Spiritual Solutions

Without deep roots we merely exist; our lives are shallow. Unless deeply rooted in spiritual principles, we do not and cannot develop into individuals of stature and worth, such as we are intended to be. If we felt sure that our roots were deep set and established enough to withstand whatever storm comes along, then our morale would not be shaken by any winds that might blow.

George Elliot once said that no human being can live a whole and wholesome life unless rooted to some particular spot in the soil. The spot of soil we allude to also means for us a working philosophy, an orientation of spiritual principles without which we lead superficial lives with only surface roots; and the winds of worldly experience easily bowl us over.

There are two aspects to every strong life, rootage and fruitage, receptivity and activity, relaxation and tension, leaning back and thrusting forward. But he or she who cannot do one cannot do the other very well. He or she who is unable to rest cannot work effectively either. He or she who cannot let go cannot hold on very firmly. He or she who cannot find footing cannot progress. If one cannot let go, one has nothing substantial to rest on; one hasn’t grown dependable roots and doesn’t know how to “let go and let God.”

With strong roots you can withstand any wind; and this is what we are urging – building an awareness of your inner resources, an awareness of your divine son-ship, the Christ in you.

The story is told of a young war veteran who was finally released from the hospital where he had been recovering after being seriously wounded in action. Arriving home at last, he discovered that not only was his only child ill with pneumonia and in a foster home, and was to die a week later, but also that his wife had been living in a most irresponsible way, drinking to excess, and had wasted virtually all of the young man’s property and savings. To top it off, she was now getting a divorce from him. Stunned by this, he felt he was truly done for, and that there was no reason for him to go on living.

Shortly thereafter, while riding on a bus he passed the spot along the highway where stands the old live oak under which the poet Sidney Lanier wrote The Marshes of Glynn. This made him recall the poet’s struggle to attain perfection in his composing and writing although handicapped by serious illness. He remembered these few lines which he had memorized as a schoolboy and which had been his favorites:

“As the marsh he secretly builds on the watery sod, behold I will build me a   nest on the greatness of God. I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh hen flies in the freedom that fills all the space ‘twixt the marsh and the skies. By so many roots as the marsh grass sends in the sod, I will heartily lay me a hold on the greatness of God.”

Suddenly, things began to happen in the young veteran’s mind. “Why, I can be like that; I can do that too!” He wrote down these lines as a commitment to himself on a little card and placed it on a mirror where he couldn’t help but see it frequently: “I must put the past out of mind and relax; live one day at a time, reaching out each morning, every hour to take hold of the greatness of God and the beauty and goodness and healing power that surround me without and within, no matter where I am.”

Later, he spoke a good deal of his experience, explaining that at first he could barely get through a day, but he made these words a daily prayer, thereby finding healing and peace of mind and a renewed sense of purpose and the inspiration to build a new life as he cast all his former hurts and heartaches on that power within.

I firmly believe that when we accept the idea that we are plenteously provided for from within, and also act as if this were true, something happens . . . the taproot begins to grow, so to speak, and the entire experience begins to unfold. In that consciousness we never know lack, we never feel insecurity, we are never helpless. We are rather like the one described by the Psalmist, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” (Ps. 1:3)

You can be sure that when you have given good attention to growing roots, the roots will care for themselves and bring forth the fruits of good living.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now,

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com
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The weather here in Florida has been just beautiful these last few days, and as I took my walk early this morning I thought about the beauty of the dawn and a new day filled with promise. What a joy it is to feel the morning air and envision this new day as an opportunity to be the new person that you hope to be in a new world! What a chance to say “Goodbye” to habits of bondage and Good morning” to a new life, free from all sense of bondage and limitation!

In some mystical way, possibly there is something of our own Spirit abiding in the sun, as it looks at us from the horizon, something that would expect to see us arraying ourselves in high and holy thoughts, clothing ourselves in wisdom, joy, love, courage, and faith.

If we catch the vision of a new day, we are enthused with the day’s promises and opportunities. Persons with laden and clouded vision awaken with the thought of “just another day.” Those who catch the high vision see a new world of rare delight, and behold themselves as both guest and master of the world. Shall we carry into the new day yesterday’s limiting thoughts of yourself and others? Don’t you see that today would be but yesterday to you, if you lived in yesterday’s thoughts and experiences?

