know I could love so much!” She was overjoyed to see and talk with Joyce’s father, who had passed years before.

It’s about love; living in love; giving and receiving love. Even a lifelong outspoken atheist is known to have declared with her dying breath, “Love is the answer!” Whoever has loved you in your lifetime– they still love you! –without the body, even more. They are there. People we’ve known are all helping us. Take time to talk to them. Ask them for help.

We live in denial of death. Rather than dread death, live knowing your loved one could pass suddenly. Live each day with this “knowing” and love and appreciate them when you are together. Expect the unexpected all the time. Don’t be surprised.

When the moment of Louise’s passing finally arrived, Barry said he felt it. He let go of his “office consciousness” and sank into the heart. He said entering her room was like “entering a cathedral, a most holy place.” He entered with reverence and thought she was already dead. Suddenly she shouted “Merry Christmas!” (it was the middle of summer), “Look at all the lights!” Louise had received her greatest gift. The Vissell family had found a way to be excited for her. Dying is as holy as birth.

April 15, 2012 – Happiness Through Service

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4/15/12 Rev. David McArthur

There are cycles in our spiritual growth where we need to be filled up, to be healed. We open to Spirit and let that divine love flow to us, in us. The next part to know is it keeps on flowing when we give it away. Albert Schweitzer said, “The ones among you who will be truly happy are the ones among you who have sought and found how to serve.”

Grace was a vibrant young co-ed when she came down with polio. But she met and married a wonderful man, a delightful being, David. The polio kept them from having children but they felt the need to give. They opened themselves to adopting an “unadoptable” child. Eventually they had seven children of all colors and special needs and made a wonderful family. Unable to personally care for more, they created an adoption agency for other such children.

Grace is a paraplegic. David lovingly gets her up every morning and places her gently in her wheelchair. She is unable to do anything from the shoulders down, but she said, “Yes, I can care for a child.” Surely she had no plans to raise seven, each with special needs, but they brought them into a home where they’d be loved. She wrote, “I was overwhelmed by the wealth that was ours.”

Through service we experience the fulfillment of joy and happiness when we open to divine love. Mahatma Ghandi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself through service to others.” We each reach a point where we are ready to expand. The way to expand that life and energy that flows through us is to give.

Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

That tremendous gift you have to let the light which you are flow not just to you, but through you, means everyone of us can experience that deep fulfillment and joy simply by letting it flow through us in service to others.

April 8, 2012 – Awakening

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4/8/12 Rev. David McArthur

“Awakening”

Spring! New life! —then there’s the resurrection thing. Some of us are skeptical; some need to know how it happened. Well, He did it as the Son of God—and so are you Sons and Daughters of God, as He is “The Elder Brother”. In Unity we recognize He went before. That means there is something in there that you can do.

Anita Moorjani, born to a Hindu family in India, was raised in Hong Kong. She went to Catholic school and was exposed to many cultures in Hong Kong, and grew up to become a professional. Then she developed cancer. Not wanting chemo, she looked elsewhere for healing. But the deterioration continued to advance until she went into a coma. Her doctor was shocked how close to death she was. She had only a few hours to live. Anita “awakened”, feeling no pain, but could not communicate. Bt she felt finally awakened, her soul finally realizing its true magnificence, expanding/awakening to a greater awareness of total love greater than anything imagined. She knew she could go further into this experience of radiant love and freedom, or she could return to her body, sick and full of pain. Then she knew there was a purpose to her return. “I learned who I really was and recognized the true magnificence of who I really was.”

She is not an exception—you too are that magnificence. You are holy, like Jesus. That’s who you really are! Affirm, “I am magnificent!” Take a hold of that amazing power! Anita went back to heal in not months or weeks, but days to be cancer free. “I understood my body was only a reflection of my internal state.”

Is that what went on for Jesus? He might have realized how magnificent He was and how that power was His and He could step back into that body knowing that magnificence! Anita was cancer free in four days! That’s resurrection! It comes from knowing who you are. When you know that—your body, your relationships, your finances, your creativity reflect that magnificence. “I am magnificent!” You truly are! Happy Easter!

April 1, 2012 – Street Spiritual…I Am Love

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4/1/12 Rev. David McArthur

It is our connection with God which takes care of us—that love that is God, that love that you are. However, you do have to deal with things and people who don’t seem to know you are spiritual. But since God is good all the time, even those things are good. Still, the mind wants to sort through things, so we do blame and guilt; we feel shame and failure, no matter how spiritual we are. So when you don’t feel good about something, it’s the “me” that needs the help. Deal with yourself instead of the situation.

Focus on divine love. You can go from anguish to overwhelming peace when you connect with that spiritual presence and power. Emma Curtis Hopkins said, “Everything is really full of love for you. The good that is for you loves you as much as you love it. The good that is for you seeks you and will come flying to you if you see that what you love is love itself. All people will change when you know that they are love. We shall change toward all people when we know that we ourselves are formed out of love. All is love. There is nothing in this universe but love.”

When we are in the place where we are not experiencing our connection with God, when we are really attracted to who’s responsible, who’s guilty, who’s to blame, who’s right, it takes a few steps to get that connection. First remember “I am lovable!” Even when you’ve done your best to mess it all up! Second, acknowledge “I am loved!” You cannot do anything to not be loved. That’s the only power you don’t get! You are a beautiful, radiant child of God!

Third, there’s just the love. You are the love. All that you are is love. It’s what you are. And you are the creator of love. That’s what we’re here to learn. That’s our journey—to find out there’s just love. That’s all that’s real.

Say, “I am lovable. I am loved. I am love.”

Yes you are!