Is Your Axe Sharp?

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. “That depends,” replied the foreman. “Let’s see you fell this tree.”

The young man stepped forward, and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, “You can start Monday.”

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by — and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your pay check on the way out today.”

Startled, the young man replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.”

“Normally we do,” said the foreman. “But we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place today.”

“But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!”

The foreman, sensing the young man’s integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your axe?”

The young man replied, “No sir, I’ve been working too hard to take time for that!”

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to “sharpen the axe.” In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

A few years ago when I was at Unity Village participating in interviewing and evaluating the current ministerial students, I had an interesting experience. I felt very disconnected from the students I was interviewing. This had not been my experience prior to that time.

On that particular trip I struggled to stay focused on what the student was saying during each interview. I had to counsel myself several times that this student deserves my utmost attention and wrestle my attention back to being present.

After each interview is completed each of us on the team writes our observations on an individual report sheet. We do this immediately after the student has left and without conferring with each other. At the end of our report we each individually score the student.

Writing the individual reports was quite different for me this time. The words didn’t come easily. What had I actually seen? How well had they’ve responded in response to our questions? It was difficult for me to decipher all of this I just wasn’t focused nor did I feel a close connection during each interview.

As I lie in my bed the night before I came home I was asking for some understanding about why this had been so difficult. The next day it became clear to me, I hadn’t consciously prepared myself going in.

We all have our schedules and know whom we’ll be interviewing beforehand. Normally I would take several opportunities to hold each person in my heart for a moment here or there. I also went to the poster with their pictures and took a moment to extend love to them as I looked at their picture. I would see them as bright, vibrant, relaxed, happy, and easily moving through the interview process.

I did none of that this time. I just showed up and moved from task to task.

What was my lesson from this?

I may be able to get the task in front of me done just by showing up, but it goes much better when I’ve prepared.

Let me read to you from Matthew 24:43-44, “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready.”

I did not keep watch (i.e. prepare). We must be ready when the thief appears. And we accomplish that by preparing beforehand. The thief referred to here, metaphysically, in my case, is my wrong mindedness, the idea that I have everything under control (I can do this; I don’t need help with that; all I need to do is show up). While that wasn’t my conscious approach it had to be my subconscious approach or I would have prepared ahead of time. When we go unconscious a thief appears; the thief of inner peace, of focus, of clarity; confusion and/or struggle reign.

I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been. Loss of peace and an increase in struggle was the price I paid.

In other words, I didn’t keep my axe sharp.

As far as my experience on the L & O went, I believe my peace wouldn’t have been stolen had I remembered to practice what I know works well; prayer, meditation, extending love, and staying conscious of partnering with God in my thought processes instead of going it alone.

How about you? Do you ever try to go it alone? I had a plan but I skipped the practice sessions.

So I urge you to dial it up a little bit and bring the awareness of God into your mind a little more than usual, and this is a gentle process.

There is a continuum of being aware of the presence of God: As you move along that continuum, take baby steps and keep the self-talk gentle. You don’t have to make a big spectacular of it.

Matthew 6:6 says, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” In other words just go quietly about your business.

Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity wrote about this: “The inner chamber is that quiet place within the heart. We are taught to center our thoughts within, and then to shut the door; that is, to close our minds to all other thinking and think about God and his goodness and love; to pray to God in secret, in the secret place of the most high, and all things needful will be added.”

I suggest partitioning off a spot in your heart that is reserved as sacred space. Don’t allow the ups and downs, the challenges of daily life to override that spot. That’s your secret place of the most high. That’s your sacred place to talk with God and listen for a reply.

Keep one ear open to that spot just like you would a child in another room, or listening for the beep of the microwave oven, or the sound of your letter carrier at your mailbox…

“Speak to him, thou, for he hears, and spirit with spirit can meet--closer is he then breathing and nearer then hands and feet.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

This is what the poet says to help us remember how close and loving God is. Speak to God in the quiet of your heart just as you would speak to a dear friend; tell the Father how much you desire to know him and to feel his loving presence go how glad you are to receive his blessings and to do his will.