There are those who never experience the joy of a new dawn because their minds are so firmly fixed on the unhappiness and the defeat of all their yesterdays. The dawn challenges you to behold yourself in a new day, a new world, and a new life. To meet this challenge, you need to greet the day in the spirit of prayer that has power to purify your thought and regenerate you in mind, body, and soul.

Pray in the spirit of being ushered into a new existence, where you have no desire to speak anything that is limiting or evil, or to identify with unpleasant memories or disappointments. A new world lies before you. In the triumphant Spirit of your own innate Divinity you will find that truly a new and beautiful world is at your feet.

The new day is your time for laying hold of a new consciousness of your body, for a new appreciation of your health and perfection. The happy memories of yesterday have a place in your today only as they have a place in Truth and love and life. Yesterday’s weaknesses must give place to today’s strength. Yesterday’s defeat must be lost sight of, as you anticipate today’s victory.

Today’s dawn proclaims with all its fervor that you begin again. You are born of Spirit, the Spirit of newness, freshness, and vitality. Can you see the possibilities of a new dawn, the opportunities of a new day, the joy of beholding your new world revealed to you at the beginning of a new day?

Take the attitude that this morning you were given a new mind, a renewed consciousness. Possibly yesterday you cluttered your mind with thoughts of darkness, ignorance, evil, fear, hate, disease. Your new-mindedness must be dedicated to that which is of Truth; good, ennobling, and beautiful. You must realize that at dawn, your mind became so charged with Truth that there is no room for any belief that is of darkness or fear or disease. Take the mental attitude that at dawn, your body was charged with new life, new health, and new strength.

At each dawn, a bright and shining path opens before you. It reveals to you new friendships, new occasions to give expression to love, new opportunities to put into practice what your indwelling Spirit of Truth has taught you, and what it bids you to do. There will never be another day just like this, unless you take it so. There will never be another experience that in any way can compare with that which is before you today. Today alone can offer today’s opportunities and today’s joys. Each second of the day will give you a new opportunity to prove to yourself that you have met the challenge of the dawn.

The consciousness of new life calls you to live life anew. Gone forever will be every limiting belief, every thought that you cannot progress and succeed, if only you hold to this vision to the exclusion of all contrary thoughts. So even as in the past you have hobbled yourself to some belief and pattern of despair and failure, so today you must catch the high vision of your Spirit’s victory. You can possess the power to be master of all things if you can catch the meaning of the great secrets of the Spirit of God within, your Master of all the world about you.

Behold yourself in God’s mirror of Truth, and behold there a reflection of what you are in God’s sight. Keep out of mind every thought that would limit or bind you, so that you may go forward and upward into the fullness and the glory of this new day. Hold to the vision of the new day, the new dawning of your soul’s supremacy over things of the world, and you will lose all sense of mental and physical darkness and heaviness. No adverse condition can bind you to it, when you feel the call to go onward and forward. Be faithful to all that inspires and elevates, all that exalts and glorifies.

From this morning’s dawn to this evening’s close, great joys can come to you. Be ready for them. Be aware, though, that to try to live in the future is as wrong as to bind yourself to the past. Keep your vision clear. Count over and over the joys that the day can give you. Take a new lease on life. Keep your face turned toward the light; let the shadows be behind you. And find in today’s promises the fulfillment of whatever joy and blessing you may seek.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at
www.alanrowbotham.com
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In the Easter story, one particular image in the gospel of John captures me; it is the image of Mary weeping as she stoops and peers into the tomb. The body of Jesus has disappeared. But right there quite close to her, standing near her shoulder, is a figure simply waiting for her to turn around, to turn from the tomb to life.

How often do we find ourselves in situations where we think it’s all over, that there’s nothing and nowhere to turn? Yet all we have to do is look away from the problem, away from the darkness and from what seems to be; then we can see that which we thought was dead has risen and is still alive in us.

We hear the Easter celebrant declare, “He is risen! Christ is risen!”

But what does that mean? Is it only an event which happened over 2000 years ago? Or is it something which can happen in our lives today?

The truth is, Easter is all about life made new again. When we think it’s over, it’s not. We have a God that makes the impossible possible.

When the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were flying their first airplane in 1903, an astronomer named Simon Newcomb was writing a thesis about the impossibility of being able to fly. He said, “There is no possible combination of known substances, known forms of machinery, and known forms of force that can be united in a practical machine by which men shall fly long distances through the air. It is impossible.”

You’ve got to be careful who you are listening to, and who you hang out with, because it can destroy your potential.

