Spiritual Solutions

In a poem called “The Explorer” one verse goes like this:

“There’s no sense in going further – it’s the edge of cultivation,”
So they said and I believed it; broke my land and sowed my crop,
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop.
Till a voice as bad as conscience ran interminable changes
On one everlasting whisper, day and night repeated so:
“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”

God has endowed man with the gifts of life, of wisdom, of creativity, of judgment – and with the tools of the material world around him. We are told, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.”  (I John 3:2)

Why? Because we are involved in a great experiment to see what we can make of ourselves. Despite the tremendous developments of the world around us, the only world that has meaning to each individual is the world within him or her. And he or she is the only one who can explore that world!

In the creation of humankind, each person is made just a little different from others. There are no carbon copies, so no one experiment by one person can give a stock answer that will benefit everyone. Each person must undertake the experiment for himself, to see what he can do with this thing that is within him – this thing called life, his life, his very own special gift from God, his own uniqueness.

We seem to be made up of flesh and blood, a hank of hair, a few clothes, and certain conditions and surroundings. We seem to be very much the product of our environment.

But while we are thinking these thoughts, along comes an Emerson or an Einstein, a Schweitzer or a Jesus, and all the world marvels at such people and says that they are not made of the same kind of stuff that you and I are made of.

This is where we are wrong, because in reality an individual will never discover anything outside himself greater than he himself is inherently. When you hear the words of great persons, or hear great symphonies, or see masterpieces of art, these experiences are awakening within you that which has always been there, something within you that corresponds to what the masters have done and are doing. In a sense, they are giving you back to yourself. This is one of the many adventures of self-discovery in the great experiment of life.

If you actually believe in a power greater than you are, you come to know that you, as a human being, have nothing to do with the processes of life whatsoever. You live, but you did not create your own life; you think, but you did not create your own mind; you are spirit, but you did not make that spirit.

All at once we are confronted with a thought so stupendous that it almost staggers the imagination: There is something in me that is greater than I appear to be! And that something really isn’t myself, as a mere human being, at all. It is something which is God expressing Himself as me, something which is me as God sees me, something which is limitless, all-powerful, all-knowing. And because this something is spirit, it is always experienced to the extent of my realization, my faith, my vision.

St. Thomas Aquinas once said that there are only three really important endeavors in life: to have faith in the right things; to hope for the right things; and to love the right things. That is our job – and to press on in the expansion of our consciousness, to increase our faith in the infinite power that resides within us as the self that is yet to be.

(This article is adapted from an 1976 essay by Rev. Eric Butterworth, The Explorer)

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Have you ever been excited about a project you had embarked upon, and then after putting your energies to it for a while realized that it wasn’t working out in the way you had hoped? You became discouraged, maybe continued with it half-heartedly but the bottom had dropped out for you and finally you gave up on it.

Didn’t it make you heart-sick, disappointed, disenchanted? What you hoped was going to be something you would make a success of turned out to be just another money-sucking promotion. You perhaps felt cheated, and stupid for being taken in again. How many times had that happened before?

This is what is called in Proverbs 13:12, “hope deferred.” In fact it says right there in that proverb, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”

You’ve experienced it, and perhaps sometimes you’ve caused hope to be deferred in the hearts of loved ones. Maybe your wife or husband or partner had been looking forward to some outcome you’d led him or her to expect, but then it didn’t happen after all. That was hope deferred, and it makes the heart sick. If it happens often, then the person loses hope entirely.

Perhaps you had promised your child or children something special that they were excited about, but then for some reason your promise was not fulfilled. That was hope deferred, and it makes the heart sick.

Some wise person has said that we ought not to promise a child something if we didn’t intend to fulfill that promise in the way we had led the child to believe. If it happens a lot for a child, it not only defers hope but often can limit the power of hope for that person throughout life.

Is there one among us who has never deferred hope for someone? I doubt it. We have good intentions, but sometimes don’t follow through. How about in our work life? Has hope ever been deferred for you by an employer who implied that you would soon be promoted or given a better-paying job? Or have you deferred hope for an employer who expected more of you than you delivered?

I believe we’ve all probably experienced hope deferred, and have all probably deferred hope in others without even realizing it.

The proverb says it makes the heart sick. That means a kind of soul-sickness, a shriveling up inside of ourselves which becomes a limiting factor in making real progress in life and in relationships.