Then be very still and feel God’s love which enfolds you.

If you are willing, that’s what I ask you to practice this week:

·        Speak to God in the quiet of your heart

·        Tell God how much you desire to know Him, or how much you love Him.

·        And how glad you are to receive His blessings and do His work

·        …and then listen in silence to the still small voice.

Keeping a sacred place in your heart that you consult regularly will serve you well.

Independence Day 2014

          We live in a great country. The United States of America is a great country. In 2008 we had a dramatic financial setback as a country. Today many people blame the original problem on the current administration. I disagree.

Today, people say the ongoing problem lies in the current administration’s policies.” I disagree.

Today, people say this is the worst financial crisis our country has ever seen and we probably won’t recover from it. It needn’t be so.

After July 4th, 1776, chaos broke out in this country. In 1787 our country was in such chaos that the thirteen colonies thought they were going to go down. The economy barely moved. Inflation was high triple digit. Jails bulged with debtors, criminals in those pre-credit card days. States waged vicious trade wars against each other. The total federal income in 1785 was less than a third of just the interest on the national debt. Printing presses flowed rivers of worthless paper money.

Many around the world believed that this was the end of the great experiment called the United States of America. A constitutional convention was formed. When these thirteen colonies came together, they were so disjointed that there was only one thing that could save them—God's Spirit.

Benjamin Franklin knew this. He was 81. He rose and spoke to the convention. He said, "I am convinced that scripture is right when it says in Psalms 127:1: 'Accept the Lord. Build the house. They labor in vain
that build it.' Gentlemen, I have lived a long time. I am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If the sparrow can't fall to the ground without God’s notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without God’s aid? I move, gentlemen, that prayer imploring the assistance of heaven be held every morning before we proceed with business."

Prayer is what this whole country was based on. It began with a dream—a dream to come to a country and be able to worship as you want to worship, to pray as you want to pray. It began with a dream to become whatever you wanted to become. After July 4, 1776, what happened to that dream? What is happening with it today?

Here we have a nation after July 4, 1776--disbanded, going down. America was looked at by other countries as buzzards fly over a dead animal.

Today when people throw up their arms and say, "This will never work. Our country will never succeed now," realize that God's Spirit is in the mind of every person in this great land. As hopeless as things have seemed in the past, when we allow God's Spirit to be working in our minds, the miracles come… and prayer activates our awareness of God’s Spirit working in our minds.

Author Lindsay Ferrigo says this, “We should work as though it all depends on us, and we should pray as though it all depends on God.”

God will give us the inspiration through prayer.

We will give the inspiration form through work.

Asking in prayer is important. Listening is too.

I have a relative who once said to me, “OK, you’re the minister… how come my prayers don’t work out?

“What do you do with the “information” you receive after prayer?”

“Waddaya mean?”

“After you pray, do you take time to stop and listen? After prayer are you alert to the thoughts that pass through your mind… ae you alert to listen for your answer… or to see a “sign” that gives you the answer you’re looking for?’

“No. Isn’t God just going to take care of it?”

Prayer is powerful. Listening is required.

Medical doctor, and author, Dr. Larry Dossey, conducted a 400-patient study in a coronary care unit on the power of prayer.  One group received traditional, state-of-the-art care.  The other group received the same care with one difference:  they were prayed for as well, he assigned the names to various Protestant and Catholic prayer groups throughout the country.  The study was a double-blind study.  Neither the patients, the doctors, nor the nurses knew who was being prayed for.

At the end of the study, the differences were remarkable.  The group prayed for, excelled in many ways—fewer deaths, fewer cardiac arrests, fewer requirements for mechanical respiratory support, a lesser incidence of pulmonary edema (the filling up of the lungs with fluid), and a decreased need for antibiotics.

Medical author Dr. Larry Dossey, has stated firmly that if prayer was a new pill being brought out by a drug company, it would be touted as the greatest discovery in the history of medicine.