The Wright brothers’ father was a minister, who also founded the Union Theological Seminary. When he saw his two boys seemingly limited to working repairing bicycles, he decided to share with them his philosophy about the empty tomb and the ability to rise up into newness of life.

He said, “I shared with them my philosophy about the empty tomb and then I just stood back to watch them fly.” How wonderful it is to have someone who encourages us like that and then stands back to watch us fly, to see the potential within us take flight.

The truth is that the potential for triumph is still there, the potential to rise above limitation is still there.

In another version of the Easter story (in Matthew 28), we read that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (the mother of Jesus) went to the tomb. The stone that blocked the entrance had been rolled away and an angel sat upon it. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid.”

Not knowing what to do after the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples hid in a room together. They were depressed, they were down. Then Jesus appeared to them in the room and said, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe!” Don’t be afraid.

That’s the first thing to remember when things happen. Don’t be afraid!

Fear paralyzes our potential. We become stuck, we become rigid.

Fear breaks down our relationship with God, our trust in God. When we become fearful, we lose the sense of trust. We may say, “Oh yes, I believe in God.” But there’s a big difference between believing in God and trusting in God.

Doubts about our potential and doubts about God’s presence within us limit our possibilities.

What are you dealing with in your life right now? What situation is present in your life? There is never any situation that is beyond hope. There’s always hope, there’s always possibility, there’s always potential.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That’s a wonderful scripture to use as an affirmation. You may not know where to turn, but as you turn to the Christ within, as you turn to God’s presence, you are strengthened. And that which seemed impossible becomes possible.

Our God is a God who makes the impossible possible. We can come through all things. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – through the presence and power of the living God within me. In any situation you face there is always a God-given solution available to you.

It is important to remind ourselves that even though all seems lost, the unexpected is always possible.

I’d like to share with you three action steps prompted by the Easter story:

1. Surround yourself with Easter-thinking people. Don’t get caught up with people who put you down, and don’t put yourself down. You can rise up over your limitations. Hang around with people who remind you of the potential that is always there. If you have to change your friends, do so, and let your friends be those who support you in your potential for growth.

2. Don’t be afraid; refuse to give up. On the Friday before Easter, the worst scenario happened. Jesus died. The disciples went back to their fishing; they didn’t know what else to do. Then three days later the unexpected happened. Jesus appeared to them. So refuse to give up; it’s always possible. Even death couldn’t stop God’s plan.

3. Rise triumphant. You were created to fly. You were created to soar, to rise up above any limitations, to soar above those situations that would hold you back and down. You were created in the image and likeness of God, you have the possibilities and potentials within you to rise triumphant. What’s keeping you from flying? Let your spirit soar!

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

The other day I got to thinking about Bobby, a friend I knew when I was just a boy. His parents were of modest means and they lived in a tiny stone row house in a little village just a few miles from where I lived.

Several years ago on a visit back to England, my mother happened to mention that Bobby Kitchener, this same young red-headed friend I had known, had become a minister. I remember my astonishment that our lives had taken similar paths, albeit in different countries.

Our lives may take many turns, and the world is full of people who have stopped in their tracks, turned about and become quite different persons. So now you probably want to know, “How can I, an ordinary person, turn about and lead a more satisfactory life?”

Sometimes just a little thing can bring us to a standstill, and it causes us to call upon all the resources of our being to lift us out of the pit of failure and despair.

To be driven into a corner, out of which there seems no escape, is often the turning point. “I’ll find a way,” the person thinks, “I’ll not be beaten. There’s nothing to lose, so I’ll try something new. Perhaps I’ll even turn about and win.” So this person who was living in the shadows finds himself on the road to achievement, and he becomes a different person. He is now courageous rather than fearful; he has turned around.

Provision has been made for our turning around, if only we would recognize that it is possible. But if things are not like we would want them to be then we must turn our efforts in a new direction. Don’t talk about the things in your life that you don’t want, or about the things you want to accomplish – the negative doubts of your listeners may add to your concerns.

Do not draw back when a new experience confronts you. The new experience may be your call to a changed life. Those who cling to safe, old, familiar things will never know the thrill of new adventure.

If you want to turn about and start a new life, you must let go of anger and resentment or wailing over the past. Forget the things that are behind and go forward to the things you most desire. Bring excitement and imagination to whatever you do and new doors will open for you.

Yours, in love and confidence,

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham 

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