But the converse of hope deferred holds tremendous promise. Here’s what the proverb goes on to say:

“. . . but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

A desire fulfilled, a project completed successfully, a promise delivered, a reward realized . . . is a tree of life!

Have you had the experience of that kind of fulfillment?

And if you have, didn’t it lead you on with renewed enthusiasm, with excitement, with greater desires and confidence that you could achieve them? If you’ve fulfilled any special desire or expectation of a loved one, hasn’t that person responded with joy and gratitude, with excitement?

So how can we fulfill our desires more readily and not defer hope for ourselves or others?

At the risk of repeating myself from a couple of weeks ago, I would suggest that you create a clear and precise vision for your most important desires or dreams, then for each vision to write down the specific goals, steps to take, and any tasks involved. In this way you will have a detailed roadmap to follow in the achievement of that vision. Go to my previous article on “How to Achieve Your Dreams” to see a more detailed outline of the process.

As you complete each task, each step, each goal, it will confirm the hope within you and move you ever closer to the achievement of your dreams.

Hope is not just a wish; it is a tremendous power within you. Hope is of the Spirit, it gives us an inner confidence to keep moving forward against all the odds. And when we have a roadmap to follow it doesn’t even matter if someone along the way defers our hope; we still have other steps we can take to reach our goals. Hope activates the Spirit within us which then brings right answers to us and guides us in right directions.

“Desire fulfilled is a Tree Of Life.” Each fulfilled desire brings new energy and new ideas. Just like a tree spreading its branches in all directions, a fulfilled desire generates other ideas and expanded dreams that would never have come to you without the fulfillment of that first desire. A tree of life is a thing of great beauty, birds (other ideas) rest in its branches. It provides shade when the sun (or circumstance) gets too hot for comfort. It gives a sense of belonging to the earth and a realization of purpose in life.

When you’ve been the agent of a desire fulfilled for someone else, it gives you great joy and satisfaction to see their delight and feel their excitement.

I remember when I first brought my family to the United States, my daughter Diane came running in the house one day to say, “Daddy, can I have a bicycle?” I said to her, “Diane, can you ride a bicycle?” “No, Daddy, but I can learn.” She was so excited; she had been playing with a little friend who had a bicycle and to have her own bicycle was a desire planted deep in her heart and mind. I said, “Well, Diane, I suggest you learn to ride a bicycle. Maybe you could ask your friend to let you try to ride hers. Then when you show me you can ride a bicycle, we’ll buy a bicycle for you.”

She ran out of the house to her friend and I didn’t see her in the house the rest of the day; she didn’t even come in for lunch. Every so often I would peep out of the window and would see her wobbling along, falling off, hitting a tree, getting on again with her friend running alongside shouting encouragement. Then, late in the afternoon, she came in the house all out of breath, flushed and excited, “Daddy, I can ride a bicycle! Come and see.” So out I went and sure enough, she had mastered the art of balance and riding her friend’s bicycle. Proud and excited, she said, “Daddy, can I have a bicycle now?” And what could I say but, “Yes, Diane, we’ll get you your own bicycle now.”

As I look back and remember that experience, I’m so glad I didn’t defer Diane’s hope and that I fueled her desire by giving her some steps to take and a goal to accomplish for her to achieve that very important desire of her heart at that time in her life. It still brings me a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction to recall her delight, her joy, her excitement, on that day.

“Desire fulfilled is a Tree of Life.” Take a little time today to remember the feeling when you were the agent of a desire fulfilled for a loved one, or when you experienced the excitement of a desire fulfilled in your own life. Just the remembrance will stir up the gift and the power of hope within you. And that hope can take you places that you’ve never even dreamed of.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

To subscribe for free weekday inspirational quotes, Rich Words, go to www.alanrowbotham.com

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Some of the highlights we learned from the Third Conversation of Brother Lawrence in his book, The Practice of the Presence of God – The Best Rule of a Holy Life, were these:

Once he had established for himself what he felt was the foundation of the spiritual life, he focused on performing all his actions for the love of God to the exclusion of all else. If sometimes he neglected his attention on God’s presence he didn’t waste much time on beating himself up about it but quickly returned to his focus.

His faith and trust in God brought a great awareness of all the blessings he experienced due to this practice, causing him to automatically turn to God for guidance in all his affairs without even having to think about it beforehand.