Dossey thinks that the doctors probably should not only give out prescriptions for pills, but should also give a prescription out that instructs the patient to pray three times a day.

Doctors have pads of paper that have Rx on it. It says:  “Take three times a day.”  What IF there was room for a prayer or positive prayer affirmation, in your life, three times a day? Would things be different?

Dossey reports, that we do not have to be close to the person we pray for—praying in absence, works as well as praying in person.

Prayer does not lose its strength over great distances.  Everyone is right in the middle of God’s help.

Everyone is right in the middle of God’s help.

I would like to share a story with you. Dolphins and killer whales are natural enemies. They will avoid each other, but when they come in contact with each other, they will fight. They have a natural hate for each other. Yet, when the killer whale is giving birth, that hate is set aside. Dolphins, in an instant, realize there is a need, and they become midwives to the killer whale.

They form a circle around the killer whale during the birth process. The dolphins come together underneath the killer whale and lift her to the surface to breathe, when labor is so intense that she does not have the strength to lift herself. They keep sharks away that have been drawn to the scent of blood; and they lead the newborn whale to the surface for the first breath of life, and back to the mother for nourishment. When they see the killer whale in need, everything changes and love becomes the answer. They come together — in a gift of friendship.

In order for our country to rise out of this economic condition, the left and right must stop fighting each other and realize the need to let the spirit of God residing within their minds be what directs them; stop the close-minded fighting, let go of the idea that their ideology is the only way, ask in prayer for an answer as to their part in, “what to do next,” listen for that answer, do the work necessary to bring that inspiration into form. I believe our politicians need to come together through prayer and love of country as a gift of friendship and be the impetus to move this great country forward.

We, too, as individuals, must do this; stop the war within ourselves and let inner peace prevail. We, too, need to set aside our deeply held beliefs and listen for the guidance of the spirit of God, the guidance that is initiated in prayer and heard in meditation.

That inspiration, from prayer, will guide us on how to lead our lives.

What if an overwhelming majority of our citizenry affirmed in prayer that all is well in this great country because God is present and then allowed God’s Spirit to be active in our lives?

What if you prayed that all is well in your life because God is present and then allowed God’s Spirit to be active in your life?

Praying for others is powerful. Praying for guidance for ourselves, listening, and then following through on that inspiration is also powerful.

Peace follows prayer, acceptance, and application.

Let’s close with prayer: “I behold God’s Spirit in others, however challenging the circumstances. Everything and everyone is my teacher, and I open myself to the divine lesson I am to learn. If I am upset or disturbed, I pray: “Help me see this differently, God.” I patiently await divine guidance on what to say and do. I trust the still small voice within me to guide me in right ways to express myself honestly and lovingly, and to listen with an open heart. All is made clear and my relationships come into perfect order and alignment. Thank you, God, for the wisdom that leads to compassion and understanding.” Amen.

This is a great country, and you are a great soul living in the middle of God’s Spirit.

Prosperity Sunday 11 of 12

I’m just going to come right at you this week with what might be a tough question.  “Do you live according to the spiritual principles you say you believe to be true? (AKA, do you walk your talk?)

It is one thing to profess faith in certain principles… and yet another thing to live them. Do you walk your talk?

This is an important question for us to ask ourselves. Not just today, but from time to time as we engage in self-reflection.

“Walking” the law of giving and receiving brings to us a happier life experience.

That’s a pretty compelling reason to step back and let God lead the way.

I’ll come back to this idea of living from principle a little later.

The chapter we are reviewing this week from the book, SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS: THE PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF TRUE PROSPERITY by Eric Butterworth is titled, “A New Look at Tithing.”  

Here’s what he means by that. The practice of tithing—giving 10% of your income back to God—this whole practice and idea sprang forth and was instituted in the Hebrew Bible.

Let’s look at what Jesus and the writers of the Christian Bible had to say on this subject.

May we see our first slide please? (SLIDE IS BLANK)

They had nothing to say.

There is no reference to tithing (that is, the mandatory giving of 10% of income) in the New Testament or in Jesus’ teachings, and, Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing. It seems to me that if Jesus felt that tithing was a “must” for high spiritual unfoldment, He would have stated a clear position… or at the very least said something about it. He didn’t.

Butterworth tells us, “It is important to note that Jesus was very specific in His teaching of the law of giving (tithing falls under this law):

·        ‘Give and it shall be given unto you…’” (Luke 6:38)

Do these words mean anything to you or are they empty? We can read the Bible and there is an awful lot of sin, and guilt, and fear thrown at us. We can even read just those red-lettered words, the words ascribed to Jesus and find some questionable content. I believe that when you dedicate yourself to experiencing a greater understanding of the power and presence of God, and “how life works,” you begin to have a feel for some truth in and behind some words in the Bible and a feel for the baloney in and behind some of the words and ideas, too. I hope you’ll take in this idea of the law of giving and receiving and think about it.

·        “And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” Mt 4:24

And I say giving has to be done from the right consciousness…of giving selflessly.

Butterworth notes that it’s important to remember that we are not meant to give in order to get. Let me repeat that, “We are not meant to give in order to get. That is a demonstration that we have no awareness of how “The Law of Giving and Receiving” works.

Tithing as a material act (giving in order to get) is non-productive.

On the human level of consciousness, in other words, on the material level, we may emphasize “getting and having” as prime goals for ourselves. I suggest we’d be better off seeking a level of spiritual consciousness where we see the way of “giving and being” as the utmost of goals. (I am not talking about sacrifice. Feeling sacrifice is a red flag that would, hopefully, cause you to stop and consider, “What am I afraid of, why Am I doing what I’m intending to do?”)

Maybe radiate and be is a better way to phrase this. Radiance is the ever expanding Essence of the Loving Presence within. Radiance is this Presence made manifest in the world of physical thing.

Radiance is the Essence and Spirit of God. Radiating the essence and spirit of God is not done for reward, nor does it seek results, for it knows that fruition comes as a natural result of radiation.

This is what the law of giving and receiving is saying. This underlies what Jesus is saying, “The law is and cannot be otherwise. That which is, is without seeking, trying, striving, because… it is! Let’s not be fooled otherwise.

William James once suggested that the average religious believer had a religion made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, [defined through] fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit.

Let’s not be fooled by tradition, imitation, and habit.

I hope you will never relate to anything I say from this platform that way. I hope you will never take my word, or the “Official Unity word” as “gospel,” but that you’ll think about what’s been said or written, contemplate it, meditate upon it, connect with your inner guidance about it.

A minister friend tells this story about a member of the congregation he served and how that member was telling a story about when he was a boy on his
grandfather’s farm. His grandfather had a flock of sheep in a certain caged area. He called the boy over and he said, “I want you to watch what is going to happen now. This is a life lesson.”

He encouraged a ewe to jump over the gate. Then the grandfather said to the boy, “Watch this.” He opened the gate so it was no longer in the way of the sheep, but every sheep followed that first ewe and jumped over the gate that was not there. His grandfather said to him, “Son, throughout your whole life, I want you to think about what you are doing and why.”

Butterworth asks, “As you look around you at your spiritual community, ask yourself, “Do I want this to be here tomorrow, next week or next year?””

If your answer is yes, I suggest it requires you to personally understand, and live, through practice and faith, the law of giving and receiving…a law that works in consciousness. Consciousness then outputs into the world. This is a spiritual law; the more freely you give (un-reluctantly), the greater flow you create. (Mt 4:26)

This month I ask you to write the affirmation you find on your bulletin 10 times each day to help that idea take root in your consciousness. “I give way to divine flow.”

And we give way to (allow) divine flow by giving without agenda, knowing that the law works because the law is… and we give with gratitude. Gratitude keeps circulation alive.

Have a great week this week. Independence Day is on Friday. Celebrate responsibly! I love you, God Bless you.