He didn’t have any great expertise in the formal practice of prayer and meditation; indeed it caused him some anxiety and perplexity. But if in his ordinary everyday affairs he put his attention on God with genuine and loving feelings he was confident in being guided in every aspect of his life; and he felt that no particular knowledge or skill was needed for anyone to experience this for themselves if they would only put the love of God first and foremost in all things.

Now we turn our attention to the Fourth Conversation:

He discoursed with me very frequently, and with great openness of heart, concerning his manner of going to God, whereof some part is related already.

He told me that all consists in one hearty renunciation of everything which we are sensible does not lead to God. That we might accustom ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize God intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment, that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly performing those which we plainly see. He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.

That in this conversation with God we are also employed in praising, adoring, and loving Him incessantly for His infinite goodness and perfection.

That without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should pray for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the infinite merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. That God never failed offering His grace at each action; that he distinctly perceived it, and never failed of it, unless when his thoughts had wandered from a sense of God’s presence, or he had forgotten to ask His assistance.

That God always gave us light in our doubts when we had no other design but to please Him.

That our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God’s sake which we commonly do for our own. That it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works, which they performed very imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards.

That the most excellent method he had found of going to God was that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love of God.

That it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer.

That his prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of God, his soul being at tht time insensible to everything but divine love; and that when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference, because he still continued with God, praising and blessing Him with all his might, so that he passed his life in continual joy; yet hoped that God would give him somewhat to suffer when he should grow stronger.

That we ought, once for all, heartily to put our whole trust in God, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him, secure that He would not deceive us.

That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed. That we should not wonder if, in the beginning, we often failed in our endeavors, but that at last we should gain a habit, which will naturally produce its acts in us, without our care, and to our exceeding great delight.

That the whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and charity, by the practice of which we become united to the will of God; that all besides is indifferent, and to be used as a means that we may arrive at our end, and be swallowed up therein, by faith and charity.

That all things are possible to him who believes, that they are less difficult to him who hopes; that they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.

That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.

That when we enter upon the spiritual life, we should consider and examine to the bottom what we are. And then we should find ourselves worthy of all contempt, and not deserving indeed the name of Christians; subject to all kinds of misery and numberless accidents, which trouble us and cause perpetual vicissitudes in our health, in our humors, in our internal and external dispositions; in fine, persons whom God would humble by many pains and labors, as well within as without. After this we should not wonder that troubles, temptations, oppositions, and contradictions happen to us from men. We ought, on the contrary, to submit ourselves to them, and bear them as long as God pleases, as things highly advantageous to us.

That the greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon divine grace.

(The particulars which follow are collected from other accounts of Brother Lawrence.)

Being questioned by one of his own society (to whom he was obliged to open himself) by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of God, he told him that, since his first coming to the monastery, he had considered God as the end of all his thoughts and desires, as the mark to which they should tend, and in which they should terminate.

That in the beginning of his novitiate he spent the hours appointed for private prayer in thinking of God, so as to convince his mind of, and to impress deeply upon his heart, the divine existence, rather by devout sentiments, and submission to the lights of faith, than by studied reasonings and elaborate meditations. That by this short and sure method he exercised himself in the knowledge and love of God, resolving to use his utmost endeavor to live in a continual sense of His presence, and, if possible, never to forget Him more.

That when he had thus is prayer filled his mind with great sentiments of that infinite Being, he went to his work appointed in the kitchen (for he was cook to the society). There having first considered severally the things his office required, and when and how each thing was to be done, he spent all the intervals of his time, as well before as after his work, in prayer.

That when he began his business, he said to God, with a filial trust in Him: O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end do Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections.

As he proceeded in his work he continued his familiar conversations with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering to Him all his actions.

When he had finished he examined himself how he had discharged his duty; if he found well, he returned thanks to God; if otherwise, he asked pardon, and, without being discouraged, he set his mind right again, and continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he had never deviated from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls, and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state wherein it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom my self to it."

As Brother Lawrence had found sucn an advantage in walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others; but his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying, such a sweet and calm devotion appearing in it as could not but affect the beholders. And it was observed that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen he still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was never hasty, nor loitering, but did each thing in its season, with an even, uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit. "The time of business," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament."

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-six years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions or go directly to the Spiritual Solutions Blog

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